Vox45

ho the humanity ! INDI Forum Admin : "I think I would have to add a warning NOT to use Mint since it's pretty old compared to Ubuntu. It's recommended to download Kubuntu/Ubuntu 16.04 and then you won't have problems with the PPA"

I did attend a 3 day training for Pixinsight as the learning curve can be a bit steep. I was fortunate enough of being completely new to image processing so I did not have to get rid of photoshop mindsets There are a lot of tutorial for PI and once you understand the philosophy of it, it is a joy to work with. Very powerful.

I am taking the plunge ! I got a spare laptop with Win7 on it, I'll install Linux Mint (interface closer to Windows... baby steps) and see if I can install the INDI stuff. Since Ubuntu is supported, I would guess that Mint would also work even thought it is not explicitely listed in the list of platform. ... I'll report on this.

I don't do mosaics, but maybe you could try this out and let us know http://indilib.org/support/tutorials/155-create-super-mosaics-with-ekos.html

I agree that it can be a bit scary. It does take a new mindset and it can be frustrating at times. It's like throwing out old slippers and putting on new ones... it hurts for a while

I feel a bit foolish now ! While researching all this and following links posted by members above, I see that there is already something out there that solves all my needs. Just take a look at http://indilib.org/ Runs on: Preconfigured Virtual machine (Kubuntu) Ubuntu Fedora Geentoo Android Raspberry PI Supports lots of devices (Filter Wheels, CCDs, Domes, Focuser, etc) Guiding with PHD, plate solving with astrometry.net Using Ekos solves the APT/BYEOS need and AstroTortilla. http://indilib.org/about/ekos.html My only remaining issue is the HitecDCfocus ...

Ok I did not know this. I was under the impression that EQMOD would only work with ASCOM ! That is good news for me as I really like EQMOD and have an EQDIRECT cable Regarding post processing software running on Linux (FreeBSD and Linux), Pixinsight is my prefered choice. The fact that they want to enter the hardware control game using INDI could help some of us transition to Linux easily PI Official statement: "We are excited to announce the release of a new PixInsight module: INDIClient, an open-source, multiplatform INDI client available on FreeBSD, Linux, OS X, and Windows. The new module is now being distributed as an official update for the latest PixInsight 1.8.4 versions. " To summarize, I could be moving to Linux and keep using natively (no WINE): EQMOD (Mount control) Pixinsight (Image Processing) oaCapture (Planetary imaging) PHD (Guiding) Carte Du Ciel / Stellarium / Virtual Moon Atlas Still no replacement for: HitecDCfocus (there is a list of INDI drivers here, but nothing on HitecAstro) AstroTortilla (plate solving) BYEOS (APT) style DSLR control Remember that the goal is to make a smooth transition away from Windows. I did "the old switcheroo" on my wife a couple of years ago, I got her to use Firefox and LibreOffice ... once she got used to it, I told her that I was going to upgrade the OS without telling her anything more. I installed OpenSuSE and never got any negative comments since then. If the tools are the same, most people won't care about the underlying OS.

And I know that 2 of those alternative also have their dev active on this forum (oaCapture and Siril)

I'll keep that in mind. Note that I was talking about Linux being 'astro ready' for Windows user who want to make the switch in the most transparent way possible. Just the fact that ASCOM and EQMOD are not cross-platform can be quite a turn off for some.

Yes, this thread is in no way distro specific, I am not pushing for 'Astro Distro'. On the contrary, let's list what is working on Linux in general and what can we use as replacement (there may not be any for some) and see where this leads us. The conclusion of this thread could very well be... Linux is not ready yet.

Here is what I got so far: Stellarium Cartes du Ciel Iris PixInsight Virtual Moon Atlas You can build PHD2 for Linux. (I admit I would rather have it run natively) Regarding hardware: here is a list of supported hardware from "Distro Astro"

This thread was created to help people who would like to leave MS and move to Linux. The idea is to list, in a concise manner, the list of all softwares that are either cross-platform (for exemple: Carte Du Ciel) or alternatives to what is commonly used (for exemple INDI Library instead of ASCOM) I'll let people who are computer savvy expand on this list... There are also Linux distribution that were created specifically for astrophotography

thank you for taking the time to clarify this I'll look into your software as it looks really good from what I gather reading this thread. Nice to see that there are still people trying to improve on this process as it can be confusing to the newcomers. I still see on a regular basis people starting threads on PA and confusing 3 stars alignment with polar alignment. In my case, it has always been the issue of what to do when polaris is not visible... learning an alternate method has saved my night a couple of time

