Since updating KStars, my nights are now routinely filled with nonstop problems. I haven gotten a single photo taken in weeks and it's so unbelievably frustrating that I don't even know where to start. I'll try my best to highlight the biggest ones that I can remember right now:

1. The newest INDI drivers on MacOS completely break Orion SSAG functionality. The camera is not detected at all anymore in Ekos. It works on Ekos on any other operating system or an earlier version, or if using PHD2. I saw no less than 5 separate posts about this exact issue recently and nobody has been able to find a solution, or recognize that it's not isolated. I had to fork over $200 for a new, different autoguider to solve this problem because I have zero confidence that anyone is even looking into this. There isn't even a bug report for this on the INDI Github.

2. If you hit "next" through the KStars first-run setup wizard, and hit the "Done" button, KStars completely crashes,

3. If you manage to get past problem #2 and get into Ekos, I'm now encountering a brand new issue where Ekos will issue a move command to the mount, but nothing happens, and Ekos acts as though the mount actually did move. Then my entire mount model gets screwed up because of it. There isn't even anything in the error log to clue me in:

2020-12-03T01:25:39: [INFO] Slew complete, tracking...
2020-12-03T01:25:38: [INFO] Slewing to JNOW RA 0:43:50 - DEC 40:58:54 SlewOffsetRa -331580.9 arcsec
2020-12-03T01:25:19: [INFO] Slew complete, tracking...
2020-12-03T01:25:17: [INFO] Slewing to JNOW RA 0:43:50 - DEC 40:58:54 SlewOffsetRa -3.7 arcsec - This slew never happened. It's still physically at 20:38:03, 70:53:41
2020-12-03T01:24:02: [INFO] Slew complete, tracking...
2020-12-03T01:24:00: [INFO] Slewing to JNOW RA 20:38:03 - DEC 70:53:41 SlewOffsetRa -29.7 arcsec - This slew was successful.
2020-12-03T01:24:00: [INFO] Sync to 20:38:03, 70:53:41 successful.
2020-12-03T01:23:56: [INFO] Slew complete, tracking...
2020-12-03T01:16:04: [INFO] Celestron NexStar is online.
2020-12-03T01:16:01: [INFO] Celestron NexStar is offline.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Movement toward East halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Moving toward East.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Movement toward East halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Moving toward East.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Movement toward East halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Moving toward East.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Movement toward East halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Moving toward East.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Movement toward East halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:22: [INFO] Moving toward East.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Movement toward West halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Moving toward West.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Movement toward West halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Moving toward West.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Movement toward West halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Moving toward West.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Movement toward West halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Moving toward West.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Movement toward West halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Moving toward West.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Movement toward West halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:21: [INFO] Moving toward West.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Movement toward West halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Moving toward West.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Movement toward North halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Moving toward North.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Movement toward North halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Moving toward North.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Movement toward North halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Moving toward North.
2020-12-03T01:15:20: [INFO] Movement toward North halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:19: [INFO] Moving toward North.
2020-12-03T01:15:18: [INFO] Slew complete, tracking...
2020-12-03T01:15:17: [INFO] Movement toward South halted.
2020-12-03T01:15:17: [INFO] Moving toward South.
2020-12-03T01:15:17: [INFO] Slewing to JNOW RA 0:43:50 - DEC 40:58:54 SlewOffsetRa -966890.8 arcsec
2020-12-03T01:15:16: [INFO] Slewing to JNOW RA 0:43:50 - DEC 40:58:54 SlewOffsetRa -966890.8 arcsec
2020-12-03T01:15:15: [INFO] Slew complete, tracking...
2020-12-03T01:14:50: [INFO] Slew complete, tracking...
2020-12-03T01:14:50: [INFO] Slewing to JNOW R2020-12-03T01:15:15: [INFO] Slewing to JNOW RA 0:43:50 - DEC 40:58:54 SlewOffsetRa -644323.9 arcsec
A 0:43:50 - DEC 40:58:54 SlewOffsetRa -322146.9 arcsec
2020-12-03T01:14:47: [INFO] Slew complete, tracking...
2020-12-03T01:14:46: [INFO] Slewing to JNOW RA 0:43:50 - DEC 40:58:54 SlewOffsetRa 0.0 arcsec
2020-12-03T01:13:24: [INFO] Movement toward South halted.
2020-12-03T01:13:23: [INFO] Moving toward South.
2020-12-03T01:13:21: [INFO] Movement toward South halted.
2020-12-03T01:13:21: [INFO] Moving toward South.
2020-12-03T01:13:21: [INFO] Movement toward South halted.
2020-12-03T01:13:20: [INFO] Moving toward South.
2020-12-03T01:13:19: [INFO] Observer location updated: Longitude (-80.846) Latitude (35.2289)
2020-12-03T01:13:19: [ERROR] Serial read error: Timeout error
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [INFO] Device configuration saved.
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [INFO] Saving device configuration...
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [INFO] Device configuration saved.
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [INFO] Saving device configuration...
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [INFO] Device configuration applied.
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [INFO] Observer location updated: Longitude (-80.846) Latitude (35.2289)
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [INFO] Dome Policy set to: Dome ignored. Mount can park or unpark regardless of dome parking state.
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [INFO] Loading device configuration...
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [WARNING] Mount is NOT aligned. You must align the mount first before you can use it. Disconnect, align the mount, and reconnect again.
2020-12-03T01:13:14: [ERROR] Serial read error: Timeout error
2020-12-03T01:13:09: [INFO] Mount supports guiding.
2020-12-03T01:13:09: [INFO] Mount is unparked.
2020-12-03T01:13:09: [INFO] Mount is unparked.
2020-12-03T01:13:09: [WARNING] Mount firmware does not support getting pier side.
2020-12-03T01:13:09: [ERROR] Serial read error: Timeout error
2020-12-03T01:13:04: [INFO] Mount model: SkyWatcher
2020-12-03T01:13:04: [ERROR] Serial read error: Timeout error
2020-12-03T01:12:59: [INFO] Controller version: 48.52
2020-12-03T01:12:59: [INFO] Celestron NexStar is online. [/code]

