Hi everyone,

I'm happy to report that I had a fantastic night of imaging last week. I had just a couple of cloud-free hours, and since then the weather has again been terrible.

Sadly, even on a night where the Astro-gods were smiling at me. I still experienced a couple of nasty problems with K-stars/EKOS. This time K-stars crashed (both times) when I activated the scheduler. I found EKOS "focussing" while it didn't actually initiate the focuser a couple of times. And the meridian flip did not complete without manual interference. I consider myself an intermediate-beginner with regards to astrophotography and I was pretty happy that none of these issues ruined my night, but that I knew how to circumvent all of them.

In the bigger scheme of things, I have been experiencing a lot of issues since I bought some new equipment this summer. Problems with my network, with plate solving, with guiding, conflicting serial ports, software bugs and some pretty stupid user errors. I've consistently worked through them, and I'm still here .

Now I believe the biggest cause of these problems, without a doubt, is me. And I'm embracing the opportunities to learn and grow. However, I think it will be a lot easier to find what I've been doing wrong when K-stars runs smoothly, and I can't hide behind these crashes for an excuse.

Therefore my question is: What can I do to get the most stable experience with K-stars and EKOS.

Currently, my setup is as follows:

Stellarmate PI4 4GB
Network: 1Gbps Ethernet
USB/Power: Pegasus Astro Pocket Powerbox Advanced
Mount: Skywatcher HEQ5 (connected to Stellarmate)
Telescope: Wideangle refractor
Main Camera: ASI533MC Pro (OSC) (connected to PPBA)
Focuser: Pegasus Astro FocusCuve V2 (USB connected to the main camera)
Guide Camera: ASI120mm mini (USB connected to the main camera)

For K-stars, I switch between the Windows client and a Remote Desktop Connection with the PI4. I prefer the user experience of the Windows client. But K-stars has been running more stable on the PI4.


Some considerations:
Until a couple of weeks ago, the PI4 booted from SSD. Loved the speed, but the MicroSD died and have been running from a new SD ever since. I think it is easier to have a backup SD in this configuration.
Before the summer, I stayed with one version for stellarmate and k-stars that was very stable for my setup. I had to update for the support of some of my new equipment. I also love those new features that have been released. In the future, I hope to keep a stable version that supports all my kitt and test out newer versions before I update.
I'm installing a Wifi access point in the yard 10ft from my setup. The physical ethernet connection is difficult to maintain and can only sustain one device. Strong wifi would make it possible to take a laptop or tablet into the backyard for polar alignment etc.

I think installing a dedicated Astro-imaging laptop might be a good idea, especially once I have internet in the yard. I would be repurposing a laptop for that. i7-3537 2Ghz, 8GB Ram, 2GB VRAM hope that is enough. The alternative would be running K-stars on the same machine I'm doing now. Specs are better, but it would share the device with dozens of other applications. Also, I would really like to stay on Windows, but if you believe it makes a big difference, I'm willing to switch to Unbuntu.

I know it's a big question, but I hope someone is willing to help me.
It will be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, Remco

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