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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Mac KStars 3.5.7 beta new build -- please test

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Great, I think the Ekos slaving value just needs to be greater than the Nexdome internal dead zone. So if you need more rotation accuracy you can try reducing it to 1.0, or even 0.6. Hope it fixes the issue for you!
2 years 2 months ago #79547

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Hi Rob,

I tested with KStars-3.5.7-beta3 (and also beta2). I skipped KStars-3.5.7-beta because I read it had some problems with the Indi drivers. I have only focused on my own problem: starting a remote session from my Mac to the RPi with StellarMateOS on it (drivers used: Skywatcher AltAz {no problems}, SkySafari {no problems}, ZWO ASI CCD {crashes}).

I first started my devices and Ekos on the RPi. Everything works well.

As far as I can see my problem with 3.5.6 has not been resolved. The remote device/driver (indi_asi_ccd) still crashes and causes (or is the result of) the local macOS version of KStars/Ekos to crash. I really don't know what causes what, actually. But considering my last tests, I think it is the macOS version.
What is different though, is the fact that the remote device/driver (indi_asi_ccd) does NOT restart as in 3.5.5 and 3.5.6. The driver crashes and the tab in the remote Indi manager just disappears. When I start KStars/Ekos after some time on my Mac and try to connect remotely it only finds my mount (and the SkySafari) driver, since the ZWO ASI driver has died.

Additionally I tested 3.5.7.beta2 with a profile for a local setup, connecting just the ZWO ASI178MC directly to my Mac and using a telescope simulator.
In this test the indi_asi_ccd just kept on crashing, continuously trying a restart. Using ASI Studio on the Mac the camera works just fine.

I also tested with 3.5.7.beta3 locally. KStars/Ekos crashed again. I restarted and connected to the still existing instance of Indi server. The tab for the ZWO ASI CCD had disappeared. I'm on macOS Monterey and attached the macOS crash log. 

File Attachment:

File Name: log_crash_kstars.rtf
File Size:47 KB


If you need any additional info from me please let me know.

Cheers,

Marc
2 years 2 months ago #79613
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Hi,

I tested last night beta3. With previous version (3.5.6) I had serial problems and KStars was very unstable and indidriver can crash anytime. I have MacBook Pro early 2011, Onstep 4.12 and ASI224MC.

This beta-version seems to be stable and scheduler ran whole night without problems. Only problem was connecting to indiserver. KStars crashed almost every time, when I tried to connect equipment. If I let indiserver running, connecting seems to work but starting indiserver seems crash Kstars.

Then there is something strange with Fitsviewer. I have disabled fitsviewer from settings because I don't want to see every single image using scheduler. In the version 3.5.6 I can still see the image using capture but that not happen with beta-version. I have to enable Fitsviewer to see preview image and the disable it before using scheduler.

Then there may be some issue with focus/polar alignment and with auto stretch. It seems that auto stretch is not enabled with those functions because my stars were dimmer than normally with same settings. But I'm not really sure about that.
2 years 2 months ago #79614

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Hi JAMBBE,

Yes, with the first two betas that I posted there were packaging problems because of all the changes I had to make, my packaging script had some bugs.  The testers in this forum thread really helped me sort out the issues though with their testing, so I am most appreciative.  It should be good now, thanks for trying it out and reporting that it worked well.

There is a bug (I mentioned it earlier in the thread) that I see sometimes when starting an INDIServer where KStars sometimes but not always crashes and I don't know the cause.  This issue has existed for a few months and is not at all related to the INDI drivers issues that were reported with the betas above.  The INDIServer still starts successfully however, and if you restart kstars and reconnect to the INDIserver you already started everything works fine.  I wish I knew why this happens but I haven't figured it out yet.  It does seem that it might be dependent on Mac versions, since it happens on my Monterey Mac, but not on a Big Sur Mac that I tested it on the other day.  Now that a couple of more people can look into it with the work I did the last two weeks maybe we can investigate this further.

The other things you are mentioning with FITSViewer and and auto stretch are probably things that got changed in this version of KStars.  I am not familiar with any of the software changes this time around since I have been really focused on making all the changes so that we can get daily builds of KStars for Mac on the KDE Binary server.  They don't sound like Mac only issues, nor do they sound like anything I have been working on.  A good idea might be to post these questions/bugs in a new thread where more people might see it.  The only people who will look at this thread are those interested in the Mac beta build.

