Hello,
I want to use indiserver and the indi_sx_ccd driver to operate my SXV-H9 camera from the command line. I can start indiserver with indi_sx_ccd and then use the getINDI and setINDI commands from the xephem tools (I believe they originate there) and talk to the camera. It appears to answer. When I ask for what I think is an exposure with the command
./setINDI "SX CCD SXVR-H9.CCD_EXPOSURE.CCD_EXPOSURE_VALUE=0.9"
a lot of communication between camera and driver (I think) goes on - but where dopes the image go?

Can anyone tell me if I am doing the right thing, trying to use getINDI and setINDI with indi_sx_ccd in order to build a command line client?

Any ideas for already existing command line client software that uses indiserver on Linux?

If you know 'fswebcam' ffor ordinaru webcams you know the sort of program I am looking for.

Thanks for any help!

The image is returned as BLOB property.

I'm not quite sure about getINDI and setINDI, I have only indi_getprop and indi_setprop on my system, but I believe they are the same with different names.

Try this (example with simulator, but should be the same for any driver):

In one windows start getINDI with timeout long enough, in my case like this:

indi_getprop -t 30

and in second window use setINDI exactly like you did, in my case

indi_setprop "CCD Simulator.CCD_EXPOSURE.CCD_EXPOSURE_VALUE=1"

and the output on first window should be like

CCD Simulator.CONNECTION.CONNECT=On
...
CCD Simulator.CCD_EXPOSURE.CCD_EXPOSURE_VALUE=1
CCD Simulator.CCD_EXPOSURE.CCD_EXPOSURE_VALUE=0.64200001955032348633
CCD Simulator.CCD_EXPOSURE.CCD_EXPOSURE_VALUE=0
CCD Simulator.CCD_EXPOSURE.CCD_EXPOSURE_VALUE=0
CCD Simulator.CCD1.CCD1 reports uncompressed size as 2626560
Wrote CCD Simulator.CCD1.CCD1.fits

Then look for .fits file in your current folder.

Hi! Thanks for the help. It works.
This is an important step forward for me an my SXV-H9 camera! I'll try to write up a complete set of instructions and post it so that others can find it easily.
Best wishes,

Peter

Hi,
I am setting up some simple instructions. We seem to differ in what we do in that you have 'indi_setprop' etc and I use getINDI and setINDI from xephem/tools (version 3.7.5 - but not 3.7.6). Where do you have indi_setprop from?

Best wishes,

Peter

Hi,

indi_eval, indi_setprop and indi_getprop are a part of libindi (at least in version 0.9). I built them from source.

Peter

Here is my first attempt at writing up an instruction for how to use an SXV-H9 camera with indiserver, on an Ubuntu system.

I am running into problems now - it is a few months since I wrote up my recipe for how to use the Starlight Express SXV-H9 camera from the command line with thye help of indi-sx. Now it seems there is a problem when I try to start indiserver:

2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: -> ISGetProperties((null))
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: -> sxList(...)
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: 'SXVR-H9' [0x1278, 0x100] found...
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: <- sxList 1
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: -> SXCCD::SXCCD
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: SX CCD SXVR-H9 instance created
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: <- SXCCD::SXCCD
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: -> SXCCD::ISGetProperties(SX CCD SXVR-H9)
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: -> SXCCD::initProperties()
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: stderr EOF
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: restart #112
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: pid=4350 rfd=0 wfd=6 efd=7
2013-03-27T11:31:05: Driver indi_sx_ccd: sending <getProperties version='1.7'/>

A block of lines like this is repeated over and over again - the numbers for the PID and the restart change, that is all. This did not happen before.

Any ideas what I should look out for? I have upgradded and updated Ubuntu since I had stuff working ...

Cheers,

Peter T.

It seems, that driver is crashing for some reason. Usual reason is, that USB device is readonly because of missing 99-sx.rules in /etc/udev/rules.d. Peter

Thanks for the suggestion! I look in my xxx file and I find many lines like this:

SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1278", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0100", MODE="0666"
SUBSYSTEMS=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="1278", ATTRS{idProduct}=="0119", MODE="0666"

The SXV-H9 has product id 0100 or 0119 (depending on age) so I think I am covered.

When I start indiserver I get the reported repetition of the same block of lines with only the restart # and 'pid' incrementing - I am not familiar with this output from indi_sx_ccd: is the 'pid' the product id'? So are we seeing the indi_sx_ccd not 'seeing' the pid of the device, although it is mentioned in the 99 rules file?

Peter T

No, PID is probably process ID of crashed driver...

1. Can you try another USB port?
2. Can you try it under Windows?
3. If you are able to build driver from source, can you try to make test executable and run it?

Regards, Peter

Hi,

1) I have the same problem from any USB port on this computer. On a different machine (Raspberry Pi, using 'wheezy') the problem is different - I won't go into that.
2) I can confirm that the camera works under Windows - but using PHD Guide and, I believe, ASCOM.
3) I will try to compile indiserver from source. I believe indi-sx is part of that?

PT

Hi, yes, indi-sx part is enough... And you can build it from source on Raspberry PI as well. I tried it Peter