EKOS Set up help

[lw2689]

I am trying to set up my Celestron AVX mount on KStars through EKOS on a RPi 4 running Astroberry however I seem to be encountering problems and I am hoping someone is able to help with a solution? 

I have an RS232 cable coming from the hand controller into a Serial to USB adapter into the RPi 4. I know this cable works as I have loaded up Kstars on my macbook and been able to connect and control it. However it doesn't seem to like the RPi. I get the error code shown below. If I press scan ports it comes ups with nothing, unlike on the MacBook where it picks up 2 ports. 

Below is a screen shot of it working on my MacBook. 

Does anyone have any solutions?I'm not too familiar with any sort of code reading so please dumb down your reply if possible. 

 

 

 

[Stuart1971]

Hi, it maybe due to the prolific chipset used on the serial to USB adapter, you really should use one with FTDI chipset, they are far more stable...and work very well with the RPI... 👍

[JamesF]

Linux has generally been pretty good with the Prolific chipset as far as I'm aware.  Even the knock-off ones.  It could be an issue there, but it's not a conclusion I'd jump to too hurriedly.

The second line of output from "lsusb" shows that the kernel has at least detected the device and recognised it, which is a good start.  The question now is why it hasn't created the serial device node (/dev/ttyUSB0) for it.  @lw2689, where you've run "lsusb", could you also try:

dmesg | tail -15

and post the output of that (which should be 15 lines long)?  With a bit of luck there might be something there to shed some light.

James

[pete_l]

Linux is not good at handling USB. I find that my system goes through bouts of reassigning a different ttyUSBx port number each time a device is plugged in - or even each time it is reset / opened. This is especially annoying when doing Arduino development.

I would suggest running the terminal command:

ls -lt /dev/ttyUSB*

to discover what USB ports your system thinks it has got. Do this every time there is a problem. Or use the following script in a terminal window (resized to small and moved out of the way) to continually monitor the USB serial ports.

#!/bin/bash

# script to report which Serial USB ports are connected

while [ 1 ] ; do
  clear
  ls -lt /dev/ttyU* | cut -c33-99
  sleep 1
done

 

[Stuart1971]

I have always used Stellarmate on the RPI which has a serial port manager, so never had issues with serial ports, but not tried without mapping them first, but those people I know who don't map them first, always seem to have intermittent issues ☹️

Edited August 14, 2020 by Stuart1971

[stash_old]

4 hours ago, pete_l said:

Linux is not good at handling USB

Its not the fault of Linux but the USB device which either does not provide a unique serial number when using the same USB type device.

Udevadm / port mapping is normally a simple process UNLESS you have the above stated problem. As @Stuart1971 has already stated Ekos provides Serial Port Mapper which is only needed normally once after which its is far more stable than Windows.

[lw2689]

17 hours ago, JamesF said:

Linux has generally been pretty good with the Prolific chipset as far as I'm aware.  Even the knock-off ones.  It could be an issue there, but it's not a conclusion I'd jump to too hurriedly.

The second line of output from "lsusb" shows that the kernel has at least detected the device and recognised it, which is a good start.  The question now is why it hasn't created the serial device node (/dev/ttyUSB0) for it.  @lw2689, where you've run "lsusb", could you also try:

dmesg | tail -15

and post the output of that (which should be 15 lines long)?  With a bit of luck there might be something there to shed some light.

James

 

[JamesF]

Hmm.  That's a shame.  I was hoping there might be something in there about the serial device being connected, but that's not the case

An alternative might be to try:

Quote

dmesg | grep -i usb

after plugging in the mount.  (I'm trying to cut down on the amount of information required -- the output of just "dmesg" is usually quite big.)

James

[lw2689]

thank you helping me btw, I really appreciate this.

[lw2689]

10 hours ago, pete_l said:

ls -lt /dev/ttyUSB*

I get an error saying no such file or directory.

