Stellarmate Query

[Bobby1970]

Sorry if this is a dumb question. But, where are the images I capture in stellarmate saved to? 

Eg, a live stack? 

Are they on the SD card in the raspberry pi? 

And, using stellarmate, is there a way to do a bulk delete. ? 

Many thanks 

Edited January 6, 2023 by Bobby1970

[StevieDvd]

If you have not changed the default they should be in /home/stellarmate/Pictures on your sdcard in the Rpi.

If you are accessing Stellarmate via your home network (browser) you can access the remote directory using the network \\stellarmate.local\Pictures then you can copy/paste/delete files as you need.

 

[Bobby1970]

13 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

If you have not changed the default they should be in /home/stellarmate/Pictures on your sdcard in the Rpi.

If you are accessing Stellarmate via your home network (browser) you can access the remote directory using the network \\stellarmate.local\Pictures then you can copy/paste/delete files as you need.

 

Thank you. 

 

If using the live stacking, is the stacked image also saved??

I have my stellarmate on raspberry pi, connecting to a Skywatcher 150p virtuoso GTi. Not in my home network, they are both on the "stellarmate" hotspot. Hope this makes sense. 

 

[StevieDvd]

According to the online manual the live stacking images are saved.

If you can connect to the Stellarmate hotspot with your computer then the \\stellarmate.local\Pictures network link should also work for you to copy images & delete unwanted data. Saves extracting the sd-card each time.

I've not kept up with all the changes but I understand there is now a new viewer, especially as the captured images will be linear fits which need an appropriate viewer/editor to handle correctly.

Looking forward to seeing the new 'fully loaded' Stellarmate controller as it looks really good from the previews.

 

[Bobby1970]

Thanks so much for the input. Much appreciated 

[Bobby1970]

So. My stellarmate & 150p Virtuoso GTi. Seems to work. Sort of. 

However. I have a few queries. 

Should I still align the Virtuoso GTi using the synscan app first? Eg two star alignment? Then use stellarmate to fine tune alingment of a target via plate solving? 

Also, platesolving itself seems quite hit and miss with stellarmate, out of four targets last night only one or two were successfully solved and placed bang in the middle of the sensor. 

I will add, I have been starting the mount from a "north and level" parked position. 

I am also using stellarmate app on iPad to connect to the stellarmate / virtuoso GTi rig. 

Also, as there appeared no option for the virtuoso GTi as a mount in stellarmate I used AzGti Alt/Az WiFi option. 

Wondering if this is part of the problem. 

Do I need to specifically enter my camera details in terms of sensor size etc? All I have done is selected zwo ccd in my main set up area and the camera is detected and I can grab images. It seems to be just the solving which is an issue now. 

All a bit frustrating and any advice would be hugely appreciated. 

[StevieDvd]

The camera selection should set the details for the ZWO camera for you. What is more important is the FOV (field of view) that is being passed to the plate-solver and what solver setup you are using.

See this page for details appropriate to which solver you are using in Stellarmate.

 

 

 

[Bobby1970]

20 minutes ago, StevieDvd said:

The camera selection should set the details for the ZWO camera for you. What is more important is the FOV (field of view) that is being passed to the plate-solver and what solver setup you are using.

See this page for details appropriate to which solver you are using in Stellarmate.

 

 

 

Thanks, I will take a look. I haven't set up or chosen a solver as such. Just using whatever stellarmate comes with. Clearly I need to look into this further. Lol. I knew something wasn't right as in the "targets" area the FOV representation is definitely not correct for my camera, so I guess this will be playing a part too. 

[Bobby1970]

Well. I have to say. I am bamboozled by this. Cannot get platesolving to work, at all. I have all index files installed. But platesolving fails, always. I've tried a 150mm reflector, and a 135mm ens with a ZWO 224 camera. Checked the FOV and made sure index files are installed. 

I have to say, I am less than impressed with Stellarmate, and can totally understand why plenty of people just get an Asi Air. As I already have. 🤣

May well have a Virtuoso 150 GTi and raspberry pi with Stellamate for sale shortly as it's just too much like hard work imho to get it working, I've already wasted several nights attempting to do so, and several other hours re installing stellarmate on the pi and checking everything. 