Please let me know if you notice any other issues and thank you for testing,

Rob
 
2 years 2 months ago #79629

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Rob wrote:

"There is a bug (I mentioned it earlier in the thread) that I see sometimes when starting an INDIServer where KStars sometimes but not always crashes and I don't know the cause.  This issue has existed for a few months and is not at all related to the INDI drivers issues that were reported with the betas above.  The INDIServer still starts successfully however, and if you restart kstars and reconnect to the INDIserver you already started everything works fine.  I wish I knew why this happens but I haven't figured it out yet. "

Pretty sure that's not just a Mac bug because that exact same behavior happens frequently to me on ubuntu 20.04.3 LTS running on a generic AMD mini-PC.
Last edit: 2 years 2 months ago by Scott Denning.
2 years 2 months ago #79636

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Scott Denning, very interesting.  Is this on INDIServer startup or on shutdown?  I remember there was a cross platform KStars crash that happened sometimes on indiserver shutdown, but I thought this new crash on startup that I started seeing just a few months ago was Mac only.  The. shutdown bug was addressed I believe.

Thanks,

Rob
2 years 2 months ago #79637

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Rob I tested the latest build fir about two hours.  I didn't find any new bugs.  Good job!
But there are two minor issues I want to bring up:

1.  While I can change the scope and guidescope focal length in the mount control screen, they never save.  The save button seems to work, but when I start Kstars back up the original focal length settings come back.

2.  In the Mosaic feature, I like new feature where I can move the mosaic around to compose it, I don't see any way to zoom the screen in or out.  I was looking at my 2x2 composition and it filled the screen - but I really wanted to see more of the sky so I can judge exactly how I wanted to position the mosaic.  A zoom in/out function like you have in the planetarium would be really helpful.  I thought spinning the mouse scroll wheel would do it, but no.

 
2 years 2 months ago #79638

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Hi Peter,

I'm glad to hear it all worked out!  As for your two minor issues, I am not sure I can help with those right now.  I am surprised that the scope focal length and guide scope focal length do not save.  Did KStars crash before you restarted it?  Sometimes I note that if there is a crash and it doesn't get shut down properly, some preferences don't save.  But if that isn't the problem, I am not sure I know.  You might try posting in a new forum post.

For the second item, that is a new feature that I don't have any experience with.  I have had my head very deep in the building and packaging scripts and code and I haven't even gotten to play with any new features recently, (plus it is full moon).  You might want to ask Jasem or post in the general forum, since I think he is the one who might have worked on that.

Thanks,

Rob
2 years 2 months ago #79641

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Rob, yes on INDI startup. It's intermittent, but maybe 2 or 3 times a week I click connect and blammo! KStars is gone. Then I restart KStars and click connect and I get the message that there's already an INDI server running and then I can connect to that and everything's fine.

I figured it was just something flaky with my setup until I read the description of this exact problem in this thread.

Guess I should run in gdb and see if I can document it better.
2 years 2 months ago #79643

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Hi everybody,
I have experienced also intempestive crashes of KStars since a few months and I reported it.
The crashes occurred especially while running the simulators.
I think I finally found the culprit : kstarsrc
This file kstarsrc is located (on a Mac) at Library / Preferences / kstarsrc. It contains all the user preferences.
I deleted this file and I've got no crash since in the simulators profile or the real profiles.
I recommend not to delete immediately this file but saving it by changing its name.
When you will start KStars again, the Startup Wizard will open and will recreate a new kstarsrc file.
2 years 2 months ago #79644

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I am using the indi_sqm_weather driver to connect my Unihedron SQM through ethernet.
With KStars 357-3 the correct server address cannot be saved, while it is saved with older KStars versions.
2 years 2 months ago #79646

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So as in all the drivers, there is the "Options" tab where you can save, and load configurations in the INDI driver.  Is that what you are using to do the saving and loading?  I just tried it myself, though I don't have a weather device.  I was able to set the port, save the configuration, close the driver, then load it again. Now most drivers I have been familiar with in the past have automatically loaded the configuration. Is this one any different?
2 years 2 months ago #79658

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