I have a Celestron CG5 mount with the GotoNova Upgrade Kit. The hand controller is 8401. The one with a standard printer type USB cable for connection to a computer.

On a laptop running Xubuntu 16.04, I installed kstars-bleeding, and indi-full from Jasem's PPA. It is from three days ago.

Initially, I used the Astro Physics (lx200ap) driver under the stars and posted about that here:

indilib.org/forum/mounts/397-ioptron-gotonova-driver.html

Per Jasem's comment in the same thread, I am testing the ZEQ25.

It is daytime here, and there is no clear skies in the forecast, so testing is indoors.

I right clicked on Muscida, and then from the context menu, I asked the mount to slew. It does slew successfully to this star. Can't tell of the Goto is accurate or not, or whether there is an offset due to time zone or such. I then selected a sync from the context menu.

The next slew was to 15 Lyncis, and that was successful too.

Then I asked the mount to go to the Double Cluster (Chi Persei), and the mount moved a tiny amount (a degree or less), then reported a time out. Opening the Mount Control from Ekos, searching the name of the object, and selecting Goto does the same thing: mount moves for a degree or less, then stops. Clicking Goto again makes it move a degree or less, then stops. Timeouts are reported in the bottom part of the INDI panel.

Any help appreciated.

One suggestion, in the INDI Control Panel, check the Debug button, then in the drop down, select all the check boxes. Save the log to a file. Then attach those logs to a message on this thread. I am certain Jasem will look at them and help us out.
Dan

Here is a log from a test run.

I start Kstars, then start Ekos, start INDI, then enable debugging to a log.

What I did was popup the Mount Control panel, search for Alkaid, then click Goto. It went there correctly.
Then searched for Mizar, then Goto and that was successful.
Then searched for Phecda, then Goto, and that is where the mount moved a tiny bit (a degree or less) then stopped the slew.

I tried several iterations before this run, and it is always the third slew that fails, and always with the same symptom (tiny movement then stop). It does not matter if the first two are east of meridian or vice versa. It is always the third one that fails.

I noticed that there are some other reported timeouts from the start of connections, but they don't seem to affect anything visibly.

Any help appreciated. If you need more testing, let me know.

I see it timing out for :SE# command. Can you try connecting to it using Cutecom :
Put speed at 9600, port to whatever port you were using (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0), and connect to it. Select "No Line End" from the combobox at the bottom and enter :SE# and see if you get any response. If not, try :SE?# and see if you get any response back.

Also try :V# and check the response for that.

Thanks a lot.

The response for :V# is

The response for :SE?# is

There is no response from :SE# at all.

Jasem,

I found something.

Here is the manual for the hand controller

www.ioptron.us/Manual/8401_HC_Manual.pdf

Page 41 has the command set and :SE#is not among them, though :SE?# is there.

Should I try the lx200generic driver instead? A page or so before the command set they imply that it would work.

I went ahead and tested LX200 Basic (there is no Generic any more). This is indoors, not under the stars.

The slews work to objects, even if they are more than three slews. So that part is not an issue.

However, sometimes, the mount will not beep after a slew, and hence will not be tracking (RA keeps incrementing, star drifts from cross hairs). Other times, it does track and stay on the target.

Also, there is no Goto park command to return the mount to its initial position.

I can enable logging and attach the logs, but before going down that route want to hear from Jasem if this is worth pursuing further, or it is a dead end from the start.

I updated the driver to use :SE?# if it encounters an error. Please test tomorrow from PPA. If you can compile from GIT, you can do it today.

EDIT: Another difference I noted from the command set is that it supports parking to different positions while the regular driver use set RA/DE to do the parking. So please test parking as well with the ZEQ25 driver. If all works OK, I'll add alias for GotoNova.

That is awesome Jasem.

I will sure test it when the packages date stamped 20170627 show up!

Many thanks and Happy Eid to you and your loved ones.

Jasem,

I saw your commit here for the change, substituting :SE# with :SE?# if the former times out.

Is the change you made in the package version r3142:

I saw this version available here and built an hour ago.

Or will it be in a future package time stamped: 2017-06-27 19:20 UTC?

Hello,

I suspect additional timing changes will be required for the 8401 to properly respond to the INDI driver. Please see attached timeout messages when changing the slewing rate.

Dan

I compiled INDI from source, and verified that the change is in the version I cloned.

But the problem is the same, namely, only :SE# commands are sent, no :SE?#. First slew is successful, second slew is short.

I would make that change if I understood the code flow.

But looking at it with my limited knowledge, I think it would be better to put the change at init time, not every time when a slew is issued. Specifically query the slew status when the telescope has initialized, then check if that fails or succeeds, and then store the appropriate command for subsequent use, without failing each time a check slew is issued. No?

Attached is the log showing normal SE's send and timing out.