Raspberry PI, mini PC - share your experience

[Rocket Stars]

I do not want to discourage you from RPi. Astroberry is a free and complete set up. Also works on on rpi3. So if you find one really cheap. That could be a test platform. If happy. Switch to a 4. 

I didn't plan to do EAA and live stacking. But I have tryed it. And it is really fun in SharpCap. If im happy. I save it to a capture file!!  

My main reason going for a nuc. Was it is all intel. Including USB3 chips. So I would have (hopefully) good camera connection. When in the future when getting a camera with high resolution/ big capture files. Win10 was something I had to buy. Im a iOS user since 90´s.. And yes. Win is still doing upgrades, checking my system. giving weird warning.. But hey. win 10 is better than earlier win versions.

Though, not happy with the interna wifi antennas range. Beelink, has external antennas. (but heard there was issues on earlier models) 

In the end. I did go a more expensive route then intended. I like small and lean RPi form factor. Very much. But Im happy now. And if I want to change the nuc to something else. Its good enough to be used in other applications. 

My best advice is to think it tru. (if not cheap enough to be a fun experiment) And buy "once". Because when you have a clear night. You want to have a setup that work with a little hazzle as possible. I found it that is a lot of other things to keep in order. to keep imaging. 

Oh, I control the NUC from inside on my Mac mini, with Anydesk. Its great. But had issues setting it up. Lots of settings to fix so it docent disconnect during imaging. Did happen on several location. That ended in some rather harsh Swedish Swearing..lol!!  Lession. Powersavings settings should be shut off. And there is several of them..

Let us hear what you did go for. And the result!  

 

edit! 

One thing to consider to have a mini pc, or a RPi att the scope/mount. Is that you don't have a screen close buy. There is a big advantage with laptop. 

I brought out a 27" screen when doing fault findings in the beginning. In a dark site.. Or my back yard. It lights up the whole area. .My neighbors was probably

thinking what that idiot doing out in the middle of the night. Watch a monitor in the garden lol

 

 

Edited April 16, 2020 by Rocket Stars

[msacco]

5 hours ago, Rocket Stars said:

I do not want to discourage you from RPi. Astroberry is a free and complete set up. Also works on on rpi3. So if you find one really cheap. That could be a test platform. If happy. Switch to a 4. 

I didn't plan to do EAA and live stacking. But I have tryed it. And it is really fun in SharpCap. If im happy. I save it to a capture file!!  

My main reason going for a nuc. Was it is all intel. Including USB3 chips. So I would have (hopefully) good camera connection. When in the future when getting a camera with high resolution/ big capture files. Win10 was something I had to buy. Im a iOS user since 90´s.. And yes. Win is still doing upgrades, checking my system. giving weird warning.. But hey. win 10 is better than earlier win versions.

Though, not happy with the interna wifi antennas range. Beelink, has external antennas. (but heard there was issues on earlier models) 

In the end. I did go a more expensive route then intended. I like small and lean RPi form factor. Very much. But Im happy now. And if I want to change the nuc to something else. Its good enough to be used in other applications. 

My best advice is to think it tru. (if not cheap enough to be a fun experiment) And buy "once". Because when you have a clear night. You want to have a setup that work with a little hazzle as possible. I found it that is a lot of other things to keep in order. to keep imaging. 

Oh, I control the NUC from inside on my Mac mini, with Anydesk. Its great. But had issues setting it up. Lots of settings to fix so it docent disconnect during imaging. Did happen on several location. That ended in some rather harsh Swedish Swearing..lol!!  Lession. Powersavings settings should be shut off. And there is several of them..

Let us hear what you did go for. And the result!  

 

edit! 

One thing to consider to have a mini pc, or a RPi att the scope/mount. Is that you don't have a screen close buy. There is a big advantage with laptop. 

I brought out a 27" screen when doing fault findings in the beginning. In a dark site.. Or my back yard. It lights up the whole area. .My neighbors was probably

thinking what that idiot doing out in the middle of the night. Watch a monitor in the garden lol

 

 

So.........even though it was probably a stupid decision, I simply couldn't resist myself. I just bought a RPi 4 with 4 GB, I found a 128GB sd card so I'll try using that first.

I'll see how it goes, on the worst case I'll simply get a mini PC for around the $220-250, should be far enough for an 8GB ram system with a very fine CPU(i5-4300U, i7-4650U, i7-4500U, i3-7100U and the likes).

I hope it'll go well 😀

[Rocket Stars]

I think you did a good choice! 

If you end up with to computers. You "need" another scope to go with the other computer.

 

[msacco]

3 hours ago, Rocket Stars said:

I think you did a good choice! 

If you end up with to computers. You "need" another scope to go with the other computer.

 

😂😂😂 I am actually looking for a small grab n go wide field scope such as the Sharpstar 61 EDPH triplet or the SharpStar 71SDQ quadruplet.

We have a pretty similar setup tbh, C8 Edge HD + reducer + hyper. I'm in love with the versatility of this scope

[newbie alert]

I bought a PI 3 and a PI 4,  seemed abit too complex for my little brain so they never came out of the box..

