N. Gialiris, Canada
As a relative newcomer to Astrophotography, I struggled with post processing using GIMP and other non-aware astro software; then stumbled upon Star Tools a year ago and haven't looked back. Great for beginners to guide and encourage their efforts and awesome for advanced users with the latest features being rolled out by Ivo and team squeezing the max out of image data. Support is second to none; highly recommend and endorse!
Download
One ZIP archive contains Windows, macOS and Linux versions of StarTools. Do not download StarTools from anywhere else but startools.org. We do not allow distribution of StarTools by any other party, on-line or off-line.
Please consult the FAQ section about configuring your system properly.
macOS notes
Users may have to "unquarantine" StarTools, before the OS allows it to run. Alternatively StarTools can be launched via control + clicking (right clicking) on the application, Show Package Contents, navigating to Contents/MacOS and clicking on the application.
The following two commands unquarantines StarTools on macOS 13 Ventura and later;
sudo xattr -d -rs com.apple.quarantine StarTools.app
and then;
sudo xattr -d -rs com.apple.provenance StarTools.app
The following single command unquarantines StarTools on macOS 12 and earlier;
xattr -dr com.apple.quarantine StarTools.app
Please see the screenshots for more information, or download this detailed guide.
Download stable
StarTools 1.8.527 Maintenance Release 3 for Windows, macOS (Universal Binary with native M1 support), and Linux
Latest version released 2023-11-15 (YYYY/MM/DD), size 6.8MB
Download bleeding edge
StarTools 1.9.565 Beta 7 for Windows, macOS (Universal Binary with native M1/M2 support), and Linux
Multi-language support EN, DE, ES is available via config file
Latest version released 2024-03-24 (YYYY/MM/DD), size 7.1MB
Please note beta versions may still exhibit some flaws or instabilities. Documentation may be incomplete. Please use at your own risk.
Unofficial English manual
Unofficial English StarTools 1.8 Manual (164MB), last updated 2022-09-30, improved with extra tips, tricks and information from various sources.
Many thanks to J. Scharmann for putting together this excellent work, as well as its German translation.
Unofficial German manual / Inoffizielle Deutsche Anleitung
Inoffizielle StarTools 1.8 Anleitung in Deutsch (164MB), letztes Update 2022-09-30.
Vielen Dank an J. Scharmann für die ausgezeichnete Übersetzung.
Unoffical Spanish manual / Manual en Espanol
Manual de StarToolsBasado en la versión 1.8 al español (19MB). Ultima actualizacion 2022-03-09.
Muchas gracias a C. R. Guixé por la excelente traducción.
English manual
StarTools uses AIFE.AI for content management and digital footprint. This means that the website content doubles as a printable manual and vice-versa. This content is also available as a smartphone/tablet app, virtual flipbook, virtual reality (VR) experience and more. This content will always be up-to-date with the latest information.
The minimum specifications to run StarTools, increases with the resolution of the dataset you intend to process.
StarTools works on all modern versions of Windows, Linux and macOS.
StarTools is display-device agnostic, but can be configured to display its GUI at a 4x higher resolution to accommodate high-DPI devices and 4K displays.
If StarTools appears to be unstable on your older (up to 2014) macOS device, particularly when using bigger datasets, then this may be due to an underpowered iGPU solution. Particularly the second and third generation Intel-based macOS devices are equipped with minimal GPU acceleration.
If your older or lower-powered GPU or iGPU appears to be unstable on your Windows operating system in StarTools, and you think it may be struggling with any larger datasets you give it, then the issue may be caused an unsuitable Timeout Detection and Recovery (TDR) allowance.
If you find StarTools sometimes crashes under heavy load in demanding modules like SVDecon, this may be due to your Operating System being incorrectly configured to provide enough virtual memory.
Some less reputable virus scanners such as BitDefender, Norton and SpyBot may falsely report StarTools as a Trojan or Potentially Unwanted Program (due to malware that carries a similar name). Despite multiple users going through the lengths of getting StarTools white listed, the same problem pops up every 6 months or so.
StarTools uses all your CPU's cores to speed up processing in situations where it makes sense. As of 1.7, however, StarTools will offload suitable, heavy arithmetic to your GPU as well.
As of version 1.7, StarTools offloads suitable, heavy arithmetic to your system's GPU.
StarTools supports virtually all modern GPUs and iGPUs on all modern Operating Systems.
StarTools is a completely native, self-contained application that does not require any further installation of helper libraries or run-time frameworks.
StarTools is a unique piece of software that keeps track of signal evolution and noise propagation. The data it needs to store and access may grow to many gigabytes. As such StarTools uses your storage memory (hard drive or SSD drive) to store this data. If StarTools is unable to write this data, a message may appear alerting you to this.
If you had bothered to read the 'buy' page, you would have learned that you could spare yourself the effort of writing a keygen or crack - if you can't afford the license fee and you are a genuine enthusiast, we're happy to work something out!
-