jKDCIntroducing jKDC a Java application used to preview and save images using Kodak's DC25/DC20 digital camera. jKDC requires Java 1.1 and was developed under Windows and Visual Cafe. This Java application does not run in a web browser. You must have a JVM or JRE installed for your operating system. http://www.javasoft.com/products/index.html.
If you do not have Java installed or would like to use a Windows .EXE file download KDCEXE.ZIP. Symantec Visual Cafe provides the ability to compile a java program as a native executable. Included in the ZIP file is the required DLL's to run the EXE without Java. Unzip KDCEXE.ZIP in a directory of your choice. Win95 hides DLL files so if you use Explorer to look at the directory you will not see the DLL files. The DLL's should be in the same directory as the KDC.EXE
Java does not provide native support for serial port access, so this posed a problem when trying to write a java application/applet that requires communication with serial devices. Java does provide support for native methods which allows developers to extend the functionality of Java. This is done at the expenses of loosing the ability to run on multiple operating systems Solutions Consulting at http://www.sc-systems.com has done a very good job of writing a serial class with support for all the major operating systems. This provides the ability to run jKDC on different operating systems by adding the proper DLL's. Currently the serial port control of jKDC has only been tested under Windows and OS/2 Warp. jKDC requires the minimum release of Java 1.1.4 for OS/2. jKDC has a demo mode that should work on any Java 1.1 platform. Serial port control of jKDC will be tested on other operating systems.
DC 25 CAMERA
A lot of documented and undocumented information is available for the DC 25 on the Internet. A starting point for information on the DC 25 is http://home.t-online.de/home/Oliver.Hartmann/dc20secr.htm You can also join Kodak's developer group at Kodak's web site http://www.kodak.com/US/en/drg/index.shtml .
IMAGE AND FILE FORMATS
The DC25 camera does a good job on color but the image is only as good as the software that manipulates it. The initial design goal was to write Java classes that would convert the 24 bit image to the best 256 colors and save it as a gif file. Java does an incredible job of displaying a 24 bit image on a 256 color display. The palette selection and dithering by Java provides a very good quality image on the screen. However, Java's image classes only work in 24 bit color mode. It is not possible to get the index value used in displaying a pixel. So I spent many hours trying to match the 24bit to 256 color conversion image quality of Java and Corel. I was able to get very close but not perfect. The dithering produces errors on some type of images. I will come back to this at a later time. GIF file formats are limited to 256 colors and has patent issues associated with programs that save pictures in the GIF format. So after some additional research, I chose the next generation file format that is going to replace GIF. Portable Network Graphics or PNG offers better compression than GIF and provides support for 256 and 24 bit color images. jKDC supports GIF and PNG formats. For the best quality save your image as a 24 bit PNG file. The latest version of Microsoft Internet Explorer and Netscape 4.04 support the PNG format.
DEMO VERSION
jKDC supports a demo mode for testing purposes and for those people who do not have a DC25 camera.The demo version includes six raw images and thumbnails to simulate a camera. If you have a DC25 camera jKDC will overwrite the demo images when you download pictures.
INSTALLATION
Download and copy the jKDC zip file in a directory of your choice. Unzip the jKDC.zip file. The directory will contain a JAR file, DLL's required for the serial port and demo images. You can use the batch file KDC.BAT which will append the JAR file to the classpath and start the application. If you have the Java Runtime Enviroment installed you can use the batch file jreKDC.BAT . Or you can append the KDC.JAR file to the java classpath and run JAVA KDC.
SUPPORT
If you have any problems, suggestions or questions please send me an email at scooter@gdsolutions.com
THE SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED IN ITS 'AS IS' CONDITION FOR NON-COMMERCIAL USE ONLY. DIGITAL SOLUTIONS, INC. DISCLAIMS ANY LIABILITY OF ANY KIND FOR DAMAGES WHATSOEVER RESULTING FROM THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE.
Description
File Name/Size
Requires DC25 Camera jKDC.zip 413K
KDC Source needs jKDC.zip installed first. KDC_source.zip 284K
Demo version with sample images and works with DC25 Camera. jKDCDemo.zip 906K
Win95/NT .EXE includes sample images and works with DC25 Camera. Does not require Java to be installed. Includes Symantec DLL's that replace Java. KDCEXE.zip 2.5Mb
Win95/NT .EXE includes sample images and works with DC25 Camera. Does not require Java to be installed. Does not include Symantec DLL's. KDCNODLL.ZIP 757K
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