4. The SYNC button in KStars is useless. If I'm aware that my mount model is messed up, I can reset KStars and my mount to my heart's content. No matter what I do, KStars is still going to show that the telescope is pointing towards the wrong RA and DEC. If I know my telescope is pointing towards Polaris, and I right click on Polaris in the KStars planetarium and select "SYNC", nothing happens. Ekos still shows the wrong RA and DEC. Successfully clearing the mount model and current incorrect position appears to be voodoo magic.

5. My internet connection out in the field is slow. If I try to download the required solver plots, KStars complains that my 75kb/s connection is too slow, and abandons the download. But get this - if you press "OK" on the dialogue box, it quits all of Ekos and Kstars. Why is any of that necessary? Who cares how slow the download is? Why does this need a dialogue box? Why is it then necessary to terminate an entire observing session over this?

So I can probably help with some but not all that you listed here. First though, please remember that we are all volunteers and we are developing the code because we love astrophotography as much as you and want to make a nice free package for everyone. We welcome all contributions of code and testing and if you let us know what is wrong we can try to fix it as quickly as possible. Please don’t just give up though just because of an issue or two, if I had done that, KStars would not have a Mac version at all. Please stick with it and let us know what can be fixed. Now for your specific questions.

1. I had not seen any such posts. Can you direct me to them? I have been monitoring the INDI forum pretty regularly since the release to look for any Stellar Solver or Mac related issues since that is where I can help, but I haven’t seen these posts. It is possible that I missed them because of course I have a full time job that has been taking more of my time recently, but if you could show me the posts I can check into it. Based on what you just said, it could be a minor issue in the build script that caused an issue when I built the DMG. It might be a quick fix.

2. Yes I saw this issue the other day, I haven’t yet figured out why it happens, but it seems that it only occurs if you hit enter and not next on the page of the wizard when you select your location. I would like to know what’s wrong, but haven’t found it yet.

3. That sounds very odd and requires more testing to see exactly what is going on. If you can find out more about what happened that will help. It almost sounds like it doesn’t have a good mount connection? Maybe your mount has a mode that is preventing it from working correctly?

4. Sync should definitely work, when you hit sync it should tell the mount it’s location. It wouldn’t change anything in the kstars display, except that once the mount gets its new position, it will show that. Are you saying that for your mount it does not update the mount’s location? This sounds like it is related to 3

5. Is this for the index file downloads? They are very very large files. I would not recommend downloading them in the field. Do that before you go out. When a download looks like it is interrupted or stalled, I did code it to terminate the download because otherwise the network manager will have possibly numerous open stalled connections. If your internet is that slow I think there might be an increased likelihood of corruption in the download as well. This could be changed in the future, but currently I am of the opinion that the current plan is best. Though my mind could be changed.

5 cont. did you say it quits all of kstars? That sounds like it crashed. It should just terminate the download.

Thank you for your response. I apologize if this came across the wrong way - it’s been a really, really bad week of AP for me. The recent issues I’ve been facing seem overwhelming. I know Kstars/Ekos can work extremely well - I ran a previous version of Kstars on my Mac for 6 months and it worked amazing. I got a lot of awesome photos using it.

1. SSAG driver issue - Are there any specific INDI logs that I can provide you with to help solve this problem?

3. Mount abruptly stops slewing - This is a brand new issue. I fully tested the mount during daylight hours using Kstars running on top of a Raspberry Pi and this didn’t happen. When this happened last night with my Mac plugged in, I was able to successfully slew the mount over to a clear section of sky for plate solving prior to this happening. With an established mount model, I then tried moving the mount to my intended target. I heard the motor move extremely briefly, and then it cut out. After power cycling the mount and reconnecting it to INDI, I held down a direction button on the HC. The mount started to move, then abruptly stopped. When that happened, no other directional buttons would do anything, and trying to move the mount using Ekos didn’t work either. I’m really at a loss as to why this is now happening.

