Are There Open Source Astro Projects Looking For Help?

[dave_tucker]

My day job is as a Software Engineer and I was wondering how I might put those skills to use on the Uk's famous cloudy nights.
I've been playing with KStars/Ekos and INDI and it's awesome, but it's unclear to me (from the website at least) how to contribute my time (Ikarus will gladly take my money though lol).
So I'm wondering if any of the maintainers hang out here and might be kind enough to point me in the right direction... or if there are other popular projects that might need a helping hand.

[cdvideo]

I know they is a project going right now to get a Aux signal to USB dongle to work with CPWI on cloudy nights 

 

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/757298-mount-serial-port/

and another same idea but Aux to Ethernet dongle

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/749486-diy-ethernet-dongle-for-aux-port-anyone-interested/

 

 

[alexwolf]

What about Stellarium?

[AngryDonkey]

There is also NINA: https://nighttime-imaging.eu/

[Avocette]

22 hours ago, dave_tucker said:

My day job is as a Software Engineer and I was wondering how I might put those skills to use on the Uk's famous cloudy nights.
I've been playing with KStars/Ekos and INDI and it's awesome, but it's unclear to me (from the website at least) how to contribute my time (Ikarus will gladly take my money though lol).
So I'm wondering if any of the maintainers hang out here and might be kind enough to point me in the right direction... or if there are other popular projects that might need a helping hand.

I’ve been an avid user (rather than a developer) of KStars/Ekos/Indi with a Raspberry Pi  3+ and since they were launched in summer 2019, RPi 4s. I monitor, update and occasionally ask questions on the forum at www.indilib.org where the are certainly developers posting news and answering queries. I suggest you offer your skills over there where I’m sure you would be welcomed.

[Xilman]

22 hours ago, dave_tucker said:

My day job is as a Software Engineer and I was wondering how I might put those skills to use on the Uk's famous cloudy nights.
I've been playing with KStars/Ekos and INDI and it's awesome, but it's unclear to me (from the website at least) how to contribute my time (Ikarus will gladly take my money though lol).
So I'm wondering if any of the maintainers hang out here and might be kind enough to point me in the right direction... or if there are other popular projects that might need a helping hand.

I and a number of other people would very much like an INDI driver for the K8055N Velleman USB board. In my case it is used to control the dome. The LesveDome product works well under Windows/ASCOM but it would be nice to be able to use it under Linux/INDI.

 

[dave_tucker]

9 hours ago, cdvideo said:

I know they is a project going right now to get a Aux signal to USB dongle to work with CPWI on cloudy nights

That looks awesome, but it looks more electronics and not software.

4 hours ago, alexwolf said:

What about Stellarium?

 

3 hours ago, AngryDonkey said:

There is also NINA

Both good options. I do use Stellarium so maybe I'll look and see what needs doing there. I've not used NINA yet but will give it a look.

47 minutes ago, Xilman said:

I and a number of other people would very much like an INDI driver for the K8055N Velleman USB board. In my case it is used to control the dome. The LesveDome product works well under Windows/ASCOM but it would be nice to be able to use it under Linux/INDI.

 

This sounds interesting. I'll do some digging and see if it's something that's within my ability to do.

 

Thanks everyone for the suggestions!