#!/bin/bash

# script to report which Serial USB ports are connected

while [ 1 ] ; do
  clear
  ls -lt /dev/ttyU* | cut -c33-99
  sleep 1
done

ls: cannot access ‘dev/ttyU*’ : no such file or directory 

I’ve tried the above but so such luck

[JamesF]

Well, that's odd.  The kernel appears to see the device perfectly happily, but appears not to create a device node for it.  It looks like Linux doesn't recognise the product id "23c3" as being a serial device and therefore doesn't create the device node.  Perhaps @RadekK might be able to help with that?

James

[lw2689]

astroberry@astroberry:~ $ tail -20 /var/log/syslog
Aug 14 17:27:19 astroberry systemd[1]: packagekit.service: Succeeded.
Aug 14 17:36:45 astroberry systemd[1]: Starting Cleanup of Temporary Directories...
Aug 14 17:36:45 astroberry systemd[1]: systemd-tmpfiles-clean.service: Succeeded.
Aug 14 17:36:45 astroberry systemd[1]: Started Cleanup of Temporary Directories.
Aug 14 17:42:20 astroberry dbus-daemon[625]: [session uid=1001 pid=625] Activating service name='org.freedesktop.secrets' requested by ':1.21' (uid=1001 pid=2242 comm="kstars ")
Aug 14 17:42:20 astroberry gnome-keyring-d[2270]: couldn't access control socket: /run/user/1001/keyring/control: No such file or directory
Aug 14 17:42:20 astroberry dbus-daemon[625]: [session uid=1001 pid=625] Successfully activated service 'org.freedesktop.secrets'
Aug 14 17:43:36 astroberry python3[1073]: 2020-08-14 17:43:36,511:indi-mqtt:Connected to INDI server localhost:7624
Aug 14 17:43:46 astroberry python3[1073]: 2020-08-14 17:43:46,484:indi-mqtt:Disconnected from INDI server localhost:7624
Aug 14 17:50:28 astroberry kernel: [ 1723.714985] usb 1-1.3: USB disconnect, device number 3
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry kernel: [ 1736.880771] usb 1-1.3: new full-speed USB device number 4 using xhci_hcd
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry kernel: [ 1737.017887] usb 1-1.3: New USB device found, idVendor=067b, idProduct=23c3, bcdDevice= 3.05
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry kernel: [ 1737.017906] usb 1-1.3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=3
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry kernel: [ 1737.017923] usb 1-1.3: Product: USB-Serial Controller 
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry kernel: [ 1737.017938] usb 1-1.3: Manufacturer: Prolific Technology Inc. 
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry kernel: [ 1737.017953] usb 1-1.3: SerialNumber: EVBIk19B617
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 4: "/sys/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.3"
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 4 was not an MTP device
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry mtp-probe: checking bus 1, device 4: "/sys/devices/platform/scb/fd500000.pcie/pci0000:00/0000:00:00.0/0000:01:00.0/usb1/1-1/1-1.3"
Aug 14 17:50:41 astroberry mtp-probe: bus: 1, device: 4 was not an MTP device

@JamesFI'm reading endless forums to find answers, i ran a command and it came up with the above.  Is this any help. I'm clueless (and getting super frustrated) At least its raining so i'm not missing out on to much.  I would also really like to sort this before i have to ask my boyfriend to help as he said getting this was a bad idea haha!

[stash_old]

Are you using Astroberry panels first to set up and connect to your devices - if not try this method first and Ekos should say something like "Indiserver already started terminate" - dont terminate - i.e. NO Ekos should still load and show profile

 

Also do a ls -la /dev/*.* >$HOME/dev-devicesnodes.txt - then look thru for any USB device drivers. It will/should be long list!

