I cannot guide my Celestron AVX mount with PHD2 under Ekos or with an INDI mount-only control.

Particulars

• Laptop running Kubuntu Linux. All programs run on the laptop
• Mount control is via USB cable from computer to hand controller
• Able to control mount via KStars (pointing, syncing, etc)
• Under Ekos, can guide mount using the internal Ekos guider
• Guide camera is an SX Loadstar embedded in a spectrograph
• Setup of PHD2 followed exactly the tutorial from Jasem
  • When Ekos connects to PHD2, PHD2 shows "Mount Connected" in lower left hand corner and the EKos guide tab shows the expected response from PHD2 (e.g., possible exposure times)
  • When Ekos is disconnected, PHD2 shows warning message about losing mount connection
• If I switch over to Windows, can guide using PHD2 with PHD2 communicating via CPWI ASCOM-based mount control program.

When I hit the guide button on the Ekos tab (or if PHD2 is connected to the mount via the IND-control panel and guiding is started on PHD2), it's obvious that motion commands are not getting to the mount or, if they are, the commands are insufficient. PHD2 starts counting movements to the west and gets up to about 40-something before PHD2 finally says something like "Star failed to move in RA enough for calibration." I'm sitting literally a meter from the mount and I cannot hear the motors actuate like I can if I'm using the internal Ekos guider. The reason I need PHD2 is because the program has the ability to superimpose a slit for the spectrograph.

Attached are some logs. There is a mount log for a session with and without PHD2. There is also a PHD2 log.

Thanks,
Bob

Check your PHD2 Calibration steps in the Brain. They are calculated based on guide scope focal length, you must set that yourself, and the sensor specs.
If PHD2 does not have the correct focal length, it likely will not use effective pulses for calibration.

Thanks. Correct focal length is in the Brain. I'm using the same settings as in the Windows environment and it doesn't take 40+ steps in RA to calibrate.

I'm gonna give it another shot tonight.

Well, for whatever reason, it worked tonight. I got one shot before the clouds rolled in but the scope did nicely track.

I made all the parameters a duplicate of the defaults and what Jasem presented in his tutorial.