Mike,

There is a lot to like about the internal guider, which has come a long way since I last attempted to use it, much like the rest of Ekos.

PHD2 drift alignment is the feature I missed most, but also the ability of taking and storing multiple darks etc.

Paul

Hi kross, Paul + Mike,

After changing the port to 4400 and saving, it returns to 0 !

This doesn't prevent the use of PHD2 but the error remains.

When you talk about "nightly build" , you mean that you downloaded the last code and compile it ?
I'm afraid I can't do that.

I find also the new Internal Guider improvements very impressive and so easy to use. Thanks again !!!

The reason I wanted still to use PHD2 is because the GPG RA Guider asks for the Major Period . How do I get it ?

My idea was to use PHD2 : Brain / Algorithms / Predictive PEC : is Period Length (PHD2)= Major Period (EKOS) ?

Finally, I would suggest an improvement about GPG RA Guider.

This is a long dialog which needs to be scrolled . But scrolling with two fingers on a trackpad might change the fields values without notification.

This is really annoying and I suggest to inhibit that field property.

Hi JCJ,

If you are using a Pi with Ubuntu just put this in the terminal window and it will download and update your version to the latest nightly build.
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mutlaqja/indinightly
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install indi-full kstars-bleeding gsc
If you want to return to a stable version the instructions are here including the instrctions for other versions of linux
indilib.org/get-indi/download-ubuntu.html

Mike

Hey Paul,

Yep I like the drift align feature too. But usually I am time poor when imaging from my backyard so I polar align with SharpCap and a DIY "polemaster" . This takes literally less than 5 minutes and gives me 0.6 arc sec/px guiding which for my mount is as good as I ever get.
I will use drift aligning if I am imaging for a few days as it is worth the time invested and is pretty satisfying to get it spot on.
I was just amazed how much better the internal guider was, mind you the last time I attempted to use it was over 2 yrs ago. As you say EKOS refinements have really made KStars really easy to use.
It does need a feature that controls the weather though!
Mike

Agree with Paul (phomer60) on drift align and dark library. There are just some instances where a drift align is highly desired. I would like to use the internal guider, but absence of drift align is an issue for me. I guess I could start with PHD2, drift align, then disconnect and switch profile to use the internal guider, but that's a pain I could avoid if Ekos included a drift align feature. I will try this dual/split config during next dark time.

@jcj: re: "The reason I wanted still to use PHD2 is because the GPG RA Guider asks for the Major Period . How do I get it ?"
Open the PHD2 Log Viewer, select a guide interval, right click in the graph and select "analyze selected raw RA". In next pop-up window, select frequency analysis button (top left). The period will be obvious. Use the mouse to mouse-over at the exact location of the major period, and see the value in the bottom left of the GUI.

Yes, they are the same. You can copy the value from PHD2. However, Ekos will round it to the nearest whole number. That's fine.

Hi Mike,
Thanks but I'm running macOS.

Jean-Claude,

As Kevin has indicated, GPG RA Guiding and PHD2's Predictive PEC are the same thing pretty much. Like PHD2, you don't have to enter a period for Ekos, you can check "Estimate Period" in the settings and it will do its best to estimate it. The difference might be the initial estimates, but if you set it 200, then you'll have PHD2's default starting point. After you run for quite a while and it seems settled (e.g. after 15-20 minutes), re-open that Options page and take a look at the estimated period, At that point it's probably pretty close to your actual period, and you can just uncheck estimate period from them on.

The reason I wrote that it's best to predetermine your period is just that it will probably make your first 15 minutes of guiding quite a bit better, probably no big deal the first time you do it, but you wouldn't want to repeat that every time you start guiding.

If your mount is on this page: github.com/OpenPHDGuiding/phd2/wiki/Mount-Worm-Period-Info then the nice folks at PHD2 have already figured it out for you.

Sorry about the scrolling thing you mentioned. You don't really want to mess with any of the "advanced options" on the bottom of that page anyway. In fact, I believe if you resize that Options pop-up page, the system will remember its size, and there will be no need to scroll down anymore.

Sorry for the confusion,
Hy

dmsummers, I tried this procedure but I couldn't make it work

I probably made a mistake (see the attached guide log)

However using INDI Server + PHD2 with Predictive PEC / Period Length = 200 + "Auto-adjust Period", the period value settled to 1441,54 sec after a guiding of 2h 30mn.

My mount is a Celestron CGE Pro

@JCJ: Venturing an educated guess, but I think there's no way you have a 1441 second PE. That result should be viewed as suspicious (either as a software bug or algorithm problem). When I opened your log in the LogViewer and analyzed the long 2.5 hour guide period, I see a 390 second PE with a magnitude of 1.5 arcsecs. Not sure if you've already run a PPEC run on your mount or not, but if not, I'd suggest it. Beyond the 390 second period, you have some minor increased error (> 0.5 arcsecs) between 100 secs and 390; probably nothing to worry about unless you want peak performance. If this is a raw mount output (no PPEC run done), it's pretty nice! My CGX-L raw values are MUCH higher (order of magnitude)! Cheers, Doug

As Doug points out, your estimate of 1441s is probably 4 periods, or something like that.
See, for instance, graph 1 in www.firstlightoptics.com/celestron-mount...lestron-cge-pro.html
You might want to start out PPEC or GPG-RA guiding at either the ~390s Doug got, or ~350s like those graphs show,
and let it estimate the period, starting there. See if you wind up with something in the 350-400 range, and if so, uncheck the estimate box and keep that.

I'm curious about your guiding, though. You seem to have really good guiding, interrupted by large spikes of error in RA. E.g.




Do you know what might be causing them? Were the conditions bad? Were you focusing very regularly? ...

Hy

Doug, I'm afraid I messed the mount mechanically.

Last night I did again a PEC recording and got also fancy curves and period.

I'll get in touch with the repair people.

Thanks,