Note their is a bug in latest Raspbian kernel  (on Indilib) with USB converters but I though it was just FDTI driver permissions - last time I looked

[Stuart1971]

Just now, stash_old said:

Are you using Astroberry panels first to set up and connect to your devices - if not try this method first and Ekos should say something like "Indiserver already started terminate" - dont terminate - i.e. NO Ekos should still load and show profile

 

Also do a ls -la /dev/*.* >$HOME/dev-devicesnodes.txt - then look thru for any USB device drivers. It will/should be long list!

Note their is a bug in latest Raspbian kernel  (on Indilib) with USB converters but I though it was just FDTI driver permissions - last time I looked

Actually I think you have hit the nail on the head there.....there is an issue and I think it’s affecting all converters....even more so when plugged directly into the RPI, seems better when a powered hub is used... 👍😀

[alacant]

Hi guys.

After all this, usb-serial cable substitution gotta be worth a try.

Cheers

 

[JamesF]

2 minutes ago, lw2689 said:

I'm reading endless forums to find answers, i ran a command and it came up with the above.  Is this any help. I'm clueless (and getting super frustrated) At least its raining so i'm not missing out on to much.  I would also really like to sort this before i have to ask my boyfriend to help as he said getting this was a bad idea haha!

I have a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that those messages about the MTP device might be relevant (MTP is for transferring media from portable devices I believe).  It could be that because Linux thinks it might be an MTP device and checks to see if it is that the normal path to install a serial driver fails.  I think I had the same problem some years ago and can't remember the context at the moment.

James

[stash_old]

3 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

Actually I think you have hit the nail on the head there.....there is an issue and I think it’s affecting all converters....even more so when plugged directly into the RPI, seems better when a powered hub is used... 👍😀

Must have "grown" since I last looked! - Dont suppose you have a older SD card set up of Astroberry (not sure if the older images still exist on Radeks site) - like 1 month older. If you have this should be ok so long as you  dont do any updates.   OR

Try the fix KNRO has in this fix which seems to work for some people - but I stress they were all FDTI chips not "Others" unless you have a FDTI chip thats not being shown - so do at your own risk 😞   fix was

sudo rpi-update e1050e94821a70b2e4c72b318d6c6c968552e9a2

[lw2689]

15 minutes ago, stash_old said:

Are you using Astroberry panels first to set up and connect to your devices - if not try this method first and Ekos should say something like "Indiserver already started terminate" - dont terminate - i.e. NO Ekos should still load and show profile

 

Also do a ls -la /dev/*.* >$HOME/dev-devicesnodes.txt - then look thru for any USB device drivers. It will/should be long list!

Note their is a bug in latest Raspbian kernel  (on Indilib) with USB converters but I though it was just FDTI driver permissions - last time I looked

Astroberry panels? I am just using Ekos to set it up. I have no idea how to use panels, i couldn't find anything on the the desktop to do it. 

I tried that command but it wouldn't run 😕

[stash_old]

1 minute ago, JamesF said:

I have a nagging feeling in the back of my mind that those messages about the MTP device might be relevant (MTP is for transferring media from portable devices I believe).  It could be that because Linux thinks it might be an MTP device and checks to see if it is that the normal path to install a serial driver fails.  I think I had the same problem some years ago and can't remember the context at the moment.

James

This maybe https://github.com/raspberrypi/linux/issues/2692

[stash_old]

Just now, lw2689 said:

Astroberry panels? I am just using Ekos to set it up. I have no idea how to use panels, i couldn't find anything on the the desktop to do it. 

I tried that command but it wouldn't run 😕

The panels only appear if you use the Astroberry Web access to start Indiserver etc - sounds you are not using them!

Oops  ls -la /dev/*.* >>$HOME/dev-devicesnodes.txt  and perhaps just in case your permissions are all shot use sudo  ls -la /dev/*.* >>$HOME/dev-devicesnodes.txt 

 

[JamesF]

Another possibility is that the specific Prolific chipset in the serial converter is quite new and not supported in the Linux kernel that Astroberry is running.  It looks as though the driver for the model with a product ID of 23c3 may only have been written less than a year ago.  I'm clutching at straws a bit there though.

