Switched over my observatory to BSD

[griz11]

After another fiasco with a windoze update I spent the last couple of days getting rid of it as best I could. Still have to have it on my notebook for BYE but everything else is on PCBSD now. PixInsight runs like a scalded dog on BSD. A major pain to install. So much software available for these platforms as well. I set up two boxes one running PCBSD and one running FreeNAS for backup. With a few utilities it will back up as I touch a file and keep everything ready for a quick reinstall should a drive fail. In fact I think I'm going to see if I have enough parts around here to build one more machine so I can have a cluster. I only have a few programs that require Windoze some games and image processing for my terrestial photos. Might go back to GIMP as well. Don't use Ps enough to justify the cost actually. Lr is enough for the stuff I do and I own it. Not a fan of subscription software. Its all good for them they don't have to worry with multiple versions. But I tend to stay with a version till something forces me to upgrade. Upgrade maybe every couple of years if that. I remember when freebsd was over 80 floppies to install. Took all day. You had to configure everything by hand and if you screwed up the X config you could blow your monitor and card. Now its all done for you. Quick install. I've been using it since the late 80's so its not any different than windoze as far as maintenance and troubleshooting. In fact its a lot easier to figure out a glitch than with the poor windoze tools. Now if the weather would just cooperate so I can use all my new stuff I'd be a happy camper. Thought it was going to clear up a couple of days ago but looks like 5 more days of rain and clouds.

Griz

[Davey-T]

Seriously considering this myself, I've also just had an update farce, it has taken me two days to get my laptop unscrambled and up and running again.

Dave

[JamesF]

Interesting choice.  We don't hear much about the BSDs these days though obviously they're still widely used.  They seem to be treated a bit like a poor cousin in the UNIX(-like) OS family, which isn't really a fair representation.

James

[David Smith]

Certainly worth a look. I'd really like to do away with Windoze if I can.

[Interested]

Sounds like an interesting project Griz. As it's a pain to install, let's hope PixInsight updates that require a remove and install are fewer from now on. There seems to have been several instances where a user has had to remove the old copy to get the new one this past year.

[JamesF]

Certainly worth a look. I'd really like to do away with Windoze if I can.

Not wanting to run Windows is one of the reasons I've been working on oaCapture

James

[David Smith]

And credit to you James. I had a play with one of your earlier releases but could not get my QHY 5 working. Must try your latest release properly and see if I can get it to work.

[Gina]

I too would dearly like to banish windoze from my observatory!

[skybadger]

In defence of Windows I run

firecapture

Maxim

POTH

ASCOM

Apache web server

Python

on W2K8 server with auto updates and defender turned on.

Haven't really had a problem.

Now installing IRAF onto a Solaris 5 box - that was a problem. Its all horses for courses, what you know and what you are comfortable with.

Mike

[malc-c]

Looked at using various distro's of linux for an observatory PC, and whilst most things were covered such as the aquarium program, guidance application and drivers for most camera's, the lack of a common platform like ASCOM made the job of getting everything working together was a real pain in the ass.  It's a real shame that the EQMOD group haven't produced a version that runs on linux, which would totally remove the need to run a windows based machine

[JamesF]

In defence of Windows I run

I don't think it really needs defending...

Its all horses for courses, what you know and what you are comfortable with.

For precisely that reason.

James

[Gina]

I think designing software for multiple platforms pushes developers in a direction that helps show up problem areas.  I think if I were a few decades younger I would be looking at producing a version of EQMOD ASCOM et. al. for Linux (and maybe Mac OSX).

[chrisshillito]

It's a real shame that the EQMOD group haven't produced a version that runs on linux, which would totally remove the need to run a windows based machine

I think we've all got more important things to do in our lives than reinventing the wheel just cos a minority of folks prefer a different o/s. EQMOD is a windows app desiged to integrate with other windows apps via ASCOM (which is really just windows common object model).

