Recommend a mini pc for the mount ?

[skybadger]

Hi all

I'm looking for recommendations of mini pcs for mounting on the telescope.

It needs to be

w10 compatible,

4 USB 2 or more,

12v DC powered, 

Fanless,

8gb ram, 64gb ssd

 

The purpose is to concentrate all controls and cables at the scope, control the camerA and heaters etc but not necessarily be used for remote image processing.

I have looked at the NUC, and a few others and want to get a feel for the price vs performance.

Cheers

Mike

 

[pete_l]

I use a Gigabyte BRIX 2807.

It is not Windows 10, it is not 8GB, it is not an SSD and it works perfectly with W7 in 4GB and all my astro apps.
I run an ethernet connection to it (not WiFi) and use the USB3 port to a good quality 7 port powered hub.
The hub breaks out to 3 cameras (finder, widefield+lens, DSLR) and EQMOD. When you don't do image processing on the remote PC, there is no need for a high-spec device.

 

Quite simply: it just works.

[bingevader]

Would be a very nice Raspberry Pi project!

 

[Kaliska]

I have one of these running all my hardware/software on the mount (Win10 pro installed so i can turn off the auto updates) https://www.amazon.co.uk/Computers-X5-Z8350-Bluetooth-802-11AC-Ethernet-Minix-Neo-Z83-4-PRO/dp/B074MB3GR2

 

 

[Macavity]

1 hour ago, skybadger said:

...but not necessarily be used for remote image processing.

It has crossed my mind that (Aside from control functions) such things MIGHT
be usable for data acquisition (via USB3 port) and [temporary] storage?
As with all *remote* operations, "lateral thinking" is needed?

[solwisesteve]

I hope you don't mind a post from a newby...

So I've also been looking at mini-PCs with the aim of controlling things and also helping with astrophotography.

The one that I'm very interested in is

Aliexpress

Possibly going for the 8gig with 240gig ssd and perhaps i5. This product is also available on the other various sellers sites (ama..., eb..., etc) but a lot cheaper direct. This is well specced with a good smattering of USB3 ports and built in wifi and 240g ssd should be enough for a sessions astro storage which you can then copy to an external drive for processing elsewhere.

Then using windows remote desktop to view/administer from afar.

I use a similar PC as a media server for my hifi and it works very well and pretty much zero issues.

 

 

 

[LightBucket]

1 hour ago, bingevader said:

Would be a very nice Raspberry Pi project!

 

Yes, I use a raspberry pi3 with Kstars / Ekos, and is superb, and all the software its free and the raspberry about £40 with the SD card....and no more Ascom woes.....

[Demonperformer]

Thanks to @Gina (and maybe others) there are several threads (i think in the diy section) that detail setting up a pi for astroimaging.

[coatesg]

I use a PI3 + kstars + ekos (running MATE as the distro as there's no built packages for raspbian/noobs).  I use this for imaging with a DSLR, controlling a Moonlite compatible focuser and Losmandy Gemini I mount - it works nicely, and is cheap(!), but I would say that sometimes kstars/ekos will bomb, I think due to lack of memory as the Pi3 only has 2GB on board (especially if previewing large images). 

Back to the OP's question, I run a Brix on my big scope exactly for the reasons you say around cable/power management - it works very well indeed, even with only 4Gb RAM (Win10 Pro on a 120GB SSD). It only has 3x USB (2XUSB2, 1xUSB3), but that's all I need - a small hub would overcome any missing ports. You can pickup the barebones on Ebay for ~£80. The NUC is an alternative, but look a bit more for similar functionality. 

[MilwaukeeLion]

I just ordered a Kingdel, cant attest to it yet, hasn't arrived.  The Kodlix is nice, you can expand Ram, SSD or HDD to your liking.

[solwisesteve]

The Kingdel looks like the model I've been looking at and the same spec.

[John78]

I looked and looked and looked at these options and couldn't find one that was reasonably enough priced so I took the plunge into kstars/indi/ekos - after some initial teething problems (there's no ubuntu mate image for a 3B+ so don't get one of those yet unless you're linux savvy and like frustration), the rest of the installation was pretty seamless and works nicely.

The mount now is a wifi hotspot so I can connect and drive it from any device without requiring internet, so I can set it up on my ipad then when I've finished I can bring it inside and plug it into ethernet to download my data.

If I had to do it again I would build it on a Rock64 much like wimvb did and there is walk through guides for that on this and other fourms - that way you get a USB 3 port and other benefits.

[swag72]

I used an Intel NUC for a while and it has now finally died on me...... I found it pretty unreliable as it goes and so relented and for a reasonable cost I bought a refurbished desktop. It has 12 USB's, W10, an SSD and 8GB of RAM (I think that's what I had put in when I bought it). It hasn't missed a beat and I've decided that while mini looks good, for me desktops are the more reliable way forward..... so I've got another to replace another mini PC I have. My dalliance with mini PC's has been for a few years and long term I just don't feel confident that they live up to the job.

