rwillett

Just to echo other comments, excellent first picture and very jealous.

120MB for 10 frames is not unrealistic if each frame is 12MB. Depending on how its stored and AVI is just a file container, it could have no compression or lots of compression. As it's an MS created file format, I'd assume it's not optimised. Since you've converted it to MP4 the problem has gone away. Rob

Looks good, but I'd worry about flex when you get to something that sort of size. I'm trying to work out (in what passes for my brain these days), where the max load will be and in which direction. That's my biggest worry in printing anything to do with AP. I don't know enough about 3d modelling to work out how to do stress calculations or even if my free version of Fusion 360 can even do it. It does remind me of the Astrotracker that somebody modelled a few months ago. It looks like it's a hell of a size as well, whats the max dimensions? Rob

@woodblock How big is huge? (if thats not a rude question). Rob

Even better than parts would be some sort of instructions Looks great though.

I think you're probably right, I haven't tested WSL in any detail or in anger, whereas I have tested and indeed run Linux on VMs quite extensively. That's all running on a single i7 CPU (forget which) on ESXi with 32GB of ram and quite a bit of SSD behind it. Not sure WSL would work here, especially for the OpenStreetMap server. if you gave ever run the OSM server you'll know why it's turned off and only runs when I let it out the cage. Doing a large map rebuild dims the lights in the village

I'm not too bothered about Windows support TBH. We now have two Windows boxes, ones is my astronomy laptop, a mid range Lenovo T450s and I just donated my quite large PC that now only plays Battlefield 4 to the kids so they can play Planet Zoo. What I sacrifice as a parent ... If it wasn't for BF4/Planet Zoo and the astronomy stuff, I'd probbaly be all Mac based, but I did try to go all Mac and there's just not the range or quality of software. I know I can go Raspberry Pi, and indeed I have a Pi4/8GB running Stellarmate, but it's so much easier on a laptop and until I get really familair with it, I'll stay with Windows and then move to the Pi. I have run Lunix on Windows, but there were little gotchas around the GUI that it's just easier to fire up a Ubuntu box or even a VM session. I am really struggling to see the value of Windows 11 over Windows 10. Now a proper supported ARM version of Windows that I can run on my M1 Mac with BF4 support would be very welcome and I'd pay for that as I can rationalise hardware. Rob

Please keep us up to date. I love this sort of stuff and I know I should be working, but I'd much rather follow this down I run my own business so it's my decision really Thanks Rob

That looks great, how much filament will you go through? Will it actually work? Rob

The Raspberry Pi 4 will need a heat sink. It will get hot even at night if you do a lot of processing. There are loads of cases around that are designed for the Pi 4 which have thermal paste/thermal pads that will 'glue' parts of the case to the chips. The case then becomes the heatsink and this works well. I recall that the CPU does thermal throttling if it gets too warm, reduces the CPU frequency so its cooler, not what you want for plate solving. Rob

Somebody has Win 11 working on a 15 year old Pentium 4 https://uk.pcmag.com/migrated-3765-windows-10/136375/no-new-pc-needed-windows-11-runs-on-a-15-year-old-intel-pentium-4-chip I realise I sound like a contrian here and am pushing Win 11, I'm not but I like keeping kit going. I have a circa 16 year old Linux box that is still working and is used for nodejs testing. My 2013 Macbook Pro is still working hard each day. Rob

There is a MS documented way around the TPM module not being present and that's to install Windows 11 manually. https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/windows/ways-to-install-windows-11-e0edbbfb-cfc5-4011-868b-2ce77ac7c70e MS put loads of warnings about this, and you take your own risks, but I would argue that simply having Windows installed is a risk itself, and no, thats not a joke. If you want stability get a Unix, Linux or BSD box, if you want a reasonable amount of stability and some nice apps, get a Mac. YMMV Rob

I can't see what value win 11 will bring. At the end of the day, you run applications, not the OS, that's just there to let the apps run. If all your apps run Windows 10 and it's still supported, stay with it. As other people have said, Windows 11 is picky on the hardware. It's entirely possible that 60-70% of current Win 10 PC's will never run Windows 11. Are Microsoft going to give that market up? Unlikely. As an aside I have just downloaded Windows 11 for Arm Insider preview to try it on my mac mini m1 under Parallels. Works well though doesn't run Battlefield 4 yet 😁 however the ui has changed yet again and so I couldn't find anything. I'm stopping with Win 10 for at least another, possibly two before I even think about it. Rob

Just printed a 42mmx0.75mm to see if it worked and it was great. No issues threading on an extension tube. This was printed on a Prusa MKS3+ at 0.05mm and 100%. Not sure if thats the best to use, it took 102 mins to do a 5mm ring BUT it worked first time. My older Ender 3 would never get that accurate. Rob

This thread has made my day and it's only 7:47. I wonder if I can get my Borg threads for a Crayford focusor worked out. Finding spares for the older Borgs is getting difficult and/or expensive. I have a new Prusa to replace my Ender 3 and its such a nice printer, just works out the box whereas the Ender 3 always needs calibration and maintenance. I have used it a lot though. I'll copy the files to Fusion 360 and see how it all goes. Many thanks Rob

This looks interesting. https://marcosatm.com/2020/05/27/designing-a-high-quality-3d-printed-crayford-focuser/ I haven't printed it, but was interested in it to see if I could adapt it for my Borg 76mm. Sadly it's in SolidWorks and I use Fusion, but it might import. and a load here https://www.thingiverse.com/search?q=crayford&type=things&sort=relevant Rob

I'd be very careful with tape opr double sided pads for a telrad base. I left mine on a Brandon and it pulled the paint off. I designed a telrad base that fits onto 80mm tube rings, it works well. happy to share the designs and files if it helps. Rob

I use a cheap 130mm F4 lens with a altair Astro guide cam. Its accurate enough for me. Rob

Another project to add to my list just after I finish: 1. My CNC machine 2. My CNC Software 3. My Borg automatic focusor (almost done there) 4. My Astrotracker (just need to wire it up, oh and get a small camera) 5. Fix my Ender 3 Pro 6. Earn some money for the above Anyway, it does look a nice project, and given the fact it's waterproof, perfect for the rubbish weather we are having., Rob

The other side to this is that they have had ten years to get it all right and address all the foibles and gotchas. A new system brings with it new bugs and issues. Well worth looking at though. Rob

Our cat dropped a lamp on my partners macbook Air, smashed the screen, I simply ran a monitor cable on it and use it headless. Simple devices work well. Rob

I was also looking at buying a panel. Thanks for the tip. Rob

A bit late to this topic, but I ended up with a refurbished Lenovo Thinkpad 450S. It came with 8GB ram, an i5 processor and I threw the hard disk away and put in an older SSD I had lying around. The advantage of this is that it was cheap as cheaps to buy, runs Windows and OS X (cough), powerful enough to do evefything in the field and if I do break it, lose it, drop it, its not the end of the world. The advantage over a Raspberry PI is that you don't need to VMC in or use an app to control it. I'm not knocking Raspberry Pi's, I have two running octoprint, another running PiHole, another running Stellarmate (as an exercise) just that a Windows 10 box gives you a lot of flexibility and you don;t need a big one to run SharpCap etc etc. I have had a Synology box and would never go back to one. They were very slow as they used a very restricted CPU based on an old RISC design. Any rebuilds were a nightmare and it was just too slow. I spent a long time trying to make it faster and just gave up. Any way, just my 2c worth. Rob