Raspberry Pi 4 for Imaging Rigs

[StarDodger]

Use this address in web browser

http://stellarmate.local:8624/

Edited July 13, 2019 by StarDodger

[david_taurus83]

I've reflashed the laptop with Kubuntu now instead of Ubuntu. I can connect to the SM via EKOS on the laptop now. Happy days! No not really! I've hit the same brick wall I had with windows. It seems the focuser and mount are fighting over the same ports even after running port manager. Jasem has posted a page on this so trying to get it fixed.

[StarDodger]

4 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

I've reflashed the laptop with Kubuntu now instead of Ubuntu. I can connect to the SM via EKOS on the laptop now. Happy days! No not really! I've hit the same brick wall I had with windows. It seems the focuser and mount are fighting over the same ports even after running port manager. Jasem has posted a page on this so trying to get it fixed.

Ok, getting somewhere now, I assume you have found the serial port manager from the link I posted above..

Kubuntu is really the same as Ubuntu, just with the better KDE desktop environment..but glad it’s working now..

[Waynescave]

On 30/06/2019 at 17:02, StarDodger said:

Well FYI, the new rpi4 will not work with Kstars very easily until there is ubuntu support, it can be done but not for the faint hearted and Linux noobs like me...so still using the rpi3b+ for now..

Hi there, I'm a simple stellarmate original rasp pi owner.. (so not even rasp pi 3+ or whatever its called) 

I run kstars on the pi.. With indi to connect and control my equipment. 

Really love it as only use a tablet screen for imaging all night.. 

One thing tho.. How do you get on with guiding? And what guide cam do you use? 

I stupidly use a color altair mx224c and at full resolution and even at half resolution I get exposure timeout messages... 

Is this because the ram and cpu performance struggles or the cameras tech difficulties? 

I'm keen to know guide cameras other "on site" not home obsies pi users use!?! 

So anyone out there hit me! 😅👍

Waynescave

YouTube me: waynescave

[Waynescave]

15 minutes ago, david_taurus83 said:

I've reflashed the laptop with Kubuntu now instead of Ubuntu. I can connect to the SM via EKOS on the laptop now. Happy days! No not really! I've hit the same brick wall I had with windows. It seems the focuser and mount are fighting over the same ports even after running port manager. Jasem has posted a page on this so trying to get it fixed.

Just read about your issues, I've had similar issues with the new version of kstars.. Where filter wheels spin while kstars initiates a mer flip and other weird stuff.. 

Is this bugs in kstars that's being addressed right now does anyone know?.. 🤔

Tried port assist in indi tab but its greyed out... Doesn't open for me... 

[StarDodger]

1 hour ago, Waynescave said:

Just read about your issues, I've had similar issues with the new version of kstars.. Where filter wheels spin while kstars initiates a mer flip and other weird stuff.. 

Is this bugs in kstars that's being addressed right now does anyone know?.. 🤔

Tried port assist in indi tab but its greyed out... Doesn't open for me... 

I use the ekos internal guider with an SX Lodestar camera and works well, and bugs that you notice should be reported to Jasem ( the developer) on the INdI forum website, you should join if you haven’t already...

Altair cameras aren’t the best with INdI, as they suffer power issues and hence timeout issues, this is because they have unregulated power electronics in them, (they are Chinese rebrand cameras) and so the support for the hardware is hard to get from the manufacture, as it’s not Altair...

You can only access the serial port assistant from the INdI web manager, the button in ekos is not set up to work, but there for future releases.

 

[Waynescave]

1 minute ago, StarDodger said:

I use the ekos internal guider with an SX Lodestar camera and works well, and bugs that you notice should be reported to Jasem ( the developer) on the INdI forum website, you should join if you haven’t already...

Altair cameras aren’t the best with INdI, as they suffer power issues and hence timeout issues, this is because they have unregulated power electronics in them, (they are Chinese rebrand cameras) and so the support for the hardware is hard to get from the manufacture, as it’s not Altair...

You can only access the serial port assistant from the INdI web manager, the button in ekos is not set up to work, but there for future releases.

 

Thanks for the reply, yes I've dealt with Jasem and tested some updates for him in the past, he has been outstanding at developing and supporting our community I think you'll agree! 😀

I'm on the lookout for a mono lodestar as I thought it was a well reported cam to use in this setup with pi and Ekos etc.. So I'm glad to hear you get stable and reliable use with yours too! 

They are quite pricey new though aren't they! 🤔

Is there a more affordable alternative that you know of.. Even tho I'd prefer sx lodestar as it is supposed to be at parfocal focus off the bat, inside my sx OAG filterwheel... 

