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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

it's broke again. Scheduler doesn't do squat, just sits there. apt-update resulted in a huge list of broken things.

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About at my wits end with Kstars and Ekos. 

Every other time I do an update, I seem to discover something new that doesn't work and has no easy to find solution to it.
Tonight, after 6 hours of fucking with it, the scheduler flat does nothing.  it starts and .. nadda.. just sits there. 
Manually running an imaging session works - polar align, focuser focus, target align, tracking routine,. then the exposure list, etc..  no problem. 

But put it all in the scheduler and nothing happens at all.  it sits and the only activity to be seen is the "no jobs running" spinning icon.
can't find any error messages anywhere, can't find any reference to it in the log files.  it just does nothing and offers no explanation why it is doing nothing.

I ran 'sudo apt update..  then  'upgrade' .. and it kicked out a long list of "this package relies on <something> and it is not going to be installed"

screen shot attached,.

I'm hoping someone can explain this and tell me how to get it to work again.

I seem to have about a 25% success rate for using Kstars and Ekos.  3 out of every 4 nights of trying to use it are totally wasted trying to figure out the latest completely random reason it isn't working right.

It ran for a month just recently without any hiccups at all.  I was pretty happy.. for a month..  Then tonight it decides to just completely trash itself somehow.
Getting highly annoyed at the repeat pattern of completely wasted nights cussing at it not working correctly.

I've had rain for a week.  last night and tonight it was clear.   last night I was unable to set it up and use it.. tonight I had the whole night free and nice clear skies with low humidity and good seeing.   Tonight I've spent 6 hours so far with zero success at it doing anything.

"highly fucking pissed" is putting it mildly.

help?

<edit>
It seems to be fixed and working again, but it required a complete removal of kstars and all associated packages, removal of the mutlaqja ppa from the system, a reboot for safety's sake, and then start over from complete scratch, with the stable release, not the nightly release installed.  tried the nightly release again, and it produced the same errors..  'libindidriver1' seems to be the center of the problem with the nightly release.  it isn't installed, it refuses to install it, but complains that it isn't installed.

<sigh>

love the complete package..  felt that I'd finally got the knack of it, tweaked the focuser routine to where it works, it aligned reliably, it guided fairly reliably without hiccups (have had plenty of guiding problems in the past)..  it didn't segment fault and crach anymore.. it was working.
and then this.. whatever happened here..  
lets see how well it runs now..   except I have clouds and a new cold front moving through for the next 3-4 days... 
be nice if it worked the next time I get it out and use it,..  doesn't have a terribly good history for doing that yet.


However, now the clouds have rolled in from the next weather front and it can't see any stars anymore.. at 5am.

Maybe in a week I'll be able to try it again.
What a huge waste of my time this was.
Last edit: 2 years 3 months ago by James Barbot JR. Reason: new information on problem...
2 years 3 months ago #78818
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Hi James, I can appreciate the frustration that comes with problems like you're seeing. We spend so much time getting past bad weather, and then it's terribly frustrating when things go wrong in software. That said, it's wise to have a better backup strategy. In my case, I ALWAYS keep a second PI4 with the last known working config on it (just in case). I don't update that backup config until I've checked out any new feature I want on a separate Pi4 (and I also don't update SW very often now that I have what I need). That backup Pi4 has saved my butt a few times. The kinds of problems you're seeing may be frustrating, but are foreseeable and avoidable! For the low cost of maintaining that backup HW/SW combo, having it at the ready (just in case) is well worth it. Something to consider. CS Doug
Last edit: 2 years 3 months ago by Doug S.
2 years 3 months ago #78826

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Hello James,
Sorry for your problem.
For me, I've a copy (clone) of my SD Card installed in the SM. If I've a difficulty, I change quickly the card. If all is right, I update my clone SD Card with my news parameters.
Frank
Last edit: 2 years 3 months ago by Frank.
2 years 3 months ago #78828

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"start over from complete scratch, with the stable release, not the nightly release installed."

Was there something in the nightly but not in the stable that you actually needed?
2 years 3 months ago #78829

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Kstar/ekos/indis biggest mistake is that you can not install old versions. This is a disaster and iI never understood why it is run like this. No other program i know of is doing it this way. It's an excellent software suite when it works, so it is really a shame it is almost ruined by this choice.
I do love kstars/ekos/Indi and only update in rare cases.
2 years 3 months ago #78832

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yeah.. you have a very good and valid point here. keep a backup of the last known stable system.
2 years 3 months ago #78870

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I wound up flipping over to the Nightly releases due to a specific camera problem and an issue with the astrometry alignment module a while back and just never have flipped back from it. I'm back on stable release now. pretty sure that the bugs I had issues with are now fixed and have filtered into the stable release.
2 years 3 months ago #78871

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You can install older version but you are on your own by compiling it from source.
2 years 2 months ago #78904

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