Antonio Soffici,

Are you using KStars and INDI both on the same computer? In other words, are you connecting to a raspberry pi or other SBC from your Mac when you experience these crashes? I had some strange crashes in OS X version 3.0 right after I first build it when I was testing it, until I updated the software on the pi. Since then, I have not seen any crashes.

I can certainly make a new Mac build if there is something wrong with the current one, but first, we would need to figure out what is wrong. Is some incompatibility in the Mac build, is there a version conflict between the KStars build on the Mac and the INDI build on an SBC, or is there some other problem that is more general that affects all users on Windows, Mac, and Linux. For the last one, it could be an issue with KStars, with INDI, or with some dependency of those.

I know that PHD2 had some changes recently to how it communicates data back to the client programs and I am planning to look into how we need to update KStars soon to adapt to those changes, but I don't think that anything they did would cause crashes in KStars, nor does it seem to affect the quality of the guiding. But I will look into that one.

It would be very good if we can get a pattern or cause of any crashes, especially if they seem to be reproducible, so that we can narrow down the cause. For me, the crashes just happened randomly until I updated the software on the pi and then they did not happen anymore. I think sometimes it happened when I was trying to focus and sometimes when I was trying to run a sequence if I remember correctly.

Thanks,

Rob

Antonio Soffici,

I did just test saving and loading a sequence file using simulators on my MacBook Pro. It loaded almost instantly with no beachball or delay of 10-15 seconds. That is very strange. I am using the latest version of Mojave on this computer that I just tested it on and the computer KStars version 3.0.0 was built on is running El Capitan, so it should work for any system running El Capitan and later. Please see if there is anything else that is strange or sluggish, because that is definitely odd.

Also you might want to run KStars from the command line to see if that reveals anything about the sluggish behavior or the crashing that you reported. Try this:

lldb /Applications/KStars.app
run

Then try whatever you can do to produce sluggish or crashing behavior so it all gets recorded.

Thanks,

Rob

Oh, I forgot to mention, you might want to set the Logging to "Default" instead of "File" before you run it via lldb so that all of the logging gets sent to the terminal window along with any crash info.

Ah, ok.
So, no total noob, then

Hello rlancaste.
No, the Mac is connected directly to the equipment (only CCD and FW, as I haven't been able to connect the EQ8 mount, yet) via KStars
The guider goes to another USB port

Hello rlancaste,
tonight I tried what you suggested.
From the attached Terminal log you'll see I had a bit of a struggle with Terminal before being able to load KStars the way you suggested.
Unfortunately I read your last message only after having set up the sequence (but before loading it in the scheduler), so the sluggish behaviour may be only partially documented, if at all.
I managed to create the sequence, to load it and to run it (simulators only) without crashes, but then THIS happened:

What happened to the resolution of KStars?
I reckon there is some work to be done on the Mac version of KStars...
Terminal log attached, along with the screenshot

Hope this helps

Cheers
Antonio

Oh, forgot to mention: I've bought the Stellarmate, and with Jasem's help I have managed to make it work (mostly) like clockwork.
Just a few wrinkles to iron out, bot for that I need moonless nights and my cough to pass.
This is the reason I've been away from this thread for so long
Sorry...
Cheers
Antonio

Yes it looks like you logged the output very well. But from the output it looks like it didn't crash correct? I will have to look through it more carefully to see if any of the messages that print are any different than on mine, if so that might explain some speed issues or maybe even crash issues. I don't know, but I will look when I get a chance.

As to the resolution of the icons on the top bar getting very large, I have seen that before. It is a bug that showed up recently, but it is not a KStars bug as far as I can tell. I think it is a QT Bug. We will need to report it to them. Did the resolution issue happen when you tried the star profile viewer or the what's interesting window? I suspect it might happen sometimes for those items because they both use QT's createWindowContainer function. That function was buggy in a different way several versions of qt ago.

Thanks,

Rob

Hello rlancaste,
dude, your'e a mind reader!
Ok, let's start from the end:
1) star profile viewer had been on for 2-3 seconds when the toolbar thing happened (I reckon QT means Quick Time, correct me if I'm wrong)
2) correct, no crashes, only sluggish behaviour of the laptop. One funny quirk I've discovered is that the laptop becomes totally inoperable for a few seconds when KStars launches, right up to the splash screen. Then it's normal until I try to save/load the .esq file and KStars has to access or somehow interact with the Finder.

All of this is less of a priority, thanks to the Stellarmate and Jasem's help, but I'd like to have the flexibility of being able to connect directly to my gear, without SM (also a backup strategy in the unlikely case the SM breaks or something else happens to it).

Keep up the good work
Clear Skies
Antonio

Nope not really a mind reader . Its just that I already know about the bug you mentioned happening sometimes, but it isn't our bug so it's hard to address.

QT doesn't mean quick time, QT is the cross platform SDK that KStars and many other programs are built upon. It's like the foundation. It is the reason we can write code for KStars and then it works on Linux, Mac, and Windows. www.qt.io

No the sluggish behavior you are reporting is definitely not normal. I don't see that on my system and many other folks have used KStars on their Macs and its not that slow. That is something strange. Do you maybe have many other programs running and don't have enough RAM?

Ah, ok. This level of ignorance shows how little I know about coding...
No other programs running when the sluggish behaviour happens.
I've tried firing up KStars with even wi-fi off, just in case.
Always the same.
But when I downloaded and installed 3.0, I hadn't uninstalled 2.9.8 I just compressed it (just in case 3.0 were a total dud) and dragged the app to the rubbish bin.
Would you suggest a clean re-install, as in "nuke KStars with something like AppZapper and reinstall it from scratch"?

Hi,

I had similar problems ... follow this link

Tips: disable FITS viewer , and zram ..., I also update to Kstars 3.1 ... ( sudo apt-get update , sudo apt-get upgrade ...)

All the problems were on the raspberry ( doing all the hard work ). On my laptop with ubuntu 18.04 Kstars, never crashed...

This QT messages in the logs, may get confussion.

good luck and clear skies

Guillem