[ILUG] Linux compatible microscope

[Juan Flynn]

So I was in Lidl yesterday buying my groceries and happened upon this
unusual item on offer, as Lidl are wont to do. It was a microscope with
a (claimed) magnification of 1280, dual lit (under and over the slide),
a rather nice storage bag, and it came with a bunch of accessories
including a USB video camera that fits onto the eyepiece, all for €60.

Being of a geeky persuasion, and realising that I didn't have a device
to allow me to look very closely at small things, I couldn't resist and
so added it to my trolley.

After playing with it for a while and being actually very impressed by
its sturdy construction I gave the gimmicky USB camera a go on my Ubuntu
8.10 Desktop. Lo and behold! it all Just Worked. The image quality from
the camera isn't a patch on what you see through the eyepiece, but if
anyone is looking for a Linux compatible microscope, the BioLux AL by
Bresser works a treat.

http://www.seqn.net/snips/housefly_leg.png is a pic of some of the hairs
on the leg of a fly taken using Ekiga to access the microscope's V4L2
compatible camera (an SN9C120 device).

Juan