All Sky Camera Revisited

[Gina]

Here is a model of the new outer casing top.

[Gina]

Finished printing baseplate and now printing outer casing top.  The gcode file is nearly 4MB and 50m of 1.75mm filament required.  Probably an overnight print.

[Gina]

Here's a photo of the new baseplate with stepper motor placed in position plus camera and casing with focus cone gear.  A pinion for the motor and a ring to connect the focus cone to the lens focus ring will complete the focussing system mechanics.

Edited March 29, 2019 by Gina

[Gina]

Printed the top outer casing overnight.  Close but not quite good enough.  Groove for dew heater module was a fraction too small and the top of the cylindrical part where the cone started was too thin and parted.  Currently working on the gearing for the focus drive.  Trial and error as the distance between lens axis and motor shaft axis was more difficult to determine than expected.  Of course, repeatedly printing new parts takes a lot of time.

[Gina]

Weather doesn't look very promising for tonight.  Mind you, I'm not ready yet.

[Gina]

Motor to lens focus ring gearing and other bits finished and fitted.  Outer casing top design modified and now printing but probably won't be finished before dark.  I can't see the rest being finished in time for any clear sky tonight either.  I can only do what I can do and if it's not ready, it's not ready...  I will be completed in due course and if it's not this month it may be next month!

[Gina]

Outer casing top has just finished printing and now ooling down.  I'll print the new part that connects the ASC to the mast tomorrow and also sort out the electronics to control focus, camera cooling and dew heater.  Probably have solid 100% cloud cover tomorrow night!  But we'll see...

[Gina]

Photos of new outer casing plus model of new mast coupling.

[Gina]

Trying to print the mast coupler on my Concorde printer with 2.85mm filament as I've run out of 1.75mm PETG.  Concorde is having so many problems that I'm considering scrapping it and building another printer!

[Gina]

After a struggle, I've got the Concorde printing.  Should be alright as long as the print doesn't come off the bed.

[Gina]

Been trying to get the INDI driver working for the focus.  Used the proper files for the asc2 version replacing the asc version which used the Astroberry Focuser and which doesn't provide the functionality I require.  The asc2 uses my own code to move focus either way from cold (AF only moves focus one way).  Now I can't seem to get my code working.  I may yet build the firmware image with drivers from scratch.

[Gina]

Thought I'd install a previously saved image from an earlier ASC version onto a non-working micro SD card but Etcher is not recognising any of my saved images.  I guess the format must be wrong.  The images were saved with the Windows app.  I thought I'd written some of them with Etcher but looks like I'm wrong.

[Gina]

I guess I might as well download the latest version of Ubuntu Mate, write it to a card, put it in the an RPi and then run the AstroPi script to install all the INDI drivers and follow my tutorial.  May do that tomorrow though I can download Ubuntu and write it to SD card.  The rest of the setting up requires monitor, keyboard and trackball/mouse on the RPi.

Edited March 31, 2019 by Gina

[Gina]

Downloaded Ubuntu Mate v18-04-02 and wrote it to micro SD card with Etcher then tried to edit /boot/config.txt as recommended in AstroPi but the file is faulty and won't open.  Checks didn't report any errors so I guess the latest version of Ubuntu Mate is faulty - it is listed as "beta".  Guess I'll revert to the earlier version that I know works.

[Gina]

Same result but I noticed Etcher said it was out-of-date so I downloaded the latest version and ran that.  That cured the problem and I'm going ahead with the latest Ubuntu Mate.

[Gina]

Ubuntu Mate worked fine in the RPi and the WiFi just needed the password putting in and it worked straight off.  Then ran Firefox and SGL and looked at AstroPi3 on github.  Followed the instructions and all went well until I tried to run the script and then got error message "dpkg locked" and to wait or stop the app that was running.  Waited over an hour but still the same.  Ran the System Monitor and there was nothing running except itself.  At this point I'm stumped.  ASC will not be running tonight!!

[Dr_Ju_ju]

It's probably an old lock file, that needs to be deleted. I often get the same when doing updates....

[Gina]

Thanks, but where, how do I find it?  This was a clean installation.

Edited April 1, 2019 by Gina

[Dr_Ju_ju]

they usually go by the name of the app .lck so do a search for dpkg.lck or similar, I don't have a system to hand, but maybe under usr directory

[Dr_Ju_ju]

also have a look here https://askubuntu.com/questions/15433/unable-to-lock-the-administration-directory-var-lib-dpkg-is-another-process

[Gina]

I've found a file /var/lib/dpkg/lock.  Do you think it's safe to delete this?

[Dr_Ju_ju]

yes

[Dr_Ju_ju]

a new one will just be created, next time dpkg is run

[Gina]

Problem NOT solved!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ Welcome to the AstroPi3 Raspberry Pi 3 Ubuntu-Mate KStars/INDI Configuration Script.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
~ This will update, install and configure your Raspberry Pi 3 to work with INDI and KStars to be a hub for Astrophotography. Be sure to read the script first to see what it does and to customize it.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Are you ready to proceed (y/n)? y
dpkg is currently locked, meaning another program is either checking for updates or is currently updating the system.
Please wait for a few minutes or quit the other process and run this script again.  Exiting now.
gina@asc:~/AstroPi3$ 

 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

did you sudo the lock file removal?, else it won't go.....

sudo rm  /var/lib/dpkg/lock

Edited April 1, 2019 by Dr_Ju_ju