Doug64

Thanks for the info.

Doug

11 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

I use a 64 and you could use 128, also download a little programme that is free called “SD card formatter” it’s perfect as it can be a painful trying to format when there are two partitions on rpi SM SD cards and sometimes it will only format the Boot partition...I use FAT32 on all mine...then they will show on windows PC too, if you need to edit any files directly...like config.txt..

Thanks

Thanks for the replies.

Does anyone know the max seize micro SD card you can use with the Pi and Astroberry as I read people saying its 32gb and other stating its 128gb.

If I were to put my USB3.0 GP cam into a USB2.0 port would this cause any problems.

Doug

5 minutes ago, TerryMcK said:

Great glad you got the camera going Doug  - that ID: 03c3:1603 will be the 1600 as you say. I think that the first two octets 03c3 are issued to manufacturers and in this case it will be ZWO.

As to the next question of connecting the mount and guider to the USB2 ports that is exactly what I do. I was getting timing issues when I shared the USB3 line with the camera (both on PC under AstroPhotographyTool and on the PI running Astroberry). So now I have the guider, mount, controller for the dewheater, focuser and the PoleMaster plugged into a USB2 hub and then onto the USB2 port on the PI. No timing issues at all using that config. Yes I now have three cables going away from the rig (USB3 cable, USB2 cable and power) but it works fine.

 

Thanks,

I'll plug my mount, focuser, and guide camera into the powered hub and then into the USB 2.0 port on the Pi and my camera and filter wheel into the USB 3.0 port as the focuser goes into the camera hub.  This will then leave me one USB 3.0 port available on the Pi for my SSD.

Thanks for all the help.

Doug 

Hi Everyone,

Thanks for all the help, it looks like I've now sorted this and have my ASI 1600 camera working

Earlier today I did a few tests using 'lsusb'.

And with nothing attached I saw the following which appears to be my powered hub.

I then attached my Zwo ASI 1600MM to the powered hub and I got this

so it looks like the Zwo ASI 1600MM is being recognised as BUS 001 Device 010: ID 04b4:6572 Cypress Semi Conductor Corp.

However my camera was not loading when I started EKOS even though I had the Zwo Drivers correctly selected.

I then followed the advice of Terry (Thanks Terry) and I took everything out of the PI and connected my Zwo Camera straight to it.

When I ran 'lsub', I got the below which is similar to what Terry had

This time instead of showing just BUS 001 Device 010: ID 04b4:6572 Cypress Semi Conductor Corp as it did when I ran 'lsusb' with the camera plugged into my hub it also showed the additional ID: 03c3:1603.

With the camera still plugged directly into the Pi I set up a test profile for the camera alone and when I started Ekos it loaded correctly as per the below image.

Having got the camera to work I then connected the USB for my filter wheel  and focuser to the hub on the camera.  I also attached the USB for my mount and guide camera directly to the USB 2.0 ports on the Pi .  When I set up a test and ran everything it all worked as shown below.:)

Hopefully now I'll be able to get everything sorted and can learn more about imaging with KStars/Ekos.

I have just a couple of questions to finally get this sorted :-

Would it be better to connect my mount USB and Guide Camera USB directly to the Pi using the USB 2.0 ports or am I best connecting them to the powered USB 3.0 hub.  My guide camera is a USB3.0 camera but I think it will run on USB 2.0 just a little slower.

At the moment I have an SSD connected to one of the USB ports, I could do away with this and add a larger Micro SD card, if I were to do this what is the largest size micro SD card I can use, its mainly for image storage which can get fairly large as we know.  If I were to do away with the SSD I could then connect my guide camera directly to the USB 3.0 port which should make it a little faster.

Thanks again everyone you've really helped me get this sorted.

Doug

6 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

It looks like the camera is listed there the three ASmedia entries...

Hi,

I think the first ASMedia entry may be the Startech hub but I'm not sure.

The other two entries look like they may be the Zwo ASI camera but again I'm not sure as they could also be the Altair Astro GP Cam.

I should know more when I remove the USB cables from the hub and put them in one at a time and run LSUSB, this will hopefully identify each piece of equipment and I can see if the ASI camera is being detected on the USB port

Doug

5 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

It looks like the camera is listed there the three ASmedia entries...