It would seem that the real shame lies in the fact that despite the undoubted talent amongst the linux community itself you still look to the windows centric EQMOD Group to fix things for you - it isn't going to happen.

Chris.

[Gina]

This afternoon I've been speaking to a friend I haven't talked to for some time and haven't seen for years.  He a coding geek and into Linux and I mentioned the astro software situation.  Seems he might be interested in contributing to the open source scene with astro software

[malc-c]

It would seem that the real shame lies in the fact that despite the undoubted talent amongst the linux community itself you still look to the windows centric EQMOD Group to fix things for you - it isn't going to happen.

Chris.

Chris,

I think you took my comments in the wrong direction.  It was meant to come over in such a way that it's a shame because EQMOD is such a good application that supports a wide range of options there is no real alternative.  I've played with the nearest equivalent (INDI) to ascom for the linux platform but there is no where near the support for current scopes.  I also agree with your comments regarding the talent in the linux community.  I put in a request for K-Stars development team to use ASCOM as the interface for the windows version of their otherwise excellent application. That was over two years ago and it seems that it still only supports INDI under linux, with no signs of ASCOM support. 

[malc-c]

This afternoon I've been speaking to a friend I haven't talked to for some time and haven't seen for years.  He a coding geek and into Linux and I mentioned the astro software situation.  Seems he might be interested in contributing to the open source scene with astro software

Gina,

Sounds interesting.  For me what's lacking is the development of the INDI platform to cover the SW and Celestron mounts, and accessories in the same was as ASCOM does.  There are loads of applications like K-Stars etc that use INDI, but INDI itself is limited to the basic MEAD protocol, which limits it's functionality.  Either that or develop something similar to EQMOD that can interface to PHP etc under the linux platform

[BPO]

Interesting topic. OpenBSD has always been the backbone of my observatory's security needs, with various Linux distros doing most of the rest.

[Gasman]

Sounds interesting.  For me what's lacking is the development of the INDI platform to cover the SW and Celestron mounts, and accessories in the same was as ASCOM does.  There are loads of applications like K-Stars etc that use INDI, but INDI itself is limited to the basic MEAD protocol, which limits it's functionality.  Either that or develop something similar to EQMOD that can interface to PHP etc under the linux platform

Hi Malc

Not sure what you mean by this as I was using Ekos with indi quite successfully with my EQ6. It was only the odd problems I hjad with my camera`s that I reluctantly went back to windows. I`m  looking at going back to it again now a few updates have been done!

Steve

[perfrej]

Professional research observatories are definitely on the NIX platforms quite a bit, but you have to consider that they invest massive amounts of software development hours into everything they do even if they may be on the INDI platform. There is simply no complete solution such as ACP available.

I will most likely be writing a few INDI drivers myself in the near future. I feel that it is nowhere near ASCOM but has a more interesting client-server structure that is based on network communication - which is an advantage.

/per

[malc-c]

This is spooky... I've just been notified of a reply to the Ticket I raised in August 2013 requesting the windows version of K-stars

https://bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=323887

So if the application developers won't support a standard interface in the windows version of their product, and Chris and his mates have stated that there will never be a Linux version of EQMOD then that really says it all.

To be honest I'm not that bothered about sticking with the main stream windows platform, running Ascom and EQMOD with CdC, PHP and APT....mainly as it works and is relatively easy to everything talking to each other.

[JamesF]

This is spooky... I've just been notified of a reply to the Ticket I raised in August 2013 requesting the windows version of K-stars

I believe Jasem Mutlaq (who replied to your ticket) reads SGL on an occasional basis (perhaps just threads that mention INDI or KStars), so maybe not quite so spooky.

James

[malc-c]

Owww James, you spoilt it....

but seems the more logical explanation

[knro]

Chris,

I think you took my comments in the wrong direction.  It was meant to come over in such a way that it's a shame because EQMOD is such a good application that supports a wide range of options there is no real alternative.  I've played with the nearest equivalent (INDI) to ascom for the linux platform but there is no where near the support for current scopes.  I also agree with your comments regarding the talent in the linux community.  I put in a request for K-Stars development team to use ASCOM as the interface for the windows version of their otherwise excellent application. That was over two years ago and it seems that it still only supports INDI under linux, with no signs of ASCOM support. 