[solwisesteve]

13 minutes ago, swag72 said:

I used an Intel NUC for a while and it has now finally died on me...... I found it pretty unreliable as it goes and so relented and for a reasonable cost I bought a refurbished desktop. It has 12 USB's, W10, an SSD and 8GB of RAM (I think that's what I had put in when I bought it). It hasn't missed a beat and I've decided that while mini looks good, for me desktops are the more reliable way forward..... so I've got another to replace another mini PC I have. My dalliance with mini PC's has been for a few years and long term I just don't feel confident that they live up to the job.

I think you've been unlucky there. I have an Intel NUC for the aforementioned hifi media server and in the 4 or 5 years it's been in place its been 99.999% percent reliable and runs 24x7. The one time it had a hiccup was when the house mains supply decided to do a bounce off/on a few times in quick session. It meant the NUC seemed to forget which drive to boot from.... connecting a monitor/keyboard and 10 mins reconfiguring sorted it.

[swag72]

10 minutes ago, solwisesteve said:

I think you've been unlucky there. I have an Intel NUC for the aforementioned hifi media server and in the 4 or 5 years it's been in place its been 99.999% percent reliable and runs 24x7. The one time it had a hiccup was when the house mains supply decided to do a bounce off/on a few times in quick session. It meant the NUC seemed to forget which drive to boot from.... connecting a monitor/keyboard and 10 mins reconfiguring sorted it.

Quite possibly - I am generally unlucky in these things  .... but a friend who runs a remote setup with in excess of 15 scopes has stopped using mini PC's due to lack of reliability. 

[RayD]

I think using a NUC indoors as a static server and using one outside in the cold, warm, dew, sun and other elements are very different things.  Many mini PC's fall over when used externally, same as hubs etc.

[RayD]

50 minutes ago, swag72 said:

Quite possibly - I am generally unlucky in these things

Nah, luckiest imager on here 

[Demonperformer]

3 minutes ago, RayD said:

Nah, luckiest imager on here 

Have you ever noticed that the harder someone works, the 'luckier' they become?

[souls33k3r]

I've been keeping an eye on one as well. Yes my Lenovo ThinkPad is my daily workhorse but i need something tiny to mount on my scope. I was in fact looking at a Compute Stick sort to do the basic job. Not sure what people have to say about that.

[RayD]

34 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

Have you ever noticed that the harder someone works, the 'luckier' they become?

Exactly.  Gary player once said that when someone commented on a shot in The Open and called him lucky.  He replied "yes, and the more I play the luckier I seem to get".  

[kirkster501]

£115 off of Gumtree.  10 X USB ports and no USB hubs.  I run one 12V power and one Ethernet cable.  I Remote Desktop into the PC from another PC in my obs (same type).  Job done.  Works brilliantly (or will do if we ever get a clear night again).

[Jkulin]

1 hour ago, kirkster501 said:

£115 off of Gumtree.  10 X USB ports and no USB hubs.  I run one 12V power and one Ethernet cable.  I Remote Desktop into the PC from another PC in my obs (same type).  Job done.  Works brilliantly (or will do if we ever get a clear night again).

Have you an exact model for that Steve?

[LightBucket]

For ease, low cost, reliability and size, you won’t beat a raspberry pi, they are superb with the free software, (Kstars /Ekos) and it’s an all in one solution, all your planetarium, and imaging software in one package, (better that SG pro in my opinion) no Ascom and the issues that go with it to worry about, no serial port issues, and best of all no windows to give you grief, but you can use a windows machine to log onto the rpi3 and control, that works fine as the rpi3 does all the work...I will never go back to windows, I have also put Linux Ubuntu as a dual boot on my laptop, so don’t use windows at all for astro anymore...

[kirkster501]

1 hour ago, Jkulin said:

Have you an exact model for that Steve?

I'll get it you when I am back home John. It's similar to this one - I actually bought it from this guy as well.  He lives 20 miles down the A46 in Leicester from me.  Have a look at what else he has.

https://www.gumtree.com/p/desktop-workstation-pcs/fast-asrock-vision-3d-mini-pc-intel-i3-blu-ray-ssd-wifi-usb-3.0-windows-7-kodi-can-deliver-refurb/1219721261

 

[kirkster501]

...and since it is an i3 it has the power to run all the capture software and I can also run Pixinsight on it during capture to really check the subs as they come in.  I rate it very highly.  Mine just has a 64G SSD which is ample as i move the stuff off the machine after the capture session.  No fans or anything.  It had windows 10 x64 on it when I bought it, installed by the guy selling it.  All legit and above board.