James

[Realtimedoctor]

Hi, 

I sometimes have exactly the same error as yours when using the hand controller to connect to the rpi. 

Try this, turn everything off. 

Turn the mount on first, before turning the rpi on. You should mane sure that the lights on your hand controller are on, before you turn on the rpi4. 

I've you've turned on the mount, turn on your rpi and try and connect. Hopefully that will solve the issue. 

Let me know if that works. 

Good Luck 

[lw2689]

On 15/08/2020 at 14:30, Realtimedoctor said:

Hi, 

I sometimes have exactly the same error as yours when using the hand controller to connect to the rpi. 

Try this, turn everything off. 

Turn the mount on first, before turning the rpi on. You should mane sure that the lights on your hand controller are on, before you turn on the rpi4. 

I've you've turned on the mount, turn on your rpi and try and connect. Hopefully that will solve the issue. 

Let me know if that works. 

Good Luck 

@Realtimedoctor Thanks for this, it didn't work sadly. I think it might be the cable I have got.

 

On 14/08/2020 at 18:52, JamesF said:

Another possibility is that the specific Prolific chipset in the serial converter is quite new and not supported in the Linux kernel that Astroberry is running.  It looks as though the driver for the model with a product ID of 23c3 may only have been written less than a year ago.  I'm clutching at straws a bit there though.

James

@JamesF I going to assume it's the cables communication with the RPi that is causing the issue, although its strange that it works on my Mac.

On 13/08/2020 at 23:06, Stuart1971 said:

Hi, it maybe due to the prolific chipset used on the serial to USB adapter, you really should use one with FTDI chipset, they are far more stable...and work very well with the RPI... 👍

The next option is to go for a USB adapter with an FTDI chipset. Could you recommend one from Amazon at all? That would be really helpful.

Again, thank you everyone. If the cable fixes it I will let everyone know incase someone else encounters this problem.

[Stuart1971]

48 minutes ago, lw2689 said:

@Realtimedoctor Thanks for this, it didn't work sadly. I think it might be the cable I have got.

 

@JamesF I going to assume it's the cables communication with the RPi that is causing the issue, although its strange that it works on my Mac.

The next option is to go for a USB adapter with an FTDI chipset. Could you recommend one from Amazon at all? That would be really helpful.

Again, thank you everyone. If the cable fixes it I will let everyone know incase someone else encounters this problem.

I would get a Startech branded one...👍

Here you go

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-USB-Serial-Adapter-Powered/dp/B004ZMYTYC/ref=sr_1_3?adgrpid=55904549511&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsuP5BRCoARIsAPtX_wH6hiV-rranhDw5Au-sb7W3SKaEGPX3wd1xQBpXAVDNK3NShQ9g7FAaArYtEALw_wcB&hvadid=259088528854&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9046174&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16166493371384529509&hvtargid=kwd-307981973170&hydadcr=4424_1795160&keywords=startech+usb+to+serial&qid=1597611475&sr=8-3&tag=googhydr-21

Edited August 16, 2020 by Stuart1971

[lw2689]

21 minutes ago, Stuart1971 said:

I would get a Startech branded one...👍

Here you go

https://www.amazon.co.uk/StarTech-com-USB-Serial-Adapter-Powered/dp/B004ZMYTYC/ref=sr_1_3?adgrpid=55904549511&dchild=1&gclid=Cj0KCQjwsuP5BRCoARIsAPtX_wH6hiV-rranhDw5Au-sb7W3SKaEGPX3wd1xQBpXAVDNK3NShQ9g7FAaArYtEALw_wcB&hvadid=259088528854&hvdev=c&hvlocphy=9046174&hvnetw=g&hvqmt=e&hvrand=16166493371384529509&hvtargid=kwd-307981973170&hydadcr=4424_1795160&keywords=startech+usb+to+serial&qid=1597611475&sr=8-3&tag=googhydr-21

Thank you