How do you lead your imaging gear cables indoors?

[Astroblagger]

As the title said iv just got going with eqmod and want to set up during the day and go inside to keep warm into my kitchen when imaging. Obviously don't want to have to keep the door ajar if it's Baltic outside. How do you set your gear cables up?

[DaveS]

Probably the best way is not to lead the cables indoors at all but have a local PC on the imaging rig and connect from indoors with RDP.

[Synchronicity]

I'm lucky enough to have an old cloths dryer vent at floor level so the cable goes out there.  I only have one Cat6 cable as I have a pier with power.  It had data too but the underground cable has failed or I wouldn't need anything

I'm thinking of fitting an external data socket on the wall opposite the pier, then I'd only need a 3m cable to plug in directly.

Michael

[PeterCPC]

I could never get remote desk top to work but there are other means like TeamViewer etc.

[Grifflin]

Yep, I use TeamViewer and it works just fine.  I guess it depends how good your WiFi is to wherever the rig has been set up.

Neil

[teoria_del_big_bang]

I have a fanless PC on the mount running NINA and wifi via remote desktop.
There are lots of programs like Windows RD and I think you need Win 10Pro (or similar) to use RD, I don't think it works with home edition but other programs work well, I just like RD because I can easily use both monitors on my desktop whereas I struggled doing so with the other available programs.

Steve

[carastro]

Another vote for Teamviewer.  
 

Carole

[DaveS]

Windows Remote Desktop only works if the remote PC is running Pro. I use RDP because it comes with Windows Pro, and I've heard enough about Teamviewer playing silly whatsits with accounts to put me off.

[Astroblagger]

Is team viewer free? i have a netbook with windows 7 and a laptop with windows 10 will this work?

[Varavall]

18 hours ago, Astroblagger said:

How do you set your gear cables up?

I drilled a hole in the wall and passed the cables that way, with a spring flap box on the outer wall so the wind doesn't blow in when not in use. You could put a box on the inside wall too if the hole was in a conspicuous place.

Adrian

[teoria_del_big_bang]

2 minutes ago, Astroblagger said:

Is team viewer free? i have a netbook with windows 7 and a laptop with windows 10 will this work?

There is definitely a free version, I think the subscribed one is just for organisations.
Don't ask me the ins and outs of how to do it but I am sure it will work with Win7 and 10 but I say this with no certainty.

Steve

[ollypenrice]

Team Viewer for free is OK for a while but they very soon flag you as a 'professional' user and block you out. A nasty business model intended to trap 'free' users.  If I were a user I'd accept that I am, indeed, a professional user but I don't use it. It's my entirely amateur friends who do so. 

Olly

[pipnina]

I use Linux to control my setup over wifi. Connectivity is OK but you ideally need a quality dongle for the PC outside as it's going to be sending mega-sized RAW files back plus a video stream.

I remote desktop into my outdoor machine using VNC

All I need to do on my PC inside is:
"ssh pipnina@192.168.0.33" then type in my password in the terminal. This gives this terminal window control over the machine outside.

Then I type "x11vnc" which gets the laptop to start a VNC server

Then i open a VNC viewing program pre-installed with my system (KRDC) and hit connect on the bookmarked connection for my laptop.

I am then remoted into the outdoor PC : D

In some ways setting it up was easier than alternatives on windows. It does have a somewhat low framerate though.

[Paul M]

As all the above, I have a mini W10 PC at the scope which connects to the house WiFi at home or my Android phone's hot spot if away from home. I use VNC for no other reason that it was the first such remote desktop server I came across and it works for me. You need VNC Server installing on the remote device and VNC Viewer installing on any devices you might want to control it with. So you could control Astroberry on a RasPi on the scope with a Windows machine and control a Windows Imaging PC with a Linux machine in your lounge. 

I connect to my imaging PC with an old iPad out at the scope for polar aligning and the like but then pick up the session on my lappy in the lounge. I even take the iPad to bed, not because I'm some kind of weird Apple Fanboi, but so I can check on my imaging plan's progress rather than count sheep!

 

[DaveS]

2 hours ago, pipnina said:

I use Linux to control my setup over wifi. Connectivity is OK but you ideally need a quality dongle for the PC outside as it's going to be sending mega-sized RAW files back plus a video stream.

I remote desktop into my outdoor machine using VNC

All I need to do on my PC inside is:
"ssh pipnina@192.168.0.33" then type in my password in the terminal. This gives this terminal window control over the machine outside.

Then I type "x11vnc" which gets the laptop to start a VNC server

Then i open a VNC viewing program pre-installed with my system (KRDC) and hit connect on the bookmarked connection for my laptop.

I am then remoted into the outdoor PC : D

In some ways setting it up was easier than alternatives on windows. It does have a somewhat low framerate though.

I don't need any of those shenanigans  with RDP. Open File Explorer, and expand network if not already expanded. right click on the named PC and select "Connect With Remote Desktop" and it's there.

[saac]

I use Ethernet cable connected to my mount (now to the ASiAir) which plugs into a Powerline adapter in the observatory.  This allows me to control what is going on from any room in the house by attaching the laptop to a second Powerline adapter via ethernet cable.  In the early days I connected via a buried Ethernet cable (USB to Ethernet using StarTech hub and EQ Mod) but that entered the house at a fixed point (conservatory), the Powerline adapters just provide greater flexibility. 

Jim 

[DaveS]

The ethernet cables from the obsy and platform computers enter through the wall of the office and into a 24 point network switch, and from there to the WiFi router. I can either plug a PC into an ethernet socket or else use the WiFi.

Data goes to the NAS, or saved onto a local SSD. Since it takes 30 sec to download from the G3 that's not really a problem.

I have no video stream other than the obsy CCTV, and don't know why you would want one.

[alacant]

3 hours ago, pipnina said:

Linux to control my setup over wifi

+1. Rock solid all night, every night.

3 hours ago, pipnina said:

low framerate though

OK here over 5GHz WiFi. Maybe too, store on the telescope computer? Transfer the image files as a single batch via scp the next day; almost compulsory if you're hosting remote over Internet.

Cheers and HTH