BargeGazer

With the Sky-Watcher AZ GTi being out of stock everywhere and with no date for availability I am wondering if there are any other alternatives for a simple controlled Alt/Az mount for use with lighter scopes such as the Mak 127 and Explore Scientific 80 that people could recommend. I have an HEQ5 but there are many occasions where a lightweight Alt/Az with tracking would be very useful. Alternatively does anyone have the inside knowledge as to when the GTi will be available. Thanks David

James, I'm sorry to be a pain in the proverbial but I am clearly doing something wrong. If you could give any advice I would be indebted to you. Complete clean install of Mint Ulyana and update. installation of Indi and KStars via: sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mutlaqja/ppa sudo apt-get update sudo apt-get install indi-full kstars-bleeding Then downloaded oacapture from oacapture_1.7.0-1_amd64.deb under Ubuntu 20 Then using GDebi package manager I get the attached screenshot I tried both before and after running Kstars with the same effect. Do you have any idea where I am going off the rails? David

Thanks. I'll just try it all again. David

Thanks James That is how I tried it but I'll try re-installing it all from scratch. Would Ubuntu be a better base to start from than Mint. I am building this laptop up as an Astro-only machine. It is not exactly the latest and hottest machine though. David

James. the version I am using is 1.7.0-1 amd64 from the Ubuntu 20.04 section of openastroproject. I am running Linux Mint 20 (Ulyana), MATE. David

Mark, Yes I have looked at that but my Linux knowledge gets a bit iffy to diagnose from one to the other. I am sure I am just being stupid somewhere.

I'm fighting my laptop again and have had to resort to a full reinstall of Linux Mint. I have got Kstars working, apparenlty correctly, with all the indi components installed, including QHY drivers. Trying to install oacapture from the latest source and it insists on removing all indi and Kstars instances. Similarly if I let oacapture remove these instances then when I reinstall them Oacapture is removed. Obviously I am doing something stupid as I had them working together some months ago before having to rebuild everything. Many thanks for any help. David

I have just moved into the Dorchester area. Can anyone tell me where the best, and safest, spots are for observing? Are there any groups / observatories in the area. Many thanks, David

Thanks James. If I revert to Mint I'll give it a try again and let you know if I have a problems.

Thanks I'll have a look at it.

James, I was having problems under Mint but, for a couple of other reasons, have changed to Ubuntu and it is loaded with no problems. (while I have grown up with computers from the punched card onwards I am a total newbie to Linux in more than just a simple desktop) Thanks

Thanks, I'll give wine a try with autostackert and maybe stackistry. I'm having a few problems with oacapture but will get back to trying it again/ David

I am moving my astro imaging and control over to a Linux Mint notebook. I have most that I need with the various Indi, Ekos, Kstars, Firecapture programs working and can find a number of DSS stacking tools but none that look to be maintained for Planetary Stacking (similar to Registax under windows for example). What does anyone use that will allow me to do a quick stacking out in the field just to check whether I can expect to get a decent result when I get back to a more powerful processor at home? Thank you in advance. David

That's a shame but thanks.

I am setting Astroberry up on a Pi4 and have succeeded in setting up to its Hotspot, ethernet and my home wifi. To continue setting up I would like to be able to sometimes connect to the astroberry's hotspot while in range of my home network just to check everything out before heading away from home. Is there a way of forcing the astroberry to drop the home wifi and activate its Hotspot (and the reverse) without editing the advanced network controls and the priorities assigned to the connections and rebooting or alternatively turning off my home network. Many thanks, David

Nice idea that could be evolved for all sorts of tripods, thereby reduce the sort of wiring clutter I always seem to have. What is the power module you are using, it looks interesting.

Ivo, It was all down to sticky fingers - screen was not responding as expected. Thanks David

Looks useful but it will not let me add a place with Longitude as a negative number. Samsung Galaxy A5 won't give me a minus on the keyboard only a dot. Will try another device. David