Hi Stash, thanks for your response.

I was not aware of the PI Zero. You mean this one , or the newer Pi Zero W ? Please confirm.

I think the latter, as the former doesn't seem to have wifi (unless you added a USB adapter). Anyway, they both look very similar to my old 512MB model B: same memory, major "upgrade" seems to be only ~40% more clock on the still single-core CPU.

How relevant do you think was the added clock, ie perhaps the reason for slowing down was lack of memory causing swapping/paging?

From your report, I'm now converging to a scenario like the #3 you describe below (ie running only the absolute minimum device-control software on the Pi, and all the rest remotely, communicating with it via INDI). Glad to hear it worked OK for you -- in my case, I have a very reliable USB Wifi adapter (also bought on Adafruit, along with the Raspberry Pi) so perhaps it will work more stably -- but if not, I have ethernet also, so one way or the other, I think IP connectivity is guaranteed,

Thanks again. When I do the testing (still waiting for the mount and camera to become available, as they are now being used in another project), I will report back on how it went.

Cheers,
-- Durval.

stash wrote: Tried to use PI Zero so slightly better than the PI you are using - findings

1. Zero with GUI and mount control plus DSLR using Ekos runs but very very very slow.

2. Zero with NO GUI and just running Indiserver to control the above but with everything else (Ekos or whatever) running on another device (old Vista Laptop) ran better but as Zero (default) has only WiFi it wasn't very reliable.

3. Zero as (2) but just used to control mount and Long USB cable to camera it was fine but again Wifi not reliable.

So I guess in short if you want everything "yesterday" then the answer is no chance, if you can put up with slow response but relying on WiFi then (2) will work depending on your camera/resolution etc.

But there again if you have no other option and are bored during lockdown (whereever you are) try it out - at least its something to do (and learn) :-)



Read More...