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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Celestron Motorised Focuser - Is it supported in EKOS yet

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@Chris celestron_gps now shows correct focuser values. Can you copy the missing elements also to _gps like calibation or presets?
Current gear:
- AVX
- E8HD + ASI294MC
- Celestron 150x30 + ASI224 for guiding
- Celestron Focuser for harp stars

SW:
- Linux NUC + Ubuntu + INDI nightly on the server
- Linux Ubuntu + KSTARS nightly on the client (via CAT5 wire)
5 years 2 weeks ago #36217

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Hi Chris,
Thanks. Ok, just so I understand the process, to install from source, is the following correct?

From the 'MATE Terminal' in Stellarmate, I need to run this:

sudo apt-get install libnova-dev libcfitsio-dev libusb-1.0-0-dev zlib1g-dev libgsl-dev build-essential cmake git libjpeg-dev libcurl4-gnutls-dev libtiff-dev libfftw3-dev

git clone github.com/indilib/indi.git
cd indi

## Build
mkdir -p build/libindi
cd build/libindi
cmake -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX=/usr -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug ../../libindi
make
sudo make install

*************
Is that correct?
Or some how I can get only the focus drivers from indi/libindi/drivers/focuser/ . ?
5 years 2 weeks ago #36230

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Glen, if you update StellarMate now, you should get all the latest drivers. However, if you want to keep testing the development build, you should probably learn how to build it from source.

What you posted above is correct, but this is only for first time. Next time you go to ~/Projects/indi and just run git pull to pull all the updates. Then go to libindi (cd ~/Projects/build/libindi and run sudo make install and you're set.
5 years 2 weeks ago #36232

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I don't intend to add calibration or presets to the telescope driver. It's already complex enough.
5 years 2 weeks ago #36238

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Chris - what recommended way to copy and paste from mac to SM Mate terminal ( in order to do the build)? (I'm using VNC thru browser.)
5 years 2 weeks ago #36262

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Glen, If you aren't a developer I suggest not building from sources because when it goes wrong you will rapidy get out of your depth.

I would suggest switching to the beta builds, instructions for doing that are here
stellarmate.com/support.html?view=kb&kbartid=5

The message "The system should not be upgraded to the latest nightly beta packages." probably means "The system should now be upgraded...".

After that the normal GUI update process should work but using the beta builds.

They seems to be rebuilt every night (whenever that is) so by now the new vrsion should be in the beta.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Glen
5 years 2 weeks ago #36265

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Chris, Jasem,
Yeh - it seems to be working !! Great - thanks. For unrelated reasons, I had to do a factory reset on SM last night. So I ran the updater last night after the reset, and now focuser seems to be working. At least Min=0 and Max=60, and I can move focuser inward and outward. Great !!

Still there is some points of confusion, ie why Celestron Utility claims my Min~2000 and Max ~ 37000, and how they relates to SM values of 0 and 60000. Maybe Celestron original values are in some raw units, and the 0-60000 units SM reports are renormalized units ? Later I can test if stellarmate can really reach beyond 37000.

Other item I couldn't figure - how do you copy and paste to MATE terminal (from Mac)? I tried various command/control/shift C/V combos, and none worked. Do you run SSH?
5 years 2 weeks ago #36326

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Glen, can you please enable driver debugging, run this and post the log file. Your system should be reading the limits from the focuser and getting the same values as the Celestron Utility. I'd like to see what is really happening.
In fact there should be something in the info window, a message like "Focus range |high| to |low| invalid, range not updated". This gives the values read from the focuser, that would be a start.
5 years 2 weeks ago #36328

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Hi
I don't have a focuser attatched to my cgem dx mount aux port ( i have the starsense accessory attached)- I have a starizona focuser but that's attached via usb ;) but the focuser tab still show up under the mount tab anyway, and the indi tries to talk to my mount about the celextron focuser and generates errors.. Maybe something more is required to understand what may be attached to the aux port so tha focuser tab does not show up when there is no focuser there... Or what could i be doing wrong
4 years 11 months ago #37299

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Hi, it me again, i did some check, switched on logging.. and it shows clearly in the loggs that what you think is a focuser is the starsense acessory...
I think its necessary to do a litte bit more checking to assure that whats connected in the aux port i actually a focuser ;)
Also, the driver says my mont in not aligend an get wierd time and utc offset, but i confidently checked that time (gps-updated) and utc offset were correct and i made a quick align in the handset before connecting indi. Still there is some error som were..

