Updated Pi's

[StarDodger]

1 hour ago, SteveBz said:

Excellent!  I could never get Mate 16.04 to work.

Try Stellarmate, al the hard work is done for you, mind you at a cost it’s $49...but for me as a Linux dumbo, perfect.

[StarDodger]

If anyone is really interested in a proper comparison to the rpi3b+ then this is the video to show you the massive difference...

 

[stash_old]

3 hours ago, StarDodger said:

Ubuntu mate 18.04 works pretty well on my rpi...as Stellarmate is now based on 18.04..

Haven't tried the latest 64bit Beta (no stable version released) image but the 5ghz Wifi did not work. Plus on the Indi forum many have had problems with Ubuntu Mate 18.04 64bit and Kstars/Indi.

The server version has,for a long time, worked but the Desktop version is another matter.

Are using Stellarmate and is it a true 64bit version not 32bit emulation on a 3b+?

3 hours ago, SteveBz said:

Excellent!  I could never get Mate 16.04 to work.

What 😲 Mate 16.04  been running for a number of years and pretty stable - was it a particular driver or just using the wrong image on the 3b+?

[stash_old]

2 hours ago, StarDodger said:

Try Stellarmate, al the hard work is done for you, mind you at a cost it’s $49...but for me as a Linux dumbo, perfect.

Astroberry is virtually the same thing AND its free 🙂 

Just download image write to SD card and boot.

[Gina]

Yep, Astroberry is great!

[stash_old]

Pi-Stop youtube demo comments:-

That isn't running Ubuntu Mate that's Raspbian PI owns image/OS so a little misleading - The test is ok but not Indi and the file copy/loading from SSD should be taken with a pinch of salt - got to be faster but what happen when you are using a USB3 CCD streaming frames. As I say until someone runs Indi on Ubuntu Mate (or Indi create a image ready Raspbian version) in a "normal" CCD set up i will wait.

Dont get me wrong its got to be better and at the price you cant moan or beat it. 

If so good then 3 RPI4 using Indi in proper networking mode - i.e. Multiple Indiserver may be very interesting. So RPI4(1) runs mount,filter wheel,rotator and focoser. RPI4(2) runs two CCD camera's and RPI4(3) runs Platesolving and PHD guiding and maybe stacking - all for under £180. 

I have to laugh sometimes - some people spends thousands on their Astro kit - mounts,camera etc then rely on a £60 SOC thats the centre of everything automated. No criticism but why bother if you are lucky enough to have that sort of free cash  - get a £400-500 SOC with inbuilt 2tb SSD, I7 processor ,64mb ram  etc and fly  not £60 on a RPI4 - I would but my wife would hang something up on the wall 🙂

Edited June 24, 2019 by stash_old

[StarDodger]

50 minutes ago, stash_old said:

Haven't tried the latest 64bit Beta (no stable version released) image but the 5ghz Wifi did not work. Plus on the Indi forum many have had problems with Ubuntu Mate 18.04 64bit and Kstars/Indi.

The server version has,for a long time, worked but the Desktop version is another matter.

Are using Stellarmate and is it a true 64bit version not 32bit emulation on a 3b+?

What 😲 Mate 16.04  been running for a number of years and pretty stable - was it a particular driver or just using the wrong image on the 3b+?

I never mentioned anything about 64 bit, I just stated that 18.04 mate, via Stellarmate  runs extremely well on rpi3b+, it still 32 bit..

Edited June 24, 2019 by StarDodger

[StarDodger]

48 minutes ago, Gina said:

Yep, Astroberry is great!

WiFi system on AB is not good, and not easy to navigate...I want ease, as I said I am a Linux dummy..

[Gina]

I do have an advantage - I have dealt with a number of different operating systems in all sorts of computers for over 50 years including as a career.  Also, used many different programing languages and covered both hardware and software in research.  My only disadvantage is that I'm not as young as I was!

Edited June 24, 2019 by Gina

[stash_old]

For a more detailsed spec read this https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1560/1473/files/Inside_Raspberry_Pi_4.pdf?2142 

NOTE no boot from USB3 initially and is still 32bit 

 

[Gina]

The bottleneck I've found is the rate I can read my astro camera via USB and CAT6 cable to my router and hence desktop.   The 16MB image takes about 8s to download.  No problem imaging DSOs with at least 60s exposure time but I want something a lot faster for solar or planetary, albeit with a smaller sensor.  It may prove better to store the data locally by the RPi then download later.

