Astroberry and GPS

[tweeb]

All,

I'm running both a RPi3 and RPi4 with Astroberry Server - Great!

The RPi3 is used in Client/Server Mode attached to my local WiFi network in my obsy - so I run KStars (and Ekos) on my MacBook Pro - so the Pi doesn't need to know the date/time. It runs in C/S Mode because it doesn't seem to the power/memory to run Kstars/Ekos ... so I bought a 4GB RPi4 ...

My plan is to use the RPi4 Astroberry Standalone as a hotspot out in the field for outreach from say an iPad via Web browser ... however I have to set the date and time every time I boot up (as it doesn't have a RTC) ... but I have an old TomTom Wireless (Bluetooth) GPS  NMEA Device.

Can Astroberry get the date and time (and location) from the TomTom Bluetooth GPS device at Boot Time or at Kstars/Indi start time?

Thanks for any help.

Cheers

Terry

BTW - Using the Safari web browser on an iPhone doesn't seem to work very well with Astroberry - screen sizing problems - seems Ok with VNC.

 

 

[stash_old]

On 18/12/2019 at 17:10, tweeb said:

but I have an old TomTom Wireless (Bluetooth) GPS  NMEA Device.

Can Astroberry get the date and time (and location) from the TomTom Bluetooth GPS device at Boot Time or at Kstars/Indi start time?

Simple answer is maybe - Indi GPS can , I believe , pick up GPS NMEA via bluetooth so I am assuming Astroberry can too.

But both depend on IF the blue tooth signals are compatible from your TomTom to /from Rpi.

 

https://www.indilib.org/forum/general/4816-gps-nmea-bluetooth.html

[tweeb]

Thanks but I'm still stuck - looked at all the Astroberry and GPS stuff I could find.

I can pair my TomTom Bluetooth GPS NMEA device to Astroberry but it then says 'No useable services on this device' when I try to connect via the Bluetooth Control.

If I setup INDI to connect GPS NMEA - on the driver panel I only see the option to connect via Ethernet. Presume I am missing something to connect Astroberry INDI GPS via Bluetooth? 

Screenprint attached.

Any help appreciated - I'm quite techie (happy running commands) but not a Unix Wizard.

Thanks

Terry

 

 

[stash_old]

I dont know the TomTom at all but the Indi GPs Nema expects the device to be a server hence the network connection of UDP/TCP. So if the RPI can connect to a server via Ethernet its a no go as far as I can tell.

The alternative is to use GPSD which normally expects a serial device (i.e. COM) which maybe possible for TomTom to provide via Bluetooth. So when you pair it may create a new serial port (do a lsusb before and after to see if the any new ports are created) which GPSD MAY be able to use depending how TomTom provides the correct protocol that GPSD recognises.

To be honest you need to go on Indi Forum and get a developer answering your question 🙂 

 - OR     just but a GPSD device on fleabay like this one https://www.ebay.co.uk/i/193149017114?chn=ps&norover=1&mkevt=1&mkrid=710-134428-41853-0&mkcid=2&itemid=193149017114&targetid=522856863278&device=c&mktype=pla&googleloc=9046219&poi=&campaignid=7412990371&mkgroupid=76068633330&rlsatarget=pla-522856863278&abcId=1139366&merchantid=6995734&gclid=CjwKCAiA0svwBRBhEiwAHqKjFk4JhfGJzGDPpnIZNtzzplE5hR04NknxqxavrtEyzjK8qzSsv05lcRoC-KIQAvD_BwE