Pi/odroid/other Arm/linux Based Guider/capture Board Suggestions?

[NickK]

The scenario - I'm looking at implementing something (preferably using a good base software):

* peir + power

* guide camera

* imaging camera

* wifi

 I don't want an audino implementation simply because the chips under the hood aren't really powerful enough. I would prefer something ARM based as I have many years of ARM machine code programming.. I'm also looking at something that will cheap enough for others to consider - preferably an open source implementation too. If it's got OpenCL support then even better!

Now I know there's a few raspberry PI and linux implementations.. so I'm looking for feed back on ease of use and integration. The idea is that I can simply connect the cameras, switch on, align, then use the board todo the work of guiding and capture.. storage preferably over WiFi (storing both guider images and main images). Being able to connect in over wifi would be great although having a client on the computer to reduce the load of the board attempting to run a GUI desktop is also good.

I've been away for a while (as people have probably seen).. and although things haven't changed much.. I'm planning ahead to next year.. 

[NickK]

I'll note some of the open source projects I come across here..

https://github.com/AndreasFMueller/AstroPhotography

http://sourceforge.net/projects/iastrohub/files/

http://www.indilib.org/support/tutorials/150-painless-remote-control-with-ekos-indi.html

Hmm really looking for something that you can run self contained on the board (I note INDI's comment about impact of GUI on performance)... think the Raspberry PI is possibly a little too low powered. Then you don't need the laptop running as long as the system handles automated safety stops.

[pete_l]

I'm unclear why having many years of ARM machine code will be a benefit, since you're looking for " ... ease of use and integration. The idea is that I can simply connect the cameras, switch on, align, then use the board todo the work of guiding and capture".

That sounds like you're looking for a "black box" solution. Something that doesn't need hacks, tweaks, configs or doofin' (technical term ) around finding drivers, compiling apps, fighting all sorts of dependency trees for some guy's OSS project -- that never really got completed.

For the price of a not-too-bad EP (£100, a small cost compared to a couple of £k for the imaging rig), you can get an Intel compute stick: quad core, 2GB RAM+32GB storage running legitimate Windows 8.1. Since it's an inescapable fact that the best hardware support will always be for Windows platforms, this would seem to be the route to follow.

BTW, if you really do want to stick with a *-pi solution, the new Pi 2 is quad core and the Orange-Pi Plus is everything the RPi should have been

[NickK]

I'm unclear why having many years of ARM machine code will be a benefit, since you're looking for " ... ease of use and integration. The idea is that I can simply connect the cameras, switch on, align, then use the board todo the work of guiding and capture".

That sounds like you're looking for a "black box" solution. Something that doesn't need hacks, tweaks, configs or doofin' (technical term ) around finding drivers, compiling apps, fighting all sorts of dependency trees for some guy's OSS project -- that never really got completed.

For the price of a not-too-bad EP (£100, a small cost compared to a couple of £k for the imaging rig), you can get an Intel compute stick: quad core, 2GB RAM+32GB storage running legitimate Windows 8.1. Since it's an inescapable fact that the best hardware support will always be for Windows platforms, this would seem to be the route to follow.

BTW, if you really do want to stick with a *-pi solution, the new Pi 2 is quad core and the Orange-Pi Plus is everything the RPi should have been

Hehe the point I was making is that I'm very familiar with ARM. 

Basically what I want to get to is simple - power switch. Boot. Screen share in over WiFi. Start alignment. Pretty much sums it up

Interesting that Orange PI has an 8G flash inbuilt along with wifi, annoying that it uses the MALI 400 (no OpenCL support). The SATA means I could use an old gen 1 SSD I have for intermediate storage.

I think the killer in terms of processing power is because I'd also like to have a plate solver onboard thinking about it