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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

My shopping list for my notional Pi 4 SM gadget

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I've got a Pi 3-based StellarMate gadget running my scope currently. Since Jasem and company seem to have gotten the early bugs ironed out of the Pi 4 version, I'm planning to upgrade. In particular, I'd love to have plate solving work reliably on the Pi side instead of having to use my Mac; along with the fuss/bother/limited Mac battery in the cold, downloading the images from the INDI server on the Pi to Ekos on the Mac takes almost a minute.

For general performance as well as never having to worry about disk space, I'm going to use a USB 3 SSD. External, so I don't have to add an interface board, as well as high-speed direct USB-3 transfer to other machines for processing. I'm using a DockerPi PowerBoard to give the Pi its 5V off my standard 12V barrel-connector wiring harness; that also lets me run 12V from the Pi case right to the ASI183MMPro's cooler (and to my someday autofocuser).

Pi 4b 4 GB, $55.00

DockerPi PowerBoard, $18.99
ADATA SD600Q 240GB USB 3.2 3D NAND External Solid State Drive - Newegg.com, $44.99
HighPi Raspberry Pi Case for Pi4, Black - PiShop.us, $9.95
TOTAL, $128.93



Whaddya think? Any suggestions?

(Cross-posted to Cloudy Nights)
4 years 2 months ago #47504

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That looks goods to me except I never tried SSD booting with the Pi before.
4 years 2 months ago #47523

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Thanks Jasem! I'm not planning to boot off the SSD, I'll just use the MicroSD like everybody else. I'm just going to use it for storage, both for speed and so that I can transfer data merely by unplugging it and plugging it into the machine I use for processing.

Kevin on CN says that instead of the DockerPi board, he used a stepper-motor HAT, which also inputs 12V and runs the Pi off 5, but in addition of course it can run a stepper for autofocusing. So I'm probably going to do that instead, I built a myFocuserPro2 board but for some reason it won't drive the motor; having everything nicely integrated into the case with the Pi means fewer boxes and at least one fewer cable. May have to add a separate fan though.

Heh. I see a market opportunity for you here, Jasem -- the autofocus-capable StellarMate Advanced gadget.
4 years 2 months ago #47530

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I'm afraid not. I have both versions of The Adafruit Motor HAT I believe you are talking about. It does not regulate the input power, so it can not supply 5V to the Pi. What it does is receive 5V power for the logic side via the GPIO pins, and the motor power has its own external supply supply point. Therefore you would have to add additional power regulation circuitry to a powersource that may be noisy due to running motors.
Also the stepper motor driving performance is limited due to the I2C bus frequency. That can partially be worked around by raising it in the boot/config.txt file, but that will be problematic if you need microstepping at reasonable speed, plus it is not compatible with the frequencies that real time clock modules can use.
So for that reason I recommend looking for a stepper driver board and INDI Driver that uses GPIO PWM signals rather than I2C. I would suggest trying the Pololu A4988.
4 years 2 months ago #47541

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The stepper HAT in question is the Waveshare, BTW.
4 years 2 months ago #47548

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If the SSD is just for the storage why don't you consider a USB3 thumb drive? just suggesting ;)
Last edit: 4 years 2 months ago by Stephen Wong.
4 years 2 months ago #47550

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Waveshare board looks good, I'm surprised I never came by it while researching for my own DIY focuser.
4 years 2 months ago #47551

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You know, I had assumed that an SSD would be faster, but flash is pretty much flash, isn't it? So long as it's a USB 3 thumb drive plugged into a USB 3 port on the Pi I should be good to go. Thanks, that saved me a few bucks, some cubic centimeters, and some grams on the scope!
4 years 2 months ago #47567

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Well, strictly speaking, flash is not just flash, the SSD would be much faster, but for purposes of just saving the images, a USB thumb drive will be more than adequate.. :)
I tried running my RPI4 from an SSD and from a USB 3 thumb drive, and the SSD is far faster, than the thumb drive, but the thumb drive only a little faster than the SD card...
4 years 2 months ago #47574

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If you are looking for speed and reliability, the form of memory and cache of an SSD will greatly out perform a memory stick.
4 years 2 months ago #47576

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FWIW, I use a fast USB stick (www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01MU8TZRV/ref...02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1) on my RPi4, of course on the usb3 port, and capture directly to the stick. In the morning, I walk the stick over to my Mac, plug it in there, and backup my images. This seems to be fast-enough (takes a second or two to write an ASI1600mm image). I've never tried an SSD (though I plan to), but this approach was a big improvement over writing to the SDCard, then copying from the SDCard to a usb , ...

Can I also walk the SSD over to the mac? That sneaker-net approach works great!
4 years 2 months ago #47592

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