[msacco]

24 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

I bought a PI 3 and a PI 4,  seemed abit too complex for my little brain so they never came out of the box..

So why did you buy them in the first place? ^^

Edited April 17, 2020 by msacco

[newbie alert]

1 minute ago, msacco said:

So why did you buy them in the first place? ^^

At the time my daughter's boyfriend was working for raspberry PI,  he was really enthusiastic about them, and I kind of had enough of Windows so was looking at Kstars etc  but seemed like the PI 3 was going to be too slow and no one had got their pi4  to work at the time so I waited.. in the meantime I got my Windows system working,  switched off the internet connection and no probs so far

Now it looks like my daughter wants the pi4 as a mini computer

[msacco]

11 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

At the time my daughter's boyfriend was working for raspberry PI,  he was really enthusiastic about them, and I kind of had enough of Windows so was looking at Kstars etc  but seemed like the PI 3 was going to be too slow and no one had got their pi4  to work at the time so I waited.. in the meantime I got my Windows system working,  switched off the internet connection and no probs so far

Now it looks like my daughter wants the pi4 as a mini computer

I see, that is a good excuse

Is she into linux and stuff like that? That could be a cool idea.

[newbie alert]

2 hours ago, msacco said:

I see, that is a good excuse

Is she into linux and stuff like that? That could be a cool idea.

As long as she don't need any help from me

[msacco]

2 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

As long as she don't need any help from me

Good luck with that! 😬

[Juicy6]

On 14/04/2020 at 08:52, wornish said:

 

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Juicy6
triple posting

[Juicy6]

On 14/04/2020 at 08:52, wornish said:

 

 

 

 

Edited May 24, 2020 by Juicy6
triple posting

[Juicy6]

On 14/04/2020 at 08:52, wornish said:

IThe RPi4 doesn't boot off USB3 yet but there is quite a simple mod that's available that allows the system to run completely off the SSD.

https://www.tomshardware.com/news/raspberry-pi-boot-from-usb-firmware-beta

 

Christer, Sweden

[Stuart1971]

20 minutes ago, Juicy6 said:

The RPi4 doesn't boot off USB3 yet but there is quite a simple mod that's available that allows the system to run completely off the SSD.

 

 

I think you need to reword your post, as you have contradicted yourself by saying the rpi4 DOES NOT boot from USB 3 yet, and then saying that the rpi4 can run completly off an SSD drive, which is connected to USB 3.... 🤔🤔

The rpi4 CAN now boot from USB 3 with the firmware update in the link you sent....

Edited May 24, 2020 by Stuart1971

[wornish]

12 hours ago, Stuart1971 said:

The RPi4 doesn't boot off USB3 yet but there is quite a simple mod that's available that allows the system to run completely off the SSD.

 

 

 

Quote

I think you need to reword your post, as you have contradicted yourself by saying the rpi4 DOES NOT boot from USB 3 yet, and then saying that the rpi4 can run completly off an SSD drive, which is connected to USB 3.... 🤔🤔

The rpi4 CAN now boot from USB 3 with the firmware update in the link you sent....

 My post is correct.  The RPi4 doesn't BOOT off USB3 yet but it can then RUN off USB3 once the initial boot sequence is complete.  I don't see any contradiction in that statement.  

I know this is about to change when, the USB3 boot code currently in Beta, is released.

Edited May 25, 2020 by wornish

[Stuart1971]

1 hour ago, wornish said:

 

 My post is correct.  The RPi4 doesn't BOOT off USB3 yet but it can then RUN off USB3 once the initial boot sequence is complete.  I don't see any contradiction in that statement.  

I know this is about to change when, the USB3 boot code currently in Beta, is released.

That’s my point, it was released a week ago... 👍

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/how-to/boot-raspberry-pi-4-usb

Edited May 25, 2020 by Stuart1971

[wornish]

11 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

That’s my point, it was released a week ago... 👍

https://www.tomshardware.com/uk/how-to/boot-raspberry-pi-4-usb

But if you read your link you will see its still in BETA so not officially released yet.  Which is exactly what I said 🙂

I don't want to use Beta software so will wait a while.

 

[iapa]

I have a micro USB powered stick PC, that has 1.4GHz Z8530, with 4GB RAM running Win10 Pro (it was £15 for an OEM license from Amazon) and a 64G solid state storage.

This handles SGPro, and PHD2, focus motor control for both guide and imaging scope, and the Pegasus pocket powerbox.

Files are saved to a OneDrive folder so I can access from a PC in the house.

[msacco]

6 minutes ago, iapa said:

I have a micro USB powered stick PC, that has 1.4GHz Z8530, with 4GB RAM running Win10 Pro (it was £15 for an OEM license from Amazon) and a 64G solid state storage.

This handles SGPro, and PHD2, focus motor control for both guide and imaging scope, and the Pegasus pocket powerbox.

Files are saved to a OneDrive folder so I can access from a PC in the house.

I'm currently trying a raspberry pi, I'm using a custom distro which I can't really say which here, but so far it works amazingly. I think that if I were to go the windows route, I'd probably get a mini PC with 8GB ram as Win10 is quite a hungry system.