Hi,

6 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

It looks like the camera is listed there the three ASmedia entries...

Thanks,

I'll give it a try later today.

Doug

Hi,

With regards to 'LSUSB' my idea today was to take all USB's out of the hub and put them in one at a time and run 'LSUSB' to identify which one is for which piece of equipment and if my ASI Camera shows up.

Doug

4 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

In a terminal window, issue the command lsusb, this will return all the USB devices that the Pi can see.

Thanks for the reply,

I did that yesterday but being new to Linux etc I could not work out what everything was and wasn't sure if it was seeing my ASI Camera.

Here is an image I got of 'Lsusb'

5 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Hello,

can you share a picture of your ekos profile, so I can see what that is all set at...?

Hi Stuart,

Thanks for the reply.

I've attached an image of my profile, if you need anything else plse let me know.

Doug

Hi,

I'm trying to set up Astroberry on my rpi4.

I've got all my equipment working most of the time when using my DSLR but I cannot get it to work with my ASI 1600MM.

I have replaced the DSLR with the ASI camera and Starlight Filter Wheel.  The filter wheel is connected to the hub on the back of the camera.

I'm running an ethernet cable from Pi directly to my router, I'm using a Startech powered hub and the original Pi power supply.  I have one USB 3.0 cable running from the hub to the USB 3.0 port on the Pi.

Having connected the ASI camera I start Ekos and I immediately get a pop up window stating 'No ASI camera detected. Power on?'.  The filter wheel connects correctly through the hub on the camera but I cannot get the camera to work.

So far I've removed the camera and checked it using the same cables with my laptop and everything worked correctly, I've tried different ports on the hub and checked everything as best but I cannot get the camera to work.  Being desperate I've even ordered a new USB 3.0 cable to try even though I know the one I have is working.

I'm very new to Linux so this isn't helping me resolve this problem.

Has anyone come across this when using an ASI 1600MM with a Pi and if so how did you resolve it.

I've asked the same question on the Indi Astroberry Forum but to date I've not had a reply.  I've also copied over images and a log file to the indi forum to hopefully assist.

Thanks

Doug

Thanks for the replies,

I'm very new to RPI, Linux etc however I'm using the lockdown to learn.

I've set up my pi4 with Astroberry on a 32gb Micro SD Card and once it was all set up I made a copy of the card onto another 32gb micro SD card so I have a backup.

Having done this I decided to try using an SSD that I had.  I used a 16gb micro SD card and followed the James Chambers Guide.  I got it all working and it appears to be much faster once it has booted us so I'm going to use my SSD going forwards.  I have however made a few mistakes whilst learning how to operate things which meant I had to re-do the SD card and SSD as I did not know how to back everything up and this is the reason for my question.

I am aware that the PI Foundation will update the software in the future so the PI4 boots from the USB 3.0, until then I'll keep using the SSD. 

I'll have a look at Win32 Imager etc and will get a back-up made

Doug

Hi,

I'm setting up my pi4 and have set it up to run from my SSD using the 'James Chambers' guide.

Now that I've got it all working I was wondering if there is a way to copy/back-up an image of the SSD & SD card to my Win10 laptop in case their is a problem.

Thanks

Doug

Hi,

I'd like to thank you very much for your help, it has been much appreciated.

With all the help it looks like I have now managed to connect to the RPI to the internet by plugging the Ethernet cable into it from my router, this appears to be much more stable than using the Wi-Fi hotspot created by the RPI. 

I have also managed some updates and I will hopefully be able to enjoy it more and see if it will do what I want.

No doubt I will have more questions as I start to set the RPI up but I will ask these on Indilib forum.

