Last Friday I drove to my preferred overservation location and spent the night taking pictures. During this night I encountered several problems with the sequence queue that could very well be related to each other. What happened:

- randomly no dithering occurred between subs despite prefs were set to "dither after every 1 frame" (for example between Helix12 and Helix13 in the logfile at [2021-09-04T00:01:12.879 CEST DEBG ])
- Once a 300s frame was received, multiple other frames (no idea where they came from!) were saved immediately thereafter. For example a couple of seconds after receiving "Helix_022.fits" I found the files "Helix_022.fits, 023, 024,.... 030.fits on my hard drive. Files 23-30 looked like they were ultra-short exposures of the Helix nebula. ([2021-09-04T00:27:56.679 CEST INFO ])
- at some point I noticed that the next sub was fired while dithering was still active. (according to my notes this happened around 0:42)
- at 2.03h a meridian flip was initiated. Guiding continued as the flip happened


When I became aware that someting is going wrong, I started recording the logfile. The software used had been git-pulled the same day, Friday 03/09/2021 (both kstars and indi).

Looking at the logfile I suspect the cams got mixed up. I do see exposures of 1.5s being directed to my MC294Pro which I am sure is not what was intended. Instead, these exposures should have been directed towards my guiding cam MC294. If the main cam is commanded to take guiding frames, all sort of things can happen IMO. So maybe the issues observed all stem from the same cause. I have no idea what to do now. Is this a libasi issue or is it KStars-related? The fact that nobody else reported problems with the sequence queue so far, suggests the former is more likely.

Otherwise the software did work very well. Guiding was good, plate solving did work right away and overall I was happy with the pictures that I got.

Thank you for the report. There is indeed some mix-up that's happening. I just added extra checks to help prevent against that, please git pull and test again when you have the chance.

Jasem,

I spent another night out in the dark. It appears to me the camera mix-up did not occur this time. But I saw a couple other unusual things happening:

At 23:18 a crash occurred while the system was guiding. Last thing I did was open a Details window for either the Lagoon or Helix nebula.

At 23:25:58 the guide graph got stuck during normal guiding without any user interaction. The logfile reports:
[2021-09-08T23:25:26.309 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] BLOB transfer took 0.0880408 seconds "
[2021-09-08T23:25:26.310 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Upload complete "
[2021-09-08T23:25:26.667 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Image received. Mode: "Guide" Size: 23397120
[2021-09-08T23:25:26.667 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Reading file buffer ( "22,3 MiB" )
[2021-09-08T23:25:26.893 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Sextract with:  "1-Guide-Default"
[2021-09-08T23:25:27.315 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] StartExposure->setexp : 1.500s "
[2021-09-08T23:25:29.870 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 23397120, sendImage? Yes, saveImage? No "
[2021-09-08T23:25:30.003 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] BLOB transfer took 0.0902875 seconds "
[2021-09-08T23:25:30.003 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Upload complete "
[2021-09-08T23:25:30.385 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Image received. Mode: "Guide" Size: 23397120
[2021-09-08T23:25:30.385 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Reading file buffer ( "22,3 MiB" )
[2021-09-08T23:25:58.954 CEST INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - <strong>"Exposure timeout. Restarting exposure..."    </strong>            [ <- no idea why]
[2021-09-08T23:25:58.959 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Aborting exposure... "
[2021-09-08T23:25:58.959 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] StartExposure->setexp : 1.500s "
[2021-09-08T23:26:01.506 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 23397120, sendImage? Yes, saveImage? No "
[2021-09-08T23:26:01.637 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] BLOB transfer took 0.0886794 seconds "
[2021-09-08T23:26:01.637 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Upload complete "
[2021-09-08T23:26:01.994 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Image received. Mode: "Guide" Size: 23397120
[2021-09-08T23:26:01.995 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Reading file buffer ( "22,3 MiB" )
<strong>[2021-09-08T23:26:08.405 CEST DEBG ][   org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - Guiding state changed from "Guiding" to "Aborted"
[2021-09-08T23:26:08.407 CEST INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - "Autoguiding aborted."
[2021-09-08T23:26:13.580 CEST DEBG ][   org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - Guiding state changed from "Aborted" to "Guiding"    [<-- </strong>since the guide graph didn't move anymore, I stopped and re-started guiding. The guider did work without problems then...]
[2021-09-08T23:26:13.588 CEST INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - "Autoguiding started."
[2021-09-08T23:26:13.596 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] StartExposure->setexp : 1.500s "
[2021-09-08T23:26:16.148 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 23397120, sendImage? Yes, saveImage? No "
[2021-09-08T23:26:16.283 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] BLOB transfer took 0.0905578 seconds "
[2021-09-08T23:26:16.283 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Upload complete "
[2021-09-08T23:26:16.633 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Image received. Mode: "Guide" Size: 23397120
[2021-09-08T23:26:16.633 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Reading file buffer ( "22,3 MiB" )
[2021-09-08T23:26:16.843 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Sextract with:  "1-Guide-Default"
[2021-09-08T23:26:17.280 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Sextract with:  "1-Guide-Default"
[2021-09-08T23:26:17.520 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] StartExposure->setexp : 1.500s "
[2021-09-08T23:26:20.071 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 23397120, sendImage? Yes,

