Hi,
Ekos is trying to download the log of the solve operation from nova.astrometry.net even if I've input a different (and local, in my case) host as the solve server.
All the rest is solving, this is the final hurdle, please help me!
Thanks

The log says:2021-08-17T17:37:51 Error transferring nova.astrometry.net/joblog/12 - server replied: Internal Server ErrorBut as I said, I'm not using it...

I'm not sure why you have a  "local solve server".
If you want to solve on your local machine, you should do the following:

In the Align Options menu, "StellarSolver Options tab", you should have something like this:

 
(Internal Solver could be replaced by Local ASTAP--either way, you need to have your Astrometry.net files or ASTAP files installed)

and the lower left corned of the Align tab should look like this:
where the StellarSolver circle is filled in. 
 

If that doesn't work, please post screenshots of how you set things up.
Hy

Thanks for your reply, but what I want is not local solve.

Not as in, locally on the kstar/ekos machine.

A bunch of us are running raspberries in the field and sometimes need blind solve. The integrated solver cannot blind solve, sometimes not even on powerful machines, let alone on raspberries, and hence I'm trying to setup a nova clone on a VM I own which is reacheable from the observatory through the internet.

Of course, my VM operates on an address different than nova.astrometry.net. The requests come in, the solve is done, the answer is read but ekos insists looking for a log file of the solving from nova.astrometry.net, even if the host has been specified in the configuration.

I hope I cleared things up a bit.

Got it, ok, not sure what your issue is.

FWIW, I do blind solves frequently with my RPi4. I usually use ASTAP, and it seems to work in under 1s, and I've also done so with the internal solver, though it might sometimes take a bit longer (<10s). For the internal solver, you should allow it to downsample, e.g. 2x2 for an ASI1600.

Hy

Are you sure those are blind solves? Under 1 second blind requires a huge amount of power, not even possible as far as I know.
Chances are your images contain coordinates in them in the headers.

Well, of course I could be tricked, as you say, but my impression is that the solves are "blind", e.g. I uncheck "Use Scale" and "Use Position" buttons.
For instance, see this post from ASTAP: stargazerslounge.com/topic/323797-blind-solving-with-astap/
and this merge request for StellarSolver into Ekos: invent.kde.org/education/kstars/-/merge_requests/98

Both claim "blind solving" in seconds.

FWIW, you can experiment with either one on a RPi4 by using their stand-alone programs. That is, if you run the ASTAP binary directly, it comes up with a UI that allows you to load fits files and solve them (so you can remove any fits header lines you want). Ditto for the StellarSolver_tester program that's part of the StellarSolver package.

Hy

I'll make some more tests, it can maybe lead me to good things.
Thanks for the idea.

Running the ASTAP solver itself can mislead, as I tried this a few months back, but the behaviour is very different compared to the binary launched from ekos because of the parameters used.

PS: I've read the first link you posted and maybe found what drove me off ASTAP in the first place: it doesn't play nice with proper exposures. It works well with short exposures, not full exposure ones. But anyway, some times has passed so I can try and verify with current releases and see where I can get. Will report back.

Fabio: Looking forward to what you find.

Also, of course, if you discover that Ekos/StellarSolver is passing suboptimal parameters to ASTAP,
please let us know, and hopefully we can improve things.

Hy

Will do.

But also, let's not lose sight of the bug I found, which is still true: ekos calls an internet address regardless what you set in the configuration.

Got it. I took a quick look, and I'm pretty sure this is related to StellarSolver (as opposed to Ekos).
Not sure if that currently allows changing urls for the solver.
@rlancaste: are you able to take a look? (I'll send you a side email too, in case you don't see this).
See github.com/rlancaste/stellarsolver/blob/...nlinesolver.cpp#L325 where nova.astrometry.net is hardcoded.

Well, in Ekos there is a field where you can input the host and in fact, it does request the solve to my server.
It's just after it's done it asks for the log to the wrong one.

Update: yes, Ekos is fooling you. Even if I deselected both Use Scale and Use Position, the astap binary gets called with arguments passed of both scale and position, and search radius too.
I think this is ultimately why it's so quick, but those are definitely not blind solves.
And maybe this is another bug, it seems the ASTAP interface completely ignores some of the settings.

EDIT: I find ASTAP really frustrating. It's very good that it can do blind solves by mouth of its author, but it would be nice if they explained HOW. All the software does, and it tells you as much when you hover over the Solve button, is search in a radius from a starting point, which seems to be a requirement, and after it reaches 20deg off, it stops. I can't find a settings page despite the program offers me the option to save them (???). I seem to recall there was an option to start with some different parameters but I can't find them now.

EDIT2: ok, I managed it, by specifying -r 180 on the command line. It was relatively fast, 20 seconds but with a 12 core Xeon. I doubt this will be useful on a RPi4. As I expected, real blind solve is just slow and requires a good amount of power.