4. Sync not working - This has been happening well before problem #3. It even consistently happened earlier this year with an earlier Kstars build, and it always happens following “Solver Failed” messages. Ekos will show an RA/DEC that I know is incorrect. The mount will show an RA/DEC that is very close to the one shown in Ekos. If I clear the mount model in Ekos, power cycle the mount and reposition it in the home position, Ekos and the mount still show the same incorrect position. If I try to center on Polaris using Kstars and press SYNC, nothing happens. Because my RA/DEC are so wildly incorrect, plate solving is guaranteed to fail and I never get an alignment for the rest of the night.

5. Yes, it’s quitting all of KStars


On top of all of this, I recently tried remoting into a RP4 running Kstars attached to the mount, so I don’t have to sit out in the cold all night. This has created its own slew of problems. The biggest is that the FITS viewer is extremely slow to show pictures and it crashes KStars if more than one window is open. This is a real problem when I’m trying to get my focus adjusted and I’m looping 1-second exposures.


Any help you could give me would be greatly appreciated. I’ll even pay you $100 if you can find the time to do a zoom call or something to help me diagnose some of this stuff. There’s so much wrong right now that I can’t problem solve any more on my own.

Update: At home during lunch, I was able to get the mount to move using the directional arrows on the HC with no problem. I plugged the HC into Ekos, and Ekos could also move the mount with no problem. The issue seems to appear only after a mount model has been made via plate solving.

For the sync issue, I tried to manually set a different RA and DEC position using the INDI Control Panel. This failed. The existing position stayed the same.

Could this be an INDI driver issue? The HC itself is a Synscan, but the only way I’ve ever been able to get it to connect is to use the Celestron NexStar driver. If you try to use the Synscan driver, it never connects.

What's the exact mount model? You might want to add your equipment to your signature so it is easy to identify.

Thanks for reminding me - Signature is filled out now. The Skywatcher EQM-35 Pro uses the “v5” Synscan-branded hand controller. I connect to the mount through the HC’s USB type B port.

Ok so I think I might have found the issue with #1 on your list. It was not an issue with my build script. It looks like someone updated the qhy Linux binary libraries for libqhy, but that they didn’t update the Mac one.

github.com/indilib/indi-3rdparty/tree/master/libqhy

No guarantees that this is it, but it could be. I can see who can update that and if they do, I can build another DMG with a newer version of the library.

I will look into some of the others soon.

For the mount though, I do suspect that it’s an issue with mount communication. I know our club has an Orion HDX Mount and when I tried it with the synscan hand controller attached, I had some communication issues. It would literally be working fine one minute, and then the next, it would just stop talking to the external computer completely. But when I replaced the hand controller with an eq direct cable and used the eqmod driver, it worked extremely well.

Thanks for the clarification. I'd say ditch the Synscan controller and just use EQDirect cable to connect directly between Mac/RPI and the mount. Then you'd be able to use the EQMod driver which is a day/night difference when compared with Synscan driver. Synscan driver is very minimal with limited capabilities.

Thank you very much for looking at this stuff. On the topic of the Synscan controller, I initially had trouble connecting to this mount earlier in the year (January). My solution was to abandon the Synscan driver and run with the Celestron Nexstar. This works pretty well, but now I’m starting to wonder if the reason I can’t sync has something to do with that Nexstar driver.

The EQDirect cable could be a good workaround. Does the Mac version of KStars have a driver capable of using it? I was under the impression that EQMod was Windows only.

I use an FTDI EQMod cable with my HEQ5 and EQ6-R mounts on Mac and Linux without the need for additional drivers.


HTH, Wouter

www.indilib.org/telescopes/eqmod.html

In your Mac version of kstars, you will find eqmod as a choice.

Don’t use the next star driver with a synscan, they may have similarities, and may even be compatible for some commands, but I believe they have a different command set, so you will be essentially speaking to the mount it a language it doesn’t understand.

For the eqmod cable, I got mine from these folks.

www.store.shoestringastronomy.com/products_eq.htm

Yes, don't use the Celestron driver with a Synscan HC. While the command sets are similar and some commands will work not all commands will. The Celestron driver uses a number of low level commands that are passed by the HC directly to the motor controller. The Synscan HC was designed to emulate some of these but I very much doubt that it supports all of them.
There is I believe a separate Synscan driver.
Logs that show the communication between the driver and the HC would help. These are available but need enabling.
I'm the current maintainer of the Celestron driver.

BTW the Ra Offset messages you mentioned are there to help to remove a systematic error in the Celestron HC slew implementation.

Finally, as a general principle I would avoid doing a sync on an equatorial mount close to the pole. Tiny differences in position in Ra can have a huge effect on the pointing.
Chris