My current rig employs a Lenovo ThinkCentre M93P 'Tiny' "desktop" machine, though it uses a laptop power connector.

The specs of mine include 5 USB 3.0 ports (no 2.0), an Intel Dual-Core i5-4570T Processor up to 3.60 GHz, 8GB RAM and a 240GB SSD. I installed Kubuntu 20.10 alongside Win10Pro. I bought it refurbished so I didn't spend an enormous amount. It also came with a rather lame USB 2.0 2G wifi stick, a cheap keyboard and a mouse that rattles (for real). I upgraded the USB wifi to a USB 3.0 5G dongle with an antenna. I also made some changes to the BIOS to allow booting without a keyboard. I run krfb on it as a remote desktop server (it seems to default to 1024x768 when no monitors are plugged in).

It's about the size of a counterweight and weighs almost as much as well. To mount it I also bought a VESA bracket that holds the computer and which is usually intended to suspend the unit off the back of a monitor or television (obviously not one that's actually mounted to a VESA mount). I built a receiver for the VESA bracket out of plywood that attaches to the end of my EQ6's counterweight bar, so it acts as a counterweight.



It almost weighs enough to properly counterweight the rest of the rig (!), at least when the Evostar72 is on and would probably do so if the guidescope were omitted. I only have 10lb weights (the mount originally carried a 10" Newtonian which I still have) and if I add even one right at the top of the bar it dramatically overbalances the counterweight end, so I'll need to find a way to add some smaller weights to the rig but it is pretty close to balanced already.



As you can see I have a powered USB 3.0 hub velcroed to the backside of the EQ6, so all rig-related USB cables emerge from here. The hub itself uses 12v, so it can be powered from the same distribution centre as everything else, which I have velcroed onto the control panel side of the EQ6.



What's great about this is that the SSD is big enough for all the Astrometry.net FITS for plate solving and with fast processors aboard it solves in a second or two. The SSD also has legions of space for saving FITS from the camera.

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