Thanks again for all your help 

Doug

19 hours ago, stash_old said:

If you mean the IP network address - no thats down to your router - most will allow displaying of attached devices and therefore you will see your Astroberry. The address will not be 10.42.0.1 which is reserved for the hotspot which if you connect by ethernet wired cable should still appear and be 10.42.0.1 as you can have both connected. I use this to update my PI as the Wired route is far faster than even 5ghz wireless. You could try http://astroberry.local which may work (90% depending on your router set up)

It's as simple as this:

• Start your Raspberry Pi with the flashed microSD card.
• Connect to an Astroberry Wireless Hotspot (default password is astroberry)
• Point your browser to http://astroberry.local or http://IP_ADDRESS
• Click Connect button to access Astroberry Server
• Connect to Astroberry desktop (default password is astroberry)

There should be no problem with connecting to your RPI4 (assuming it ok hardware wise) and the easiest way is you use the "full image" from Astroberry Web site and NOT the raspbian buster std image from PI site - the latter would need to be update with Astroberry. The full image is from here https://www.astroberry.io and the link is straight after the word Dowdload "astroberry Server" in yellow (4th line down). DO NOT use the instructions from further down thats for experienced users. 

Stellarmate / Astroberry/ ASair all share 90% what is called Indi software as there base  - just that Asair has a better thought out front end  and last time I looked it didn't connect to non ZWO kit,as you say,except DSLR's I am informed.

The thing to remember on the first start up is to give it time to do some initial housekeeping and maybe refresh your WiFi scan on your external device.

Plus use the "better" SD cards from Samsung or Sandisk they are faster and IME give less trouble - so something like this https://www.picstop.co.uk/microsd-sdhc/sandisk-ultra-micro-sdhc-memory-card-98mbs-class-10-for-android-16gb.html 

The approach you mention to attach the PI to your mount , control it and your image rig is no problem normally but it does depend of your kit ?????

P.S. You must have done it right once as your screen prints prove 🙂  The screen resolution is not really a problem - just knowing how to change is for new users.

If you need any more answers just type away 🙂

Thanks for the detailed reply.

I have the time, I like some "FUN" and I have a little patience so I'll continue to give it a go.

The SD card I'm using is a 16gb Panasonic Micro SDHC Card class 10 which I think is fairly fast and a decent brand.

If I understand this correctly what I need to do is get everything sorted so that the RPI produces the Astroberry hotspot when it is turned on.  I will then be able to see the hotspot on my laptop and connect to it.  Once connected to the hotspot I can then connect to 'Astroberry Server' and in the future I will hopefully be able to control my equipment etc provided it is set up properly. 

On my mount I have the powered USB 3.0 hub and I will connect the USB cable from this to the RPI and then I'll have an ethernet cable running from the RPI to my laptop in the house. 

I will need to set up both the RPI and laptop so they communicate with each other over the ethernet cable, I think this is where a 'ssh' file comes in and some sort of viewing software such as Realvnc. 

I will also need some way of connecting my RPI to my internet to download updates etc and this is where I set everything up so I can connect the RPI to my home internet again using the ethernet cable or wireless internet (if I get it working). 

Are you able to confirm that this is correct so I can get it straight in my head and I know what my aims are and then I can break them down to achieve each one.

Thanks

Doug

On 16/04/2020 at 17:08, noah4x4 said:

An idea Doug,

Suggest buy a medium sized plastic toolbox. Inside put the Intel NUC, Focusser controller, batteries, whatever you need, all bolted to an MDF frame. Then you have a portable solution that you don't need to leave outside. When in use, you just run a short cable from NUC to scope, camera etc.

Here is one I made....

 

 

Thanks for the reply.

I'm having a play with an RPI 4 at the moment but I think I may end up getting a NUC in the not to distant future as I cant get the RPI 4 to work.

Doug

Hi,

Just a quick question If I attach the RPI to my router by an ethernet cable and start it up for the first time do you know what settings I'll need to change to access Astroberry.

Doug

8 hours ago, stash_old said:

Astroberry works fine without a keyboard.monitor etc either by using MSDOS type access called SSH or by using REMOTE access via a Web browser or by using REALVNC viewer.

My advice to you is :

1. Recreate the SD card from the Astroberry full Image

 

2. Do not change anything - especially passwords - at this stage

 

3. Connect to the HOTSPOT 10.42.0.1 (normally) or use the Ethernet connection to your normal Hub/Router and use the address allocated by your home system.. You can add another wireless AP (e.g. Home) but you need to understand how PI looks for and in what order it uses wireless connections - this is done by giving a "priority/order number" and works very well. But you are still learning so "slowly slowly catchy monkey" as they say - hence using wired and/or hotspot connections do not interfere with each other. 

