Hi Henry,

Here is a final update that will hopefully get you on the right track.
This is the work flow that I would suggest for you. First go into the /.indi folder and delete the Astrophysics Experimental_congig.xml file. This allows a fresh initialisation of the mount (COLD).
Ensure that "KStars updates the mount" box is ticked.
Keep your mount unpowered for this first stage. This is very important (I forgot to say this last time - sorry). It should be connected via usb as usual though.
Start up KStars, start the ekos profile that you have created with your mount included.
Navigate to the indi mount gui tab and you will see various messages as it tries to connect. Wait until this search stops and the tell tale light next to the connect buttons goes red. This means it has stopped trying to connect.
You should now just see the connection boxes and the cold/warm buttons only in the mount gui.
Power up your mount and press the connect button.
The full mount gui will come up.
Set your "park from" and "park to" mount positions then go to the options tab and save config.
Now back to the main mount gui and press "cold"
You should see the button activate and you should now be able to see the "unpark/park" buttons become active.
Go to the ekos mount gui (or the indi gui) and select "unpark". You should now see the mount icon in the correct position on the planetarium
Now you are unparked you should go to the "Site Management" tab in the indi mount gui and you should see that there is a red light next to the parking position config. Click "write data" and this will turn green indicating this is now saved.
Now do a test slew to check it is all working.
Now click "Park" on the ekos mount gui and the mount will slew back to your chosen parking position.
You can unpark now and slew as per normal.
If you now disconnect and exit indi/ekos and KStars you should now only need to do a warm start as your parking data should be saved.

So to check this lets do a warm start.
Remember to always start with the mount unpowered.
Start Kstars and then your profile.
As before wait for the attempt at connection to finish (red light next to connection)
Then power up the mount and press connect.
Check that the "park from and to" info is correct (you will usually still have to set the "park to" information)
At this point I always save the config in the options tab. You should not need to do anything in the site management with a warm start.
Click "warm" and the park/unpark will become active.
Unpark and check that the mount icon is in the correct place.
You can use the mount normally now. If you look at the site management tab it should show the parking data with a green light (if not press "write data" and it will go green (this should not be necessary though in a warm start).

Good luck

Mike

Hi Mike,

Thanks for the instructions.

When following your procedure I still run into problems that block me from using the driver.

All goes well until the step where I need to write the park information.
There is no red light next to the part position field and when I try to write the park data, I get an error message that I cannot write parking information while slewing or parking. I also, after a cold start and unparking, seem to be able to park again.

I attach the log file.
Hope somebody can help.

Best regards,

Marcel 

 

Removed: message was copy of previous one.
Struggling a bit with using the forum.

M

Hi Marcel,

The log file did not attach. As there are many steps to getting the procedure working right could you write down your step by step process. It was not clear whether the issues with being unable to write park data relate to a cold or a warm start. Which version KStars are you using?
Unfortunately I am not able to test this currently, although we did use the AP driver in the field recently (last weekend) (latest stable KStars version 3.5.3) and everything seemed to work OK.
If you can attach the log and itemise your work flow hopefully we can help.

Clear skies,

Mike

Hi Mike,

I attached the log file to my original message.

I also found out that I am using an old firmware version on my AP1200 GTOCP3 board: version L.
So maybe (probably?) that is the problem. I will upgrade the ROM Chip to version V2 and test again.

Clear Skies!

Marcel

Hi Marcel,

Apologies for missing the attachment. Not sure how I missed it.
I will have a look through the log tomorrow. Our mount is a GTO1100 and uses the GTOCP4 controller. I know that the controller version can have a bearing on how the experimental driver interacts however from memory I think that the CP3 should work OK. Definitely worth updating to latest firmware etc.
My experience is only with the GTOCP4 and all the detailed instructions relate to the interaction of the experimental driver with the GTOCP4 controller. Hopefully someone on line running the GTOCP3 will be able to advise if I can't find anything obvious in your log.
I will check the log tomorrow.

Regards

Mike

I took a quick look and apparently the driver does not support custom parking positions, so I removed this functionality altogether now in GIT. Please try the next nightly release to see if it behaves any better.

Hi Marcel,
Since I wrote the instructions several weeks ago we have found that using warm start does not always work consistently so our work flow is to always do a cold start. So just ensure that you have a "park from" position set that reflects the set up position of the mount before you unpark (as Jasem says custom positions are not advised - I always use park 3 but have tested all positions 1-4 and they all work. Once you are up and running set your "park to" and write the data and save configs.
If you ever get a KStars crash I would always start from scratch, depower the mount and do a cold start as per the instructions. Often after a crash and a simple disconnect/reconnect the mount seems to lose it's position although this may not be apparent on the planetarium and this risks a pier collision. I suppose what I am saying is, until you are really clear and comfortable how the driver works in your set up, do not use it unattended, especially during meridian flips etc. This is still an experimental driver and the warnings are there for a reason. Having said that we have found it works well with the caveats above. Wildi did heaps of work on the driver several months ago and for users in the Southern Hemisphere these changes sorted out the parking behaviour that made the driver unusable for us in Australia. Many thanks to him for the work he did!

I could not find anything obvious in the log but at least the mount is being recognised and does connect OK. If it helps, I spent many weeks testing the driver indoors until I had established a consistent workflow. So don't give up.
If your updates do not help, just keep the information coming on the forum and someone using your controller should be able to assist. The more detail the better as everyone's set up is different.

Mike

Installed the nightly and get a much improved initial setup. No longer losing the Park To attribute each time, the write fields appear to have been removed from the Site Management tab. Assume the save under the Options tab is serving all the needs but did not need to use it each startup. Started up a few times and just needed to use the cold start button to get the Parked status.

Hi Tom,

Now that sounds interesting. I have not done a nightly build recently as I had a working set up but it sounds worth a look and do some testing.

The weather looks set in for clouds and rain here in Brisbane for the next few days so plenty of opportunities for some indoor testing.

Mike

Hi Marcel,

I tested out the revised driver with our set up (AP GTO1100) and it worked flawlessly. Jasem's changes that are available in the current nightly build, mean that you only do a cold start and the site management tab not longer needs any input. Just save your config (in the options tab) after putting your "park from" and "park to" positions. I would specify these rather than use "last parked" as I am not sure this works as consistently and using the "Position 1, 2, 3 or 4" etc.

You need to update your Pi with the nightly build in order to take advantage of the enhanced functionality.

I am writing another workflow and will send you a copy when its done.

Mike

Ready to test....

Rookie question: how do I install nightly build on my pi4?
And how do I check that I have the right version of the driver before I start testing?

Marcel