Perhaps I'm missing something, but I'm pretty sure that Ekos used to write the filter used into my FITS files' metadata, so that other software (e.g. Astro Pixel Processor) could pick up on it.

It certainly is not doing so now, and I can't find any way to turn that on or off. I'm running KStars 3.6.0 on StellarMate OS.

If it were working, it would vastly speed up getting frames into the program. I could just select all the light frames at once and tell APP "read the filter metadata". This way, I have to import them one filter at a time.

I saw another fairly recent thread with the same problem; that user found that after changing the filter once in Ekos (I assume in the course of a sequencing job), the metadata would be henceforth written correctly. That would be a good workaround for me except that doesn't work either.

Any ideas?

TIA,

rw

How can we reproduce this? Just tested with Altair + ZWO EFI to see if I can reproduce this and I got all FITS metadata correctly, including FILTER.

Hi Rick,

I see you are using 3.6.0 (Stellarmate) and when I was using that version I had the same problem along with other users. It was fixed and since 3.6.1 things have been working as expected with the filter name being written into the header. If you can update to 3.6.1 or later, things should work. The one big change (If I recall correctly) is that 3.6.1 introduced Optical Trains so you'll have to set those up.

Best of luck!

Huh. First I ran the updater from the StellarMate Dashboard (stellarmate:3000) and let that complete and reboot, and then ran the software package manager from the desktop and updated all packages (and rebooted again). I still seem to have KStars 3.6.0. Must I uninstall and reinstall it? I also am still on StellarMate OS 1.7.2, so I guess I could download the latest, although since I have a working system on an SSD I'd prefer not to start all over.

Hi Rick,

Like you I am using an SSD rather than the SD card for my Stellarmate OS installation (I'm running it on my own RPi rather than than the Stellarmate hardware). I have the RPi on my local network and usually screen share the RPi from my desktop computer (in my case a Mac). I hardly use the Stellarmate app on my tablet these days so this will be from the perspective of viewing the StellarMate OS desktop either via screen share or with a monitor and keyboard attached to the RPi.

In any event, when screen sharing and seeing the StellarMate splash screen on the RPi (I usually have to minimize KStars since it launches by default), there is an icon for an app called 'StellarMate Tools'. If you launch that, there is a 'Software Updater' button in the upper right corner. I periodically run that and am currently on StellarMate OS 1.7.6. While the update can take some time to run, it has been reliable for me.

Let me know if I can answer any questions.

BTW, the same thing can be accomplished from inside the StellarMate app using the VNC connection they provide - gets you to the desktop to lauch StellarMate Tools.

I also tried changing the "smos" repo to nightly and update/upgrading, 3.6.0 appears to be current there too.

I don't know what to say. I've just checked the KStars website, the StellarMate website and the nightly build website - all are past 3.6.0. The only question that comes to mind is whether you are running the 32 bit or 64 bit versions? If it's the 32 bit version I think it may no longer be able to update to current versions.

You can't upgrade because you're on 32bit OS and we moved to 64bit OS in 2023. You need to download and flash SM OS v1.7.6

See, I knew I'd be smacking my forehead eventually. Obvious now that you point it out, thanks Jasem. I will have to do that.

I've forgotten the steps of going from the MicroSD card to the external SSD, but I suppose I can look them back up again. I don't suppose it's something simple like
1) Download and flash to MicroSD
2) Insert MicroSD in Pi and boot
3) Plug in SSD
4) Figure out /boot and / partition devices on MicroSD and on SSD
5) dd if=/dev/sdMicroSDDeviceBoot of=/dev/sdSSDDeviceBoot
6) dd if=/dev/sdMicroSDDeviceRoot of=/dev/sdSSDDeviceRoot
7) Pull MicroSD card
Restart Pi

It can't be that easy, can it? I have the SSD configured with a tiny /boot, a little root, and a whacking great "everything else" partition, so...

Success!

Thanks Frederick and Jasem, I screwed up my courage, backed up my data, and just ran Balena Etcher right on the SSD without messing about with a MicroSD card at all. This had the very welcome side effect of getting rid of the extra partition that my 32-bit system had -- now the root partition is just all 400+ GB, instead of me having to puzzle out how and where to mount most of it.

So now I have a cleaner, more rational StellarMate and of course there are advantages to being up-to-date too! The metadata problem is gone, the filter setting is getting filled in very nicely. I have to remember to check the slots to ensure that Ekos and I agree about what's where, of course, but that's for another time.

I tend to be pretty trailing-edge about appliances -- if they're working, why mess with them? -- but in this case I'm very glad I took the leap of faith.

Great news Rick! I've been much happier using an SSD to boot from as well.

Continued good luck!