Call me superstitious, but I have not tried an update, I am still working with Kstars 3.3.8. But I have been 'playing' around with how it is presented on the screen by putting KSTARS, EKOS and FITS Viewer all in independent windows. This leads to all sorts of interesting stuff; for one, the FITS Viewer has many more options (maybe I just missed them before); the stretch option shows up on the far left. However, this is only in the independent FITS window. The windows that show up within other modules (focus, align) do not have all the options.

It also seems that selecting 'local scaling' and 'expanded screen' also influences how my IPAD behaves when I connect thru VNC. I am running the Astroberry Server on an RPI-4 at the telescope and managing it from a windows laptop thru the web browser CHROME. But when I am at the scope I use my IPAD connected thru VNC just to monitor focus and align adjustments. Normally, I could move the IPAD view (slew around the full screen) by using my finger on the IPAD. But if I have the above display conditions set, I am then actually manipulating the curser in the server. I have to drop out of 'local scaling' to go back to just moving the IPAD display about the Server window. Ok, I did not explain that very well, but it is not really that important for this topic.

I first focused the scope. The weather conditions here (eastern North Carolina) were not ideal. The sky is crystal clear, but the wind is blowing 15 to 20 knots out of the NW, so I did not have high expectations for achieving really great focus. I got round stars and was able to minimize the FWHM to a reasonable number (I won't embarrass myself by giving full details as the socpe could use a tweak in collimation). Moving on.

I was able to achieve polar alignment in only 3 tries; using manual mount movement instead of that assigned by the polar alignment module. I moved 'west' by hand, then another process moving 'east' by hand and the third process moving back 'west.' In each process I completed the polar alignment moving the selected star either closer or into the cross hairs. I reached a point where I was satisfied and declared success.

I set the alignment module up to "slew to target', selected a target in Kstars and hit 'goto'. The mount would move to the target and then the align function would do a solve and move the mount again. It repeated this process until it found the target image acceptably close to the solve coords. it usually took 2 or 3 iterations and the target was in the center of the image.

I then tried guiding. I have a thin SX off-axis guider mounted in front of the SX filter wheel. I have an SX Loadstar camera as the guider. The OAG would always show plenty of stars and I was able to select one and just hit guide. It seemed to work ok, the charts looked well contained, but I will have to look at the actual numbers later. The point being it all worked.

I would then set a schedule of my different filters; Lumin, Red, Green, Blue, Halpha, Si and Oiii. I usually do binning for the non-Lumin images. I was running 40 second images. I tried 60 and 120 second long images, but I was not as happy with the star shapes. I can't speculate if it was guiding, polar alignment, collimation or focus at this point.

I then repeated this process (all on the original Polar alignment and re-adjusted focus once as the temp outside was dropping) for half a dozen targets.

So here is the real problem: When the equipment is working you can quickly gather more data than you can possibly analyze over the next month!

I am a happy camper because I am using my scope and it is taking images of the stars. I don't expect any great stuff from this nights work, but it is a place to start from.

thanks again for all the hard work with this software.

Ron

Well the system did eventually 'crash' and I don't know why. Several times during the evening I set up a schedule to capture 10 to 20 images and left to go inside (where it was warm), all of those time (except for the last) when I came back the system was still running and taking data. I captured 79 images tonight. The last time I set the scheduler, it only took the first image and then stopped. I had been monitoring adjustments at the scope using an IPAD running VNC to be able to look at the server screen at the scope. After I set the last schedule I shut down VNC on the IPAD and took it inside. That is one variable and I don't know if it has anything to do with the crash. When I came back down to the setup (an hour and half later as I was inputting the previous post) I found that the box housing the GPS (I have a USB GPS attached to the Rpi which is comprised of a small pcb board and the antenna, the board was taped inside a cardboard box) had been blown away from the scope by the wind. That may have interrupted the GPS signal, another variable that I don't know if it had anything to do with the 'crash'.

What I do have is the log, here is the last 30 seconds:

