It took me quite a while to finish this project, as I was changing job and had some other problems with higher 'priority'.

But finally, I submitted the pull request for the new driver:
github.com/indilib/indi/pull/1991

If somebody is using it, I would be happy to get some feedback. Could be, I am the only user of indi who owns an Alluna telescope, because they are expensive.

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If you have all the indi drivers already, you may not need windows a lot and the dual boot option is just fine.

Perhaps the following is interesting for you.

I have an ASUS PN50 with Linux (Ubuntu 20.04.xx LTS) single boot without display, but with Windows 10 in a virtualbox VM. Devices are connected through a powered USB3 hub on the telescope (Moravian C4, C1, Teleskop control), 10Micron Mount via TCP/IP. I can connect to Linux with ssh/nomachine and to Windows with RDP.

Of course, you could do it the other way around as well. Which one works better for you depends on your preferences.

Dual boot has the advantage, that both systems will perform well - but you have to attach a monitor and keyboard when you want to boot in the non-default system.

Installing Kstars/Ekos/Indi in Ubuntu is working quite well. You may have to set up additional repos, but it will install without conflicts.

This setup works fine, although the Windows VM does not perform well (virtualization is not fast enough for USB3). Nevertheless, it is good as a fallback and for testing. I was hoping to use ASCOM on the virtual windows machine and use those windows only devices through Alpaca in indi on the linux side, but this doesn't work, because Alpaca does only provide one way access (accessing indi devices from windows but not the other way).

Currently, I am only missing a driver for the telescope control system (focuser, heating, etc.). So I started writing an indi driver and I got it working within half a day. I will submit a PR once it is polished and properly documented.

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A first version is available here .
Any input welcome!
 

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Hi

I have started developing a driver for the TCS2 controller used by Alluna Optics Telescopes (I am not affiliated). This is the first indi driver I develop. Nevertheless, after some fiddling, I managed to clone the indi 'skeleton' focuser driver and got it to handshake the device. Now, before going deeper, I have a few design questions:

  • are new drivers expected to be inside the 'drivers' subfolder, or should new drivers be shipped separate from indi?
  • can I later add more functionality not related to focusing to the same driver? The TCS2 can do more than just drive the focuser, e.g. it opens the dust cover and controls climate, rotator (if existing). Would it still be OK, to have the driver in drivers/focuser? There seems to be no category for such multi-purpose "telescope control" devices.
  • can I somehow switch the serial line to line buffering? Or, is the only supported method to read until the next 'newline' character?
  • some device commands like FocuserGoTo send multiple lines back (it reports every small focuser step). Should I capture and process those messages in the TimerHit method or in the MoveAbsFocuser method? The output looks like this:
I# // indicates that focuser starts moving
K#number // indicates current focuser position
K#number
...
J# // indicates that focuser stopped moving
  • In case the TimerHit is only expected to send its own commands to the device, e.g. check temperature, do I need take care of not sending commands while the focuser is moving or is this already guranteed by the framework (single threaded execution)?
  • Is there a programmer's guide for timing issues in indi? I.e., about how to avoid blocking I/O and methods to run for too long.
Thanks,
Peter
 

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Finally, I got Alccd-QHY9 and QHY 5-II working. I can make image, set cooling temperature, etc.

The trick was to either connect in 'local mode' or to start indiserver with my regular user and without systemd. I am sure, there is a way to start it with systemd too, but for now I am doing it without.

Peter

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Out of curiosity, I subscribed to the developer forum of QHYCCD and asked about the SDK for this camera (Alccd QHY 9). I got a response with download links for the latest version which happened to be V2019.03.14.0 which means it is from yesterday . Apparently it also includes settings for my USB ID. I install the SDK, restarted everything and EKOS now shows a green signal. This seems way to easy right now. I don't know if it really works, but it looks promising. It probably only recognizes the USB device better and loads the firmware, but surely other parts need to be modified as well.

So with a little patience, the new SDK will be part of the next indilib release. :woohoo:
In the meantime I might try some 'cludgy', uh windows VM workaround. :unsure:

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My model is a Alccd-QHY 9 monochrom, that is all I know at the moment. Perhaps more meaningful is the USB ID 1618:8301. The QHY9 INDI Driver comes with a file which is installed in /lib/udev/rules.d/85-qhyccd.rules. This rule file defines what linux should do if a usb device is plugged in. The nearest match is this line:

ATTRS{idVendor}=="1618", ATTRS{idProduct}=="8300", RUN+="/sbin/fxload -t fx2 -I /lib/firmware/qhy/QHY9S.HEX -D $env{DEVNAME}"

But my model is 8301! If I just add a similar line with idProduct 8301 and restart the udev service (or reboot), the QHY9S.HEX file should be loaded and if similar enough it might work, but it does not. So presently at least my device is not supported.

The newest version of the mentioned usb file is here:
github.com/indilib/indi/blob/master/3rdp...bqhy/85-qhyccd.rules
But no new entry for my product version. Development seems to be active.

You can check this file to see what models are supported and if your device is really not included. The 'lsusb' command can be used to identify usb devices (compare the output with ccd plugged in and not).

Cheers, Peter

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Hi everybody,

I've got an ALccd-QHY 9 monochrom CCD, and I thought should work with the indi_qhy_ccd driver. But all I get is a yellow light in Main Control / Connection tab.
Can anybody tell me if this CCD model is supported? It looks exactly like the QHY9S to me and QHY9S should be supported by indi_qhy_ccd.

2019-03-13T20:26:35: [INFO] Connected to QHY9S-M-0105XXXXXXXXXXXX.

The driver output is:
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|InitQHYCCDResource|InitQHYCCDResource | START
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|InitQHYCCDResource|    InitQHYCCDResource   E
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|ScanQHYCCD|ScanQHYCCD
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|ScanQHYCCD|    SCAN  start
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|DeviceIsQHYCCD|vid = 1618 pid = 8301
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|InitQHYCCDClass|InitQHYCCDClass(camtype,index
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCDRD|QHYCCD.CPP|InitQHYCCDClass|nSize ccdimagew ccdimageh 3
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|InitQHYCCDClass|imagequeuelength 0x2594220 fr
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|ScanQHYCCD|   Scan  init the imagequeue,nSize
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetIdFromCam|GetIdFromCam
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|ScanQHYCCD|ScanQHYCCD numdev=1
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|ScanQHYCCD|   Scan  finished. Return nid=1
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDId|GetQHYCCDId
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDId|    GetQHYCCDId | START
Mar 13 21:26:58 telescope indiserver[18051]: 2019-03-13T20:26:58: Driver indi_qhy_ccd: QHYCCD|QHYCCD.CPP|GetQHYCCDId|QHYCCD  GetQHYCCDId | index=0 id=

The USB ID is 1618:8301.
When I run qhy_ccd_test, I get the attached output.

The "PC" is a small embedded device with Ubuntu 18.04.02 and indi 1.7.6, linux kernel 4.15.0-46-generic. The camera is connected via USB2. Filter wheel not connected at the moment.

Cheers, Peter

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