Baffled and disappointed is an understatement. 😕

[Grant Fribbens]

I use linux most of the time especially for work and I really wanted to use it for Astrophotography but I have to admit I ended up in trying Astroberry and then Stellarmate but always kept getting random hangups and found it so frustrating. So got a MiniPC with Windows 10 and now use ASCOM, ASTAP, NINA and PHD2 and have not looked back and works well with non ZWO cameras. I just attach it to my mount with velcro and remote desktop in and control my equipment in the warm after getting cold doing the polar alignment.

[Bobby1970]

Essentially, what I was looking to do, is create an EAA rig. Consisting of:

Virtuoso GTi 150p. 

Raspberry pi running stellamate

And an iPad to control it. 

There's no option to select a Virtuoso GTi as the mount so I used the AzGti profile. I am wondering if this is part of the issue, but totally unsure tbh. I think at one point I didn't have all of the indexes I required for platesolving so double checked and installed these. Even the optional indexes. 

Stellarmate connects with mount etc and I have my profiles set up correctly. I start the mount from north level. And when I try a "goto and solve" from the stellarmate app on iPad it never, ever works. Or it keeps just trying to solve in what seems like an endless loop. 

I tried with the 150p and zwo 178. I've also got a zwo 224 attached to a 135mm lens which I've tried. But to no avail in terms of platesolving. 

The only other thing I may try is accessing stellarmate on the pi via a laptop using vnc. But the user interface is awful in my opinion and I need to re scale it so that it all fits on my laptop screen. Asi Air Pro has definitely spoilt me. Lol. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Grant Fribbens]

I find that vnc is too slow especially over wifi so I usually use nomachine which is so much better and does not has the lag that vnc does.

[Bobby1970]

So I emailed Stellarmate people and asked which mount I should be selecting from the Profile creator section. They have told me to use "Skywatcher Alt Az". Whereas ibjabe been using "AzGti WiFi". 

Unsure if this will make any difference but will give it a try. 

The response to my email also stated they had only tested it once with a Virtuoso GTi and it could be buggy. Lol

This only adds to my feeling of disappointment tbh as Stellarmate is £40-50 right? If they have a mount listed, I would have expected more than just one test run on it for the software they are offering. Lol. 

 

[StevieDvd]

44 minutes ago, Bobby1970 said:

So I emailed Stellarmate people and asked which mount I should be selecting from the Profile creator section. They have told me to use "Skywatcher Alt Az". Whereas ibjabe been using "AzGti WiFi". 

Unsure if this will make any difference but will give it a try. 

The response to my email also stated they had only tested it once with a Virtuoso GTi and it could be buggy. Lol

This only adds to my feeling of disappointment tbh as Stellarmate is £40-50 right? If they have a mount listed, I would have expected more than just one test run on it for the software they are offering. Lol. 

 

To be fair to the software authors they are using the open source drivers, and unlike ZWO have to support a myriad of different hardware running many protocols. If they had to test each variation the cost of the soatware would be a lot more.

However, I had a look at the available indi-lib mount drivers and there is one for the virtuoso listed here

The synscan and skywatcher alt/az should work  especially if the mount can use a synscan handset.

 

 

[Bobby1970]

2 hours ago, StevieDvd said:

To be fair to the software authors they are using the open source drivers, and unlike ZWO have to support a myriad of different hardware running many protocols. If they had to test each variation the cost of the soatware would be a lot more.

However, I had a look at the available indi-lib mount drivers and there is one for the virtuoso listed here

The synscan and skywatcher alt/az should work  especially if the mount can use a synscan handset.

 

 

Thanks for the information. 

I am pretty sure the Virtuoso GTi driver installed as part of the stellarmate, India, Ekos etc install onto the raspberry pi. As I say the stellarmate people said to use "Skywatcher Alt Az" which is what time name of the driver for the virtuoso GTi is according to the link you kindly shared. 

Now I have selected the Skywatcher Alt Az, the stellarmate is no longer seeing the mount so that's going to need some more investigation time in terms of the mount being in station mode and connecting itself to the stellarmate hotspot. 

I bought this set up in an attempt to re invigorate my interest tbh. I should have really just stuck with my 72mm refractor, AzGti in EQ mode and the Asi Air Pro. Lol. 

I will probably have one more fiddle around with it. Then it's going in the classifieds for someone with more experience to have a go at it. Lol