4. Change your Screen Resolution - note using the Realvnc viewer (Both Astroberry NOVNC and Realvnc viewer use the inbuilt standard PI REALVNC SERVER you can do a temp change from within the Viewer to fit onto your remote screens resolution. Realvnc has been round many many years on Linux and Windows. Novnc is normally fine to use and not heard of any problems.

5. Get used to using the PI and its commands first - it is a steep learning curve but most people get use to it in the end.

6. Go slowly with adding kit ,checking at each stage if the kit being added is working correctly - do it during the day if possible. 

7. You can get a "dummy" HMDI plug (£5ish on ebay) which fools the PI into thinking a monitor is connected but you shouldn't need one.

The route you have chosen for whatever reason is not the easiest ,as I say a steep learning curve, and maybe you should look at either Stellarmate or ASAIR(pro) for ease of use. This is not meant to be patronising but you have to understand the beast you are dealing with and perhaps your own patience/abilities - if you like "fun" or tinkering then fine plenty of help on Indi Lib site and some here.

Hope that helps a bit and Good Luck with your new endeavour 🙂

Thanks for the lengthy reply.

I purchased the RPI4 and other items for it  having done some research which I now think may have been wrong:(.

I want to use the RPI 4 to control my mount and imaging rig, my initial intention was to place the RPI 4 at the mount and control it from my laptop in the house  over an ethernet cable and on the odd occasion when out in the field from my tablet.  Now I just want to get the thing working so I haven't wasted my money.

Having done my research I believed a RPI 4 with Astroberry Server would be the way for me to proceed.  I did have a look at ASIAIR but my research showed that this would only control Zwo Cameras and I use other types.  I also looked at Stellar Mate but this just appeared to be a RPI with some licensed software on it and I thought I could do this by purchasing the RPI 4 and putting Astroberry Server onto it.  I also read that Stellar Mate was based on a RPI3+ and I thought a RPI 4 would be better.  I also looked at using a NUC but the cost put me off a little.

I have now purchased having looked at peoples reviews etc the RPI 4 (4gb), Flirc Case, RPI power adaptor, 250gb SSD Drive and adaptor  and a 15m Ethernet Cable.  I also have the official RPI HDMI cable on route but this will take about a week.

When I first read up on this I saw the beginners guide on this forum and thought I would be able to give it a go, as stated I cannot even get past stage 1 and think I may have made a terrible mistake.  I have plenty of time on my hands due to the lockdown and the fact that I am semi-retired and I don't mind doing research and learning but everything I trty to do to get the RPI and Astroberry working fails and I end up having to re-format the micro SD card and try again.

For some reason when I load the SD card into the RPI and switch it on my computer does not see the hotspot created by the RPI and therefore I cannot access Astroberry.  On the odd occasdion it will allow me to access Astroberry  but once I'm there I am unable to do anything else as the RPI/software appears to crash.

I'll keep trying to see what I can do.

Thanks again 

Doug

Hi,

I've resolved the issue with the pop up boxes not being fully on the screen, I had to adjust the screen resolution.

Still having to put password everywhere and after changing password in the software I now have to use 2 different passwords

I cannot get Astroberry to work from the 'Astroberry Hotspot' without a monitor, keyboard or mouse.  I can sometimes get into the software and when I do I change the settings as per the setup guide to try and get the software/RPI to use my home wireless internet.,  Having added my SSID and internet password the software states that it needs to re-boot.  I then try the reboot and it then looks like my RPI/software crashes  It does not reload Astroberry, the network settings don't show on my computer, hotspot and wireless connection missing and I cannot get the software to work.  I end up having to re-format the micros SD and start again. 

I've tried about 5 times and have now given up or I'll end up kicking the RPI across the room :(.  I've ordered a HDMI cable and I'm going to give it a go using a monitor, keyboard, mouse etc when it arrives which will take about a week.

If this doesn't work then I'll have to try something else, this has been a terrible first day.

Doug

Hi,

My new Raspberry PI4 has just arrived and I am in the process of trying to set it up using Astroberry and the beginners guide by Ian (X6gas).  Thanks Ian.

