Try

Thanks for info. Having installed libindi-dev the compilation of indi-toupbase succeeded.
Did the install but still cant get it to work in ekos. Get "unable to establish message"

Back to square one.

Tried some more suggestions from the cloudy night forum.

Here are the results.

Tried my ZWO ASI290MC and it works fine in both USB3 port and USB2 port on RockPi.

Tried using a powered hub for the Toupcam same problem unable to establish connection.

Don't have any file similar to toupcam.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d. on my Rock Pi.

On my Raspberry Pi there is a file called 99-toupcam.rules so copied that across to Rock Pi and rebooted rock pi. Still same error.

Tried to follow the steps for using the other software but ran into errors on this step.

sudo apt-get install -y libgstreamer-plugins-base1.0-dev

it couldn't find some files that are needed.

So it kind of looks like it is an issue with toupcam driver and not the USB ports on the rock pi.

Will struggle on with the last step to try some other software.

So your post got me intrigued with the Rock Pi. I ordered one from Ali Express, with 16GB eMMC storage. It's a speedy little guy, that's for sure! At least, compared to a Raspberry Pi.

I spent some time and ported my Waveshare Stepper Motor HAT INDI driver to work on the Rock Pi 4B. That was pretty straightforward.

So I got everything built and installed, and everything works! At least for a few captures of the ASI 1600MM Pro. And then it stops working until I reboot.

dmesg shows a bunch of errors about "Ring expansion failed". Are you getting anything like that in your dmesg?

Apparently that's been fixed in the kernel 4 years ago! The Rock Pi people are using an ancient 4.4 kernel.

I'm going to try pestering them and see if they will at least apply the fix to the 4.4 kernel, if they won't update to a newer kernel.

Otherwise I may have to build a kernel from source, with the patch applied. Not my first choice, however.

-- Kevin

I see you also have an ASI1600MM Pro. Are you able to take more than a handful of images with it? I just tell Ekos to loop images on the autofocus tab, and it starts failing after just a few images.

I haven't had the chance to have a long go with the ASI1600 yet, I got bogged down trying to find a solution for the toupcam. Hope you find a way to get the latest kernal. I thought of trying to build one from source but it's beyond my Linux skills at the moment.

You can download Armbian with Kernal 5.1 from here:

www.armbian.com/rock-pi-4/

Nice to know, I'll give it a try!

I'm also having a look at the Odroid N2+ 4GB. It's even faster than the Rock Pi, and has active development. They have 5.11 kernel with Ubuntu 20.10 and Debian 11 running on it. And it has a 40-pin GPIO header compatible with my stepper motor HAT.

I'm amassing quite the collection of single board computers.

You are not the only one.
I have :
    Raspberry Pi Zero,
    RPi2
    RPi3 (just sold a second RPi3)
    RPi4 which is on my mount.

and now
The RockPi4 which absolutely flies when using M.2 NVME but  I may have to change to a ZWO cam for my guidecam as I cant fix the toupcam issue.


Not looked at the Odroid N2+ 4GB ...yet

 

So thanks for the heads up on running Armbian. It works much better. I've been running KStars just looping exposures on both my imaging camera (ASI1600MM Pro) and guide camera (ASI290MM Mini) continuously for about an hour, with no hiccups. Sweet!

I need to rewrite my stepper motor INDI driver once again, because Armbian uses a different method for accessing the GPIO pins. But I'm getting good at porting this to new OSes.

One thing somewhat concerning, is that when I plug my powered USB3 hub into the upper USB3 port on the Rock Pi, I get nothing. lsusb doesn't show anything, other than the built-in hubs. Plugging into the bottom USB3 port works fine. Dead USB3 port? It doesn't affect me, because everything goes over the powered USB hub. But weird just the same.

-- Kevin

I think there is something about having the NVME M.2 connection that interferes in some way with the USB3 port on the rockpi not a big deal though.
Glad Armbian works better.

Last night was a full night of imaging with the Rock Pi 4B. ASI1600MM Pro imaging camera, and ASI290MM Mini guide camera. No issues. I also had my Waveshare Stepper Motor HAT installed on the board. Autofocus worked beautifully as well. As a bonus, the HAT provides power to the Rock Pi, so I didn't need a separate 5V supply for the Pi. Just the 12V that goes to the HAT, and it provides 5V to the computer via the 40-pin header.

I do like the extra speediness of the Rock Pi. Especially the storage. I used a 16GB eMMC module, got it as a kit. So much faster than the SD card on the Raspberry Pi. Even the built-in WiFi works better than the Raspberry Pi.

So I would definitely recommend this as a pretty much drop-in replacement for the Raspberry Pi for most people. The only thing that would slow down most people is having to build INDI and KStars from source, since there aren't any repositories for that yet. And Astroberry wouldn't work. So there's some manual work to do, which may not be for everyone.

One nice thing about the Odroid N2+ that I was considering, is that it takes 12V input, and not 5V. So for people like me that have a 12V distribution block (Rig Runner), that makes things simple. I will probably pick up an Odroid N2+ 4GB, just to play with. The specs are even better than the Rock Pi, and is still compatible with my stepper motor HAT.