{"id":37,"date":"2009-05-18T16:29:03","date_gmt":"2009-05-18T20:29:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/?p=37"},"modified":"2009-05-25T19:55:45","modified_gmt":"2009-05-25T23:55:45","slug":"the-intel-qx3-microscope","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/what\/the-intel-qx3-microscope\/","title":{"rendered":"The Intel QX3 Microscope"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, the bad news is the ant colony I was rearing has died off. I’m unsure what the problem was, but the ant queen was found dead, followed by the only two offspring dying a couple of days later.<\/p>\n

I don’t have a decent digital camera that can take decent pictures of something as small as an ant, and I came across an old article detailing an interesting childrens toy: The Intel QX3 microscope.<\/p>\n

\"The
The QX3 Microscope<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It was released about 10 years ago, so I’m obviously behind the times. The resolution isn’t the greatest (the QX3 is a first-gen, but the QX5 has some improvements including better resolution).<\/p>\n

The device runs well on linux, you need the following configuration options (in addition to normal USB drivers):<\/p>\n

CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA=m<\/p>\n

CONFIG_VIDEO_CPIA_USB=m<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

The camera (the microscope is basically a webcam) has a number of interesting settings, all touchable via the \/proc filesystem:<\/p>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n
——–<\/td>\ncurrent<\/td>\nmin<\/td>\nmax<\/td>\ndefault<\/td>\ncomment<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
brightness:<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
contrast:<\/td>\n48<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n96<\/td>\n48<\/td>\nsteps of 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
saturation:<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n100<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sensor_fps:<\/td>\n3.750<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
stream_start_line:<\/td>\n240<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n288<\/td>\n240<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
sub_sample:<\/td>\n422<\/td>\n420<\/td>\n422<\/td>\n422<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
yuv_order:<\/td>\nYUYV<\/td>\nYUYV<\/td>\nUYVY<\/td>\nYUYV<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
ecp_timing:<\/td>\nnormal<\/td>\nslow<\/td>\nnormal<\/td>\nnormal<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
color_balance_mode:<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\nmanual<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
red_gain:<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n212<\/td>\n32<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
green_gain:<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n212<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
blue_gain:<\/td>\n39<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n212<\/td>\n92<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
max_gain:<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n8<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n1,2,4 or 8<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
exposure_mode:<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\nmanual<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
centre_weight:<\/td>\non<\/td>\noff<\/td>\non<\/td>\non<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
gain:<\/td>\n4<\/td>\n1<\/td>\nmax_gain<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n1,2,4,8 possible<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
fine_exp:<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n510<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
coarse_exp:<\/td>\n302<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n302<\/td>\n185<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
red_comp:<\/td>\n220<\/td>\n220<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n220<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
green1_comp:<\/td>\n214<\/td>\n214<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n214<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
green2_comp:<\/td>\n214<\/td>\n214<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n214<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
blue_comp:<\/td>\n230<\/td>\n230<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n230<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
apcor_gain1:<\/td>\n0\u00d718<\/td>\n0\u00d70<\/td>\n0xff<\/td>\n0\u00d71c<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
apcor_gain2:<\/td>\n0\u00d716<\/td>\n0\u00d70<\/td>\n0xff<\/td>\n0\u00d71a<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
apcor_gain4:<\/td>\n0\u00d724<\/td>\n0\u00d70<\/td>\n0xff<\/td>\n0\u00d72d<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
apcor_gain8:<\/td>\n0\u00d734<\/td>\n0\u00d70<\/td>\n0xff<\/td>\n0\u00d72a<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
vl_offset_gain1:<\/td>\n20<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n24<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
vl_offset_gain2:<\/td>\n24<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n28<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
vl_offset_gain4:<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
vl_offset_gain8:<\/td>\n26<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
flicker_control:<\/td>\noff<\/td>\noff<\/td>\non<\/td>\noff<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
mains_frequency:<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n50<\/td>\n60<\/td>\n50<\/td>\nonly 50\/60<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
allowable_overexposure:<\/td>\n141auto<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\n255<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
compression_mode:<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\nnone,auto,manual<\/td>\nauto<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
decimation_enable:<\/td>\noff<\/td>\noff<\/td>\non<\/td>\noff<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
compression_target:<\/td>\nquality<\/td>\nframerate<\/td>\nquality<\/td>\nquality<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
target_framerate:<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n30<\/td>\n15<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
target_quality:<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n64<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
y_threshold:<\/td>\n12<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
uv_threshold:<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n31<\/td>\n6<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
hysteresis:<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
threshold_max:<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n11<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
small_step:<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n1<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
large_step:<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
decimation_hysteresis:<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
fr_diff_step_thresh:<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n5<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
q_diff_step_thresh:<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n3<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
decimation_thresh_mod:<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n0<\/td>\n255<\/td>\n2<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
toplight:<\/td>\noff<\/td>\noff<\/td>\non<\/td>\noff<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n
bottomlight:<\/td>\noff<\/td>\noff<\/td>\non<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n

You can alter any of these settings by doing something like:<\/p>\n

echo “bottomlight: on” > \/proc\/cpia\/videoX<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

(I’ve found that you need to have the camera actively in use for these settings changes to actually work).<\/p>\n

Two programs work well with the camera – xawtv and tvtime. TvTime has a few minor issues that I’ve yet to work out, but I’ll figure that out eventually (namely the buffer isn’t filling up properly). XawTV has an issue with screencaptures – again an issue I’ll work out shortly.<\/p>\n

For better images, I’ve found that setting sensor_fps to 10 works well. One I have a specimen on the slide and in proper position, I drop that to 3 to actually take the image.<\/p>\n

As I mentioned earlier, the resolution isn’t that great.\u00a0 I’ve been told lighting is the key, and I’m still experimenting. Here’s the head of the queen ant, I’m sure of species:<\/p>\n

\"Queen
Queen ant, taken w\/ QX3<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, the bad news is the ant colony I was rearing has died off. I’m unsure what the problem was, but the ant queen was found dead, followed by the only two offspring dying a couple of days later. I don’t have a decent digital camera that can take decent pictures of something as small … Continue reading The Intel QX3 Microscope<\/span> →<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-37","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-what"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=37"}],"version-history":[{"count":15,"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":57,"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/37\/revisions\/57"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=37"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=37"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.braindeadprojects.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=37"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}