Main reason for this topic is creating an INDI driver for the subject. But before even starting this I have several questions about how the INDI handles domes at all. I can see that there is a driver for MaxDome II. But how you can use it if it isn't possible to find it in the list of the devices then you open Ekos (corresponding packages installed)? Another question - is dome slaving implemented?

I can add a "Dome" group to Ekos, that's not an issue. I am not sure what you mean by dome slaving? There is currently no standard for dome drivers in INDI, but it would be great to create and agree to such a standard. I once developed a dome control for a local observatory so that the dome automatically rotates by snooping on the telescope Azimuth position and rotates accordingly, but that was pretty much it.

Ok I read about slaving so it is pretty much the same idea. In INDI there is a standard property called "Active Devices", and within the dome driver, the "Active Telescope" is set to the one used by the user. I think the best approach to this is to write a general Dome driver skeleton in INDI base, much like the CCD/Telescope/etc parent drivers, and then inherit from it when creating the actual dome driver. By looking an MaximDL "slaving setup", it seems there are more data required regarding dome radius, pivot points..etc, but I haven't used those before in my setup.

Alright, so I added preliminary support to Ekos now. The important part is now defining the INDI::Dome class and the common properties. I think minimally we need:

1. Home & Park switches
2. Goto Az/Current Az
3. Shutter open/close
4. ???

I still don't understand why MaxDome II driver do exist if in Ekos you can't even choose it? I ask about that because it is interesting at which point of development is MaxDome II driver and what you can do with it in Ekos.

About properties... I think the best think is to resemble MaximDL for the simple reason that it got everything necessary. Regarding additional data you found - it is really necessary because it participates in the slaving calculations. If it is not very clear why, I can explain, just ask. But to be honest, at the moment I don't know the actual math, have to research it. All what I have now is the command set which I sniffed during the usage of the MaximDL. I badly want to see Baader Dome support in Ekos If you have a plan how we can achieve this, just describe it, I will try my best to help

MaxDome II is an INDI driver that can be still be operated by KStars device manager, and I already added "Dome" selection to Ekos. If you are compiling KStars from source or using kstars-bleeding you will see dome selection support in Ekos.

Regarding dome skeleton development, I will create a base INDI::Dome class that shall encapsulate common properties among all possible hardware dome drivers, we can't put anything specific as the child class should take care of the actual implementation. I'll create the base class and a dome simulator soon so you can see the code and start implementing the driver for the Baader Dome.

Ok, waiting for your signal

Ok, I added INDI::DomeInterface and INDI::Dome. INDI::DomeInterface can be used within any driver, for example, if someone wants to make a telescope driver with dome support if required. The base class of all stand-alone dome drivers is INDI::Dome. I developed a simple Dome simulator that you can test to illustrate the capabilities of the INDI::Dome class. Basically, it supports all kinds of domes. Domes that can move in relative & absolute positions in addition to open-loop domes where they are commanded by speed + time. I added two configurable params, one for park position and one for home position. All values are expressed in degrees azimuth. There is also 3 preset values that can be set to any arbitrary angle if required.

I will work next on migrating MaxDomeII to INDI::Dome and see how that goes. Please take a look at INDI::Dome and Dome Simulator and let me know if you have any questions. Please bear in mind this is very preliminary it was completely developed in the last couple of hours.

I added ACTIVE_DEVICES to the INDI::Dome class so now it snoops on the telescopes equatorial coordinates in addition to geographic coordinates. You can see in the dome simulator, I use this information to know the current telescope AZ, so now the dome driver knows where Azimuth the telescope is pointing at.

It is already available in PPA?

Yes it is, though I think you should using libindi from SVN if you want to do any development work. I also migrated MaxDomeII driver to the INDI::Dome class today so you can check this out. The updated drivers needs extensive testing though, so if anyone has access to MaxDomeII, please give it a shot.

Using Linux Mint 17 aka Ubuntu 14.04 and kstars-bleeding. No dome selection in Ekos
Honestly speaking I am a 99% noob in C++ More luck with C I already took a look at dome_simulator.cpp and I think I will need some time to understand what kind of magic is happening there Can you point me to the INDI::Dome class - where to search for it?