Still in the process of getting the outputs done.

I went hunting a little, and found a few things that could be improved. They are now in main repository. (There was a timeout after tracking On/Off, Parking?, The OnStepX focuser type checks had an issue on V3, so I fixed that as well, it'll timeout once there.)

There may be more, I need to look at some of the replies, the main issue is the use of some of the lx200 functions which expect a # string, and OnStep returns either a single character vs a # terminated string, or in some cases times out. I think I've gotten most of them, with V3 to V5.

I also changed the high precision to be off, and implemented the most basic version checking. It will turn on High precision on connect if it sees OnStep, or On-Step and V4 or V5 or in the case of OnStepX. Otherwise it's off with no timeout caused. If you are using an old version of V4/V5 it might not support that in which case it will cause a timeout (once, effectively the same behavior before the changes).

Timeouts that I don't see a way around:
TMC_SPI detection currently is 2 seconds to check for it's presence and a timeout if not present. (This actually will likely go up, as it appears that TMC_SPI which used to be RA+DEC Both or None is per axis now) 


Copying my old todo:
1. Changing the MaxRate replacement (degrees per sec)
2. Intervolometer support
3. Focuser Changes
4. Dew heater
5. Weather support. (Read BME280/etc)
6. Tangent arm support (Plate solve then adjust?)
7. Check backlash values (Changed to allowed to 3600)
8. DC Focuser support (Not sure if that works already or not?) Might need someone who has one to help with this.
9. TMC_SPI reporting support. (I got one for testing, and finally went to put it in on this cloudy night. I unfortunately missed the: You have to have both axis be SPI if one is, so this will be working at some point, but when is a big question. Oops.)
10. Equivalent of MoveAxis support to allow for following satellites. (Kstars issue more likely than OnStep directly, as the custom rates are added in, but Kstars doesn't have a way to send the rates/information, AFAIK)
11. PEC Import/Export
12. Check uses of getCommandString and replace any which might not return with the replacements (getCommandSingleCharResponse/getCommandSingleCharErrorOrLongResponse)
13. Implement checksum for packets See: onstep.groups.io/g/main/topic/27153325

Also, @Jack I just was able to duplicate and found the cause of the Unparking issue, and submitted another pull request a minute ago. It had been set to only read it from a clean state only from when it first connected. After that it would read only specific things depending on the state. (I suspect an artifact from a long time ago, maybe before :GU# had everything including Park status?) I got rid of the conditionals (there is no extra scope communication) so it updates it every update. (Which also isn't perfect (there was/is? a timing bug with KStars on alignment, if it sees a move start, but the status updates), but eh.)

In that case, dome lock was on, so the unlock would fail, but the state would get set to not parked (don't recall what it was, and doesn't matter) but that was/is tracked in the telescope class so it'd go: Hey, you are already unparked. I'll look into it a bit more, in case it's a problem for someone else.
 

Hi James,

Would it be possible to prioritize PEC Import/Export?
Also, there is an issue that I am running into once in a while during precision slewing, where if the mount needs to slew very little (~ 1' ), it gets stuck and I have to stop the slewing using the INDI panel.
Any thoughts on how to solve this?

Alex

Hi All,

Does anyone know the OnStep version shipped with the current kstarts 3.5.3 update for the astroberry (rPi)? I updated (system update) a couple of days ago, and I found out that it is not an updated driver, since it does not have rotator support (something I was waiting for, thanks James for adding it!). Besides, PHD2 fails to connect to the mount and crashes. Driver info shows the same values than the previous one (version 1.9 & interface 1.4.1)

I have gone back to the previous version where everything works (except for rotator support... I will continue waiting). Perhaps this problem is not related to this specific driver, but just in case... 

Thanks a lot for your help.

Jordi.

Jordi,

I can't comment on the rotator, since I don't have one.

But I got an INDI update today and installed.

Very basic testing shows that OnStep works as before.

Here are my package versions. I am on Ubuntu 18.04 LTS on a laptop.

indi-bin 1.9.1~202106261410~ubuntu18.04.1
indi-gphoto 3.0~202105061228~ubuntu18.04.1
indi-qhy 2.7~202105011731~ubuntu18.04.1
libindi-data 1.9.1~202106261410~ubuntu18.04.1

kstars-bleeding 6:3.5.3+202105061458~ubuntu18.04.1
kstars-bleeding-data 6:3.5.3+202105061458~ubuntu18.04.1
kstars-bleeding-dbg 6:3.5.3+202105061458~ubuntu18.04.1

As regards the PEC I/E, I will work on it when I can, but unfortunately, my mount messed up so I don't have one with PEC (Not that it's going to be required for it, but I can't test it.)

