Hi,

I write software for my university's old 50cm telescope and it is so easy when you use INDI. It is amazing!

The only problem I have is finding a guide camera with decent Linux support. I started out with a QHY IMG0H because it had external power, cooling and Linux firmware. Unfortunately getting it working under Linux proved very difficult because the information was insufficient for me. Then I tried the QHY5L-II with a great chip and it worked great but it was just too unstable and a lot of the frames where bad (which is not good when you are guiding). I have also tried a DMK41AU02.AS (The Imaging Source) and it was working okay, but it was just not sensitive enough.

Our main camera is an STXL-11002M and it works great and SBIG seems to provide great Linux support for all their cameras. Unfortunately their guide camera's chip is a bit too small (because it is an old telescope it is protected and I'm forced to use the original guide telescope). I have also considered buying an STF-8300M, but I think it is overkill as a guide camera.

Right now my favourite option is an ATIK420m and it seems like ATIK has good Linux support, but I want to be sure because I have already wasted a lot of money. Also, if someone have great experiences with other guide cameras, I'm very interested in hearing about it?

Thanks,

Simon

According to the AtikDriver page, the Atik 3xx/4xx series are supported.
I currently own a Titan and a 314L+ and they both works well with the latest driver.

I have yet to test the guiding part of the Titan.

The Lodestar X2 is a solid guiding camera and is fully supported and field-tested under INDI. I've been using it for the past 2 years (the older model) and it worked great.

Just a comment about the QHY5 cameras/driver in case it might help: My QHY5L-II seems *really* sensitive to any problems with the USB cable, but if one can hold the cable securely enough, it's pretty stable. I've run it successfully for many hours on many occasions, but when I poke, prod, disturb, or otherwise manipulate the cable, bad things usually happen. If you use a good quality cable and clamp it securely so that it can't move with respect to each USB jack, it might be reliable enough...as long as you don't breathe on it wrong and mosquitoes don't kick it too hard. I've read elsewhere that QHY5's are finicky about cables too.

We have two qhy5 based cameras (one qhy5, one orion ssag, both the same camera that report different vid/pid on the usb). They work well when they are running, but, they are a bit finniky about power on the usb cable. Example, if the focuser is running at the same time as the camera, power to the camera will fade a bit, then the camera gets rather sick. The only solution when that happens, unplug and replug. The solution to this problem was to make sure the focusser and camera are never active at the same time if they are plugged into the same usb hub.

The camera in my all-sky is the starlight xpress superstar. It has been very reliable for us over time, but it's not in a spot where it moves at all, so there are no potential issues of cables etc. It takes longer to fetch a single frame from the superstar, but it appears (anecdotally, I've never had one in the same guidescope as the qhy5 to fully validate) to have a cleaner frame, and be somewhat more sensative.

Thanks for the info. I'll definitely keep that in mind as I design and build accessories. Perhaps if a focuser, flip mirror, or whatever works alongside a QHY5 it deserves a special certificate for noise compatibility.

Thank you everybody.
I am trying my luck with ATIK 414EX because I think the cooling will be good with this setup.

adinghi, I think that is the exact problem I have been having (combination of USB cables and a poor USB hub). Unfortunately it spits out some bad frames a bit too often even under the best conditions, so we have to change it.

Simon

P.S. If you want to add the observatory to the "Who uses INDI" on the front page, it is the Ole Roemer Observatory in Aarhus, Denmark.