Gina

Yes indeed!! I have a lot backed up onto my 2TB USB3 drive and there's also later data on the 500GB SSD that was in the machine before and that is not corrupted. I backed it up before re-installing Linux Mint but I've checked since and it's still fine (of course, I just set the label and didn't format it).

Some info from earlier in this thread :- Here's the current list of focal lengths and fields of view :- 28mm f3.5 lens --- 2103m x 1322m 35° x 22° 45mm f2.8 lens --- 1309m x 1005m 22° x 17° 55mm f1.8 lens ----- 1071m x 823m 18° x 14° 135mm f2.5 lens ----- 433m x 335m 7.2° x 5.6° 200mm f4 lens ------- 295m x 226m 4.9° x 3.8° 400mm f5 scope ----- 147m x 113m 2.5° x 1.9° 1.0m f5.3 scope --------- 59m x 45m 1.0° x 0.75° Oversampled at 1x1 binning

Just realised that most of my recent edited photos are also on that faulty HD though fortunately I should have the originals still on the camera SD card. I think all my diagrams are on my Win 7 laptop. I need to back them up though. I've just invested in more backup and working data storage in the form of a 6TB NAS drive and 4TB USB3 drive.

After suffering a seriously sick system on my Linux Mint desktop caused by problem with HD, I'm now up and running again with no HD connected and two 500GB SSDs. I have re-installed Linux Mint plus PixInsight, KStars and TeamViewer. Unfortunately, I don't think all my astro files and information were backed up and I'm now looking into what I've still got. I think it will be mostly the most recent captures that I may have lost. I say "may have" because I'm hoping to recover some of the data off the faulty HD. One file I don't seem to have is the list of DSO I've captured and the capture data so I'm going back through this thread to see what information I can find. I also need to look through a couple of TB of backup data and reorganise it.

Clouds in abundance. Moon has just risen. Venus shining through the clouds.

Latest image. First since reinstalling everything on Linux Mint desktop. Screenshot from KStars FITS Viewer. Exposure 0.001s (1ms), gain 0 (zero = 1:1), Gamma 60, Brightness 0 (zero).

Shan't half be glad when we get gigabit fibre connected into our houses Supposed to start cable laying this month...

Done that - now running sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get upgrade && sudo reboot This is going to take a while (30m or so) as the installed Mint Cinnamon is a bit old.

Had cuppa Now downloading and installing KStars. On Mint machine.

That's a much better idea than trying to use an old battery I speak from experience!

I soldered wires directly onto the battery PCB.

Found the problem with the dew heaters - wire broken off. Now fixed.

I found 7.4v was marginal for Canon DSLRs - APT indicated that the power was low. In fact I found the cameras failed when the voltage was reduced below 7.3v. I would definitely recommend using 8v. When fully charged the Lithium Ion battery gives 8.2v and reads 7.4v when the battery display shows low battery. I did a lot of testing on this when I was making PSUs for my EOS 1100D and earlier models.

From it's size and the width of glass in it I would expect the prime lens to be a lot better than the zoom and prime lenses are bound to transmit more light, other things being equal, due to the number of air-glass interfaces.

I've started looking into modifying INDI drivers to suit my purposes. So far I've just changed the labels on the controls but it's a start. I'm familiar with C++ but the protocols used by INDI need some learning

I forget now - it's several years since I used a DSLR for astro imaging but I think it was something like a few milliamps to half an amp. The voltage needs to be between 7.4v and about 8.2v as I recall. 8v is a good voltage to use.

Yes, I used the Fujinon zoom in an earlier ASC. I'm thinking of using it for a daylight ASC with colour camera ASI185MC. I shall make use of the aperture control to reduce the sensitivity There's a possibility that I may use a different camera later if I get into planetary imaging and want the ASI185MC for that. The new big Fujinon fisheye lens has amazed me. It seems that the amount of light transmitted has little to do with the quoted focal ratio. The new lens is quoted as f1.8 yet it's very much brighter than the ZWO lens quoted as f1.2. It's very much brighter than the zoom lens too. Last night with a bright moon I was using 5s exposures yet still seeing stars between the clouds. I needed 30-60s with the other lenses. On a dark night I get good results with 10s exposure.

I use ones like THESE

No, that won't work as the camera current will vary. You need either a variable voltage regulator chip which uses two resistors to set the output voltage or an off-the-shelf "buck converter". The latter uses switch mode and emits negligible heat. Available for very little from the usual auction site. Has a multi-turn pot to set the output voltage. These have over-current shutdown and regulated output voltage.

Seems a dew heater is a must. Ran the ASC last night in very damp conditions and the inside of the dome was fogged up in addition to a few rain drops on the outside from earlier rain. I've brought it indoors to re-connect the dew heaters and check that they are still working. Two sets of resistors provide 3 levels of heating plus off controlled from KStars using the Astroberry Board INDI driver.

It's a Fujinon fisheye 1.4mm f1.8. I bought it from another member who bought it from ebay but since discontinued, I'm afraid.

I see. You could ask on the INDI forum if anyone has written a driver for the LakesideAstro. But it seems you have things mostly sorted out

Aarrgghh!!! Gave up on my mini PC box! Which focuser have you got. I make my own and with the INDI Astroberry Focuser you only need a Pololu A4988 driver which can be mounted on an RPi HAT. And for the stepper a modified 28BYJ-48 5v. Then all you need is a bit of mechanics to connect stepper motor to scope focuser knob or shaft. I shall be describing all of this in my tutorial as an add-on feature for those who want to make their own or who don't have any of the many INDI supported focusers.

I have changed host names on my RPis so that I can run two or more instances of KStars to run the various imaging systems, currently just the mono ASC (for night sky) and scope imager. But later I shall be adding a daytime colour ASC and be testing another RPi for the widefield imaging rig.

OK - scope rig back indoors. I'll set it up on the NEQ6 shortly but need a cuppa first It's turned cold outdoors! And fully overcast ready for the rain to come!!