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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Building a portable guiding solutions

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I want to build a protable guiding solution for my astro equipment. Right now I own a Meade LX-90 telescope and a 500/80 refractor and I would like to use a Philips SPC900 as guiding camera. Furthermore, I would like to have the guiding application running on an ARM-board, like the Rasperry Pi or the Beagleboard Black. the ultimate solution would be to control the guiding solution by an Android tablet. Overall this could be a very portable solution, which should be setup easily.

Before porting the guidng solution to an ARM board I started to have it running on a PC-notebook, where I installed an Ubuntu 10.04 and an Ubuntu 12.04 operating system. Both OS were installed from scratch and update to the current available SW-version.
Then I installed KSTARS and the INDI-library, which I would like to use in my final solution. I also tested lin_guider, but the SPC900 does not work with Ubuntu 12.04.

I connected the SPC900 to the notebook directly via an USB-port and the LX-90 is connected by an USB-serial-converter. So the hardware setup did not change during my experiments.

Here are my results:

Tests with Ubuntu 10.04 (based on LINUX 2.6.x kernel):
- The video stream of the SPC900 can be displayed correctly, but when a would like to shoot a picture in the INDI-control panel it is not correct. It seems to me, that approximately the upper third of the picture is correct, but the rest of it is just noise.
- The control of the LX-90 works correctly.after the device is connected to the service.

Tests with Ubuntu 12.04 (based on LINUX 3.x kernel)
- During my first tests the video stream of the SPC900 did not work. Thanks to the support of the INDI-team I got an update via PPA and now the video stream of the SPC900 works correctly. Also pictures are correct.
- But the control of the LX-90 does not work. I can start the service in KSTARS but I am not able to connect to the telescope even though the hardware setup was not changed compared to the tests with Ubuntu 10.04. The serial connection is /dev/ttyUSB0 and I have all permission to read and write to that port. The port in the INDI control panel is set to /dev/ttyUSB0 but the connection can not be established. Is there any way to find out what's the reason?

Test with Raspberry Pi using Raspian-OS (based on LINUX 3.x)
- The webcam is connected to the Rasperry PI via a powered USB-hub and I am able to start the service V4L2 of the CCD-device. I am able top connect to the webcam in the INDI control panel. But the video stream does not work. In order to avoid performance problems I set the resolution to 160x120 at a frame rate of 1/5s. The reactions of the INDI control panel are very slowly and after I stopped the service, I am not able to reconnect the device after a restart.
- The LX-90 mount can be connected and controlled.

So at the end I did not find an overall correctly working solution. My prefered evalution would be to have the guiding-SW running on the PC with Ubuntu 12.04 (as a reference system) and then install this solution on an ARM-based device.

Does anyone have ideas, if there is anything wrong to my setup. All SW-components should be upgraded to the newest version.
Any ideas, which can help to solve my problems, would be appreciated.
9 years 11 months ago #967

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Update:
The telescope can be controlled in Ubuntu 12.04, I just forget the user permission. Thanks to the support team for the hint!

The only major open item is, if the SPC900 is working on the Raspberry Pi. I just rebuild the INDILIB according to the tutorial,
but no changes could be observed.

Question to the INDILIB support team:
When I download the INDILIB for the Raspberry Pi, do I get the same version, which I get when I update under Ubuntu 12.04 via PPA?
9 years 11 months ago #975

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No, the Raspberry PI INDI Library is not built on daily basis likely the PPA, but is built when there are either minor or major release of the library. Can you use the SPC900 under RPi using any other application?
9 years 11 months ago #978

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Thank you for the information!
When I starting working with the indilib, I could not receive the video signal of the SPC900 with KSTARS running under Ubuntu 12.04. After updating the indilib from PPA, it works fine with Ubuntu 12.04. Meanwhiles, I loaded indilib from the svn-repository svn://svn.code.sf.net/p/indi/code/trunk/ and compiled it on the Raspberry according to another topic in the forum, but it does not work either. I asssume that the latest code is available in the svn-repository

It could well be, that the problems are caused by the pwc Driver. Probably it is better idea to switch to another webcam, like the ALCCD5-II.
9 years 11 months ago #979

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