Yes, it does make it faster if it can load all the index files. You are correct that a swap file would increase the memory available and would allow it to not crash during a solve with all the index files loaded. However, swap files are orders of magnitude slower to read and write to than RAM. I also would not recommend a swap file in the main SD card of a raspberry pi because it will wear out the card much faster. But you did say the swap file would be on an external drive, so that would be fine. BUT, one solution you maybe did not try is ZRAM. I have had great luck in running KStars and other software with ZRAM enabled. It slows down processing a little, but not nearly as much as SWAP files do and it effectively increases the available RAM without sacrificing the longevity of a flash drive..

thanks I will look into ZRAM.

Ron

Note that currently I have set SexySolver to check available memory and automatically turn off the inParallel option if there is not enough memory on the system to load all the desired index files. Currently, I think the command that I am using just gets the installed system memory, not any swap files. But it could be changed in the future. I don't want it crashing due to memory issues.

Great job!

Optimized images to analyze when embedding in Ekos (pixel size, file size for quick analysis, etc.)

Please consider it as well.

When solving with Ekos, I am currently setting Jpeg / downsample on the DSLR and binning / downsample on the astronomical camera to increase the image transfer rate. If you have a frame from live view and you have an astronomical camera, shooting in stream mode will be even faster. (I think ASIAirPRO improves processing in this style.)

Just to let you know that starting today Raspberry Pi with 8GB is available.
www.raspberrypi.org/blog/8gb-raspberry-pi-4-on-sale-now-at-75/

ZRAM is good option for create SWAP file. Using SD card for SWAP is slow and can kill your SD card much faster.

Han,
Is version 0.9.365 still the latest version for the Rpi? that is all I find on your site.

thanks,
Ron

How much RAM is needed to run the parallel option loading all the index files?

thanks,
Ron

Yes no later versions are released. An Rpi update will be released in a few days. I want to be sure that the versions released on Sourceforge are bug free. The new version will be more tolerant against elongates stars.

Han

Han,
thanks

Kaczorek,
and a Beta 64 bit OS.
thanks,
Ron

That depends on how many index files you have and how big they are. Right now, all that I am doing is running a command that checks how much memory is installed and determining how big the index files are. If the size of the index files is bigger than the total memory installed, it just turns off the inParallel option. This could be changed in the future, this was just a first attempt at addressing the problem. If we don't check that, I could see people leaving that option turned on not realizing that it could crash due to it running out of memory. In the future, this could check to see much memory is actually available, maybe it could check swap files, and maybe it could allow you to override it. But this is how I addressed it for now.

Testing ASTAP 0.9.369 was successful yesterday. It's released for Linux, RPi, Mac and Windows at Sourceforge. As said before the star detection is done differently so it will behave differently . It's also a little faster.

I haven't done a comparison/performance test with the source-extractor of the Sexysolver but will do that later.

Han

Han,
I downloaded it from SourceForge and ran sudo apt install astap_armhf.deb (in the Downloads directory) just as I have done before. But it keeps telling me "E: unable to locate package astap_armhg.deb" ?? But ls says it is there and the size looks right/

Ron