DearEric,
this is great news! Thank you for all the effort you put into this project! I hope IÄll soon find the time to try the driver. How do I "use/adapt the provided udev rules"?

Please let me know if I can help beta testing the new driver (with PHD2 protocol).

Cheers
Stephan

When connected, the device will appear as /dev/ttyUSB1 for instance. The number at the end of the device name marks the order in which the device was connected/detected amongst others. Thus if you have only one device which connects this way, or if you always connect your different devices in the same order, you can configure the INDI driver to use /dev/ttyUSB1 once for all.

Problems appear when you boot a system with all devices already connected. In that situation you don't know which name will be used for which device.

Udev sort of solves this issue, by giving specific names to devices identified by specific properties: manufacturer/product ID, or serial number, etc. Definitions are written in "rules files".

For MGen, I provide one such file in the source tree (3rdparty/indi-mgen/80-LacertaMgen.rules). If you happen to have multiple USB devices working as serial adapters, check this out, it's easy to read (but difficult to write). If you only have one such device, don't bother, check the name of the connected /dev device and try the connection out directly.

-Eric

Sorry, I made a mistake in my previous post: because the device requires libftdi1, you NEED the kernel to unbind it first before you may access it with INDI.

Therefore the udev rules are required to be present in /etc/udev/rules.d to be able to connect the device.

I'll fix the driver config so that the file is copied there when the installation proceeds. In the meantime, you will need to copy 88-LacertaMGen.rules to /etc/udev/rules.d manually (with root privileges).

-Eric

Hi!

I am searching for hours about information on how to get the mgen running under kstars AND how to download, install and use it on my kde Linux Distro-Astro distribution laptop.I have absolutely no idea about linux and installed this special "distro-astro" linux system on an old laptop to learn bout kstars, ekos and linux as well.
It would be very kind of you to tell me in short steps how to download and install your driver.

cheers
TCM

Hello,

Thanks for your interest in this driver. In its current state, the driver "only" provides a remote user interface to the MGen LCD pad. Is this what you are looking for?

-Eric

Hi!

Yes for now it would be Ok for me, since i have to go out to my setup for focusing anyway, and i am in „Testing conditions“



Gesendet von iPhone mit Tapatalk

OK. You need two things: a USB connection to the MGen pad, and an INDI server with driver indi_mgenauotoguider compiled in installed to your local setup.

I could give you high-level directions, but as no one except me did actually test the driver, I'd recommend you understand each step

When you connect your MGen via USB, it should be recognized automatically by your OS. You can use the terminal command "dmesg" before and after connecting to check what the system detected, or just check the changes in folder "/dev".

The difficult step is to have the MGen recognized by your local setup *as a FTDI unbound device*, and I don't expect it to be by default. To achieve this you need a special "udev rules" file on the computer the MGen is connected to, that I made available at "github.com/indilib/indi/blob/master/3rdp...80-LacertaMgen.rules". You need to download and store this file at "/etc/udev/rules.d", then reboot that computer.

As this is a privileged location, you will probably need to use the terminal command "sudo cp" to copy the rules file there. Tell me if you need help at that point.

The next step is to start the driver with your indiserver. Do this as you would for other devices. Even if no device is recognized, you should have the driver panel available when you start Ekos/Kstars.

From then on, check under which name your MGen is recognized when you connect it, and provide this device name in the driver panel. This should be "/dev/usb.mgen", as can be read from the rules file. You can then connect the driver.

At this point, in the panel "Remote UI", you should be able to start a remote session with your MGen device.

Tell me how it goes, so that I may fix things or improve the configuration (which needs it!).

-Eric

OK, thanks for the instructions. Next Problem is that i cant find a download link. Maybe this works different in Linux world, but HOW do i download this file?
I am able to copy the raw code, but i dont think thats what i am supposed to do, right?

cheers

On github.com, you may press the button "Raw" on the right side of the view window. This displays the file unformatted, you can then save the "page" where you need to.

-Eric

Hi!
Managed to copy the rules file to the correct directory (and learned a lot about the file system and syntax )
Then i started the system new. controlled if the driver is where it has to be-->OK
So i started Kstars, the Ekos. Normally i open the pulldowns i need and choose the device i need.
But i can find it there. Shouldnt it be in "Guider"?
Because i can not find anything called mgen. Or do you talk about another kind of starting my driver with my indiserver?

In Ekos this should be an Aux driver. It's not a guider (yet) for Ekos because Ekos cannot control it per se.

Could you describe your setup a bit more? How many computers do you have, and what is connected to which? I'd like to understand to which computer the MGen is connected to, and whether there is a remote indiserver involved.

-Eric

Hi!

Sure. I am Running an old Laptop, HP Pavillon, where i installed something called "Distro-Astro" a special Linux distribtion with lots of Astronomic software on, and also with KStars. I DO NOT run another device with an indi server on it like a Rasperry pi or something similar. All my devices are connected dirfetly to the notebook. The EQ6-R, The Canon DSLR EOS 5dIIIa and now the MGen too. The EQ for sure with an adapter from Serial to USB.
Hope that helps.