This is a little off-topic but it is relevant to my original post regarding "due diligence". I changed my mind about what imager to purchase. I've decided to go with the QHY5L-II instead of the Meade LPI. Why? Mostly it has to do with the availability of a working Linux driver. The more I read about it the less confident I am I will get it to work on my Ubuntu laptop, let alone my Raspberry Pi 3. Every link that I find for drivers -- are just for Windows. The only mention of Linux is in the product listings pages of vendors' ecommerce sites -- definitely not a confidence builder.

I was browsing the GitHub repo of INDI source code and I saw that support for QHY is in the "3rd party" folder. I perused the code and recognized the name of an employee at QHY who was named by Jasem as co-developer. Furthermore, it looks likes they are talking directly to the USB port rather than some V4L2 middleware.

If anything I've said is inaccurate please raise your voice. I appreciate your input. I am planning on purchasing a new ETX-90. I'd like a bigger aperture but I also like mobility of a smaller scope. For now I am happy doing Lunar and Planetary imaging, the brighter star clusters, and making time-lapse movies of some of the brighter asteroids. Longer term I'd like to buy an 8-inch scope to do asteroid occultations.

Thanks.

The ASI120 is the same chip, and they provide support for Linux/INDI out of the box. The ASI cameras are all 15% off right now too. I would go that route.

I have ASI120 and it's rock solid with my Raspberry PI 3 running for hours without any issues.

I am trying to use it on a ZWO OAG and I cannot get any stars to appear at all no matter what I do. Might try the old 50mm scope trick, that seems to work better for me for some reason -- unless someone has an idea on how to fix it.

Edit, nevermind... Apparently they ship the OAG with a spacer on it, and I needed to remove that spacer to get into focus. Problem solved.

It is good that you have positive experiences with the ASI120 on Raspberry Pi. Going back a couple weeks ago when I began this journey, ZWO was the first product I looked into but I found some discouraging comments on the ZWO user forum. Users were complaining that the USB2 imagers worked fine on Windows but would freeze on Linux. The engineer who responded (who I also think is the CEO) recommended that Linux users connect their devices to a USB3 port and that should fix things. The problem for me is that the Raspberry Pi does not have USB3 nor are they planning on adding one.

The INDI-learning curve is happening for me but I am still at an early stage. It may take a while for me to understand why ASI120 works over USB2 with INDI but not for the poor fellows on the ZWO user forum. I am very keen on purchasing equipment that will work out of the box with minimal hacking. The hacking part can come later as I get further up the learning curve.

I see that High Point Scientific has the ASI120MC on sale for $143 whereas the QHY5LII is $199. I like that the ASI comes with an all-sky lens but the QHY's description and specification are more impressive. Decisions, decisions.

@rockstarbill wrote:High Point Scientific's website says that the ASI120MC uses the On-Semiconductor AR0130CS but the QHY5L-II uses the Aptina MT9M034 sensor. Perhaps they are functionally equivalent.

That's the color one 120MM is mono..

Right, the QHY5L-II-C, QHY5L-II-M, and ASI120MM each use the MT9M034 sensor but the ASI120MC uses the AR0130CS.
That's confusing!

Hah, yeah that is odd. For a guide scope you want a mono camera. They are more sensitive.

www.highpointscientific.com/zwo-asi120mm...nochrome-cmos-camera

This is the one I got. It has USB 3.0 support, but works fine with USB 2.0 as well

The USB 2.0 only model is cheaper:

www.highpointscientific.com/zwo-asi120mm...nomy-camera-asi120mm

Hey rockstar, are you connecting to WIndows or Linux?

I agree, I like the light curve of the mono better, greater sensitivity, especially for a small aperture scope like the ETX-90. On the other hand since I will be using it for imaging it would be nice to have color. At this time I am leaning in the direction of QHY but that could change.

Linux, and if you are doing the same that is a reason to lean the direction of ZWO. They provide Linux drivers for all of their cameras. QHY eventually does, but it takes them a long time to get there. You can put a filter wheel in front of a mono camera to get color.

Here is the big BUT: are you plugging into a USB 3 port or USB 2? My Linux laptop has lots of USB 3 ports and just one USB 2 but I will not be taking my laptop outside and leaving it there. I want to use one of my Raspberry Pi's. They only have USB 2 ports.