Hi Alan (and colleagues),
Some promising news:
I thought I would start from scratch and approach setting up Stellarmate on my home network.
I burned a new fresh image on the SD card and fired up. Hooked it up to my 4K TV (nearest available HDMI slot I had free!). I had the usual nonsense where the Hotspot wasn't being displayed. Keyboard/mouse attached to the Stellarmate I edited the connection setting for Stellarmate from Auto to 5Ghz (Channel 44 - I'm in the UK). I was then able to view Stellarmate on my tablet. From there I followed the instructions to kill the hotspot and connect the Stellarmate to my home network. I went for 5Ghz. Anyway... it works.
I downloaded Real VNC as recommended, but for some reason I must have set it up wrong. Whatever I did I couldn't see the Stellarmate. I then opted to type in
stellarmate.local:6080/vnc.html in my web browser and logged on "smate" and it popped up. On another tab in my web browser I typed in
stellarmate.local/#/home and got the dashboard.
I opened the Kstar app (within VNC) and the eKos; told it how I wanted it to work (from within Stellarmate and all equipment attached to Stellarmate) and configured my drivers in the INDI app. I opted to make sure all my equipment was connected and working before hitting the "connect" option. To my surprise EVERYTHING connected and none of the nonsense messages popping up regarding USB port settings.
My connectivity is as follow:
SSAG and Pegasus connected into two free USB ports of my Hypercam 183C. Hypercam connected to USB 3.0 of Stellarmate. Lynx EQmod cable (from HEQ5-Pro) plugged into other USB 3.0 port on Stellarmate.
Firstly impressions, this clearly seems much better solution having the software within Stellarmate locally than via Client. It also seems better being connected on my Home Network via WiFi than via the Hotspot setup. The fact the connectivity is also set connected to my Router on 5Ghz (CH 44) seems no issue.
Now for the bad bits:
Pegasus DMFC: This still has a bug where I cannot
Set (Enable/Disable)
Backlash or
Reverse Motion. The latter does - sometimes. However, within Options it still does
not fully Save my
Configuration. It does Save certain aspects - like setting of Max Position. It does
not Load previously
Saved Configurations. On the
Connections tab:
Scan Ports does not automatically
Refresh. Only when I do this manually I am able to
Enable Reverse Motion.
I do not want to be having to do this all the time before I do imaging. This should Save as my Configuration and load automatically surely? Clearly a bug.
I need to have Reverse Motion enabled to work otherwise it all goes to rubbish.
Altair AA183CPROTEC: Similar issue to above: I can set but
not SAVE (in
Configurations) the temperature I want my camera to be cooled. Reverts to 0 degrees on restart. In
Controls; the
USB speed
sometimes SAVE when set to 2 instead of 3. On occasion it goes back to 3.
In operation I have noticed once the temperature is set (-10.00) it will drop accordingly but frequently come up with
[ERROR] get_Temperature error. Unspecified failure. As a result the temperature does not drop as required. Until I hit SET again. Oddly, the (-10.00) figure changes to (-9.80). Weird. I also get
[ERROR] Cannot change resolution while streaming/recording despite the fact I have stopped streaming or recording anything.
I thought I'd try an test the camera and focuser together. No success. Focuser was OK once I got it to Reverse mode. Stream on video was impossible with the INDI drivers crashing more times than I could count. I managed to drop the cameras resolution from its capable resolution (5440x3648) to something more modest (2736x1824) and USB down to 1 from 3. Slow when it worked and tbh.. it didn't really work. I think if I wasted a night with this out in the cold I;'d probably douse the whole lot in fuel and set it alight. Everytime INDI crashed I had to reset the setting I saved as it did not save the settings when set and saved. At this point I give up.
No point testing the rest tbh.
One annoyance within Kstars and eKos was the INDI Control Panel disappearing everytime I clicked on something in eKos. I had to go to the front tab on eKos to open it up again.
I cannot be bothered to test anymore on the 1.4.7 - it has serious teething problems nothing a dentist couldn't fix by pulling all it's damned teeth out. Problems everywhere. Bored now...
I'm going to mow my lawn.
Someone email me and let me know they have fixed this. I think I am going to go back to my trusted Windows and APT/SharpCap and Stellarium for now. If I had made strides it is thanks to Alan advising me to ditch Hotspot. Some improvements in connectivity for sure. The rest? well...
Clear Skies.
Jaq