[Tenor Viol]

Although I've never been a PC type 'geek' i.e. I don't play around in the bowels of an OS or write stuff in C# or Python or use Linux  etc. I'm not put off 'having a go' as my day job is designing IT systems and once upon a time I wrote mainframe assembler programs...

I gave up on PCs about 3 years ago when I saw my rag with endless problems with W10 (never-ending updates to it and any application that used it, bugs, endless system crashes) and now use a MacBook Pro. I don't really want to have multiple laptops when I get my rig under computer control in due course. Given that the UK is damp and prone to heavy dew fall I don't fancy getting my Mac wet outside. 

I am definitely intrigued by the idea of using either a R Pi or mini-PC which can be attached to the mount and which can be left to get on with things and which you can link to from the Mac or iPad safely sat in the conservatory or similar. 

The question I have as someone who has never used Linux is how friendly is say R Pi running Astroberry? I know I have an overhead coming up in getting to grips with the applications like Kstars (and I could start that now by downloading it to the Mac). I don't particularly want to spend time learning to input Linux console commands... Astroberry is a cheaper option than AstroMate which as far as I can tell is just a R Pi that someone has set-up and configured with the same set of apps. ASIair seem to be an issue as it is tightly defined to their kit and initially I will be using Nikon and Canon cameras for imaging, for example. 

I'm tempted to get a 4Gb R Pi and apply the Astroberry application. For those who've used them, is the standard plastic case OK or should I be looking at the metal heatsink ones?

Any pointers to either more threads here on SGL or forums/sites to help out R Pi novices?

The other route would be some sort of mini-PC. Big advantage is you just shove all the PC software on it. Down side is it's Windows, but on the plus you can get plenty of SSD storage in the box. More expensive route than R Pi.   

[wornish]

4 hours ago, Tenor Viol said:

Although I've never been a PC type 'geek' i.e. I don't play around in the bowels of an OS or write stuff in C# or Python or use Linux  etc. I'm not put off 'having a go' as my day job is designing IT systems and once upon a time I wrote mainframe assembler programs...

I gave up on PCs about 3 years ago when I saw my rag with endless problems with W10 (never-ending updates to it and any application that used it, bugs, endless system crashes) and now use a MacBook Pro. I don't really want to have multiple laptops when I get my rig under computer control in due course. Given that the UK is damp and prone to heavy dew fall I don't fancy getting my Mac wet outside. 

I am definitely intrigued by the idea of using either a R Pi or mini-PC which can be attached to the mount and which can be left to get on with things and which you can link to from the Mac or iPad safely sat in the conservatory or similar. 

The question I have as someone who has never used Linux is how friendly is say R Pi running Astroberry? I know I have an overhead coming up in getting to grips with the applications like Kstars (and I could start that now by downloading it to the Mac). I don't particularly want to spend time learning to input Linux console commands... Astroberry is a cheaper option than AstroMate which as far as I can tell is just a R Pi that someone has set-up and configured with the same set of apps. ASIair seem to be an issue as it is tightly defined to their kit and initially I will be using Nikon and Canon cameras for imaging, for example. 

I'm tempted to get a 4Gb R Pi and apply the Astroberry application. For those who've used them, is the standard plastic case OK or should I be looking at the metal heatsink ones?

Any pointers to either more threads here on SGL or forums/sites to help out R Pi novices?

The other route would be some sort of mini-PC. Big advantage is you just shove all the PC software on it. Down side is it's Windows, but on the plus you can get plenty of SSD storage in the box. More expensive route than R Pi.   

If you have a Mac then download KStars for Mac and have play to get a feel for it and decide if you want go forward.

https://edu.kde.org/kstars/#download

KStars running on MacOS , Windows or Linux has basically the same user interface and behaves the same on each.

One very important thing to check before committing is that all your devices are supported.  KStars can control your mount, cameras, focuser, guiding, plate solving etc using INDI drivers .  These do the same thing that ASCOM drivers do on a Windows system. So have a quick check here to find out what's supported.  Most equipment is supported.

https://indilib.org/devices.html

 

Then when it comes to getting a RPi. go for the RPi4. with 4GB memory.The standard RPi4 case really is not up to the job as the RPI4 can get hot under heavy load and then it automatically reduces the internal clock speed to force it to run cooler, which can be a pain. So metal cases are better, But most of the metal cases for the RPi4 do seriously impact its WiFi connectabilty, the most popular one (which I use). it the FLIRC case which does have internal heatsinks but less impact on the WiFi.

The best and easiest way to get all the apps you need preloaded on the Raspbian Operating system is to use Astroberry.  Its FREE, very well supported and does everything something like Stellarmate  offers but without the cost.  Astroberry also comes with ALL the INDI drivers pre installed.

You can find all about it here:

https://www.astroberry.io

If you read some of my earlier posts on this thread they provide links to get more info.

One step I would recommend is getting a USB3 SSD (Flash drive) it makes a huge difference  to performance and is way faster than running everything of the SD Card memory.

 

Hope this helps