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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

CGEM II Wifi does not slew to target

  • Posts: 12
  • Thank you received: 1
Hello friendly people!
I hope someone can help me. I feel like this should just work... there's either something really simple blocking me, or a driver issue.

I have a Celestron CGEM-II mount, with the SkyPortal WiFi accessory.
For testing, I'm running on a MacBook running Kstars 3.5.8 (I also have a Raspberry Pi 4 running StellarMate OS; Kstars 3.5.8)
Using the CGEM II Wifi option for the telescope (indi_celestron_aux driver).

The mount is set in the home position (what would be facing Polaris if it were polar aligned).
I connect the WiFi to the Celestron SkyPortal, and set Ekos to use CGEM II Wifi for telescope, and simulators for the CCD and guide scope.
I make sure the scope is unparked, and select a target... any target.

The scope begins to slew to the target, but completes nowhere near the selected target.

The weird bits:
* Kstars shows that the scope is not at at the target. It's almost as if at some point it moves the opposite direction of the target.
* If I set the motion control to west, it acts as if it hits an artificial stop about 10 degrees off the home position of right ascension.
* If I set the motion control to east, it will complete the motion, but it is still very off from the target
* After it slews to the wrong location, if I park the scope it correctly returns to the home position

As seen in the attached video, the mount starts parked on Polaris, with Capella selected as the target.I unpack the scope and press the "Slew telescope to focused target" button.The scope tracks down and to the right of the target... and then the tracker jumps to the left side of the target.

Edit: Fixed spacing that had been clobbered.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq
Last edit: 1 year 10 months ago by Rob.
1 year 10 months ago #82910
Attachments:

    kstars.mp4

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AUX driver was made to work with equatorial mounts just two weeks ago. In StellarMate, you can either switch to the beta channel , or use command line to update all drivers to latest GIT by running these two commands:

update_indi_core
update_indi_drivers
The following user(s) said Thank You: Rob
1 year 10 months ago #82911

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  • Posts: 12
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Thanks for the quick reply!
I'm excited to try this new feature :)

I switched the StellarMate to beta, but saw no change.
So I ran the update_indi_core, which seemed to complete successfully.
However update_indi_drivers complains about not finding several LIBAV libraries...
Is this a bug in the script? Or, do I need to do something to setup the dev environment before running these?
1 year 10 months ago #82926
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Thanks, I will update the scripts accordingly. For now run this command first:

sudo apt-get -y 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 libftdi-dev libgps-dev libraw-dev libdc1394-22-dev libgphoto2-dev libboost-dev libboost-regex-dev librtlsdr-dev liblimesuite-dev libftdi1-dev libavcodec-dev libavdevice-dev

Then run update_indi_drivers
1 year 10 months ago #82929

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Thanks again!

It looks like there's still something out of sync with dependencies for libgphoto2...
The following packages have unmet dependencies:
 libgphoto2-dev : Depends: libgphoto2-6 (= 2.5.28-stable~202201181038) but 2.5.29-stable~202203161821 is to be installed
E: Unable to correct problems, you have held broken packages.
stellarmate@stellarmate:~ $ sudo apt policy libgphoto2-dev
libgphoto2-dev:
  Installed: (none)
  Candidate: 2.5.28-stable~202201181038
  Version table:
     2.5.28-stable~202201181038 500
        500 https://ppa.stellarmate.com/repos/apt/stable bullseye/main arm64 Packages
     2.5.27-1 500
        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main arm64 Packages
stellarmate@stellarmate:~ $ sudo apt policy libgphoto2-6
libgphoto2-6:
  Installed: 2.5.29-stable~202203161821
  Candidate: 2.5.29-stable~202203161821
  Version table:
 *** 2.5.29-stable~202203161821 500
        500 https://ppa.stellarmate.com/repos/apt/stable bullseye/main arm64 Packages
        100 /var/lib/dpkg/status
     2.5.27-1 500
        500 http://deb.debian.org/debian bullseye/main arm64 Packages
1 year 10 months ago #82940

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Good news everyone!

I was able to get past my error by removing libgphoto2-dev from the development installs list, and then manually pulling/building the latest libgphoto2 from sourceforge.

…then update_indi_drivers worked.
…then, slewing to a target with my CGEM-II Wi-Fi worked!
(At least, it worked in my living room according to KStars, and it looks like the mount might be pointing the right way).

It still hits the soft stop when rotating eastward… when I don’t have the hand controller plugged in.
1 year 10 months ago #82963

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Hi Rob,
Did you fix the problem with your CGEM II and Sky Portal? I have similar situation to the one you described. I can connect the mount through the Wifi , but the it goes far away from the object I select in Kstars. Coordinates and park position are correct, as I live in the southern hemisfere.
Regards
Fernando
Last edit: 7 months 1 week ago by Fernando .
7 months 1 week ago #94909

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Hello Fernando!

Short version:
No, I did not. I think Jasem was indirectly looking into a solution that would allow INDI to send the necessary calibration to the CGEM mount…


Longer version:

I don’t think I ever got past this in a sensible way. I think the trick is the mount needs an initial calibration sequence (quick calibration) that INDI wasn’t sending it.

I tried switching to a windows mini-pc setup, and was able to use CPWI to do the initial calibration before switching to N.I.N.A. for the imaging session. With that, I verified it is _possible_ to do the calibration through SkyPortal, but ultimately N.I.N.A. was too memory hungry for my mini-pc (and there were other quirks with windows 11).

At this point, having spent over a year fighting with different systems, I decided I wanted to enjoy my scope and my hobby instead of spending hours troubleshooting every time I try to setup. So… I bought an ASIAir and it just works… as long as I have the hand controller plugged into the USB.

I’d still like to eliminate the need for the hand controller, and there is something to be said for the flexibility and adaptability of INDI, so I’ll probably revisit it when I have more time. But, right now I’m enjoying getting pretty pictures without a lot of hassle.
2 months 4 weeks ago #97804

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Rob, thanks for your answer.
I opened a ticket to the Stellarmate support few months ago, and Jasem was able to fix the issue. He connected to my Raspberry PI and to my Celestron CGEM II via Teamviewer and he added fixed tthe code. Now, I control my mount via WIFi and it slews to any object I select in the sky map, so I can sync the mount correctly, and I do not use the hand control any more.
Nevertheless, there is still a detail to be solved, since the remaining time to meridian flip seems to be 12 hours out of phase.
Last edit: 2 months 4 weeks ago by Fernando .
2 months 4 weeks ago #97805

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That is mostly great news!
I may revisit my StellarMate sooner than later! …when I have time and clear skies ;-)
2 months 4 weeks ago #97806

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