Alternative To KStars Planetarium On Astroberry?

[Ian McCallum]

I've never been a great fan of KStars Planetarium software on the RPi, that comes with Astroberry OS. It's just not as nice or intuitive to use as Stellarium, etc. 

My question is can others like Hnsky and SkyChart be a complete package like KStars and fully integrate with Ekos, etc? 🤔

[han59]

Those two planetarium programs you mentioned are integrated with CCDCiel. I doubt they will work with Ekos.

But I assume any planetarium program will follow/indicate the mount position. Also slewing to positions is possible. What's  missing is a link to import position data from the planetarium into Ekos except using simple copy & paste.

Han

 

[StevieDvd]

The indilib clients page shows both those and more. I have not used them or read into their setup so cannot attest how they work/manage telescope(mount) control.

See here

Edited December 12, 2022 by StevieDvd
fix typo

[Ian McCallum]

I'm looking into CCDceil and Cartes du Ceil as alternatives.

[AstroMuni]

On 12/12/2022 at 11:47, Ian McCallum said:

I'm looking into CCDceil and Cartes du Ceil as alternatives.

Thats a good combo if you are happy with the interface of Cartes du ceil.

[malc-c]

Not sure if this is any good, but it seems to have a lot of cross platform support, including linux and even a pi variant  Winstars - Don't shoot me if it's not suitable.... I use windows and have never ventured to the dark side of linux 🙂 

[AstroMuni]

16 hours ago, malc-c said:

Not sure if this is any good, but it seems to have a lot of cross platform support, including linux and even a pi variant  Winstars - Don't shoot me if it's not suitable.... I use windows and have never ventured to the dark side of linux 🙂 

Nice find.

CCDCiel & Skychart runs on most platforms and can use ASCOM + Indi drivers. The author has now added support for mounts, filterwheels, domes etc making it quite comprehensive. Its a good alternative for users of Linux, RPi who had only Kstars/Ekos in the past with this level of coverage.

[AstroMuni]

On 11/12/2022 at 19:31, han59 said:

I doubt they will work with Ekos.

Ekos unfortunately is built into Kstars and doesnt share its services/integrate with other programs. Atleast not yet.

[StevieDvd]

13 minutes ago, AstroMuni said:

Ekos unfortunately is built into Kstars and doesnt share its services/integrate with other programs. Atleast not yet.

Stellarium,  HNSky & Cartes Du Ciel can be used with Indi for telescope control.

[AstroMuni]

53 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

Stellarium,  HNSky & Cartes Du Ciel can be used with Indi for telescope control.

You are correct. And if I am not wrong @han59 who posted above is the author of HNSky 🙂

Ekos includes control of Camera, Mount, Platesolving (internal & external), Focusing, Accessories (filter wheels, rotators etc.), Guiding (internal & external), scheduling etc. So a lot more comprehensive toolkit for AP. EDIT: Its got Dome control as well

Its like the NINA toolkit available on Windows.

Edited December 16, 2022 by AstroMuni

[Ian McCallum]

I'm not against KStars, as it's a very comprehensive programme. It's just I don't like the planetarium GUI. 

[AstroMuni]

14 minutes ago, Ian McCallum said:

I'm not against KStars, as it's a very comprehensive programme. It's just I don't like the planetarium GUI. 

GUI wise, I would rate Stellarium as the best. And there have been several requests on Kstars forum to decouple the planetarium from Ekos allowing users the choice of planetarium s/w.

Having said that once you get used to the interface of Kstars I find its highly customisable and feature rich. Some of the features I love are in this menu (eg. Whats interesting)

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by AstroMuni

[StevieDvd]

1 hour ago, AstroMuni said:

You are correct. And if I am not wrong @han59 who posted above is the author of HNSky 🙂

Ekos includes control of Camera, Mount, Platesolving (internal & external), Focusing, Accessories (filter wheels, rotators etc.), Guiding (internal & external), scheduling etc. So a lot more comprehensive toolkit for AP. EDIT: Its got Dome control as well

Its like the NINA toolkit available on Windows.

I may be wrong but the telescope control only means you can use Stellarium & Cartes Du Ciel to show the mount position and invoke goto's.  The Ekos sub-system is still needed and loaded with kstars but you don't need to use  kstars for the goto part.

If HNSky does not do the same then it's not really telescope control, but if it follows and instigates slewing to a position that seems to be the same to me. 🤨

 

[AstroMuni]

2 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

I may be wrong but the telescope control only means you can use Stellarium & Cartes Du Ciel to show the mount position and invoke goto's.  The Ekos sub-system is still needed and loaded with kstars but you don't need to use  kstars for the goto part.

I think you & I are saying the same thing 🙂 The planetarium software (be it Stellarium/ Skychart/HNSky/Kstars) only helps send instructions to the mount to point to the area of sky you are interested in.