Can you tell me what is exactly the issues, what scopes that are not supported? Let's look at INDI's support in the last version 0.9.9 (the SVN version add more hardware support):

• Telescopes
  • EQMOD
  • Meade Autostar/ETX
  • Meade LX200 Basic/Classic/GPS/16
  • Celestron NexStar
  • Celestron NexStar GPS
  • Orion Atlas/SynScan/SkyScan
  • Orion Intelliscope/Sky Wizard
  • Skywatcher API Mount
  • Astro-Physics
  • Losmandy Gemini
  • Temma Takahashi
  • Astro-Electronic FS-2
  • Mel Bartels "Zip Dob"
  • Sky Commander Digital Setting Circle
  • Argo Navis Digital Telescope Computer
  • QHY5 Telescope Drive
  • EQ6/HEQ5/NEQ3 Mounts
  • iEQ45 8406/8407 Mounts
  • LittleFoot Elegance Photo/VPower
  • Magellan I Telescope
  • INDI Telescope Simulator
• Observatory Domes and Sensors
  • Sirius Observatory Domes
  • MaxDome II
  • Boltwood Cloud Sensor
  • AAG Cloud Watcher
• CCD, Video, and DSLR Cameras
  • Philips ToUCam Pro II/III/SPC900
  • Celestron NexImage
  • Meade LPI
  • SBIG CCD
  • Apogee Alta-U/Alta-E
  • Starlight Xpress
  • Finger Lakes CCD
  • QHY5 CCD
  • QSI CCD
  • DMK CCD
  • Starfish CCD
  • Artemis FS
  • ZWO Optics ASI Cameras
  • STV Guider
  • Canon EOS
  • Nikon DSLR
  • Imager Agent
  • Generic Video4Linux
  • CCD Simulator
• Focusers
  • RoboFocus
  • Optec TCF-S/TCF-S3 Focusers
  • Finger Lakes Focuser
  • Rigelsys NFocus
  • MoonLite Focus
  • Shoestring Astronomy FCUSB
  • Focuser Simulator
• Filter Wheels
  • Starlight Xpress Wheel
  • Finger Lakes CFW
  • TruTech Wheel
  • Filter Simulator
• Adaptive Optics
  • Starlight Xpress AO
• Auxilliary
  • USB Guide Port Interface (GPUSB)
  • Joystick/Gamepad Controller

In fact, I use EQMOD on _daily_ basis and in addition to all the regular features, it supports additional features such as custom parking & horizon limits...etc. For sequence capture, autoguiding, autofocus, plate solving..etc, you can use Ekos (INDI is just the drivers control layer). Here is a video I made a couple of weeks ago detailing Ekos features in action:

[knro]

I believe Jasem Mutlaq (who replied to your ticket) reads SGL on an occasional basis (perhaps just threads that mention INDI or KStars), so maybe not quite so spooky.

James

That's right, though I closed that bug along with other 50+ bugs alone in the last few days because I will not work on any ASCOM stuff for KStars, I don't even run windows nor I plan to any time soon :-)

[malc-c]

That's right, though I closed that bug along with other 50+ bugs alone in the last few days because I will not work on any ASCOM stuff for KStars, I don't even run windows nor I plan to any time soon :-)

I wouldn't class the lack of ASCOM support a "bug".

I must admit I do find that reply somewhat arrogant - Just because you don't want to run windows you won't work on any ASCOM support for the windows version of K-Stars. A lot of other astro software developers tend to listen to the users of the application and try their hardest to incorporate those requests. 

Why produce a native windows version of K-stars then...if it lacks one of the major features of the linux version - that of telescope control via the standard windows platform.