Mini computers, ASIair....?

[Dr_Ju_ju]

If you want data throughput with no loss of local resources, then go for one of the better SBC's e.g. BeagleBones's, Rock64's etc, there are lots to choose from  

They have their quirks, and are often more expensive, but they do work and for me provide a better solution. I use Rock64\RockPro64

[wornish]

17 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

If you want data throughput with no loss of local resources, then go for one of the better SBC's e.g. BeagleBones's, Rock64's etc, there are lots to choose from  

They have their quirks, and are often more expensive, but they do work and for me provide a better solution. I use Rock64\RockPro64

What OS are you running on the Rock64 Pro? 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Ubuntu Mate 18.04

[fwm891]

All very interesting but I'm not looking to go down route. I'm happy(ish) with windows 7 & 10 with something like Team Viewer as the bridge. I have (just found!) an old Toshiba Satellite laptop my wife no longer uses and I'm stripping all the rubbish from the hard drive. It's a Win 7 based laptop - I've got team viewer loaded and controlling it from my desktop PC, so its functional. Will probably need to be permanently connected to the mains as the battery looks knackered. I need to get SG Pro loaded and other software like PHD2 and see how things come together.

[Dr_Ju_ju]

For my garden pier, I use an Asus mini mother board with an i5 processor 16GB Ram & 500 GB SSD, powered by a standard 500W pc power supply, which drives not only the computer but mount\cameras\heaters\focusers etc.... And its running Win10 Pro.... Everything is controlled from inside the house via remote desktop...

 

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Francis,

I use an OTA mounted set-up that works well - at least as far as I am concerned. The kit I am using is a combination of a cheap-ish mini-computer [Kodlix GN41, about £99 from Amazon] with an expensive Pegasus Ultimate power-box [An eye-watering £500].  I am running all Windows software - the Kodlix comes with Windows 10 Pro fully licensed pre-installed. It also works with a 12-14 volt power input that suits my set-up. I have attached a schematic of how everything hangs together.

I use EQASCOM / SGP /CARTES DU CIEL for image acquisition and everything is controlled remotely using Windows Remote Desktop Protocol. I can power-up the OTA computer using Wake-On_Lan so in theory I can have fully remote imaging. I don't do this - I am much happier getting everything going whilst I am present and then leaving it running.

The big advantage of using the Pegasus box is that it combines a powered USB2 hub with a focus motor driver and dew-heaters. I have only 3 cables from my mount. A 14 volt power supply, an Ethernet cable for Wake-On-Lan and RDP and a USB2 cable that connects to my observatory dome driver. This summer I am intending to replace the USB cable with a wireless connection to my dome driver hardware. I will also experiment with how well the RDP link operates with wireless instead of the existing Cat 6 cable. If successful, I will achieve cable nirvana - only one power cable to the mount and everything else either on-board or via wireless. Well nearly - I don't think I could start the OTA computer remotely without having the Cat 6 cable connected, the Kodlix does not do 'Wake on Wireless LAN'. As I am in the obsy to start things anyway it shouldn't matter.

As you seem to have various options for scopes and cameras, it would be a nice idea to have a removable assemble with all the bits - computer, hub, etc, that could be swapped between rigs. My setup is not quite so flexible. I have everything attached to the tube rings that hold my scope and dismantling is a bit fiddly. If I started again I would do it with the single, removable assembly.

Hope this helps,

Regards, Hugh

USBNet_Rev2.pdf

[fwm891]

Hugh / Julian - many thanks for the info. Still waiting on the mount at present. I've been playing with an old laptop (Window 7) and Team Viewer, they communicate which is one thing and I can operate SG Pro, PHD2, CdC etc.

I like the idea of the Pegasus unit but I do swap around scopes quite a bit so might have to look at other ways to utilise one.

[Wiu-Wiu]

Does anyone know how I could make best use of this powerbar? 

It looks like it’s a power hub and mini pc in one, but I can’t really find a way to install it. 

 

[RadekK]

ASIAir uses generic Raspberry Pi. The same applies to Stellarmate. Astroberry is designed for Raspberry Pi 3B and 3B+ as well.

As the matter of fact you can use any single board computer (SBC) to run KStars/Ekos and INDI as far as you connect everything to USB and don't use GPIO for custom devices (e.g. focuser, relays, temperature sensors etc.). The biggest bottleneck for Raspberry is 1GB of RAM. Another issue is single communication bus for all USB ports, ethernet and wifi.

Running KStars/Ekos sessions over network (so the images are transferred to PC after capture) is not only slow (intrinsic to network bandwith) but also risky - any network problem will abort session, which is on the PC side, and not Raspberry side. The recommended approach is all-on-raspberry controlled over network as a remote desktop - this way only screen and keyboard are using bandwidth, you can disconnect PC anytime and even leave Raspberry connected 24/7 (e.g. when using Ekos Scheduler which fully automates your observatory).

Edited May 9, 2019 by RadekK

[stash_old]

16 hours ago, RadekK said:

Another issue is single communication bus for all USB ports, ethernet and wifi.

I think I am right in saying that the RPI3b+ Wifi no longer shares the same bus with USB/Wired Ethernet  - having said that you comments are 100% spot on. 

https://raspberrypi.stackexchange.com/questions/44433/does-wifi-on-the-pi-3-reduce-the-ethernet-bottleneck-when-using-usb-device

[RadekK]

5 hours ago, stash_old said:

I think I am right in saying that the RPI3b+ Wifi no longer shares the same bus with USB/Wired Ethernet

This is correct. AFAIK ethernet port (1Gbps) is still using USB 2.0 bus. WiFi is using SDIO pins on BCM chip.

So in 3B+ USB ports compete with Ethernet, and WiFi competes with... SD card 😕