I have managed to get the Astroberry softeware onto my Micro SD card and I loaded this into the RPI4 and have turned it on.  I am trying to set everything up without a monitor, keyboard or mouse using my laptop.  When I turned the RPI4 on I was able to find the Astroberry hotspot and when I signed into this I got the following which I hope is correct.

I then went to the start-up page and connected to Astroberry and I have been having a look around the homepage getting  myself acquainted with it.  When I click on items under Preferences etc another box opens up but this is always to the right hand side of my screen and partly out of sight.   I then have to drag and drop the box into the middle of my screen so I can see it properly.  Can this be fixed and if so, how do I go about doing it. 

I've attached an image below to show what I mean.

I've also found that I have to keep using the password to open certain items and after I've updated them, is there a way to turn the password protection off etc .

Thanks for your help with this, I can see this is going to be a very big learning kerb for me but I'm determined to get it sorted so I can control my telescope.

Thanks again

Doug

15 hours ago, noah4x4 said:

Hi Doug, 

Using two computers directly connected by Cat6 cable is a good option if you are happy with cable. It is far more reliable than USB. The advantage of AVI/USB/HDMI extenders is you only need one computer. But they do have limitations. 

The best route (IMHO) is install Windows 10 Pro on that at the scope, and run all software on that. You then use the laptop indoors as a dumb terminal and use it to control the primary computer using Windows Remote Desktop. If you have power at the scope you can then embrace AC/DC adapters, which then makes life easy.

There are other RDP options like TeamViewer and VnC. But (IMHO) Windows 10 Pro Remote Desktop is the most stable and easiest to set up. It also offers control over RemoteFX compression etc. It costs £99 from Windows 10 Home to upgrade, but it saved me a lot of grief. You only need Win 10 Pro on the scope side machine.

The computer specification at the scope depends on what you want to do, bearing in mind you have a 16 megapixel resolution camera. If all you want to do is capture data in the scope side computer for later post processing on a more powerful PC then a seventh generation i3 with 8Gb RAM should suffice, provided that you ccept a 1920 x 1080 (1080p) resolution.

However, if you want to capture data at the camera's native resolution and transfer 4K UHD screen data to be viewed indoors on a 4K UHD monitor  (as I do) you might need an 7i5 with 16 Gb RAM. But if you stack five second exposures and want real time 4K UHD viewing (as I do), then an 8i7 with 16Gb RAM is desirable.

The computer indoors need not have e such a high specification. However, if you want to view (indoors) at 4K UHD then both PCs need to have that graphics capability. 

Setting up the primary computer to run 'headless' (no monitor) is easy. I simply switch on computer and scope having connected camera and retire indoors. I then connect using Remote Desktop and control passes to my indoor computer. I use Celestron CPWI, but you have options such as Stellarium or Cartes Du Ceil. 

Hope this helps. 

Hi,

Thanks for the reply, 

I'll have to look into this a bit further as I'm not sure I want to leave a fairly expensive NUC at the bottom of my garden overnight as it may disappear.

Doug 

Hi,

I use a Startech 7 port USB 3.0 hub.  I have used this for a number of years and find it to be very reliable.  It is an active hub so you can plug a 12v supply into it.

As the casing is metal I have use some heavy duty velcro on the back of the hub and on the mount.  I just push it on when  setting up and I've had no problems to date.

I've attached a link to the hub but if you shop around you can get it a bit cheaper around £55.00.  https://www.startech.com/uk/Cards-Adapters/USB-3.0/Hubs/7-port-usb-3-hub~ST7300U3M.

I tried cheaper hubs but wasted my money as they could not deal with the data throughput then this hub was recommended to me and it's been great.

Doug

Hi,

If I were to look at purchasing a NUC, (mini PC) do I load my software such as Stellerium etc onto the NUC.  Once I've done this do I connect the USB 3.0 cable from the hub on my scope to the NUC and then run a Cat 6 cable to my computer in the house.  I'm just trying to understand how these work as I'm not brilliant with computers.

If not what do I connect the NUC to so I can run the software.

What spec of NUC would I need to run my scopec etc and ASI 1600.

