Hello, I'm moving my setup from Windows to Ubuntu 16.04 on an HP laptop that has a built-in camera. I'd like to use Kstars/Ekos at least to autoguide, but connecting a second webcam to a USB port ( a Microsoft LifeCam HD-3000 ) and trying to access it via INDI indi_v4l2_ccd driver, doesn't work.

Webcams are recognized as UVC devices from Ubuntu and I don't have any problem in using both of them with the usual applications ( Skype, Cheese, ... )

ls -la of /dev gives :
crw-rw----+ 1 root video 81, 0 mar 19 11:02 video0
crw-rw----+ 1 root video 81, 1 mar 19 07:18 video1
where video0 is the built-in camera. Both cameras have the same permissions.

I installed INDI and all the available drivers from the repository :
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mutlaqja/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install libindi1 indi-bin

I installed Kstars/Ekos from the repository :
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mutlaqja/ppa
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install kstars-bleeding

Both applications/environments seem to work just fine.

After plugging in the USB webcam, I start Kstars and in the Tools menu -> Ekos I create a new profile "test" where the mode is "Local", autoconnect is "off" and Devices are "Telescope Simulator" for the mount and "V4L2 CCD" for the guider.
I save the profile.

I click on "Start INDI" and in the "Options" TAB of the V4L2 CCD , I set "Ports" to /dev/video0 (default). On the "Main Control" of the V4L2 CCD I click "Connect".
Connection goes green and a second line ( Expose ) shows up.
I click "Connect" to the Telescope Simulator" too.
Now Ekos shows the autoguide icon that I can click.

Clicking on "Capture" i correctly get an image from the built-in camera.
Indi Control Panel log reports :

2017-03-19T13:28:10: Capture of one frame (0 stacked frames) took 0.343403 seconds.
2017-03-19T13:27:35: Device configuration applied.
2017-03-19T13:27:35: Upload settings set to client only.
2017-03-19T13:27:35: Loading device configuration...
2017-03-19T13:27:34: Found intial Input "Camera 1", Format "YUYV 4:2:2", Size 640x480, Frame interval 1/24s
2017-03-19T13:27:34: V4L2 CCD Device is online. Initializing properties.

I disconnect and Stop INDI

To switch to the USB camera, I restart INDI. While VL2 CCD in Main Control is disconnected, I set /dev/video1 as device port.
Clicking “Connect” lights the Connection “Led” green.

Going to the autoguide tool, I click on “Capture” and nothing happens. The wheel-like icon spins forever. Indi Control Panel log this time reports :

2017-03-19T13:34:42: Using device manual exposure (max 20000.000000, required 10000.000000).
2017-03-19T13:34:26: Found intial Input "Camera 1", Format "YUYV 4:2:2", Size 640x480, Frame interval 383/1s
2017-03-19T13:34:26: V4L2 CCD Device is online. Initializing properties.

It seems that indi_v4l2_ccd reads some wrong value and has some problem to complete the acquisition. I tried to wait for 383 seconds as suggested from the wrong value in frame interval, but even after such a long time no image is captured.

Other than Kstars/Ekos, I tried PHD2 that shows a similar behaviour. Is there something I’m doing wrong in setting up and starting INDI ?

Any help is really appreciated !

Marco

Read More...