Thank you so much, Eric! I've been meaning to reply for days but kinda wanted to try solving with the mount out on a clear night and finally had one - what you suggested totally did the trick! How on earth did you figure that out?? Is this a step everyone has to perform after new installation? Thank you very, very much.

On a related note I still get a message (screenshot attached) that "Index files index-4206 to index-4211 are missing" in spite of them having a check mark on the index files list in Ekos. Solving (polar and otherwise) seems to work fine, although I always perform the GOTO solving in the same spot to the west northwest, so maybe the missing files are for a different part of the sky. Or does the full message mean that if I tried solving Online instead of Offline, that for some reason it would fail..? Either way, should I try downloading these "missing" index files and placing them in the new "~/.local/share/kstars/astrometry" folder to stop the error message?

Hi Jerry - I've noticed that one window for me was always a little taller than the rest and it bothered me I couldn't see the bottom of it. I thought I had set the maximum screen resolution via the OS, but I'll try doing it command line like I think you did to see if that changes anything. My first screen shots were with my phone of a tiny 7" field monitor before I'd set up the wi-fi, and it's 16:9 which I guess Linux doesn't like..? Anyway glad you got yours looking good.

The solution is to change location of index files to your home folder e.g. ~/astrometry (/home/username/astrometry):
1. Create the folder2. Copy index files it3. Change astrometry config

Administator with password "smate." - Never put your password on a public web site - hopefully you changed it straight away and its not used anywhere else

I’ve got a StellarMate too, where did you download the latest firmware from? I wouldn’t mind having a more recent version handy just in case.

This PW is openly published on Stellarmate web site...

Radek, thank you, I performed the steps you outlined and will test it out as soon as possible. Step 3, I got an unrecognized command error when I tried the final line, did you mean for me to use "#add_path" in both instances? I did that after the error, hope that was ok. In case it isn't already obvious I'm a unix noob. Does #add_path make one directory automatically point to another? I see too that at least for now (I haven't launched Ekos yet) I have two copies of all the index files, ~640MB of data; once I confirm all is well can I delete the copies from their original directory in /usr/share/astrometry - will it let me..?

Stash if someone wants to steal some of my blurry FITS files from me, I'll let them. And I only use that for the Stellarmate, left everything alone once I got it.

Hi pug916,
The only way I was able to download the Stellarmate OS again was to find the e-mail confirmation of my order for it and use the link in there to get directly to it. I think I first tried logging in and just rooting around on the site but couldn't find it. I'm sure that's not much help, sorry..

I was not precise in step #3 - add_path are lines in /etc/astrometry.cfg file - you should edit the file by running "sudo nano /etc/astrometry.cfg"
After opening the file add # to existing add_path line and add a new one with your new path. Write with ctrl+o and exit with ctrl+x. You're done

I ran into this a few weeks ago. On the Stellarmate site click the sign in button, enter your username and password then click products , then orders and you should see a link to the image.

Thank you Radek! I appreciate the extra info. Made the change, about to try it out!
Edit: Yep worked great! Thanks again. Do I need to leave the index files in the original location, or now that it looks in the new directory is it safe for me to delete them (if I even can, with permissions?) from their original location?