23:56h: I did stop the sequence and - as others have reported, too - a picture did show in FITSviewer. Aborted exposures should not be displayed.

After reading the logfile I believe dither settling does not work as intended. Have a look at this:
[2021-09-08T23:56:09.877 CEST DEBG ][   org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - Guiding state changed from "Dithering" to "Settling"
[2021-09-08T23:56:09.877 CEST INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - "Post-dither settling for 5 seconds..."
[2021-09-08T23:56:14.953 CEST DEBG ][   org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - Guiding state changed from "Settling" to "Dithering successful"
[2021-09-08T23:56:14.953 CEST INFO ][   org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - Dithering succeeded, capture state "Dithering"
[2021-09-08T23:56:14.953 CEST INFO ][   org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Dithering succeeded."
[2021-09-08T23:56:14.955 CEST INFO ][   org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - "Dither complete. Resuming in 15 seconds..."    [<--- this 15s wait period should start <strong>after</strong> guiding has resumed!]
[2021-09-08T23:56:14.956 CEST INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - "Dithering completed successfully."
[2021-09-08T23:56:14.956 CEST DEBG ][   org.kde.kstars.ekos.capture] - Guiding state changed from "Dithering successful" to "Guiding"
[2021-09-08T23:56:14.966 CEST INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - "<strong>Guiding resumed.</strong>"   
* 15s wait period should start HERE *
[2021-09-08T23:56:14.969 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] StartExposure->setexp : 1.500s "



2:01h guiding stops again

[2021-09-09T02:01:12.953 CEST INFO ][     org.kde.kstars.ekos.guide] - "Exposure timeout. Restarting exposure..."
[2021-09-09T02:01:12.958 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Aborting exposure... "
[2021-09-09T02:01:12.958 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] StartExposure->setexp : 1.500s "
[2021-09-09T02:01:15.507 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Uploading file. Ext: fits, Size: 23397120, sendImage? Yes, saveImage? No "
[2021-09-09T02:01:15.637 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] BLOB transfer took 0.0875795 seconds "
[2021-09-09T02:01:15.637 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - ZWO CCD ASI294MC : "[DEBUG] Upload complete "
[2021-09-09T02:01:15.986 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.indi] - Image received. Mode: "Guide" Size: 23397120
[2021-09-09T02:01:15.986 CEST DEBG ][           org.kde.kstars.fits] - Reading file buffer ( "22,3 MiB" )
.
no entry for 26s! The guide graph did not update (as no further guide images were received).  This time I did not interrupt but waited for what happens. Once the 300s image from the main cam had downloaded, dithering and guiding resumed normally. The image received from the main cam had a HFR of 1.9 which indicates that guiding did not work during these 26s.