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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Ekos guiding on a black hole!

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Replied by Greg on topic Ekos guiding on a black hole!

Actually I wish there was better integration with PHD2. Why reinvent the wheel? Is there better guider out there ? I'm already disillusioned with the internal guider and will probably resort to PHD2 via VNC.
6 years 6 months ago #19674

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The internal guider has always worked fine for me actually (apart, sometimes, from the auto-selected star). The thing I like about PHD2, and hence why I tend to use it, is the amount of diagnosis I can do. But if all is fine, I use the internal one as it's a bit more stable.
Last edit: 6 years 6 months ago by Vincent Groenewold.
6 years 6 months ago #19682

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PHD2 is fully supported in Ekos. What's the problem exactly?
6 years 6 months ago #19706

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The algorithm is susceptible to noise and false positives. If you know of a better open-source algorithm out there let me know.

EDIT: Ok "stars" whose width > box are rejected. I guess this would take care of black holes!
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Last edit: 6 years 6 months ago by Jasem Mutlaq.
6 years 6 months ago #19707

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Well, wavelet detection but I don't have the source code apart from some Python stuff. :) However, that's more important for focussing, guiding has always worked well and the change you now made will make it more robust so thanks for that!
6 years 6 months ago #19709

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Replied by Greg on topic Ekos guiding on a black hole!

PHD2 is fully supported? I read in the manual that you can only start guiding and PHD2 should do the rest, but what about looping, re-calibrating, adjusting algorithm settings, features like drift align and guiding assistant. Can we see the image window, the graph? I'll be trying it this weekend but last time I tried there was almost no feedback from PHD2 except status in the console. I'm no pro so as an amateur, to me PHD2 is THE industry standard. Wouldn't it be better to support it as the default guider? Right now, guiding seems to be "just click this button and trust me" kind of feature.

By the way, last time I used PHD2 in Ekos, there were issues. If I remember, starting/stopping, connecting and disconnecting was problematic. I don't think Ekos starts up PHD2 or connects the equipment. And there needs to be a way of disconnecting PHD2 from the equipment - I mean without using VNC of course.

Anyway, like I said, I'll be testing this... tonight hopefully... and come back with comments.
Last edit: 6 years 6 months ago by Greg.
6 years 6 months ago #19710

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Replied by Greg on topic Ekos guiding on a black hole!

Is there help on adjusting the proportional and integral settings on the internal guider?

I always wondered why the algorithm doesn't adjust those itself...
6 years 6 months ago #19711

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I think I don’t get the point, you can do all of that within PHD right? And Ekos supports it in that it hands over guiding to PHD, that already is a nice option to have I guess? During a session it will automatically wait for PHD to dither etc. The internal guider works fine, it just isn’t awash with options to dig into, but if the setup is performing well thats not really needed either. Drift alignment etc. can be done within PHD, but since Ekos has its own polar alignment routine I use that, way faster and almost as accurate.
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Last edit: 6 years 6 months ago by Vincent Groenewold.
6 years 6 months ago #19712

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Replied by Greg on topic Ekos guiding on a black hole!

Sorry, I guess I'm confusing the issue a little, because there's also the running remotely issue - I'm using kstars remotely to RPi3 loaded with INDI and PHD2. If I run PHD2 locally stand alone, then I don't need kstars guiding. If kstars guides remotely via a server then what is my interface to PHD2. It seems I'm only able to click guide and hope for the best and I have to use VNC to set it up anyway. I'd rather have integrated control so VNC isn't required - like launch PHD2, connect to equipment, etc. Maybe PHD2 just doesn't provide the API necessary?

Yes the PA is nice and i now use it to cut down on setup time. I get you're point about dithering as the capture needs to be sequenced with the guiding so that integration is there but I just would like to see more integration to cut out the need for VNC on a remote system.
6 years 6 months ago #19714

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You can use PHD2 on your desktop to connect to StellarMate, no need to run it on StellarMate.
6 years 6 months ago #19720

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Replied by Greg on topic Ekos guiding on a black hole!

Whoa! That would be nice. I'll try it tonight. Thanks!

Edit: it just occurred to me though that with remote images coming in from the guider, there may be significant delays. Hopefully not more than an a fraction of a second.
Last edit: 6 years 6 months ago by Greg.
6 years 6 months ago #19726

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Replied by Greg on topic Ekos guiding on a black hole!

I tried to do this but could not see any way to do it. I didn't see any menu in PHD2 about connected remotely or connecting to Indi server, only native devices.
6 years 6 months ago #19794

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