[StarDodger]

Well, have got a major hurdle with the rpi4, the 4K resolution will not work headless over VNC, only when there is a monitor attached..

Without a monitor 1920x1080 is the Max...so that’s  a deal breaker for me, as I wanted to use the rpi4 and try and run Kstars from it..but that ain’t gonna work..  

[stash_old]

1 minute ago, StarDodger said:

Well, have got a major hurdle with the rpi4, the 4K resolution will not work headless over VNC, only when there is a monitor attached..

Without a monitor 1920x1080 is the Max...so that’s  a deal breaker for me, as I wanted to use the rpi4 and try and run Kstars from it..but that ain’t gonna work..  

Dummy HMDI plug - hint - £4 on ebay works on RPI3 and Windows and Linux - for me

[david_taurus83]

3 hours ago, StarDodger said:

Ok, getting somewhere now, I assume you have found the serial port manager from the link I posted above..

Kubuntu is really the same as Ubuntu, just with the better KDE desktop environment..but glad it’s working now..

Well fingers crossed, I think that's done it! I used the serial port manager from the web version and assigned the mount and focuser to their own USB port. Hopefully when I boot it up again it's still working.

Platesolving still not working. What files do i need to download? Do i store them on the laptop and set the directory path there and pick Remote in Ekos?

I was capturing some test images today. They were saving to the laptop and taking a long time to download for each one. Is there a way to save to the SD card on the RPi but also see a preview on the laptop?

[StarDodger]

3 hours ago, stash_old said:

Dummy HMDI plug - hint - £4 on ebay works on RPI3 and Windows and Linux - for me

it works without a monitor no dummy plug needed, and it works on the rpi 3 and 3b+ without a dummy plug too....so not sure why you needed one, but it will only show a max res of full HD and not the 4K that the rpi4 does now output.....

[StarDodger]

3 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Well fingers crossed, I think that's done it! I used the serial port manager from the web version and assigned the mount and focuser to their own USB port. Hopefully when I boot it up again it's still working.

Platesolving still not working. What files do i need to download? Do i store them on the laptop and set the directory path there and pick Remote in Ekos?

I was capturing some test images today. They were saving to the laptop and taking a long time to download for each one. Is there a way to save to the SD card on the RPi but also see a preview on the laptop?

If you are using the laptop and the rpi as the server, then the index files need to be on the laptop really, in ekos under the align tab, on left bottom side you will see astrometry, click the little box next to it, and then click index files, and select the ones you want downloaded, the ones you already have will be ticked already..

[david_taurus83]

1 hour ago, StarDodger said:

If you are using the laptop and the rpi as the server, then the index files need to be on the laptop really, in ekos under the align tab, on left bottom side you will see astrometry, click the little box next to it, and then click index files, and select the ones you want downloaded, the ones you already have will be ticked already..

Hi yes I've done that. Its solved once tonight and then when I got on target it didn't solve. Need to play with the settings a bit. Just capturing a few test subs now. Got internal guiding running ok. I haven't even bothered to polar align but it seems to be holding it's own. I like the autofocus routine. Seems very quick compared to APT. It's great not having any cables in the window and I can walk around the house with the laptop!

[StarDodger]

Great, glad you have it running...well done, its worth it i love the software and will never go back to a windows system for astro..

[stash_old]

12 hours ago, StarDodger said:

it works without a monitor no dummy plug needed, and it works on the rpi 3 and 3b+ without a dummy plug too....so not sure why you needed one, but it will only show a max res of full HD and not the 4K that the rpi4 does now output.....

Well std Indi on Std Ubunu mate didn't on many h/w set ups including RPI, well documented problem - only Raspbian worked . Not bothered trying since as the dummy means no changes in software parameters can effect the RDP no matter which version of RDP you use - maybe a fix was applied 🙂 

[david_taurus83]

14 hours ago, StarDodger said:

Great, glad you have it running...well done, its worth it i love the software and will never go back to a windows system for astro..

Well I may have spoke too soon! After I posted my "victory" comment last night, Sods Law kicked in and things went pear shaped! Ekos hanging, crashing etc. More testing again today and tried both Windows and Linux OS. Both the same. It just seems if theres a communication issue it crashes everything. I've not given up yet though. The Web Manager route seems to be the most stable. I've logged on through VNC viewer and using Ekos on the RPi. I've set it to capture 12 subs and I've switched the laptop off. Switched back on and it's still going. Swapped laptops and it's still going. Obviously not able to test guiding, solving and focusing indoors but it worked well last night from the laptop Ekos. Tbh, it's the main reason I went for Stellarmate. I want the RPi to control everything from the mount and I can just remote desktop from indoors without fear of comms issues ruining image plans. Hopefully can get another few nights of testing in before i start imaging in anger again in August.