[StarDodger]

21 minutes ago, stash_old said:

For a more detailsed spec read this https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/1560/1473/files/Inside_Raspberry_Pi_4.pdf?2142 

NOTE no boot from USB3 initially and is still 32bit 

 

32 bit is absolutely fine for INdI...

64 bit does not interest me at all for my needs, but the much faster Ethernet does, and the USB 3 ports, and also the upgraded BT will be a benefit to me.. and of course the 4gb DDR4 RAM, that will work wonders for my needs..

[JamesF]

Hmmm.  I'd be tempted to get one to play with oacapture, but if the USB3 ports can't run at full speed I wonder if it's worth bothering right now or waiting to see if there might be better offerings in the near future.

James

[StarDodger]

1 hour ago, JamesF said:

Hmmm.  I'd be tempted to get one to play with oacapture, but if the USB3 ports can't run at full speed I wonder if it's worth bothering right now or waiting to see if there might be better offerings in the near future.

James

Who says the USB 3 ports won’t run at full speed...?

 

[JamesF]

Just now, StarDodger said:

Who says the USB 3 ports won’t run at full speed...?

Well, not at the same time, by the looks of it, and capturing data at high frame rates means writing it at high data rates, too.  The RPi3 seems to struggle a bit with that when it's writing to an SD card.  An external USB3 disk would probably help, but that means it will be fighting the camera for bandwidth which isn't brilliant either.

Suddenly I find myself wondering if I could write the data to a remote client over the network.  I can pull data off a GigE camera at fairly high data rates after all.  One to file away for later consideration...

James

[pete_l]

14 minutes ago, JamesF said:

 capturing data at high frame rates means writing it at high data rates, too.

Fortunately with the 4GB version if the RPi 4, there is sufficient RAM to buffer quite a bit of data without a disk/SD-card bottleneck.

Once captured you can put it to n/v storage at a more leisurely pace. Just as long as your average rate of data production doesn't overrun the speed of writing.

[JamesF]

Just now, pete_l said:

Fortunately with the 4GB version if the RPi 4, there is sufficient RAM to buffer quite a bit of data without a disk/SD-card bottleneck.

Once captured you can put it to n/v storage at a more leisurely pace. Just as long as your average rate of data production doesn't overrun the speed of writing.

If you can get hold of a 4GB version   Though actually it would be very helpful to have one with a bit more memory.  It's a bit of a bottleneck building the entire system at the moment, and I do quite a few different ARM builds.  Perhaps I should have a think about cross-compiling.

If there's a reasonable limit on the amount of data being captured then it might well be worth trying something along the lines of creating a tmpfs partition of, say, a gigabyte or two, storing the captured data there and moving it elsewhere afterwards.  Or even having an additional daemon that would monitor the partition and move completed capture files elsewhere (potentially over the network, given that it shouldn't impact USB performance any more).

James

[Gina]

I transfer data straight from the camera over GigE ATM.  I assume the bottleneck is the USB2 port on the RPi3B. 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

I also save image files direct to a NAS device over Gb network, and hopefully I may be able to answer some of your questions, as I've just had a notice that my order has been shipped !!  really surprised, as there are some reports that nothing would be shipped this year !!

[StarDodger]

39 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

I also save image files direct to a NAS device over Gb network, and hopefully I may be able to answer some of your questions, as I've just had a notice that my order has been shipped !!  really surprised, as there are some reports that nothing would be shipped this year !!

Yes mine has come this morning, only ordered this time yesterday...but many place now out of stock of the 4gb version..

[cjdawson]

This is perfect timing for me.    I'm in the process of building and AllSky camera and want to use a 3B+ for it and power it using PoE.    I've got a 3B+ running a development platform at moment, but it's kinda being pushed to it's limit to make it work.   I'm planning on getting a PI 4 4GB - from what I read, They've severly underestimated how popular that version is going to be, hence all the out of stock messages and swap out the 3B+ from my dev platform for a PI 4.  Then I'll be able to use the 3B+ for my all sky camera

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Just be aware, they are not a direct, drop in replacement, new drivers will need to be written to cope with newer firmware.

[JamesF]

48 minutes ago, Dr_Ju_ju said:

Just be aware, they are not a direct, drop in replacement, new drivers will need to be written to cope with newer firmware.

I'd not expect it to be a major problem unless he's using something particularly unusual.  The majority of camera drivers these days seem to be either UVC or built on top of the kernel's USB API (or even libusb, which makes it even simpler).

James

[StarDodger]

Nothing really even been mentioned on the Ubuntu forums yet, about support for the new rpi4b... 🙁

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Guysoft & Foosel are currently having fun getting, Octopi 0.16 to run on the new hardware, but there is a dev build available.....