RadekK

Hi @Gina have you managed to run it finally? I've been to Chile for Solar Eclipse recently so most of the time offline. I should be back next week so let me know if there's still any problem with the driver.

Hi Everybody I think you might be interested in a script that automates imaging Total Solar Eclipse. Well, you might have been interested in it a few days ago in Chile. I was not able to publish it before, because I had finished the coding just an hour before the eclipse 😉 I have developed the script to cover all the phases of the eclipse i.e. partial, diamond ring, Bailey's beads, totality, earthshine. Pretty much inspired by Brian Greenberg who wrote his eclipse magic script for US eclipse in 2017. Take a look at the source code located at https://github.com/rkaczorek/eclipse-sequencer The script features: Configurable times for Contact 1 to 4 All eclipse phases: Partial, Diamond Ring, Bailey's Beads, Totality, Earthshine Configurable lead and trail times (imaging before and after eclipse) Start time bound to real time clock UTC and local time support Test mode activated from Magic Lantern menu Session logging to file Stop and resume after battery change or camera restart The real life example of what you can achieve with the script is presented below (Total Solar Eclipse in Chile on the July the 2nd 2019)

I used it for fun but apparently it's pretty useless for astro. At the most it can indicate actual position of a scope in remote observatories... still a cheap ipcam is better. You will never get a >1 arcmin precission with it compared to astrometry / plate-solving.

This is correct. AFAIK ethernet port (1Gbps) is still using USB 2.0 bus. WiFi is using SDIO pins on BCM chip. So in 3B+ USB ports compete with Ethernet, and WiFi competes with... SD card 😕

ASIAir uses generic Raspberry Pi. The same applies to Stellarmate. Astroberry is designed for Raspberry Pi 3B and 3B+ as well. As the matter of fact you can use any single board computer (SBC) to run KStars/Ekos and INDI as far as you connect everything to USB and don't use GPIO for custom devices (e.g. focuser, relays, temperature sensors etc.). The biggest bottleneck for Raspberry is 1GB of RAM. Another issue is single communication bus for all USB ports, ethernet and wifi. Running KStars/Ekos sessions over network (so the images are transferred to PC after capture) is not only slow (intrinsic to network bandwith) but also risky - any network problem will abort session, which is on the PC side, and not Raspberry side. The recommended approach is all-on-raspberry controlled over network as a remote desktop - this way only screen and keyboard are using bandwidth, you can disconnect PC anytime and even leave Raspberry connected 24/7 (e.g. when using Ekos Scheduler which fully automates your observatory).

Don't worry ? Anyway I need to review WLAN/VAP scripts because ppl have problems with them. I will keep you posted.

Can we fix it? Yes we can! I come to serve ?

Let's do a quick review of configuration 1. Networking Your /etc/network/interfaces should contain: auto wlan0 iface wlan0 inet dhcp wpa-conf /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf 2. WLAN Your /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf should contain at least: network={ scan_ssid=1 ssid="$SSID" psk="$PSK" } where $SSID is your wireless network name and $PSK is your wireless password With only these two configuration files you should successfully connect to your home network. No other tricks are necessary. If you cannot connect despite proper configuration we have some major issue here and need to debug it with logs review i.e. /var/log/syslog You can disable VAP autoconfiguration by editing /etc/rc.local file. Just comment out the line with check-wlanconn so it looks like: #check-wlanconn > /dev/null 2>&1 This way artificial intelligence embedded in Astroberry Server will not mess with standard networking configuration described in points 1 & 2 above. After thius, you can run check-wlanconn and astroberry_vap scripts manually to play with VAP. BTW. What is you RPi version (3B or 3B+)? Does your home AP support AC mode? Does your PC support AC mode? BTW2. Take a look at the last but one question in FAQ

Also consider presetting focus adjustment for your filters. While using Ekos CCD (the one you set up your imaging session) you can set offset for each filter (icon on the right of FW field in the first row on the tab). This way you can focus using luminance filter (offset=0) and set actual offset for various filters, which are not parfocal. You need to determine offsets first by manual focusing, but it's quite handy.

If you want to use ready to go solution, just flash your SD card with Astroberry or Stellarmate (both are based on INDI). And yes, it is a working solution. I've been using it for every session for at least 5 years. In case of Astroberry it does not matter what system you run on your PC, because remote desktop is accessible with your web browser. This means you can use linux, windows, mac, tablet or phone. In case of Stellarmate you additionally have mobile app. If you want to build your own system, flash SD card with Ubuntu or Ubuntu Mate and follow this instruction: https://indilib.org/download/ubuntu.html You can also use official foundation's Raspbian and follow this instruction: https://indilib.org/download/raspberry-pi.html (not recommended as it requires some technical expertise) KStars/Ekos is available on linux, windows, mac. You can download it from here https://edu.kde.org/kstars/install.php If you want to run KStars on WIndows you need to run INDI on RPi (where all your devices are connected). In such a case you just connect your KStars running on Windows to INDI running on RPi.

I'm not aware of an INDI driver for RPi PWMs. What you can do is control servos with a simple python script. Take a look at this simple example used for bahtinov mask on/off

As already discussed - controlling stepper motors and integrating it with any star map (KStars, Cartes du Ciel etc.) requires compatible software/driver for slewing, tracking etc. Unless you plan to point to an object manually and only manage sidereal speed in RA. This can be easily achieved. However, it get really complicated when considering guiding of such a setup. As @wimvb already stated, I would go for building hardware which is compatible with existing software.

Raspberry Pi is quite handy for controlling astronomy hardware. I've been using it for a long time. This however means switching to linux. If you're ready for this, take a look at KStars/Ekos, INDI and either install all the neccessary components RPi yourself or use ready to use RPi system images, namely Stellarmate or Astroberry Server. I see some challenges though... First, you use custom solution for driving RA/DEC axis. Nothing that I know would support it out of a box. Second, using Raspberry Pi Camera Module is not supported with astro software I know. And the last but not least, make sure you're ready for a learning curve with linux and new software. It might be frustrating, however I believe it's worthwhile.

Welcome all fans of open source astronomy! I have just joined the forum and I'm hoping to bring some valuable input to discussions on linux, raspberry and similar topics. Clear skies! Radek Kaczorek Astroberry Server | NEQ6 | Atik 460EX | Atik EFW2 | ASI 120MM

@Gina this is a great tutorial! Thanks for your work! I have just joined the forum so if you or anybody else need help with astroberry-diy drivers... I come to serve ? Clear skies! Radek Kaczorek Astroberry Server | NEQ6 | Atik 460EX | Atik EFW2 | ASI 120MM