[discardedastro]

I had first light for my setup last night and it worked beautifully - this was headless, with INDI on the Pi4 (wired Ethernet) and Ekos/KStars on a separate laptop (wireless, since I'm nipping in and out of the house with it). Web Manager for INDI, started+managed by systemd.

Only snag I hit was with my GPS, which turned out to be a simple GPS receiver issue, not a gpsd issue - hopefully now it's had a warm start it'll fare better, otherwise I'll fake a device with the correct fixed position and time from my home's NTP server. Everything else worked fine. Obviously running things like guiding over WiFi isn't ideal, so if the desktop-and-VNC-on-Pi approach works well for others I'll give that a try, otherwise I have a few spare Atom servers lying around I can easily convert.

I did have one KStars crash but that's not new - I think that's mostly due to running latest-and-greatest release from the Arch repositories on the laptop. Seems to be something in the auto-focus module - I need to run it within gdb and capture a stack trace next time it explodes.

Lots of mount/telescope issues, but nothing new there more work to be done overall!

[StarDodger]

2 hours ago, discardedastro said:

I had first light for my setup last night and it worked beautifully - this was headless, with INDI on the Pi4 (wired Ethernet) and Ekos/KStars on a separate laptop (wireless, since I'm nipping in and out of the house with it). Web Manager for INDI, started+managed by systemd.

Only snag I hit was with my GPS, which turned out to be a simple GPS receiver issue, not a gpsd issue - hopefully now it's had a warm start it'll fare better, otherwise I'll fake a device with the correct fixed position and time from my home's NTP server. Everything else worked fine. Obviously running things like guiding over WiFi isn't ideal, so if the desktop-and-VNC-on-Pi approach works well for others I'll give that a try, otherwise I have a few spare Atom servers lying around I can easily convert.

I did have one KStars crash but that's not new - I think that's mostly due to running latest-and-greatest release from the Arch repositories on the laptop. Seems to be something in the auto-focus module - I need to run it within gdb and capture a stack trace next time it explodes.

Lots of mount/telescope issues, but nothing new there more work to be done overall!

Why do you have to start INdI web manager manually, it should start automatically when you start your profile in ekos... ?

Not sure what you mean by “web manager for INdI”

Its all automatic on mine I never see the web manager I just know it starts and runs in the background, I don’t think there is any other way to run the system...!!

[StarDodger]

6 hours ago, david_taurus83 said:

Well I may have spoke too soon! After I posted my "victory" comment last night, Sods Law kicked in and things went pear shaped! Ekos hanging, crashing etc. More testing again today and tried both Windows and Linux OS. Both the same. It just seems if theres a communication issue it crashes everything. I've not given up yet though. The Web Manager route seems to be the most stable. I've logged on through VNC viewer and using Ekos on the RPi. I've set it to capture 12 subs and I've switched the laptop off. Switched back on and it's still going. Swapped laptops and it's still going. Obviously not able to test guiding, solving and focusing indoors but it worked well last night from the laptop Ekos. Tbh, it's the main reason I went for Stellarmate. I want the RPi to control everything from the mount and I can just remote desktop from indoors without fear of comms issues ruining image plans. Hopefully can get another few nights of testing in before i start imaging in anger again in August.

What do you mean by “the web manager route seems most stable”..? As I just posted above, I never see the web manager on my system it just starts and runs in the background automatically when I start my ekos profile, I assume you have the “start INdI web manager” box ticked in your ekos profile..?

[stash_old]

Not running Ekos/Kstars on the RPI -just Indiserver from the command line or using the Laptop to start Indiserver via Web Manager. Indiserver  can be started using various methods (so long as kit is connected first and switched) - Thats what "systemd" can do which is what I think is implied here but might be wrong.

Can also just use a simple .sh file which starts when the Desktop loads which contains a line for example "indi_server -v -m  indi_ccd indi_focus etc" - using the correct driver names of course. If the same kit is used each time it works well in my experience. 

Can also use SSH to start up a script without Desktop being used (Ubuntu/Raspbian etc server no Desktop)- saving resources- used a lot (well I do) when using multiple RPI and "chaining" - very simple and efficient resource usage.

