INDI on the Rocks

[LightBucket]

2 hours ago, wimvb said:

Yes, that should work. I believe that Jasem Mutlaq from indilib does the same on a raspberry pi. But the odroid should be considerably faster. With this confuguration you're less dependent on wifi stability. But 132 GB in star data? That seems a lot.

I believe Jasem now uses a windows PC with windows Kstars / Ekos and connect to his rpi3 via a network cable....well that what he told be a couple of weeks ago....

[wimvb]

Very likely. My reference is older, so I probably should have written in the past tense. 

[NickK]

12 hours ago, stash_old said:

Does the Odroid 64bit now support "real" 64bit working Linux (plus lack of 64bit software) ? - it didn't 2 yrs ago. 

The Odroid N looks like a mighty beast if the price is right - USB3 ,4gb ddr and Sata3 support - plus too early to say if Indi would work but it does use rk3399.

Yes - I rebuilt Kstars/INDI and the tools in 64bit too although it's 2GB on chip, using 64bit expands the number of registers and opens up other optimisations.

I used the C2 because it's passively cooled.

More info in the original thread: 

 

 

[GuLinux]

I finally decided to get a Rock64 myself.

I was a bit skeptical, after a couple of disastrous attempts: I got an Odroid XU4 first... very fast, but too much power consumption, and I need it to run with a power bank. Also, it seemed a bit unstable. Then an Orange Pi Lite2 (USB3 as well), but it's lacking of good open source software support. Drivers missing here and there, and even bigger instabilities than the odroid.

 

This little rock64 seems promising. I'm running a few sequences with StarQuew, very fast file transfer (under 1 sec, with an ASI 183MM), and at the same time very low power consumption, probably even lower than a raspberry pi (I'm getting an average of 3W when idle, ~5W while shooting frames)

I still got a couple of instability issues:the ubuntu 64bit version didn't want to recognize the camera at all, while the 32bit works fine, but I got the camera blocked a couple of time (though I suspect it was because I was messing with wifi and usb cables).

Can't wait to try it on the field!

[GuLinux]

Uhm.. nope... not really astonished by the stability of the system (though it's still fast, and very lightweight on battery, WHEN it works).

@wimvb what distro/kernel are you using?Anything in particular to suggest?

I tried both armbian and the "bionic minimal" images, both quite unsuccessfully, USB host keeps resetting ?

 

[wimvb]

I use this:

Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS from Ayufan

http://indilib.org/forum/embedded-indi/2762-indi-on-the-rocks-a-rock64-to-be-exact.html?start=72

Arm64 versions of indi and phd against kstars on windows. Have had no issues with usb3, afaIk.

Apart from testing it with my eq3-pro (successfully), I haven't used this system since I put it in summer storage end April. I use the standard setup of indi, without web manager. Eqdir without hub, but ASI174MM-cool with usb3 powered hub. Works fine, as long as I don't lose wifi on my Acer laptop (windows 8). The only thing I will add this season is my new ASI120MM-S with finder guider for more flexibility in polar alignment.

[GuLinux]

8 hours ago, wimvb said:

I use this:

Ubuntu 16.04.4 LTS from Ayufan

http://indilib.org/forum/embedded-indi/2762-indi-on-the-rocks-a-rock64-to-be-exact.html?start=72

Arm64 versions of indi and phd against kstars on windows. Have had no issues with usb3, afaIk.

Apart from testing it with my eq3-pro (successfully), I haven't used this system since I put it in summer storage end April. I use the standard setup of indi, without web manager. Eqdir without hub, but ASI174MM-cool with usb3 powered hub. Works fine, as long as I don't lose wifi on my Acer laptop (windows 8). The only thing I will add this season is my new ASI120MM-S with finder guider for more flexibility in polar alignment.

Mmh... That's what I'm using, but 32bit.

I tried the 64bit too, but I couldn't get a single frame.

I'm using indi from PPA thought, I'll try again building it from scratch (although it looks more like a kernel problem)

 

Thanks!

