Dear all,

I just tried to install Indi on an Ubuntu 16.04.6 LTS system and ran into problems. After adding the repositories using

I tried to install Indi as described in the download instructions. However, executing

yields the error message:

It seems that there might be a dependency problem with
Since I'm not sure whether the problem lies on my side or not, I would kindly like to ask the community, whether somebody experiences similar problems.

Thanks for your support, and best regards
Georg

Several people have had this problem recently. Is there any reason to stick with 16.04? The latest stable Ubunut version is 18.04 and there KStars can be installed OK.


Wouter

I have also experienced this problem. Can't remember how I got it working, maybe it was switching to the nightly that did the trick?

I stick with 16.04 until I can switch to a stable Ubuntu or stellarmate on raspberry pi 4. Don't want to spend my time reinstalling everything too often...

I had the same problem on Ubuntu 18.04, Wouter had it on 19. So it is unlikely that this is caused by Ubuntu being release 16.

Søren, it would suggest getting a 120GB SSD for $ 20 and installing the latest Ubuntu version on that, then installing Kstars and Indi from scratch. Once an installation is working, I create an image of it I can always go back to if things fall apart in the future. That has saved me numerous times. And conventional hard drives to store an SSD or SD card image on are quite cheap these days. Creating an image can be done during the day after a successful observation night and takes less than 2 hours for 120 GB. Likewise restoring the image. All in all, that saves you a lot of sorrow when the installation gets messed up once in a while and I can't find my way back anymore.

I am not so sure Jo. KStars and INDI are built for various versions of Ubuntu and those builds are independent of each other. It is therefore possible that the maintainers do not pay that much attention to such an old Ubuntu version. Like I wrote (and, yes, I checked) this doesn't happen with KStars and INDI stable on Ubuntu 18.04


Wouter

Thanks for the suggestion, I never considered a SSD but it sounds like it is good advice on the pi4.
I actually tried the official Ubuntu (sometime in December), but could not get the desktop running over vnc. Have you succeeded in that? Which vnc and desktop do you use?

VNC is totally unproblematic with Ubuntu.

$ apt-get install x11vnc

$ x11vnc -storepasswd

$ x11vnc -usepw -shared

Add the last command to your startup items so VNC starts when the Pi boots up.

Let me know if this works or if there is a hang up with your setup. For me these steps work with all my Linux installations. In some cases, I had to also install openssh to tunnel in, but Ubuntu MATE should have that one already included.

Yes, totally unproblematic except when the graphical system crash during startup vnc did actually work, but there was nothing on the screen except a mouse pointer....

I did not know mate was out for the pi4, will check it out soon. Thanks!

It helps to first connect the RPi to an external monitor or TV using an HDMI cable to make sure that the X system and Desktop work well. Then enable x11vnc and connect with a remote computer. It is fun to see the mouse cursor move on the TV when you move it in the VNC client


Wouter

I did not need that with the rpi3, so I'm waiting until the distributions have been sufficiently debugged to try again. I have already spend to much of my life installing Linux and debugging distribution issues, especially in the late 90s

I can't find an official mate image for the pi4. Anyone got a link?

There is no "official" MATE image, but I can vouch that this method works. I have used it and I have been running MATE on my RPi4 since mid-September last year. That OS is extremely stable.

jamesachambers.com/raspberry-pi-4-ubuntu...-3-image-unofficial/

All you need to do is install the Ubuntu and MATE desktop environments when you have installed the server image.

$ sudo apt-get install ubuntu-desktop && sudo apt-get install mate-desktop-environment



As for your VNC not working, I take it you have modified the /boot/config.txt file so that the lines that say
#hdmi_force_hotplug=1
#hdmi_drive=2

are uncommented and that you have adjusted the values for the framebuffer in the same file to match your desired monitor output size (e.g. 1920x1080)?

This is what it should read (at least that's what works for me):

# have a properly sized image
disable_overscan=1

# uncomment if hdmi display is not detected and composite is being output
hdmi_force_hotplug=1

# for sound over HDMI
hdmi_drive=2

# uncomment to force a console size. By default it will be display's size minus
# overscan.
framebuffer_width=1920
framebuffer_height=1080

# Enable audio (loads snd_bcm2835)
dtparam=audio=on

# armstub8-gic stub for Pi4s with older firmware
armstub=armstub8-gic.bin
enable_gic=1

[pi4]
#dtoverlay=vc4-fkms-v3d
max_framebuffers=2
arm_64bit=1

[all]


Best of luck,

Jo

This is essentially what I did, but when vnc started the desktop it crashed. Tried every desktop available, except the mate package you list. All crashed during startup of the desktop. I will try with a fresh install of Ubuntu server and with the mate package. Thanks for the info!