ASCOM Rewrite

[Kango_V]

Hi All,

I'm pretty new here and would like some advice. My girls are starting to get into astronomy and really love it. I'm completely new to it so am on quite a learning curve (though enjoyable). I'm trying to get to grips with all the software though. I'm from an open source background and am used to have the source for software I use being accessible (like github).

I am contemplating trying to write some software in scratch in Java 8 using all the new techniques that I've learnt, such as non-blocking IO, asynchronous streaming etc.
What I can't find are specifications for the ASCOM platform. I don't mean downloading a exe that I have to install either.

Can anyone provide any pointers to where I can start looking.

Just a bit of background. I started developing on Windows 2.0 up until Windows XP. Since then it's been Linux. This is my problem. I'd like to use Raspberry PI as device controllers for each bit of equipment with then all linked via a Gbit ethernet network.

Many thanks,

--
Darren.

[barkis]

Don't know if this will help, but follow this link, and you can download the Developer Tools.

http://www.ascom-standards.org/Downloads/Index.htm

[Mick J]

Hi Darren, don't want to muddy your thread but thought I had seen a thread like this before,  hope this one runs better. Here

I have seen a few Raspberry Pi items in the DIY forum. Here

[Kango_V]

1 hour ago, barkis said:

Don't know if this will help, but follow this link, and you can download the Developer Tools.

http://www.ascom-standards.org/Downloads/Index.htm

Yeah I saw that link. But, where can I just download source code? All I seem to be able to download is an .exe file. I'm used to open source projects providing access to cvs/svn or git repositories and then cloning the repository and building locally. This project has nothing like that which I find very strange.

This is the reason I'd like to have a go at implementing a pure Java version that will run on anything.

[Kango_V]

1 hour ago, Mick J said:

Hi Darren, don't want to muddy your thread but thought I had seen a thread like this before,  hope this one runs better. Here

I have seen a few Raspberry Pi items in the DIY forum. Here

Lol, I forgot all about that. A lot has happened since then, such as house moves, building etc. Things have settled down, so I'm revisiting this as side project. Indeed the Java language has progressed leaps and bounds to the point that this would possible.

I just can't seem to find any docs to get started.

[kens]

Note that ASCOM is a Windows only interface

For Linux there is INDI which can run as a distributed network. I'm in the process of moving to having the scope and cameras connected to a RPi2 with KStars/Ekos running on a Ubuntu laptop for the heavy processing

[Kango_V]

2 minutes ago, kens said:

Note that ASCOM is a Windows only interface

For Linux there is INDI which can run as a distributed network. I'm in the process of moving to having the scope and cameras connected to a RPi2 with KStars/Ekos running on a Ubuntu laptop for the heavy processing

Interesting. My thoughts are to have each device (mount, camera etc) to each have a RPi. Each RPi would be connected to a switch. Software running on a laptop would find each of these via Multicast UDP and then interface with them. You could then give them jobs and they would then run. The software on the laptop would be the kind of service broker.

All my kit is boxed up at the mo as we keep moving grrr. I'll have to find it and dig it out. Nice to see we have the same mount

[kens]

That's pretty much what INDI and Ekos do. Each INDI server can connect to local drivers or to drivers connected to an INDI server on another node. So for instance, I have guide cam and mount on the RPi and start an INDI server on my laptop that connects through to them. Then I can run PHD on the laptop. Depending on how things perform I could have the imaging cam on either the same RPi or a separate one.

Check out INDI at http://www.indilib.org/develop.html

[Mick J]

9 hours ago, Kango_V said:

Lol, I forgot all about that. A lot has happened since then, such as house moves, building etc. Things have settled down, so I'm revisiting this as side project. Indeed the Java language has progressed leaps and bounds to the point that this would possible.

I just can't seem to find any docs to get started.

Well I wish you the best with it, I can see it's a lot of work and well out of my reach, happy to watch .   Tablets are growing as control items now with cheap windows tablets on the market, android (linux) tablets seem a bit limited but I am sure in 5 years the picture will be different.