Hi guys,

I just spend last summer building my observatory and am now in the process of making the software work.
With my portable setup I used a laptop with EQASCOM, Stellarium, Nebulosity and PHD, but as a Linux engineer I naturally wanted to use a Linux only setup. In comes INDI/Kstars/Ekos: at first glance an exellent piece of software and extremely powerful. I was in awe to see such a piece of detailed software.

My primary goal is to achieve a unattended and autonomous setup for future astrophotography which has to work with the scheduler.

I currently use a C8 on a NEQ6Pro mount and use a Raspberry Pi 2 (connected to the NEQ6Pro with EQDIR) as the controller using Raspian and INDIlib which in turn is connected to Ekos on my laptop running Kubuntu 15.04. At this moment I do not use a powered USB hub yet.

The first problem I encounter are sudden stops in slewing and a disconnect to the mount from the software. Reconnecting doesn't help. Resetting the whole system (INDI drivers and mount) makes things work again, but it has no clue to where the telescope is pointing. It says it's pointed at the polestar which isn't correct.
The slew commands are not "extreme". Only 20 degrees or so, and it halts after about 10 degrees. The power is not disconnected.

A couple of short questions:
- Can something like this be caused by the lack of a powered USB-hub? The NEQ6 isn't being powered for slew commands other then it's own power supply I reckon.
- What's the best way to go on and debug the problem as by default there is not a whole lot of logging in the drivers.
- How can I make sure the mount / drivers know where they are in terms of mount position after a sudden disconnect (network problem / power outage). It's a critical element because of the goal of an unattended setup and an automatically closing roof. When I resume I should know how the mount is positioned.

1. Are you sure your slew problems are not due to power? is the mount connected to a battery or AC? I got problems similar to this when I was using a battery and while low on power it would connect but as soon as it slews, the power light flickers and everything is erratic. A powered USB hub is a good practice but not required for connecting to the mount.

2. There is a whole LOT of logging/debugging in the drivers.

3. Use a WatchDog driver . WatchDog was only recently added so you need to use kstars-bleeding.

Hi,

For now I am using a battery for the mount and camera and use AC for my dew heaters because of the lack of a high amperage 12v powersupply. Will buy one soon. Perhaps it is due to the powerpack indeed.

I will take a look at the debugging features and Watchdog driver. Seems very promising