[wimvb]

5 hours ago, GuLinux said:

I'm using indi from PPA thought, I'll try again building it from scratch (although it looks more like a kernel problem)

So do I. Once the developer sets the appropriate architectures in the ppa, the system will update to the correct one. I learned this with phd. Phd didn't support 64 bit architecture. On my request this was added to the ppa. Since then phd can be installed and updated from the correct ppa.

http://indilib.org/forum/embedded-indi/2762-indi-on-the-rocks-a-rock64-to-be-exact.html?start=36

(My reply lower down the thread)

Hopefully I'll find time this weekend to dust off my gear, update the software, and do a dry run. Solid cloud cover atm, so no AP. 

[GuLinux]

 

On 07/09/2018 at 14:23, wimvb said:

So do I. Once the developer sets the appropriate architectures in the ppa, the system will update to the correct one. I learned this with phd. Phd didn't support 64 bit architecture. On my request this was added to the ppa. Since then phd can be installed and updated from the correct ppa.

http://indilib.org/forum/embedded-indi/2762-indi-on-the-rocks-a-rock64-to-be-exact.html?start=36

(My reply lower down the thread)

Hopefully I'll find time this weekend to dust off my gear, update the software, and do a dry run. Solid cloud cover atm, so no AP. 

Hi, did you have a go then?

If you can, could you also try (obviously on another SD card, I don't want to ruin your working setup) the latest (bionic) version of ayufan, and maybe just double check that your working setup is a 64bit system? Possibly also try to retrieve the installed INDI version.

I tested again under armbian 64bit, same result.

I'm narrowing this to three options:

• kernel issue
• ZWO SDK bug
• hardware fault

I'm more inclined to think it's the second, but having someone else test check the same board with the same software would help excluding at least the third.

 

Cheers,

Marco

 

[wimvb]

11 hours ago, GuLinux said:

Hi, did you have a go then?

No, there were some small peepholes in the clouds. Just enough to go visual and look at some globulars, galaxies and double stars. It was nice to see that all is still there after four months of absence. But I never took out my sbc's. This weekend I plan to do some imaging, so tomorrow evening I wll update the software after summer recess.

I don't have a spare sd card atm, so can't test your suggestions yet. But I will need to get an extra card soon, just to have a backup.

11 hours ago, GuLinux said:

the latest (bionic) version of ayufan

Can you send a link to the one to test?

11 hours ago, GuLinux said:

maybe just double check that your working setup is a 64bit system?

I always assumed it was, since I needed the 64 bit versions of everything to be installed. But in all honesty, I never checked.

[GuLinux]

10 hours ago, wimvb said:

No, there were some small peepholes in the clouds. Just enough to go visual and look at some globulars, galaxies and double stars. It was nice to see that all is still there after four months of absence. But I never took out my sbc's. This weekend I plan to do some imaging, so tomorrow evening I wll update the software after summer recess.

Good for you Don't update too much until you have a backup though.. Maybe dump the current SD card in an image.

10 hours ago, wimvb said:

I don't have a spare sd card atm, so can't test your suggestions yet. But I will need to get an extra card soon, just to have a backup.

Can you send a link to the one to test?

Here it is: https://github.com/ayufan-rock64/linux-build/releases

10 hours ago, wimvb said:

I always assumed it was, since I needed the 64 bit versions of everything to be installed. But in all honesty, I never checked.

I had another go yesterday... I found an older version (0.6.x, now we're at 0.7) that still had a xenial (16.04) image (now they're all bionic).

I got the amd64 version of course, and everything worked quite flawlessly. So the 64bit version works, it's just the *new* version that doesn't. Since INDI drivers and ASI SDK are the same (and the board too, of course) it must be either something in the kernel, or in the system libraries.

I'll try to get more info on the problem, and then raise an issue either in ayufan github, or in the rock64 forum

[wimvb]

The problem with these boards is that there is no standard for releases. The boards are mote or less thrown into the community as is. When the raspberry pi gets usb3, I will probably switch back to that.

[GuLinux]

1 hour ago, wimvb said:

The problem with these boards is that there is no standard for releases. The boards are mote or less thrown into the community as is. When the raspberry pi gets usb3, I will probably switch back to that.

Yeah, me too.

Although at least the rock64 seem to have attracted a decent traction, compared to other non-raspbery boards

[wimvb]

Yes, the board in itself is good. I like the much sturdier power contact, for one. It could do with more usb ports (always one more). It's the software/os that's the weak part. It would need needs a strong, competent principal developer to set a course.