I am starting to get a little confused, maybe you can help clarify. (1) How does PPA compares with Kevin Sipprell's PoleFocus ? (2) I see people using PoleMaster software, which looks similar to your software, and pay up to 300€ for the camera that is placed on the Polar scope. From what I understand, your software uses a camera mounted on the main scope, so are these people throwing away 300€ ? I mean, is there a reason to get a dedicated cam on the polar scope, what is the logic behind that if we can achieve the same result using a DSLR on the main OTA ? Sorry for the dumb question but I feel that we are spending a lot of energy on something that should be quite simple and built in the mount I heard that some newer mount get rid of this issue... rumor ? Personally I use PDH drit align tool ... takes more time but works well. I would like to test your software so I could speed up the PA process of course. A fellow astronomer did a demo of his polemaster last week, he was done in less than 5 minutes... but for a cost !

nice

Curious .. which software did you use to do the design with transparency like that ? looks quite nice

I can't wait to see the end design great project ... but will the obsy also have pretty blue curtains like the play house ? I hope it does ! My duaghter is also 6... what a joy when she started to enjoy astro like her daddy. Nothing beats that

My version of M31 taken with a SW80ED and FR/FF + Canon 1000D DSLR, not cropped. I was fortunate to be in the French Alps under dark skies, that made it much easier to get decent result. I only wish I had taken more lights (15x30secs @800ISO)

Beautiful nice choice of color, it does compliment your tidy garden ! I am a bit jealous ....

Thanks for pointing that out ! The cheap chinese copy I got is such a soldering mess that I don't trust it to be used with my mount anymore. I understand where people are coming from when they want to make their own cable, but in my case, I don't want to worry everytime I plug my cable and my peace of mine is worth the price of an Hitech Astro cable Again, I am not judging people who feel like making their own cable as it is a really easy job, my only advice would be to stay away from chinese copies and buy genuine FTDI chips

Soldering was really awful, I was shocked when I opened the casing... I agree Zakalwe, you get what yo pay for... I went to the FTDI site to order the chip... The chip is 14.88£ and shipping is 16.93£ for France. Grand total of 36£ ... Might as well buy one from FLO, to support their business and i'd get better customer service if something goes wrong.

last update ... gave up ... Everything that could go wrong did go wrong... - Ordered from eBay (china) on june 27th... finally got the chip 6 weeks later - followed EQMOD colors for the RJ45 and like the big dope that I am did not realise that the wire I had did not match the color specifications ... I confused the red for the "orange" (TXD) and used the yellow and black as specified. Problem is, I did not check the specs for the one I got on eBay... in doubt I went back to the vendor site and saw this: Red wire: 5V Black wire: GND White wire: RXD Green wire: TXD Yellow wire: RTS Blue wire: CTS I should have gone with Black/White/Green instead of Black/Yellow/red (that I mistooke for the orange) Basically the 1st wire I made was GND/RTS/5v ... Doh! hopefully I did not damage anything by putting 5v on TXD .. - and finally, as everything was getting very confusing, I opened the USB connector to look at the PCB and, surprise surprise ... Green wire was loose ! To think that I bought this because I did not want to do soldering on an FTDI chip... Frankly, all this to save 20£ and it is still not connecting to the mount. I give up, I'll be ordering a genuine chip from FTDI tomorrow lesson learned.

I just had a senior moment there ... When I said that when cheking the voltage using pin 4 (GND) and 5 (RXD) I get 4.98v but when I check on the pin 4 and 6 (TXD) it reads around 3.5v It was actually the opposite... I get 5v on pin 4 and 6 (TXD) and 3.5v on 4 and 5 (RXD) which is the correct voltage for a HEQ5 mount on TXD... Still no luck, I get connection errors in EQMOD and went through the usual suspect (com port, drivers, reboot, etc) I even change computer from a win7 x32 to a win7 x64 so... I'll check the wiring and hopefully it is not the FTDI driver refusing to talk to a fake chip although FTDI did say that they would not do that (anymore)