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Problem with persistent USB link in Stellarmate...(I think)

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Hi everyone,
I'm new on the forum and really need some advice.
I 'm not sure exactly where my issue lies so please be kind if it's not an issue with INDI.

To summarize, I am unable to persuade my Stellarmate OS unit to RE-connect to my mount after a restart.

My setup is as follows...
Stellarmate 1.3.5 clean install on a RPi3+
USB to serial connection to my NEQ6
At the moment I also have a guiding webcam and a USB GPS dongle (ublox-7)

Setup runs well and when I ID the serial devices using the StellarMate Serial Port Assistant everthing is recognised and connects fine.
At this stage I can connect and control the mount which is great, however when I restart my setup,
the INDI Control Panel, launched through Kstars and EKOS reports "Port /dev/mount is already used by another driver or process"

This is driving me a bit nuts. Wondering if anyone could make any suggestions?

Thanks, Chris
4 years 10 months ago #39196

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Hi Chris,

Welcome to the forum. Quick question. How do you connect the mount to the StellarMate? Using a serial to USB converter via the hand controller or without the hand controller using an EQMod cable?


Thanks, Wouter
4 years 10 months ago #39197

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You beat me to it, I was confused by that too...
Maybe when it’s all up and running use the serial port assistant to set the ports, so it uses the same one each time, it sounds like it’s no and conflicting with another device...also if you are using a proper EQMOD cable, is it one with an FTDI chipset (preferred) or the Prolific chipset ( not preferred :) )
4 years 10 months ago #39199

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Hi Chris,
if you are running linux, you can plug your device in and get the vendor and product codes with lsusb.
Use that information to create a udev ruleset as described here:
hintshop.ludvig.co.nz/show/persistent-names-usb-serial-devices/
You can use a more descriptive port name instead of ttyUSB*
I used the same instructions to connect my HEQ5 via eqmod usb cable and ASI ccd camera via usb 2.

HTH,
Dean
4 years 10 months ago #39201

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Thanks Astronerd.
Everything works great immediately after I use Serial Port Assistant, until I restart the RPi, then I'm unable to connect. However, if I pull out all the devices, delete all the Serial Port Assistant entries and reallocate then I working again until the next restart.

I'm using a EQmod cable directly to the mount, rather than via the handset. Not sure if it's FTDI or Prolific, or how to tell the difference.

lsusb returns the following

Bus 001 Device 004: ID 10c4:ea60 Cygnal Integrated Products, Inc. CP210x UART Bridge / myAVR mySmartUSB light
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 1546:01a7 U-Blox AG
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 0471:0329 Philips (or NXP) SPC 900NC PC Camera / ORITE CCD Webcam(PC370R)
Bus 001 Device 007: ID 0424:7800 Standard Microsystems Corp.
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:2514 Standard Microsystems Corp. USB 2.0 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

The first entry is the USB-serial adapter connected to the mount.

Thanks, Chris
4 years 10 months ago #39232

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Don’t recognise that EQMOD cable..
So have to set permanent COM ports for your devices so the same ones are used every time, as it sounds like that is the issue, also try with just one device connected at a time, and restart and if it works try another until you hit the problem on re start, GPS dongles can be troublesome.. :)
4 years 10 months ago #39236

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Hi Chris,

if you are still having port issues, here is one way to do persistent naming.
I havent tried this on an rpi (mine just arrived in the mail yesterday),
but tried it on two different laptops running ubuntu OS. Note that when lsusb lists connected
devices the ID portion shows productId:vendorId in that order in the form XXXX:YYYY.

*open a terminal on your rpi, change to root user, cd to the udev rules folder, list existing rules
sudo su
cd /etc/udev/rules.d
ls -l

*create a new rules file (eg., 95-cygeqmod.rules) and enter the following line. This should assign your eqmod cable
to be recognized as port /dev/ttyUSB.CYG (CYG for Cygnus, but you can call it anything as long
as it is unique). Based on your lsusb posting:

ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", SYMLINK+="ttyUSB.CYG"

*save the file, unplug your cable, plug it into any usb port and list with lsusb to ensure
the symbolic link works. Try plugging into a different usb port and list. Start up kstars and see
if it recognizes the device. I had the same issue with a conflict between my ASI camera and my eqmod cable:
once unique port names were persistently assigned under udev rules, no more issues. You may notice that
in the rules.d directory, there are other rules placed there by your install of indi/kstars.

further overview of how udev rules works:
linuxconfig.org/tutorial-on-how-to-write...-udev-rules-in-linux

- Dean
4 years 10 months ago #39238

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Thanks Dean,

I have created a udev rule as you suggest. Trying to connect generates a different error.

Trying to connect from Kstars generates the following...

2019-05-18T15:47:31: [ERROR] Failed to connect to port (/dev/NEQ6). Error: Port failure Error: Inappropriate ioctl for device. Check if device is connected to this port.

After a restart, if I enter ls -l /dev/NEQ6 in the terminal I get
lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 15 May 18 16:38 /dev/NEQ6 -> bus/usb/001/008

Any more ideas. This is driving me nuts.

Chris
4 years 10 months ago #39254

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There was an issue in the port mapping quite a while ago, are you on StellarMateOS v1.3.5?

At any rate, if you can wait. SM OS v1.4.0 will be released tomorrow or Monday.
4 years 10 months ago #39258

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Thanks Jasem,

I'm am using 1.3.5 but I'll wait until 1.4.0 no problem.
It's forecast cloudy the next couple days so no problem.

Chris
4 years 10 months ago #39260

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can you change your rules file to include
MODE="0666", KERNEL=="ttyUSB*"

you can put it between commas just before the SYMLINK+=

-Dean
Last edit: 4 years 10 months ago by Dean.
4 years 10 months ago #39263

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Thanks for your suggestions Dean,

This is what I have at the moment...

#EQmod
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="10c4", ATTRS{idProduct}=="ea60", KERNEL="ttyUSB", MODE="0666", SYMLINK+="NEQ6"

Have I made any errors??

Chris
4 years 10 months ago #39299

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