Each to his/her own 🙂

 

[StarDodger]

40 minutes ago, stash_old said:

Not running Ekos/Kstars on the RPI -just Indiserver from the command line or using the Laptop to start Indiserver via Web Manager. Indiserver  can be started using various methods (so long as kit is connected first and switched) - Thats what "systemd" can do which is what I think is implied here but might be wrong.

Can also just use a simple .sh file which starts when the Desktop loads which contains a line for example "indi_server -v -m  indi_ccd indi_focus etc" - using the correct driver names of course. If the same kit is used each time it works well in my experience. 

Can also use SSH to start up a script without Desktop being used (Ubuntu/Raspbian etc server no Desktop)- saving resources- used a lot (well I do) when using multiple RPI and "chaining" - very simple and efficient resource usage.

Each to his/her own 🙂

 

I get all that, but the two examples talked about on here, are both using a laptop to control and rpi as the server, and with Kstars running on said laptop, so in those scenarios, there is no need whatsoever to even see the INdI web manager....it will run auto when ekos starts...and run in the background.

I don’t understand when running in this mode, why the Indi web manager is even mentioned as it’s just invisible...  you never actually have to see, start or have anything to do with it, when running Kstars / Ekos on a laptop and INdI on the rpi...Ekos does it all for you..  

Edited July 14, 2019 by StarDodger

[stash_old]

4 minutes ago, StarDodger said:

I don’t understand when running in this mode, why the Indi web manager is even mentioned as it’s just invisible...  you never actually have to see, start or have anything to do with it, when running Kstars / Ekos....

I never do use it so I will bow to your greater knowledge of Indi Web Manager. 🙂

[david_taurus83]

3 hours ago, StarDodger said:

What do you mean by “the web manager route seems most stable”..? As I just posted above, I never see the web manager on my system it just starts and runs in the background automatically when I start my ekos profile, I assume you have the “start INdI web manager” box ticked in your ekos profile..?

When I run everything through Ekos on either Windows or Linux laptops, its fraught with errors. Crashes, hangs, serial port errors etc. So I've given up on using the client (laptop) and server (RPi) approach. If the client fails, it ruins the image plan. So I have switched to running it via the VNC viewer. Everything is controlled from Ekos on the RPi and it's much more stable. In fact, tonight I'm not even using a laptop! I've put VNC viewer on both my tablet and phone and I can access the stellarmate from either. Everything is working like a dream! Struggled with the offline platesolver for a while but the answer was to change binning to 4x4 and down sample by 4. Happy days! Just need to figure out now how to transfer images back to my laptop for processing.

Edited July 15, 2019 by david_taurus83

[dyfiastro]

Hi eveyone
I am seriously considering the move over to a pi and linux for the new obsy build. The PC I am currently using got damaged so either need to replace it or change direction.
Having done a quick test run using a rpi3 and astroberry everything seemed to run fine apart from having a few issues with the QHY5L-IIm guide camera which I think could have been a power issue.

One thing that is currently holding me back is the planetary / lunar / solar side of things.
Has anyone or could anyone possibly test the new Pi 4 with a planetary camera such as the asi224 or asi178 based cameras to see how they fair?
 

[discardedastro]

8 hours ago, StarDodger said:

8 hours ago, stash_old said:

 

I get all that, but the two examples talked about on here, are both using a laptop to control and rpi as the server, and with Kstars running on said laptop, so in those scenarios, there is no need whatsoever to even see the INdI web manager....it will run auto when ekos starts...and run in the background.

I don’t understand when running in this mode, why the Indi web manager is even mentioned as it’s just invisible...  you never actually have to see, start or have anything to do with it, when running Kstars / Ekos on a laptop and INdI on the rpi...Ekos does it all for you..  

Ekos+KStars runs on my laptop, not the RPi.

The Pi runs INDI Web Manager at boot, which then allows KStars/Ekos to automatically start indiserver remotely. It is absolutely invisible from an end user perspective, once it's all set up, but the absolute minimal Pi setup is:

• Install indi and all the required drivers, as well as indi-web
• Set up indi-web to start on boot (for this purpose I use a systemd unit file, which enables the systemd daemon to look after indi-web and restart it if it crashes)
• Connect Ekos to the Pi, whereupon Ekos will use indi-web to start indiserver with the drivers configured in Ekos

Obviously if you're using a pre-packaged distro like Stellarmate this is being done for you under the hood; I've just built this up headless.

Running Ekos+KStars on the Pi itself is somewhat attractive - as @david_taurus83 says it's nice to have everything on the same box, and means it's a completely self-contained setup from a things-to-go-wrong perspective - having my laptop crash or WiFi connection drop wouldn't be a worry. Just a bit concerned about performance and latency.