[2020-01-21T23:01:26.502 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:26: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxLatchPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.502 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.618 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:26: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxReadPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.618 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:26: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxLatchPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.618 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.619 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <e> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.670 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <0990B000,28604E00#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.670 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[SCOPE] RA-DEC ( 0:53:48,56:46:44) "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.671 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <p> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.682 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <W#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.683 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] latitude 35.02, sop W, PierSide E "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.735 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:26: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxReadPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.735 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.739 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SX CCD LodeStar : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 875520, sendImage? Yes, saveImage? No "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.759 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SX CCD LodeStar : "[DEBUG] BLOB transfer took 0.0159499 seconds "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.759 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SX CCD LodeStar : "[DEBUG] Upload complete "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.767 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - processBLOB() mode 2
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.770 EST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.fits] - Reading FITS file buffer
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.828 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] GUIDE CMD: S -0 ms "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.828 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <50 03 11 26 CE 3E 00 00> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:26.828 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <23> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.325 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - IndiCCD: capture() CCD
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.375 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:27: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxClearPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.375 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.446 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <50 03 11 27 00 00 00 01> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.466 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <00 23> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.491 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:27: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxClearPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.491 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.683 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <e> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.736 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <0990A100,28605700#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.736 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[SCOPE] RA-DEC ( 0:53:48,56:46:45) "
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.736 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <p> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.748 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <W#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:27.748 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] latitude 35.02, sop W, PierSide E "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.492 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:28: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxLatchPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.492 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.608 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:28: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxReadPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.609 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:28: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxLatchPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.609 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.724 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:28: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxReadPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.725 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.729 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SX CCD LodeStar : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 875520, sendImage? Yes, saveImage? No "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.742 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SX CCD LodeStar : "[DEBUG] BLOB transfer took 0.00885229 seconds "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.742 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SX CCD LodeStar : "[DEBUG] Upload complete "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.749 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <e> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.750 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - processBLOB() mode 2
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.753 EST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.fits] - Reading FITS file buffer
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.817 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <09909300,28605B00#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.817 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[SCOPE] RA-DEC ( 0:53:48,56:46:45) "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.818 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <p> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.818 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <W#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.818 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] latitude 35.02, sop W, PierSide E "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.818 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] GUIDE CMD: E -0 ms "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.818 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <50 03 10 26 CE 13 00 00> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.861 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <23> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.863 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] GUIDE CMD: S -0 ms "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.863 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <50 03 11 26 CE 67 00 00> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:28.864 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <23> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.029 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <50 03 10 27 00 00 00 01> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.051 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <00 23> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.728 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - IndiCCD: capture() CCD
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.775 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:29: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxClearPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.775 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.813 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <e> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.869 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <09909F00,2860BB00#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.870 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[SCOPE] RA-DEC ( 0:53:48,56:46:53) "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.870 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <p> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.886 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <W#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.886 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] latitude 35.02, sop W, PierSide E "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.891 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:29: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxClearPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.891 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.895 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <50 03 11 27 00 00 00 01> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:29.914 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <00 23> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:30.330 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SBIG CCD : "[DEBUG] Primary camera readout complete "
[2020-01-21T23:01:30.331 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SBIG CCD : "[DEBUG] Cooler: Off Temperature: 1.882 Set Point: -1.907 Power: 0.00 "
[2020-01-21T23:01:30.416 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - SBIG CCD : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 16977600, sendImage? Yes, saveImage? No "
[2020-01-21T23:01:54.690 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI server disconnected. Exit code: -1
[2020-01-21T23:01:54.690 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI server disconnected from BLOB manager for Device: "SX CCD LodeStar" Property: "CCD1" Exit code: -1
[2020-01-21T23:01:54.690 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI server disconnected from BLOB manager for Device: "SBIG CCD" Property: "CCD1" Exit code: -1
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.612 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] CMD <e> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.613 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron CGEM : "[DEBUG] RES <09902800,28607400#> "
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.767 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:34: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxLatchPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.767 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:37: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxReadPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.768 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: "2020-01-22T04:01:48: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sxLatchPixels: libusb_control_transfer -> OK"
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.768 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDI Server: ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.796 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos] - Resetting Ekos Manager...
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.957 EST WARN ][ default] - QSqlDatabasePrivate::removeDatabase: connection 'filter_db' is still in use, all queries will cease to work.
[2020-01-21T23:01:55.959 EST WARN ][ default] - QSqlDatabasePrivate::addDatabase: duplicate connection name 'filter_db', old connection removed.
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.871 EST INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "INDI services stopped."
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.885 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDIListener: Removing client manager for server localhost @ 7624
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.885 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Removing managed driver "SX Wheel"
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.885 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDIListener: Removing device SX Wheel with unique label "SX Wheel"
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.885 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Removing managed driver "Celestron GPS"
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.886 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDIListener: Removing device Celestron CGEM with unique label "Celestron CGEM"
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.886 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Removing managed driver "SX CCD"
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.886 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDIListener: Removing device SX CCD LodeStar with unique label ""
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.886 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Removing managed driver "SBIG CCD"
[2020-01-21T23:01:56.886 EST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - INDIListener: Removing device SBIG CCD with unique label "SBIG CCD"

The SBIG camera was about to complete the second image of the sequence, the LodeStar was collecting guiding data and the CGEM mount was receiving pointing instructions and then things just stopped??

This does not detract from the success I had earlier, it is just a mystery to be solved for me. I would like to know if and what I did wrong.

thanks,
Ron

Welcome to the club Ron! It's lots of fun to capture as much as you can during clear nights and process gathered data while not capturing.
Regarding the crash... well it happens. KStars, Ekos and INDI drivers are under heavy development. The tend to be much stable than they used to be in the past.
Clear skies!

Thanks,
I understand, the Crash is nothing I can't recover from. I have not been able to duplicate it by connecting and disconnecting other devices using VNC viewer, so I don't know what happened. I set things up in KSTARS and did not use the left slide out window to input my instrument selections. If I do that and the system goes down and I go back to Kstars it tells me there is another instance of Indi running do I want to close it. Well Indi might be running but I have no access to Kstars or EKOS without starting them again. So I don't know what to answer there and I am still not sure I understand the benefit of using the left window to start the server.

My configuration is an Rpi-4 running the Astroberry Server at the scope and I access it from a laptop (over ethernet) thru a web browser. So everything is already running on the Rpi.

I will continue other thoughts elsewhere.

thanks,
Ron

If you start INDI server directly from Ekos it is controlled by Ekos only (and it is in local mode). So if KStars/Ekos crashes it will leave INDI server started in the background (or not).
If you restart KStars/Ekos and INDI server was left in the background after the crash, starting INDI again will comply that it is already started... because you start it from within Ekos (in local mode).
A solution is to start INDI server from outside KStars/Ekos and use remote mode in your Ekos profile to connect to INDI server. This way INDI is controlled independently from KStars/Ekos and whatever happens to KStars/Ekos does not impact INDI server.
... and this is exactly the advantage of using sliding menu, which contains INDI Web Manager, which allows for independent control of INDI server. Just remember to use remote mode in your Ekos profile to connect to independent INDI server.