Hi all,

I would very much like to get my gotonova system working along with indi. I have almost no programming experence. But I am willing to learn.

My question is,
How would I get started from scratch? I have the RS-232 command set for the gotonova (found here: www.ioptron.com/images/up/8401%20Manual1.pdf) and I have played around sending commands to the gotonova with just a serial "cmd" script I found (uses stty and cat). I have figured out all the basic setup and info commands, as well as goto (I do not understand what :CM# or :CMR# does). So I can do almost everything manually.

Thanks in advanced!

PS. When previously using windows (ASCOM) the astro-physics driver worked very well. Is there anything in the works for an astro-physics driver for indi?

Yes, there is Astrophysics driver for INDI (indi_lx200ap), try using that.

Hmm, doesn't seem to work. It connects to the mount, but beyond that there is nothing else that works.

I'll try learning some basic C or C++ and see if I can make sense of the tutorials.

Hello,

I'm also having trouble with the IOptron 8401 hand control and KStars INDI driver for it. Using the 8407 driver version, I can connect. But, the Jnow coordinates reported to KStars are not correct. I can not sync the correct position. And, this results in all slew attempts being reported as below the horizon. The mount does move slightly before INDI stops the drive.

If the user sets KStars INDI settings so the Update Source is the Device, then, moves commanded by the hand control will slew the telescope. And, KStars map will update with the correct position for the telescope. Unfortunately, still no movement is permitted from KStars and the JNow position is not updated.

I am using firmware version 090701W of the IOptron 8401 hand controller.

Dan

Hello,
Testing using the Astro Physics driver results in a connection with the mount. Once connected, INDI complains that a saved configuration is not available. Once saved, with appropriate fields, it is possible to slew the very first time. The mount can slew the first time, and, the map does indicate the correct position.

Subsequent attempts to slew seem to start, but stop as if the item is below the horizon. At that point, the location is shown as moved a small distance, but the mount has stopped. The INDI Control Panel indicates that the slew is still ongoing.

Dan

I have iOptron ZEQ25GT mount and trying to get it working with INDI and Kstars and/or Skychart. I've successfully connected to my mount using Ascom drivers and Stellarium over Windows 7 so I know the cable connects are Ok. Now using Lubuntu and dmesg | grep tty tells me my serial converter pl2303 is connected to ttyUSB0.
I've installed libindi0 and indi-full. I have also installed ekos. In Kstarts I can start the INDI server via via ekos. When I see the INDI control Panel I checked the ports but fail to connect to IEQ45. Now, is the driver the same for my ZEQ25GT as is the IEQ45, probably not.
Can someone help me find the correct xml package for my mount?
Has anyone else had the same problem?
any other suggestions ?

Cheers
yabby

Ok, I've had some success by changing the Telescope in Ekos to iEQ45_8407.
Telescope is online, Retrieving basic data.
Now checking all is ok with controls.
Results are good with Kstars using Ekos.

I would still like to find updates for the driver for ZEQ25GT using Gotonova 8408 if anyone finds it.

Wishing you clear skies
yabby

This is an old topic, but here goes ...

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.

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

I am pretty impressed with the capabilities of Ekos and INDI. Great job from the team.

INDI and Ekos can connect to the mount, using the lx200ap driver, and issue commands to it, but I am having some difficulties.

My timezone is Eastern Daylight Time, so offset from UTC in the hand controller is 300 minutes (-5 hrs) behind UTC, and Daylight Savings enabled. In Kstars, the geographic location is -5 and DST rule is US.

I have a few questions:

1. The initial goto is off by about an hour. Under INDI -> Site Management, the UTC Offset is -4. Why does this happen? It should be -5. Also, is there a way to tell INDI that daylight savings is on? There does not seem to be such an option.

2. How does one sync INDI to the RA/DEC coordinates of the scope at the start of session? Is this the Main Control -> On Set -> Sync one, or something under Site Management?

3. What is the workflow for using Ekos/INDI in general? Does one do a one (or three) star align with the hand controller, then tune it with Ekos plate solving?

4. Does the GotoNova hand controller accumulate Sync points from Ekos/INDI to refine the Sky Model? Or does a Sync replace the previous one? It should be noted that the manual says that a one star align or a sync will cancel a two star align, but says nothing on three star align.

5. Consequently, if one syncs several stars or objects with Ekos plate solving, do they accumulate sync points into a sky model or not?

6. Park does not work for lx200ap. I use the menu option on the hand controller to return the scope to zero position.

I hate to jump back into this, but, unless IOptron changes this driver some, I believe that you will find the 8401 hand control is not properly supported. While connection is possible, the operation is far from normal.

Best of luck on this,
Dan

Astrodan,

Can you please elaborate a bit? Specifically, what works, what does not, problems faced, ...etc. I would really appreciate it if you find the time to do.

Hello,
If you go back a page in this thread, I have already posted all of my findings involving the 8401 hand control. My suggestion would be, if your upgrade kit is still under warranty, contact IOptron and request they visit this topic. Perhaps, they will correct the driver to be more versatile than just the 8407 hand controller.

Other possible solutions were to contact IOptron and purchase the 8407 hand control as a replacement part, however, only with their assurance would I do this. Because the cost is likely almost as much as the upgrade, I never followed this option.

Please do post whatever you might find. Thanks,
Dan

The information is this thread is obsolete. There is already a ZEQ25 driver you can use. Use "SmartEQ" or "ZEQ25", they're the same. When using Ekos, there is no need to perform 2/3 star alignment, you can use Ekos right away and do the sync in there. I do not recommend you "Sync" manually, use Align module to do any syncs by solving images. But you can just click on the sky map on any object and then from the mount submenu you can select sync.

For other issues, please open a new topic.