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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Collimation Circles, app for easy telescope collimation

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I have made app Collimation Circles, to help with telescope collimation process. App was inspired by Mire De Collimation written by Gilbert Grillot and Al's Collimation Aid. You can get it here: github.com/sajmons/CollimationCircles.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jim, Ray, ALESSANDRO PENSATO, Rafael Schlegel, Hartmut
Last edit: 1 year 3 months ago by Simon.
1 year 3 months ago #89174
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Hi!

Interesting! Can I use this not with a phone but with the regular CMOS camera as well, capable of taking videos? I already use that one for manual collimation.

Magnus
1 year 3 months ago #89175

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Yes you can. You can use this application as overlay over your existing application for capturing stream from your CMOS camera.
Collimation Circles application does not capture any video stream by itself.
1 year 3 months ago #89176

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Very nice. Just like Al's collimation aid, but for Linux :)
Do you plan to have this tool incorporated into KStars someday? Or have you considered adding some INDI client functionality to connect to a camera for live view, focuser, and maybe even recentering mount all-in-one place?
1 year 3 months ago #89189

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I don't have enough knowledge and experiance with C++ to incorporate that into KStars. But I'm sure someone who has, can do it if enough users will find that useful.
I have played with including VLC control into AvaloniaUI app to show streams from cameras using libcamera driver. But to support astronomy cameras, the right way would be to suport INDI drivers. Maybe I'll investigate that posibility in the future or, someone with knowledge of INDI protocol can.
Last edit: 1 year 3 months ago by Simon.
1 year 3 months ago #89191

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Thanks a lot! Just installed on WIN10 incl. the NET Framework and the NET Framework EXE.
Works great!

Cheers
Hardy

1 year 3 months ago #89193
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Great to have it on Linux, I will have to try it on my Rpi running Ubuntu. I have been using AI's collimation tool, running on my laptop. I control the RPi, running Kstars at the scope, over ethernet cable to a laptop inside my garage (where it is warm) over VPN. As long as I am doing collimation using an artificial star the scope is still in the garage (on wheels, so I can roll it out on the driveway for seeing the night sky), then having the tool on the laptop is ok. But if I try to collimate using a star I need to be at the scope, where I have a tablet, also running VPN, so I can see the screen for polar alignment and focusing. When I get this running on Ubuntu, next time I uncover the scope, I can use it for star collimation.

One suggestion, in AI's collimation tool there is a break in the crosshairs at the center, so you can really see the out of focus star central spot and how well centered it is in the cross hairs (the crosshairs are also not as thick as yours) and which way to make the final small adjustment. You might think of making that change. It is only a suggestion and I have not tried your tool as it is, so it may work just fine. I would be interested in hearing other users comments.


Sorry, I did not look at the Github site before making the suggestion. I see that your crosshairs are actuall split and so the center is open. I was looking at the image from the previous post where the crosshairs are together and thick. Again I have not tried the tool yet, so my suggestion may be meaningless.

thanks,
Last edit: 1 year 3 months ago by Ronald Scotti. Reason: Did not look at the Github site of the actual tool image
1 year 3 months ago #89198

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I am having some difficulty getting this to run, but it may just be me. My target machine is an RPI 4 running 64 bit Ubuntu LTS 20.04, but I am first trying to get the program to work on a separate rpi 4, running Raspian Linux 10, the processors are ARMv7.

I am able to get dotnet to load successfully ( I ran the script command for the latest version and it installed Version 6 ) and I downloaded all the files for the CollimationCircles program.

When I first tried to do the build the error I recieved told me that your *.csproj " file was asking for version 7 of dotnet, I had to change that line in the file to read version 6. After making that change I entered the "dotnet run" command. Right now it is hung on that build. I will wait and see if it finally builds, this RPI only has 1 G RAM.

Can you fill me in on what the specifics of the process will be for the machine I am running Kstars on, which I said above is an RPI 4, 8 G RAM running 64 bit Ubuntu.

thanks,
1 year 3 months ago #89206

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Thank you for your replay Ronald.
Did you try to play with settings? Everything is customizable, the thickness, rotation, color, radius, etc. Try to change some of the settings to get setup that is right for your scenario.
Last edit: 1 year 3 months ago by Simon.
1 year 3 months ago #89277

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Did you try to build it with .NET 7?
Last edit: 1 year 3 months ago by Simon.
1 year 3 months ago #89278

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Yes I did try to build it with .Net, but it gave me errors and I just assumed that it would not work on a 64 bit machine and system. I have not had a chance to try it again on an Rpi that had more ram.

I would be grateful for any specific suggestions that I should try with my system.
thanks,
Ron
1 year 2 months ago #89307

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If you run it with
dotnet run
command it should run on every system, include 64 bit. In fact I run it on 64bit Raspbery Pi OS Bullseye.
What kind of error do you get?
You can also try to run like this to get debug output.
dotnet run --verbosity d
1 year 2 months ago #89354

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