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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Dithering is not executed with external lin_guider

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same here. calibration is successful but when first dithering is ordered it throws this "timeout error" and actually does not proceed to next shot until manual intervention. Thus I gave up on dither to collect at least some data during the night. Pity as linguider gives superior guiding performance to integrated guider(at least calibration actually works there).

Or like today for some reason during exposing 4th shot I came to the rig, checked via VNCviewer how is it going (I looked at guiding tab and examined 3th frame in FITSviewer) - all good, and when I returned 4 hours later indi was still downloading 4th frame (btw download takes no more than10s). So after first useful clear night this year I have just 3 frames and heaps of frustration. I guess there might be a hitch in some settings but can't find where. When I start imaging I get question something like "image transfer disabled, wanna unable (or opposite)?" so I click yes and shooting starts but at least this last time for first picture only, than I had to restart shooting and after 3 shots it happened again. Don't understand what is it asking. there are only 2 devices connected: QHY9 and RPi3. No client, nothing else (not counting VNCviewer and guider).
7 years 3 weeks ago #14958

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For the linguider part, we'd have to wait until Rumen replies. I changed the behavior in Ekos to resume capture even in case of dither failure since it is not usually detrimental to the capture process, but will make this configurable later.

For the 2nd issue, is QHY9 the only device in the Ekos profile?
7 years 3 weeks ago #14963

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Ok I updated Ekos behavior so that it ignores the CCD when using remote guiding application. PPA build should be ready within a couple of hours.
7 years 3 weeks ago #14973

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Hi, rumen.
I tried lg_tool.pl after doing the calibration.
"Long time cmd finished" will be returned.

I have found another problem.
When dithering is executed from Ekos, the status will be displayed as "Dither ..." and the sequence may stop.
In normal operation, Ekos first sends the SET_DITHERING_RANGE command to the external lin_guider and then the DITHER command.
However, after SET_DITHERING_RANGE is sent, there seems to be a case where DITHER is not sent.
When lin_guider receives SET_DITHERING_RANGE, it returns "OK".
This "Dither ..." problem does not always occur.

knro wrote:Thanks for the update.
I will also test it.
7 years 3 weeks ago #14978

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Didn't mention it earlier but I run whole Kstars on RPi, not just server. Only QHY9s is physically present and mounted, rest are simulators (telescope, focuser, guidecam) and guiding QHY5L-ii-m stays unconnected as being used by Lin guider. I'll try tonight with some changes and maybe keep an eye on it for a while... it's windy anyway.

btw QHY9 filterwheel still gives me requested filter +1 making unreachable 1st filter (1st returns #2, 2nd returns #3, 3rd returns #4, 4th returns #5 and 5th returns confirmation of #5 with ordinary delay but without rotating filters leaving effectively last called filter in the path). There must be some tiny hitch in the code since filterwheel works fine in EZCAP.

One last think why I prefer LG to integrated guiding interface. There is full manual control over gain and white point in linguider but in INDI it's running on auto. When there is significant change in star contrast/brightness Kstars freezes for a while when processing last image and eventually loosing guiding star or making panic corrections => guiding aborted. also reticule in LG is user-friendly as I can mark position of guide star and return there later after making some work around the mount (like fixing hand controller as last night) and it shows directions of RA and DEC.
7 years 3 weeks ago #14989

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I pushed a fix for the QHY filter wheel, should be in PPA tomorrow.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jan Hruby
7 years 3 weeks ago #14990

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Great, looking forward trying it.
7 years 3 weeks ago #14995

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For problem #14929, I fixed lin_guider.

Line 996 of lin_guider_pack / lin_guider / src / lin_guider.cpp.
-         answer_sz = snprintf (answer, answer_sz_max, "Long time cmd finished");
+         answer_sz = snprintf (answer, answer_sz_max, "OK");
Lin_guider will now return "OK" after dithering.
I will wait for the correct fix by rumen.

However, the problem of #14978 has not been solved yet.
My Ekos sometimes stops as "Dither ...".
This does not always happen, it seems to be caused by bad timing.
7 years 2 weeks ago #15082

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Transient timing issues are hard to track down, but if you turn on logging it might help us somehow. Of course, if you can debug and find out where it gets stuck exactly that would be great.
7 years 2 weeks ago #15083

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Hi guys,
where are problems #14978 and #14929 described?

What comes to the return "OK" fix it can not be accepted for several reasons.
First there are several pieces of software relaying on that and we can not change it, so it should be changed on Ekos side. Second dither command is not recommended as you have no idea if it was successful or not. That is why it does not say OK or Error. It is kept only for compatibility purposes. There is another non-blocking command for dithering: DITHER_NO_WAIT_XY. It returns immediately and if successful you can check if it is completed or not with GET_DISTANCE which will give you the distance between the target and current position.
What is problem #14978? :) I do not see it anywhere...
Rumen
Last edit: 7 years 2 weeks ago by rumen.
7 years 2 weeks ago #15088

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Hi, rumen.
Thank you for detailed explanation.
I understood the specification of lin_guider.
It is said that the response of the DITHER command does not inform of the success of dithering.
I will undo my modifications.
Then fix it so that Ekos ignores the response of the DITHER command and try it.

I am debugging Kstars on communication with lin_guider.
I will report when I found something.
7 years 2 weeks ago #15103

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Hi,
if you are willing it is better to use the commands I have mentioned. It is not that simple with DITHER command, What this command does is do the DITHER wait some amount of time calculated by the guide rate and the dithering range and return. However if the calibration is not performed it will fail with "Error:..." or if in progress with "Busy:...". These are precondition checks. So you can not ignore the output. However there is no way to be sure if it is finished successfully or not if it started it will just wait some time and return amusing that the mount is settled. So I was not precise in my previous post. You can be sure if it says "Error" or "Busy" that that it did not succeed, but there is no way to be sure if it really succeeded, however you can safely assume success if it does not say Busy and Error.
Best way is to use DITHER_NO_WAIT_XY, and poll while GET_DISTANCE returns values within a specified range.

Rumen

p.s. Lin-guider is close to 4.2.0 with driver updates and zoom of the image view, Also there may be SBIG camera support but most likely it will wait for 4.3 as I do not have much time for that now.
Last edit: 7 years 2 weeks ago by rumen.
7 years 2 weeks ago #15104

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