Hi again
I can investigate on this, as I also have a Linux Laptop and a RPI4
Please describe how you share your RPI4 folder with the Ubuntu machine. Then I'll replicate your setup and let you know

I have Ubuntu MATE 18.04 installed on my RPi4 and I simply shared the Pictures folder on the Pi4 using sambashare. I had to install sambashare and add myself to the sambashare group first, but for some reason even then I could only share the Pictures folder using admin rights.

After that, the Pictures folder should show up as a network share on your Linux laptop. I then specified that folder (or subfolder within the Pictures folder where the new FITS files are being stored) in the ALS Preferences tab, started the program. Then I started image acquisition using Kstars installed on the Pi4. ALS was installed on my Linux desktop running Ubuntu 18.04, which would then pull the new FITS files from the Pi4 as they appeared in the Pictures subfolder and stack them on the desktop only.

I gave this a try the other night by simulating file drops with old data and found it does a wonderful job! I think it may be working better than my regular one even.(Siril)
I was wondering if you guys have considered making an option to use it as a regular stacker(load a file selection to be processes), or maybe a forked version to be developed into a processing app.

Bravo! :dancers:

I agree, it does a fantastic job! But it is too resource intensive to be used on a Pi4 simultaneously with KStars. So image files residing on the Pi4 need either to be accessed through the network (which in my case caused the journal to fill up with 70 GB within a couple of hours and then the Pi4 froze), or one has to set up rsync on the Pi4 to mirror the image files in real time to a remote network drive.

That is probably what I am going to do, just haven't gotten around to it yet.

What has been working for me is to only run indiserver on the pi for control/usb hub(pi3b for now) and have it all sent directly to my main storage hard drive in the house. This way Kstars/ekos runs on the fast pc and I don't have to bulk move collected data out of the pi to process.

I read about your trouble with the journal log getting too big, I wonder if turning it off might help? -- or is that only turning off the display in the gui? :ponder:

Don't know, I have to try it out. I suspect that sending the read/write data back and forth is what is filling up the journal.
I could also write a script that purges the journal every 10 min or so, but that would be a crutch.
There must be better solutions.

Hello all

if the desktop computer is a Linux machine then rsync comes handy in. Let's assume that kstars writes the images on RPi to directory /mnt/raspberry and ALS expects the images in $HOME/als/scan, then use the terminal and issue the commands
<code>
cd $HOME/als/scan
watch -n 5 rsync -av pi@192.168.4.1:/mnt/raspberry/Light/ . # change the IP address and may be the username ("pi")
</code>
Of course before one has to configure Passwordless SSH access .

Kind regards, wildi

Neat! I configure mine to come straight to my file server but that could still come in handy. Also, pubkeys are the shiznit.

Hi again everyone and apologies, once again, for the long silence.

Recent times have been quite hectic for us and I guess it is for most of you guys.

Thanks for the nice feedback.

We haven't considered making a standalone app for 'regular stacking'. To be honest, I doubt ALS does a better job than Siril. It may be faster for a decent result, that what ALS is made for, but regular stacking is out of our roadmap, for now.

@El Corazon : I haven't looked into your specific journal space-eating issue yet. I'll try and reproduce it. But I do think this is a system related issue, out of ALS scope.
There are many ways to share files on a network. rsync is one of them. (even though it is file copy) NFS is another one...

I'll ping you guys soon

Clear skies and be safe

Hi again folks

Nightly ALS builds are now available for the 4 main target platforms : GNU/Linux, OSX, Windows and Raspberry Pi 4
Simply browse to als-app.org/nightlies/ and pick a release.
Just test away and shoot us with your results. We'll do our best to make ALS as great as you guys want it to be

Peace

Can it live stack fits file as well?

Yes it can !

8 bits, 16 bits, 32bits, unsigned, signed, integers, floats.... anything fits

As well as common DSLR RAW files

clear skies