Arduino as a slave with RPi or Windows PC as master to control Tracking/GOTO mount

[Jim09]

Since the limitation on floating point precision on arduino , I'm planning to use arduino to control stepper motors in my DIY mount with RPi or a PC working as the master giving commands to the arduino

I'm a C# developer so  my plan is to control the arduino from .net application via serial ports, which I managed to get the proof of concept working with a simple LED blink app. Plus I have a powerfull small PC which s the same  size as a mac mini whcih woudl be perfect to go in the mount.

Now with RPi I can still use .net core  or some other language (probably python?  which i'm not familiar with) , and I was never comfortable with Linux as well.  So I'm a bit reluctant to go this path.

If I go with windows/.net  path I will be playing for my strengths when it come s to coding but are there other limitations on windows compared to Linux when it comes to a DIY tracking mount project? does stellarium or any other astro SW has limitation on windows?

 

 

[Dr_Ju_ju]

Traditionally, apart from very high equipment, it's more the other way round, with Linux (usually Indi\Ekos) playing catch-up to Windows as most systems sold have been to the largest group of user i.e. Windows..... 

So if you're more comfortable with .Net etc. I'd say stick with it, until you feel more confident to move on.....

[Gina]

I control stepper motors with A4988 or TMC drivers directly from the RPi using modified INDI drivers, written in C++.

[Jim09]

Thank you Julian and Gina

I guess I'll stick with my preferred  windows/.net path and see how things go , failing that I can try it with RPi as the last resort.

[JamesF]

Have you looked at Mono on Linux?  It's supposed to be an open source implementation of the .net framework, supported by Microsoft.  I don't know much more about it than that, I'm afraid, but there's more information here:

https://www.mono-project.com/

James

[Jim09]

Thank you James , that was new to me , I will have a look.

The other option would be to use .net core and publish the application from a PC to RPi, so it will be full blown .net but still has the hassle of dealing with linux 

[hughgilhespie]

Hi Jim,

Can I suggest you use a Teensy 3.6 board rather than an Arduino. Clock speed is 180 MHz and it has on-chip Floating Point so can handle your tracking calculations easily. The Teensy boards are all members of the Arduino ecosystem so they are easy to use with the standard Arduino IDE. Just smaller, faster, more capable.........

Regards, Hugh

[Jim09]

Thanks Hugh, I haven't heard of that so I'll do some research on that with my setup.

I'm really pleased with all the help and new suggestions guys, thanks very much again.