×

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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Avalon mzero Stargo with lx200 protocol

  • Posts: 16
  • Thank you received: 1
Thank you Wolfgang. I'm gonna try this :)
Last edit: 5 years 6 months ago by DrGkill.
5 years 6 months ago #29667

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 16
  • Thank you received: 1
Compilation done without any problem, just have to run it now :) So eager to test it :)
5 years 6 months ago #29671

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 16
  • Thank you received: 1
Ok ! So tried at home, main feature are working well.
What's not working :
  • Motion control, lots of latency and not useable
  • Joystick not working

As I know a bit of C++ and looked at the source code, I may try to help improving this driver.
Let me know if you accept PR;

Again, thanks for this great work. Love to see Opensource minds are also astronomers :)
5 years 6 months ago #29673

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 1185
  • Thank you received: 370
Great, feel free!
5 years 6 months ago #29674

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 269
  • Thank you received: 53
You might want to look at my pull request as well. I've ironed out a lot of the issues with the driver and I've been using it successfully for several sessions now.
I didn't do anything with the joystick control but the latency issue should be resolved. One outstanding issue is that sometimes it seems to revert to pulse guiding with pulses timed in the code. But this does not appear to work at all and causes calibrations in PHD2 to fail. It is resolved by clicking the Use Pulse Guiding button even if it already shows pulse guiding enabled. I need some spare time to test it more thoroughly to confirm if StarGo responds at all to these commands and if not that section of code should be deprecated.
5 years 6 months ago #29684

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 16
  • Thank you received: 1
Hey Kengs !
Thanks ! Didn't saw your PR !
I compiled your version. I will try it asap and let you know about my tests.
5 years 6 months ago #29693

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 16
  • Thank you received: 1
Your version of the driver does not work at all for me. It maybe have to do with the firmware version of the mount. I got a Linear with a stargo 5.2.2 w/ firmware v5.2.3.
The mount wasn't able to sync home position. Indi claims it has empty response from the mount.
With the wolfgang one, I encounter some issues like : The dec axis never stops when goto.
Last edit: 5 years 6 months ago by DrGkill.
5 years 6 months ago #29722

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 269
  • Thank you received: 53
Can you send the driver log file?
5 years 6 months ago #29724

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 16
  • Thank you received: 1
Sure, here it is.

As you can see lots of answers get no responses.
I tried to connect via minicom on the mount. It responds well but, when I connect your driver, disconnect, and then reconnect to the mount via minicom, commands are uneffective anymore.
Looks like a command passed that never ends blocks the mount.
Last edit: 5 years 6 months ago by DrGkill.
5 years 6 months ago #29725
Attachments:

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 269
  • Thank you received: 53
I wrote a simple Python app for testing the StarGo. It lets you send a command and reports the response. It puts in the leading ":" and trailing "#" on each command and has a Stop button in case the mount slews out of control. Also calculates LST for rough checking of mount position vs RA
You need to hard code the serial port. works (for me) on both Windows and Linux.
So you type in the command and click send then see what gets returned. Or you can type them into Minicom with the : and #
You should check these commands:
GR (get RA)
GVP (Get manufacturer - should be Avalon)
GVN (Get firmware version)
GVD (Get firmware date)
X38 (get park status)
X34 (Get motion status)
X590 (Get current RA and Dec)

The last 3 commands are made on every poll of the mount (typically every second) so are very important.
Your mount was not responding to these. It seems to have stopped responding after one of the handshake commands. Some of these handshake commands are "mystery" commands issued by the Windows StarGo application. So it could be they apply only to the M-Uno or a specific firmware version.

Another possibility is the timeout period might be too short. It is set at 2 seconds which should be plenty but who knows.
The following user(s) said Thank You: DrGkill
5 years 6 months ago #29738
Attachments:

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 1185
  • Thank you received: 370
Sorry folks for my bad responsiveness. I was on holiday and I have a massive pile of frames to digest. Still not finished...

@DrGkill: could you please upgrade your StarGo firmware to the latest version (now I know how Microsoft feels :-P) .

- Wolfgang
5 years 6 months ago #29750

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

  • Posts: 16
  • Thank you received: 1
@Kengs: Thanks for the script ! I'll try this out.
I don't think Uno and Linear are different from a pure command point of view. It's the same firmware for all stargo mounts.
Only motors have different calibration parameters.
:X590# gives no results for me which may be the major problem, due to a too old firmware.

@Wolfgang: Thanks ! Don't worry, no hurry here. Thank you for answering, as I said I will upgrade the firmware and let you know.

In the same time I contacted Avalon to ask if they can share the protocol with us, It may save a lot of time avoiding reverse engineering the mount. With a bit of luck they may accept sharing the protocol. It's in their interest to make the thing available on all platform especially Indi which may become the next new standard.
If they're afraid to be copied, it's a pity, reverse engineering a clear text commands protocol over serial device is quite easy, plus they took the LX200 as a base so no industry secrets here.
5 years 6 months ago #29754

Please Log in or Create an account to join the conversation.

Time to create page: 0.413 seconds