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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Starting services and connecting - methods equivalent?

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Apologies if this has been dealt with elsewhere but, as a new Indi user, I am a little confused about some operations that may be 'old hat' to others..

As far as I can see, there are two separate operations in general: starting a service and connecting the kit to that service.
Then, I can see there are several ways to do each. Services could be started at the command line, or within some client app. In the kstars/Ekos environment it seems you can do this either from the device manager in kstars directly, or from Ekos. For connecting, you can do this (apparently) from the service control panel (that pops up after you start the service) or, in Ekos, from the 'connect' button in the top right. (I assume other clients may have similar connect buttons)
Assuming the above is right (but please do correct if I am labouring under any misapprehensions) it seemed to me that not all combinations are equal...

Thus, I almost gave up on Indi at first because it couldn't connect reliably to my mount. (AZ-EQ6 with EQMOD service). I had selected EQMOD in Ekos (with CCD simulator), started Indi in Ekos, and then tried to connect from within the EQMOD pop-up panel. This didn't work. Then I used the 'master connect' from within Ekos and - voila! all was well!

So is this behaviour to be expected? If so, what are the 'rules of engagement' for starting services and connecting? Is there some ordering assumed and the Ekos 'master' connect does this for you?

many thanks

Kevin
7 years 1 month ago #14560

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The Device Manager in KStars was developed long before Ekos was born, so do not use it unless you want to start/stop INDI manually. There are no differences between clicking "Master connect" and you going individually clicking connect in all devices. Master connect just go and click "connect" in INDI control panel for all the devices, so it's for convenience but there is no different action taken. Whatever prevented you from connecting to EQMod should be displayed in the INDI Control Panel, it has nothing to do with which button you use to connect.
7 years 1 month ago #14575

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I have now done an experiment on connectivity and the pattern appears to be as follows: if you start multiple services (in my case, EQmod, joystick, CCD simulator) and then connect only one (the mount under EQmod) then things go awry... If you connect them all (one at a time using service control panels, or with Ekos 'master') then all is OK.
Would you expect that?

cheers

kevin
7 years 1 month ago #14581

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Things go awry for what? There are all independent so order isn't important. EQMod should connect either way, if not then there is a problem.
7 years 1 month ago #14584

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They go 'awry' in the sense that, after starting a slew, it cannot be stopped (it sets off a ballistic motion) - and I have to physically turn off the mount.
7 years 1 month ago #14590

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This has nothing to do with how you connect to it. It's odd behavior, but the reason for it is something else. Only thing I can think of, is that Ekos loads configuration after connection, where if you manually connect it, settings are not loaded until you ask it to do so under options tab in the driver tab. Could this be it? Maybe attach your EQMOd configuration file here (find it under ~/.indi)
7 years 1 month ago #14592

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Find attached EQMOD file.. (I had to pretend its not xml to attach - just change extension back)
I should say that sometimes kstars crashes in this situation too... (connecting with 'master' in Ekos is fine)
7 years 1 month ago #14593
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Nothing there that would make EQMod goes "ballistic". I tested this with my EQMod and it worked fine. However, KStars actually crashed since Capture module was not initialized yet and there was a call to it that caused a crash, so I fixed that. But I only connected EQMod via the INDI Control Panel, and slewed, and it went fine, even without loading any config files.
7 years 1 month ago #14597

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It worked like this once for me too.. and the crashes are sporadic, but the main symptom for me is the ballistic motion.
It looks like services might call each other and, without a proper handshake, things get unpredictable.. The outcome might then vary from system to system? I notice the docs say to make sure at least one camera device is present (hence the CCD sim) - I presume this has something to do with it? Anyway, I have a method for getting it right... (Ekos 'master')
7 years 1 month ago #14612

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Most of these issues should be solved now in 2.7.5, and there is now "Auto Connect" option in the profile, so if you check it, it will auto connect all the devices once the server connection is established.
7 years 1 month ago #14616

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