Here is a log sample related to the focuser isse:
[2019-04-03T14:54:42.550 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron NexStar : "[DEBUG] CMD <50 01 11 FE 00 00 00 02> "
[2019-04-03T14:54:42.551 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron NexStar : "[DEBUG] RES <06 33 23> "
[2019-04-03T14:54:42.551 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron NexStar : "[DEBUG] Getting focuser version... "
[2019-04-03T14:54:42.552 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron NexStar : "[DEBUG] Does focuser exist... "
[2019-04-03T14:54:42.552 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron NexStar : "[DEBUG] CMD <50 01 12 FE 00 00 00 04> "
[2019-04-03T14:54:44.917 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron NexStar : "[DEBUG] RES <06 33 FE 00 21> "
[2019-04-03T14:54:44.920 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron NexStar : "[DEBUG] Focuser Version 6.51.65024, exists true "
[2019-04-03T14:54:44.923 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Celestron NexStar : "[DEBUG] Firmware Info HC Ver 1.19 model CGEM DX StarSense GEM mount, HW Ver 6.51 "
[2019-04-03T14:54:44.925 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - < Celestron NexStar >: < ON_COORD_SET >
[2019-04-03T14:54:44.974 CEST DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - < Celestron NexStar >: < EQUATORIAL_EOD_COORD >

So I guess the code assumes any attached device that show a version number is a focuser. as you can se in the firmware info string, it says "Starsense", is it possible to get a similar firware info string related to the focuser and use that to do a string search for the work "focuser" (or?) to ensure is the focuser devise and not the "Starsense"... :)
I guess you sending commands for the focuser might result in other errors/strange behaviour in the hand controller since there is no focuser there...

What can i do?
4 years 11 months ago #37305

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I think it may be worth upgrading to the current code.

What is happening is that the driver sends the command 0xFE to the focuser, device id 0x12, to read it's version and if it gets a valid response there's a focuser present.
And it does get a response so it looks as if there is a focuser present, but the log fragment doesn't look correct to me.

I tried this with my AVX and a starsense HC and StarSense and get a different response, one that doesn't detect a focuser:
DEBUG 33.668979 sec : Getting controller version...
DEBUG 33.669020 sec : CMD <V>
DEBUG 33.675452 sec : RES <01 13 23>
INFO 33.675581 sec : Controller version: 1.19
DEBUG 33.675636 sec : Getting controller variant...
DEBUG 33.675671 sec : Getting RA firmware version...
DEBUG 33.675715 sec : CMD <50 01 10 FE 00 00 00 02>
DEBUG 33.722514 sec : RES <07 0F 23>
DEBUG 33.722639 sec : Getting DEC firmware version...
DEBUG 33.722684 sec : CMD <50 01 11 FE 00 00 00 02>
DEBUG 33.762511 sec : RES <07 0F 23>
DEBUG 33.762619 sec : Getting focuser version...
DEBUG 33.762654 sec : Does focuser exist...
DEBUG 33.762692 sec : CMD <50 01 12 FE 00 00 00 04>
DEBUG 36.279123 sec : Received 6 bytes, expected 5 <07 0F 20 4E 21 23>
DEBUG 36.279324 sec : No focuser found
DEBUG 36.279367 sec : Firmware Info HC Ver 1.19 model Unknown NexStar Fork mount, HW Ver 7.15

This is still not perfect because I'm not detecting the starsense type HC but does seem to solve the problem that the focuser is seen.
4 years 11 months ago #37324

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Things look a bit of a mess with a StarSense HC, it isn't just the focuser, the alignment is lost when the time or location is updated which the driver does as part of ther startup process.

Cancelling the alignment if the scope location or time is changed is a feature of the SS HC, it's reasonable because changing the time or location will change the local sidereal time and for an AltAz mount everything. What seems to happen is that you connect to an aligned and tracking mount and it's no longer aligned or tracking.

The trouble is that setting the location and time seems to be baked into what INDI does at startup and I'm not sure how much I can disable of that. Are there things that depend on these being updated?

I need to spend a bit more time going through this.
4 years 11 months ago #37329

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