As far as the tiny slews, I think I recall that being due to acceleration/deceleration, and a note about that in old config files? I can't seem to find it right now, but you might go browse old git versions. This seems like something that's going to be more an OnStep issue, than the INDI interface. Though if you've got logs those would be good to know. The INDI interface should reflect the state of the driver.

I have had little time lately, (which unfortunately may drop to near 0 again) but did manage to work on two things (incomplete! I haven't even merged them into my master branch yet):
1) Reducing timeouts even more, and general code cleanup.
2) Checksummed commands (which has been working with one of the OnStep Specific things, but trying to convert to a better layout caused a crash that I haven't gotten to look at. Whee!)

INDI 1.9.1/OnStep v 1.10 should have all of the things up to this point. (Should show driver version under the Connection tab) 1.9.0 / 1.9 will not

It's possible it isn't being detected (and won't show up if it's not), If it's 1.10, can you enable debuging, and search the log file for :rG#, then paste to see if it's detected (example where it isn't):
[2021-07-03T01:19:31.251 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - LX200 OnStep : "[SCOPE] CMD <:rG#> "
[2021-07-03T01:19:31.251 CDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - LX200 OnStep : "[SCOPE] RES <0> "
[2021-07-03T01:19:31.252 CDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - LX200 OnStep : "[INFO] No Rotator found. "

If you can figure out, the log on where it's crashing I can take a look at it. (PHD2 seems to just crash randomly sometimes on me, but I'm pretty sure 99% of the time, it's related to my temperamental camera, and when I've dug into logs it's seemed to be that.)

I downloaded a new update today on the rPi, and now OnStep driver shows the 'Rotator' tab (thanks again, James).

PHD2 (2.6.9dev5) keeps crashing when connecting to the mount, but it does the very same when connecting to the Telescope Simulator driver, so it's not driver related. Hope to solve it soon to be able to test the whole thing...

Regards,

Jordi.

Hello,

I have a problem with the latest driver.
With Kstars, I launch an automated session:
The telescope unparks.
The goto towards the star starts
The shots instantly before the telescope has reached the star.

The state of OnSTep.Status.Tracking:
Telescope parked:
[OK] LX200 OnStep.OnStep Status.Tracking=Idle
Unpark:
[OK] LX200 OnStep.OnStep Status.Tracking=Tracking
Start a goto:
[NOK] LX200 OnStep.OnStep Status.Tracking=Tracking
Start a goto on a second star:
[NOK] LX200 OnStep.OnStep Status.Tracking=Tracking
Start a park:
[OK] LX200 OnStep.OnStep Status.Tracking=Slewing
Telescope parked:
[OK] LX200 OnStep.OnStep Status.Tracking=Idle

 

The state of : OnStep.OnStep Status.:GU# return seems OK:
Telescope parked:
nNPRza/ET250
Unpark:
NpRza~ET250
Start a goto:
pRza,ET250
End goto
NpRza~ET250
Start a goto on a second star:
pRza,ET250
End goto
NpRza~ET250
Start a park:
nIRza/ET250
Telescope parked:
nNPRza/ET250

 

Argh! Unfortunately that's not new. Sounds like this isn't fixed (I haven't had the chance to test much and it hadn't happened when I did, so the bug got auto-closed):

bugs.kde.org/show_bug.cgi?id=410094

Can you try the branch own-goto from here: github.com/james-lan/indi/tree/own-goto ? Amusingly, I was working on that for checksum based stuff, and remembered that. That particular branch is the current version with that one change (plus version bump) so it doesn't have the checksum stuff yet.

For a mitigation, increase the polling time. That won't prevent it, and it's annoying, but will reduce the chance of it occurring.

Basically, When I looked at (Kstars has had some changes) It boiled down to a lack of a timer in Kstars, plus the driver relying on the lx200 functions, which set the switch to Slewing, even if the mount isn't yet, and when the status update comes which also sets the TrackState. Under bad combinations of timing: Move Issued and sent - Status update before OnStep changes state, OnStep reports Tracking, driver updates TrackState to Tracking - Kstars goes: Done! Start picture - next update, OnStep reports Slewing, driver updates to slewing, but the image is in progress.

On the other hand we could announce it as a new driver feature: Fastest way to do star trails.

Hello,
I just tested with the own-goto branch.
I just replaced indi_lx200generic.
The problem looks the same.
I am using Kstars 3.5.3
Goto towards a star, it systematically remains in tracking.
Park he systematically switches to Sleewing.
GU # is different depending on whether you go to a star or park the telescope:
Goto: pRza, ET250
Park: nIRza / ET250
Tracking: NpRza ~ ET250

In the meantime, I'll be doing star trails

Hi James,

I have same results
Parked nNPe/EW290
Unparked Npe/EW290
during Goto pe/EW290
Goto Completed Npe/EW290
Parking nIe/EW290

Debian VERSION="10 (buster)"
Kstars Version 3.5.4 Beta
OnStep 4.24.d