I built the basic moonlite focuser clone following the information and arduino sketch presented earlier by PATDUT, ( TOPIC: Moonlite focuser protocol) using the stepper, and driver board he used along with a ebay arduino nano clone.

The programming and tryout were done with an older Toshiba laptop with a fresh mint 18 operating system along with all the files etc for running Kstars and Ekos. . Everything worked great and I was ready to make the necessary mounts and install it on my WO66 focuser assembly. But a problem occurred when I tried it out with the newer Dell laptop out in the observatory. It did not work.
The green light on the arduino lit up but the red leds that indicate communication on the arduino and driver board were dark. I hooked it back up to the Toshiba and everything worked again. I am guessing that the necessary communications between the Dell laptop with Mint 18 and the arduino board clone are not happening. I used lsusb via the terminal and saw that the arduino is listed as QinHeng Electronics HL-340 USB-Serial adapter. So I guess my Toshiba will work with it and the Dell won't. I checked both machines and they are set up as identical as I can see but something is different. Most likely I do not have the right driver for communications with the HL-340. Checks on the internet indicate that the HL-340 might be the problem but I did not find any good information on what to do about it.

Does anyone know a cure?

Thanks
Jon

Hello,
When you plug in your arduino in the Dell computer did you check with dmsg command if it is mount in /dev ? Maybe not some mojnt point as on Toshiba config.
Regards.
Philippe

Philippe:

This is what the dmesg command comes up with. I am not great with computer programming but I believe it shows that the arduino is recognized. However nothing happens. I tried something else and found that I cannot even program an arduino with the Dell laptop. Bought a new usb cord today but that did not help either. I also tried using the programmed board with another computer, a dell desktop with Linux Mint 18 (fresh install) and it would not work either, But the old Toshiba with Mint 18 works with it.

19.980379] cgroup: new mount options do not match the existing superblock, will be ignored
[ 20.878461] Bluetooth: BNEP (Ethernet Emulation) ver 1.3
[ 20.878465] Bluetooth: BNEP filters: protocol multicast
[ 20.878471] Bluetooth: BNEP socket layer initialized
[ 25.574663] usb 2-1.2: new full-speed USB device number 6 using ehci-pci
[ 25.668303] usb 2-1.2: New USB device found, idVendor=1a86, idProduct=7523
[ 25.668307] usb 2-1.2: New USB device strings: Mfr=0, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[ 25.668310] usb 2-1.2: Product: USB2.0-Serial
[ 31.134283] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 31.134299] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 31.134312] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 31.139351] usbcore: registered new interface driver ch341
[ 31.139369] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for ch341-uart
[ 31.139385] ch341 2-1.2:1.0: ch341-uart converter detected
[ 31.141702] usb 2-1.2: ch341-uart converter now attached to ttyUSB0

Thanks for the reply
Jon

Philippe:

I was wrong on the last reply. I can program the arduino with the Dell laptop. At least the tx lights work and the program says it has downloaded the program. i also checked to see what the dmesg says on the Toshiba. Its nearly identical.
19.832533] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial
[ 19.833295] usbcore: registered new interface driver usbserial_generic
[ 19.833311] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for generic
[ 19.967438] usbcore: registered new interface driver ch341
[ 19.967459] usbserial: USB Serial support registered for ch341-uart
[ 19.967479] ch341 5-1:1.0: ch341-uart converter detected
[ 19.981189] usb 5-1: ch341-uart converter now attached to ttyUSB0

Jon

Hi Jon.
Looks the unit mount correctly and with same link device on both computer . As from fresh install you have the issue let me ask you if you tried as 'root' user ?
Maybe you have to add to your used account to
The dialout group. I don't have PC with me to check the command syntax. Of 'addgrp' command. By users are not allowed ro access to tty ports.
Good luck
Philippe

Philippe

Thanks for the replies. I am glad that you agree that both computers seem to show that the arduino is connected correctly and the same. I read some more on the arduino last night and found out that they have a neat application within the arduino IDE package. Its called Serial Monitor. That app along with the proper sketch will allow someone to check and see if serial communications are going on between the computer and the arduino board. I used the monitor last night and things appear to be working correctly. So tonight I think I will purge the moonlite drivers from the Dell computer and start all over again. If that does not work I will purge the complete setup including KSTARS and INDI/EKOS and start all over again. Maybe somewhere during all the downloads and install some part of the software was corrupted. Hopefully that will work. But if not I think I will take the easy way out and simply use the computer that works and try to find a solution later.

Thanks for your help

Jon