I've managed to get still capture working... the issue seemed to be with the SD card interacting with gPhoto.
Still, streaming is a problem. I've captured a full log file. I believe this is also a gPhoto bug - the camera supports two modes, PTP and MSC, and only MSC allows full communication with the computer. However, the camera then shows up twice, once as an MSC device and once as PTP. Looking on other forums, it appears that entering preview modes is buggy for some cameras with "forcing the mirror to go up" and a list of cameras requiring special management is in the source code. Perhaps adding this there would help?
Full log file attached:

Log attached... looks like a problem with the Pi server?

To capture from the terminal:

gphoto2 --capture-image-and-download

I've been trying to capture images from a K-3 in INDI using gPhoto, but with no avail. Using a terminal (running Ubuntu Server 19.10 on Raspberry Pi arm64) I could capture and transfer a still with the command line gphoto2 utility, but within INDI all image capture methods fail. Running an exposure from "Main control" counts down as expected, but then returns "[ERROR] Exposure failed to save image... Unspecified error " in the log.
Streaming also does not work, simply failing to start. I've set all the parameters in the various camera settings.

So my question - is the camera compatible with INDI, and if so how can it be used?

Thanks.

Read More...

Solved - changing the USB speed to 0 in the control tab in INDI fixed the issue.

Read More...

Wow - that works! It was set to 2.00, and changing it to 0 solved the issue. Thanks!

Read More...

Thanks for your help - I've submitted a ticket and hopefully they'll get back to me.

Read More...

I think I've found the root of the problem. I removed the camera from the scope and installed the supplied fisheye lens designed for use as a standalone CCTV camera. This gave an image, at the specified resolution, but only of the top-left part of the frame.
I started from 960x540 - quarter of the advertised maximum - and worked up from there through the 16:9 ratio. As I increased the resolution, the visible portion increased from the top-left quarter to showing slightly more of the bottom and right. Eventually, at 1536x864, the same behaviour as for 1920x1080 occurred and no images were transferred to the client.
I then tried the same thing using CCDciel connected to INDI and saw exactly the same pattern repeat. However, using the supplied AltairCapture software and a direct USB connection gave an expected image of 1920x1080 resolution and showing the full frame.

As this problem is clearly outside Ekos, I've started a new topic under CCDs and DSLRs, linked here: https://indilib.org/forum/ccds-dslrs/6189-altair-gpcam-290m-showing-cropped-frame.html

Thanks again for all your efforts in helping me!

Read More...

I've been experiencing issues with the INDI driver for Altair CCDs (running on Raspberry Pi 4 under Ubuntu 19.10 arm64), using my GPCAM 290M, giving a seemingly cropped image to the top-left portion of the frame. For debugging purposes, I removed the camera from the scope and installed the supplied fisheye lens designed for use as a standalone CCTV camera. This gave an image, at the specified resolution, but only of the top-left part of the frame. Furthermore, the full advertised resolution of 1920x1080 failed to transfer any images - all client software timed out acquiring a picture from the camera.
To try and understand the circumstances better, I started in Ekos from a functioning resolution 960x540 - quarter of the advertised maximum - and worked up from there through the 16:9 ratio. As I increased the resolution, the visible portion increased from the top-left quarter to showing slightly more of the bottom and right. Eventually, at 1536x864, the same behaviour as for 1920x1080 occurred and no images were transferred to the client.
I then tried the same thing using CCDciel connected to INDI and saw exactly the same pattern repeat. However, using the supplied AltairCapture software and a direct USB connection gave an expected image of 1920x1080 resolution and showing the full frame.

Probably I'm missing a setting in the INDI control panel, but couldn't see anything obviously wrong.
Thanks in advance for any advice.

Read More...

Okay - I've made some progress. The issue appears to be with the Altair driver - 1080p images are never successfully transferred to the client. Running the autofocus system seems to reset the setting in INDI to 1920x1080, regardless of its previous value. This then caused all other image modes to fail, but changing the setting back in the control panel restored full functionality.
Once I managed to make the focus module run at 800x600 - and the expected behaviour occurred, asking me to select a star. However I have not yet reproduced this result.
So I guess the issue is now clearly not with the focus module and instead with the CCD system. I am wondering if there is some way to specify the resolution explicitly for the autofocus procedure as a temporary workaround?

Thanks again for your time.

Read More...

Yes - seems to work fine at first. After engaging the focus module, it no longer functions.

Thanks for helping!

Read More...

I am in the process of setting up an imaging system with EQMod. A Raspberry Pi runs INDI - connected to the SynScan, an Altair GPCAM 290M and a HitecAstroDC focuser. A client computer then runs KStars/Ekos which connects via the local network to the Pi.

Everything works perfectly, until I try to use the focuser in combination with the camera. When I click the autofocus button in Ekos, the log shows "Please wait for image capture to complete" and then "Capturing image...", but nothing else. I've tried changing the exposure (all to values below 1 second) with no avail. If I click "Stop" to abort focusing, I regain control of the mount - but can no longer capture any images with the camera manually. Interestingly, clicking "expose" in the INDI control panel counts down the remaining time correctly, but then does nothing after reaching zero, when before a window would pop up in KStars with the image. Furthermore, I've also had a message about a broken TTY pipe, suggesting an issue solely with the image transfer from the Pi.

I had a look through the log files I could find on the Pi side (which runs Ubuntu 19.10) but could not see anything glaring. I am probably missing something obvious - but thanks for any advice all the same!

Read More...