Thanks

Doug

50 minutes ago, symmetal said:

Active USB3 extensions do work but they significantly limit the maximum data rate. They were discussed here  from a few posts down and the ones used were limiting the data rate to 60MB/s irrespective of the extension cable length. This is 1/10 of the max USB3 speed, although the user noted that didn't cause any issues in use and was happy with it. Different manufacturers may tailor the hardware to the cable length and give higher speeds with shorter cables but none of the specs seem to mention this and misleadingly say they work up to USB3 speeds of 5Gb/s which is 640MB/s.

Alan

Hi,

Thanks for the reply and the link. 

Ive read the thread and understand a bit better how the data rate is limited, and you won't know if it will work unless you try it.

I'll have to look into ways off setting up my scope a bit more, bl--dy Council.

Doug

1 hour ago, noah4x4 said:

Hi Doug,

The theoretical limit for USB3 is 3 Metres. For USB2 it is 5 Metres. Active cables might extend this. But, from my experience....

I have an Atik Horizon which is similar to the ASI1600. I wish you good luck with a 15M 'active' USB3 cable given these cameras generate 16 megapixel images. I tried various makes of long 'active' USB3 and USB2 cables without success.

I also tried a chain of short 5M cables with externally powered USB hubs in between rather than rely on the limited power output of the  computer's USB port, but no greater success. If not for the coronavirus lockdown and distance I would willingly lend you a box full of assorted redundant (costly!) cables and hubs for you to experiment with. But I fear you might struggle.

Frankly, I suggest you buy the said cable from Amazon and if it doesn't work return it for a refund. Sadly, this distance challenge isn't easy to overcome, but there are options....

One viable route is to embrace powered AVI/USB/HDMI extenders over cat6 Ethernet. But there can be power challenges at the scope end. I have outdoor AC supply, so this route would have been feasible for me, but I discovered this solution late after getting other solutions to work. However, I am a professional cricket scorer and have since employed this technique to transmit video action replays to electronic scoreboard and it works great as cat6 cable has 100 + metre range.

What does work well over 15 metres is WiFi remote control. But you need a quality home network, and possibly MESH extenders (I use BT Wholehomehub). My approach is to put an Intel NUC mini computer at the scope wirelessly connected to a lesser PC computer indoors (that is employed as a dumb terminal) via Windows Remote Desktop. If all you want to do is capture images, a modest stick computer at the scope might suffice. But if you want to (say) view indoors at the camera's native resolution (as I do) you would need far more computing power. This route is fairly easy with Windows 10, but it is not a cheap option as Windows 10 is resource greedy and if ambitious (such as 4K UHD viewing) you need quite a lot of computing ooomph. 

You could buy a proprietory option like Eagle3 or ASIAir, but that's potentially more expensive than DIY as the vendor's profit must be added.

Some folk more computer literate than me achieve DIY WiFi success using Raspberry Pi and Linux, which largely  replicates ASIAir, but the learning curve is steep. This is undoubtedly the lowest budget option, but it is challenging. I could help you with the PC /Windows route (e.g. offer you more detailed guidance) but I was deterred by the complexity of learning Linux to attempt Raspberry Pi. But if you talk to people in the EEAV forum where remote control is commonly employed you should find guidance.

Hopefully the 15 metre active cable will work, but at least you have here got some alternative guidance. 

 

Hi,

Thanks for the lengthy reply giving me a few options.

I currently use a powerful gaming computer to run my scope, focused, guide camera and imaging rig.  It was the data transfer from the cameras over 15m that was worrying me, especially the ASI1600.

I will not be using RasberryPI or Linux as I have very limited computer skills and feel this would be beyond me.  My computer has a Cat5/6 socket and HDMI socket so I am interested in running Cat5/6 from my scope to the computer.  I have 240v at the scope and I could use a transformer to get DC voltage.  At the moment all my equipment plugs into the USB 3.0 powered Startech hub.  Is there a way to come from the USB 3.0 hub that I have to my computer using the powered Avi/USB/HDMI extender that you mention and what do I need to look for.  I would rather try and use Cat5/6 as this is good for 100m.

I don't really want to purchase an Eagle or similar system due to cost.

Thanks for your help with this.

Doug