Raspberry Pi5 with 64-bit OS setup

[Astrofriend]

My RaspBerry Pi4 ages and I need one more RP. Now they sale the new Pi5 versions which is much faster. I bought one and it didn't cost much more than the older Pi4. But I had to chose the 4GB version because the 8GB was sold out.

When doing this I want it setup with the new OS with 64-bit. I have read somewhere that KStars/Ekos isn't developed anymore in the 32-bit version, or at least not much.

As usual it's much more complicated than I thought it to be. Mostly because I'm a Windows man. But I have good Linux friends 🙂

Here is my Raspberry Pi5 project:

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/projects/project-kstars-raspberrypi5/01-project-kstars-raspberrypi5.html

I got most of it to work but have problem with VNC, I add more information during the progress of this work.

How many of you have the Raspberry Pi5 and 64-bit OS with KStars/Ekos ?

Lars

[Rallemikken]

10 hours ago, Astrofriend said:

How many of you have the Raspberry Pi5 and 64-bit OS with KStars/Ekos ?

I do. Nice guide. I have an obsy where I sometimes use my overclocked Pi4 with full Linux/Kstars/indi setup. It's borderline on cpu-cycles, guiding became erratic when I slowed down the computer. I went back to my trusted desktop, I like to use Stellarium and the browser while capturing. A Pi5 should handle this well.

I use both Raspberry Pi's and Orange Pi's for several tasks. One OrangePi Zero2 as a standalone indi-server on my StarTracker. Common for all is that I use some Debian Bookworm-based distro, that be Raspberry OS, pure Debian or Armbian. They all have the complete indi-suite in their repo's, no need to use scripts or compile. 

I have my obsy connected to my home router with an outdoor USB wifi-dongle on a powered hub (the Pi's don't have more than 4 USB-ports, you will need a hub anyway). It picks up time with NTP, Network Time Protocol. No need for GPS dongles. Just give the Pi time to pick up the time before you start KStars. A minute or two. And my obsy is rooted. Coordinates don't change.

I always start with a headless network install. On first boot I install the Xfce4 desktop and Synaptic. It automatically pulls in X11,  i don't think Xfce run on Wayland. Then it's just a matter of installing what you need, remember to activate the "contrib" and "non-free" in /etc/apt/sources.list.

I use x11vnc everywhere. The inbuildt vnc-server in Raspberry Pi OS is a flavour of RealVNC which isn't open source, nor freely available elsewhere. I prefer to stick to one solution and use that everywhere, and learn to use it well. I have added the x11vnc server as a startup application in my Xfce desktop. The server starts up when I fire up the Pi. 

I have learned to migrate my settings, especially the index-files for platesolving. I can move them from one machine to another, that be a Raspberry or Orange, or a desktop or laptop. They are situated in the same places within your home-folder. A Pi is never further away from disaster than a faulty SD-card.

Good work, should wish more people used KStars/Ekos. Never let me down. Never missed an hour capture time. For four seasons! More than 120 pictures so far!

[Astrofriend]

Thank for feedback. So interesting to see what much different ways there are to setup a Raspberry. I can't say it works all time, but most. The GPS is the most common problem, only use it when take the car out to remote dark places. At home it's connected to a LAN.

 

Lars

[LuckieEddie]

I run KStars/Ekos/INDI on a Pi4 8GB built into my mount controller. Raspberry Pi OS 64-bit, software built by Nou's scripts. Also PHD2, FireCapture and occasionally Siril. All accessed via VNC.

32-bit KStars is indeed a dead end. The software now uses some stuff that is only available on 64-bit systems.

[Astrofriend]

I too feel that a 64-bit installation is a must today. The downloading of the Canon EOS file speed up ramarkable, from 9 sec to 3, and a lot of other things to of course.

 

I have done som updates of my setup:

 

http://www.astrofriend.eu/astronomy/projects/project-kstars-raspberrypi5/01-project-kstars-raspberrypi5.html

 

The only thing left now is to implement my special Custom Gear setup of EQMOD.

 

Lars