Hello!

I am using a Raspberry Pi 3 B+ with Lubuntu 16.04 on a SSD with external Wifi (headless, controlled via VNC).
The setup runs great but the lack of USB 3.0 made me think of better alternatives.
The Pi 4 is not coming out till 2020…

What devices, similar to the Pi, are you guys running KStars on?
It should have USB 3.0 and be able to run Ubuntu (or Lubuntu, or Xubuntu… )
Is the ODROID-XU4 any good?

Greetings from Germany

Hi!

I used to use an Odroid XU4 and it is really good. However I stepped away from it since I wanted something that could easily run off a 12V battery in the field and the XU4 needs 5V but 4A to run. That’s very hard to get by.

So I changed for a Z83-F mini-pc with 64 Gb hard disk. That runs of 12 V so a rechargeable battery suffices. The Wifi adapter is so so but it works well at short range. I added a simple Wifi USB adapter which improved the range considerably. However I now use it always with an ethernet cable and have configured a fixed ip address on it so I can access it via my iPad in the field as well. It comes with Wondows 10 preinstalled but that can be replaced with Ubuntu 18.04. Mine runs Ubuntu Mate.


HTH, Wouter

Hi,

I am running a Odroid XU4 in my setup. No problems at all. I have it in one case with dew heater, motor focuser, USB3 hub, and 4 external 12 v outputs and a 2 TB hard drive. I have a voltage regulator stepping down the voltage to 5 volts for the powered hub and the Odroid. It will run off a single input 12 volt supply either mains or battery but use a large battery especially in cold weather. It runs headless using Team Viewer as we had problems with real VNC working reliably with the Odroid (no idea why as its great in RPi)
The only issue with the Odroid is that is produces a lot of heat so a thermostatically controlled fan option on the heat sink is a must. I used the large passive radiating heatsink but in the end had to put an external fan on the case to get the air circulating. Performance is significantly faster than RPi.
Cheers

Mike

I started with and still use occasionally a RPi 3B with the stellarmate OS. Later I bought a NanoPC-T4 which has 4 G ram USB 3.0 and an M.2 slot to which I have a 240G nvme drive connected. It runs on 12v 2a which as has been mentioned in the thread is very convenient, no buck converter or big battery needed. I run the complete system from two small talentcell batteries.
Recently I bought an A5X Max Tv box ($47) flashed it with Armbian ubuntu 18.04 and it works fine, has 4G ram and USB 3.0. It does however require 5v 2.5 amps so I need to use a converter.

I use a Rock64 configured to boot from a 240GB SSD, currently with Ubuntu 18.04. I run all the indi drivers for my devices (CEM60 mount, QHY cameras, Rigel focuser) on the Rock64 and I run Kstars/EKOS on various x86-64 systems in my house (or travel trailer when I'm at a dark site). My Rock64 has 4GB RAM, USB3, USB2 and requires 5V,3A power (but rarely exceeds 2amp draw).

The only issues I've encountered are with USB3 hubs, and I haven't found a good one that is robust and can survive operating outside in an observatory. Even though they are shielded from weather, the reliability is low and performance is sometimes an issue. I'd be interested if any of you can recommend a robust high-quality USB3 hub.

Regards,

jmh

jmh, how do you power the Rock64 when at a dark site? Do you have a custom 12 V to 5 V converter that produces the required 3 A or does the Rock64 boot with standard cigarette plug converters? The reason I ask is that the Odroid XU4 refuses to boot at less than 3 A.


Wouter

www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00SIQIV04/ref..._title?ie=UTF8&psc=1

I have had good luck with this 12V hub over the past year, it came through the winter outside in obs okay.

No eBay APP ID and/or Cert ID defined in Kunena configurationI am using a 7 port USB3 12 volt powered HUB. It is mounted inside a case with 3 of the ports accessible on the outside. It has never given any trouble and works perfectly with linux systems. (Odroid XU4). Used outside in heavy dew many times.
Here is the link

Mike

Sorry the system did not like the link so here is the name of the HUB I just mentioned
VOLANS Powered Aluminium 7-Port USB 3.0 Hub VL-HB07

Mike

I am running Ekos on this miniPC, which has USB 3:

www.csl-computer.com/shop/product_info.p...campaign=Billiger.de

I am accessing Ekos / the miniPC via realVNC from the tablet.

Mac mini for Kstars at home and Odroid C1 for the indi server part as remote.

Hi all, i have two devices.

My main device is an Asus Tinker Board (www.asus.com/au/Single-Board-Computer/Tinker-Board/).

My my back up is an Intel Compute Stick (www.intel.com.au/content/www/au/en/produ...tick/stk1aw32sc.html), only because the USB and Wifi is less reliable than the Tinker Board.

Both devices are setup in hot spot mode (I'm a mobile imager).

Cameras and GPS connect via a 12VDC powered USB3 hub and the mount via Wifi.

I VNC with my tablet/laptop.