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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Main ZWO imaging camera gets commanded to use ZWO guiding camera exposure time

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Hi,

As I explained in this comment I have some issues with my imaging camera and guide camera. And tonight I was able to reproduce it. Guiding and imaging start correctly. The main imaging camera takes three exposures without any issues. However, image number 4 fails to get downloaded and the sequence gets aborted. If I then restart the sequence, I see the exposure countdown of the main imaging camera switch between 120 sec (as it should be) and 3 sec (which is the exposure time for the guide cam). All images and guide images fail. See the logs for more info. Any clue what may cause this? This is with the INDI and INDI 3rd Party code pulled from GitHub two days ago and compiled by myself. The reason for this is that the libasi package build on the ppa fails (my bas, sorry) and I want to use the latest ASI driver.

Next I'll try to revert KStars and INDI to the stable release and see if it happens there as well.


Wouter
3 years 9 months ago #55093
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I reverted back to the stable release and ... the same thing happens! I attach the logs for those interested but I will contact ZWO now.


Wouter
3 years 9 months ago #55095
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I used a mini-pc with Windows to run PHD2, NINA and ASIStudio (all using the latest ASCOM drivers from May 2020) and the cameras worked flawlessly. So it has to be a problem with the ZWO Linux SDK which form the libasi drivers because the same stable Ekos and INDI work like a charm with my ASI1600MM-Pro Cool/ASI120MC-S combination. To be continued!
3 years 9 months ago #55098

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If you use each camera at a time, does this problem happen?
3 years 9 months ago #55109

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I should have mentioned that I have been using an ASI1600MM-C Pro Cool together with the same ASI120MC-S for nearly 1.5 year now without any issues whatsoever. As a matter of fact, I have a second ASI 1600/120 pair on another telescope and they work perfectly well together as well. And I have shot a dark library with the ASI6200 which took several hours and that worked well as well. So the cameras work fine, but the ASI 6200/120 combination seems to be problematic. I did explain all of this to ZWO so let's see what their reply is going to be.
3 years 9 months ago #55120

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Probably a stupid question, but if you connect the ASI6200 and the ASI120MC-S, do they show the same address in $ lsusb ?

Sounds like the driver is working fine, the problem is how the two cameras are being addressed.
3 years 9 months ago #55136

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Good question. I'll need to check that. But if that's the case then why does it work at first and only start failing after a while?

By the way, I am imaging at this very moment with a ASI1600MM-Pro Cool and guiding with an ASI120MC-S on KStarts/Ekos/INDI nightly including the update to libasi that I pushed last week and for which Jasem managed to fix the build and it's working fine.

EDIT: This is the output from lsusb
$> lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 03c3:620b ZWO ASI6200MM Pro
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 03c3:1f10 ZW0 ZWO EFF
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0403:6015 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd Bridge(I2C/SPI/UART/FIFO)
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 03c3:120e ZW0 ZWO EFF
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 03c3:1f01 EBCONNECTIONS USB TTL 3V3
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 04b4:6572 Cypress Semiconductor Corp. Unprogrammed CY7C65642 hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

It is funny that the ZWO EFW and EAF both show up as "ZW0 ZWO EFF". I think this is because the EFW doesn't display a name. On my other imaging mini-pc, where I have another EFW and a Shoestring focuser, I see
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 134a:9023 Shoestring Astronomy FCUSB USB Focuser Control Adapter
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 03c3:120e Shoestring Astronomy FCUSB USB Focuser Control Adapter

Anyway, judging by the USB Vendor ID, which is 03c3 for all ZWO products, the ASI120MC-S is
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 03c3:1f01 EBCONNECTIONS USB TTL 3V3

In short: no, they don't have the same USB addresses.
Last edit: 3 years 9 months ago by Wouter van Reeven.
3 years 9 months ago #55137

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You are demanding answers, yet I have none to give you...
But since the ASI6200 works on its own, it clearly CAN be addressed correctly.
One probably silly idea is that after multiple huge images from the 6200 have been downloaded, a buffer may be overflowing and the ASI120MC cuts in and hijacks the address of the 6200????
In short, I don't know, grasping for straws here, but this smells like something that can be solved with systematic analysis without falling for NINA's seduction...
:-)


Just saw your edit: Does this problem only occur with the mini-PC, so on an amd64 architecture, or also on the RPi4?
Reason I am asking is that I have updated both my RPi4 and my Zotac mini-PC today to get the data Chris has been asking for, and I have a problem on the mini-PC, where now FCUSB is crashing, but only if I load it together with EQMOD, ASI-EFW and the ASI183MM and ASI120MM. It does not crash on the RPi4 loading the iOptron driver, ASI-EFW, ASI1600MM and ASI120MM. But if I first load FCUSB using the Device Manager and then the rest of the equiment, it does not crash. So there is clearly a problem there with the order in which the components are being loaded.
Last edit: 3 years 9 months ago by Jose Corazon.
3 years 9 months ago #55138

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You did give me an idea though Jo. So, thanks for that!

The ASI120MC-S and the EFW are connected to the USB hub on the ASI6200 and then there is one USB3 cable coming down from the ASI6200 to connect all three devices to the mini-pc. What if the USB hub on the camera has an issue that somehow only manifests on Linux and not on Windows? So I have disconnected the ASI120MC-S from the USB hub and connected it directly to the mini-pc. Well, actually I am using another USB hub because I ran out of ports but at least it is not connected via the USB hub of the ASI6200 anymore.

I am running Ekos now in the living room with the ASI6200 taking 120 sec exposures (just like last night) and the ASI120MC-S looping on 3 sec images (mimicking guiding from last night). Let's see if I run into the same issue again. If not then I will repeat the experiment but with the ASI120MC-S connected to the USB hub of the ASI6200 again to see if I can reproduce the faulty behavior that way.

I'll post here as soon as I have results.

EDIT: regarding the RPi4, I don't use that for Ekos. Perhaps in the future but not now.
Last edit: 3 years 9 months ago by Wouter van Reeven.
3 years 9 months ago #55139

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I tried to reproduce the issue last night in my living room but wasn't able to. So I set up the telescope outside and took over 30 images with the ASI6200 while guiding with the ASI120MC-S and all went fine. And this was with the ASI120MC-S connected to the USB hub of the ASI6200. I am not saying that the issue is resolved but rather that sometimes it manifests much sooner than otherwise. I'll keep trying.
3 years 9 months ago #55155

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That's great news then!

I can also report that last night the problem I described earlier, i.e. FCUSB crashing unless connecting before the rest of the equipment on amd64 architecture also mysteriously went away. I did not change any ports, though, but I had updated again just before from github. Moreover, the meridian-flip problem I had had consistently over the last week or so has also apparently been resolved by the changes Chris made recently. Last night's imaging run was initiated and concluded in a fully automatic, hands-off fashion by the scheduler.

Thanks, Chris, for that!

As for you, Wouter, it looks like there is no fundamental problem then with the ZWO driver for the 6200 and thus no more obstacle to giving up your ill-conceived relationship with NINA. :-)

Jo
Last edit: 3 years 9 months ago by Jose Corazon.
3 years 9 months ago #55160

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Last night I tried with my mini-pc running Ubuntu MATE 20.04 and the then latest nightly build and I was able to take over 60 images without any issues while the guide cam was taking guide images. Tonight I tried the same on my brand new freshly installed Ubuntu Server 20,04 with the MATE desktop and KStars nightly on a Raspberry Pi 4 and again no issues. I am slowly starting to believe that my self-compiled INDI may have been the cause of this. So for now I consider this issue closed and will get back to it if it ever happens again.


Wouter
3 years 9 months ago #55187

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