Gina

Doesn't look that big to me - just a decent size standard concrete or stone bird bath. Or maybe a fountain. Stone or concrete garden stuff is very heavy.

Great minds think alike ?

I think it's a bird bath ?

I agree - to both points. ??

Ah!! Thank you for that Just what I was looking for. I had a feeling there was a way to do it but couldn't quite remember.

This is taking far too long and has got completely out of hand!! I think I'll just set a fixed resolution for focussing and if I find it't too far out I'll bring the control box indoors and change the code. Setting up focussing resolution will only want doing once or if preset should only want changing once if it's wrong. I've been editing and recompiling code dozens if not hundreds of times and I'm not exactly making any progress. Anyway, I'll sleep on it. Had enough for today anyway.

Changed number of buttons from 4 to 6 and it has worked except that it's changed to a drop down list which is alright. I guess there's a limit to the number of buttons across the page. I could use this system if I combined the resolution multipliers ie. 1 2 5 10 20 50 100 200 500 1000 making 10 items in the list. Or maybe 1 3 10 30 100 300 1000 would do. This still begs the question of why I can't add extra controls.

Can't seem to add any controls but can modify the ones I already have. An earlier versing of the Astroberry Board source files for the ASC where I had buttons to select 3 motors, individually or all three, compiles and installs and works. I managed to move the focussing buttons to a Focus tab but when I tried to add another control it didn't work. I've been through the code with a fine tooth comb but can't find the reason - I'm simply copying sections of code and altering them to make them a bit different, which has always worked in the past. I can alter the labels etc. no problem. Now I'll see if I can change the number of buttons in the control.

Added the controls and after fixing a few errors it compiled and installed but the buttons are not appearing. Maybe look at this again later when it's cooled down a bit.

Yes , it is ??

Yes, mine's the same!

Having thought about focussing some more, I've concluded that a standard linear control to set focussing resolution is far from ideal. This is really a logarithmic scale. So although a standard number inputing control would be easy enough, I don't think it would be very good to use. It's a rather fussy control IMO anyway - I like to keep things simple and logical. Hence I propose a series of buttons - one set as a tens multiplier viz. x1 x10 x100 x1000 and another for x1 x2 x5. These would be standard button sets "one of many". Not sure which way round though. Maybe 1 10 100 1000 and then x1 x2 x5. Alternatively - 1 2 5 and x1 x10 x100 x1000.

1m exposure, 4m delay and gain at 144. Camera temperature -7°C with full cooling on. Moon's starting to show so that's it for tonight.

I think that rather than setting the coarse and fine focussing resolutions I shall set one and set the ratio between them. The latter is unlikely to want changing. A ratio of 5x or 10x would seem about right. Though once focus is set it doesn't vary significantly. Still, it's good practice in coding ? These controls will go in the Options tab together with Configuration - Load Save Default. Actually, the tab would be better caller Configuration. I know how to change the name now.

I bought a huge tarpaulin to cover mine when I was building it. But I had to stop to build the Ark!!

bool FocusRpi::initProperties() { INDI::Focuser::initProperties(); IUFillNumber(&FocusAbsPosN[0],"FOCUS_ABSOLUTE_POSITION","Ticks","%0.0f",0,MAX_STEPS,(int)MAX_STEPS/100,0); IUFillNumberVector(&FocusAbsPosNP,FocusAbsPosN,1,getDeviceName(),"ABS_FOCUS_POSITION","Position",MAIN_CONTROL_TAB,IP_RW,0,IPS_OK); IUFillNumber(&PresetN[0], "Preset 1", "", "%0.0f", 0, MAX_STEPS, (int)(MAX_STEPS/100), 0); IUFillNumber(&PresetN[1], "Preset 2", "", "%0.0f", 0, MAX_STEPS, (int)(MAX_STEPS/100), 0); IUFillNumber(&PresetN[2], "Preset 3", "", "%0.0f", 0, MAX_STEPS, (int)(MAX_STEPS/100), 0); IUFillNumberVector(&PresetNP, PresetN, 3, getDeviceName(), "Presets", "Presets", "Presets", IP_RW, 0, IPS_IDLE); IUFillNumber(&PresetN[0], "Preset 1", "", "%0.0f", 0, MAX_STEPS, (int)(MAX_STEPS/100), 0); IUFillNumber(&CTicks, "Coarse Ticks per step", "". "%d", 10, 10000, 10, 0); Definitions :-

Rather than having to keep editing the code to get the resolution alright for the coarse and fine focussing I could make these variable and save the values in the Configuration file. This would enable the settings to be set remotely from the INDI Control Panel and saved. It would be a useful exercise in coding too, involving a couple more control types.

OK - swapped the RPi set up for WiFi for the one in the telescope focuser and it all works fine. Think I need fewer ticks though. OTOH this test setup may be set for full steps and the ASC for 16x micro-stepping.

Can't remember how long mine took but it certainly wasn't a quick build!!

Seems the WiFi setup is dependent on the particular RPi host. Probably uses the MAC address of the WiFi chip when setting up WiFi. This is a nuisance as I was hoping to just clone micro SD cards for my various astro imaging rigs. Or use a bench setup to install everything then move the card to whichever RPi. Look like I shall have to go through the hour long or more setting up and installation on every RPi I want to use! DRAT!!!

Back to the original RPi and it works. Looks like it's dependent on the MAC address of the WiFi chip.

OH That doesn't work either

Drat!! That doesn't work gina@Mint-Desktop ~ $ ssh gina@asc2 ssh: connect to host asc2 port 22: No route to host gina@Mint-Desktop ~ $ It shouldn't make any difference which sample of RPi it's in (should it???). I'll try another RPi...

Added all the motor control code and after removing a rogue character, it compiled OK. Next thing will be to plug the micro SD card into a unit with focus motor driver and connect a stepper motor.

Some code snippets :- #define FineTicks 100; // 100 ticks for fine focus #define CoarseTicks 500; // 500 ticks for coarse focus // motor wake up bcm2835_gpio_write(SLEEP, HIGH); // OUTWARD bcm2835_gpio_write(DIR, LOW); // INWARD bcm2835_gpio_write(DIR, HIGH); // process targetTicks int ticks = FineTicks; // or CoarseTicks for the COARSE controls for ( int i = 0; i < ticks; i++ ) { // step on bcm2835_gpio_write(STEP, HIGH); // wait bcm2835_delay(STEP_DELAY/2); // step off bcm2835_gpio_write(STEP, LOW); // wait bcm2835_delay(STEP_DELAY/2); // motor sleep bcm2835_gpio_write(SLEEP, LOW);