For reasons I have been unable to figure out every time I start ekos (kstars/ekos 3.6.5 on ubuntu 22.04) it drives the rotator on my NiteCrawler to zero automatically. How do I prevent this from happening?

Logs would help.

Log attached - line 182 is the initiation of move:

2023-06-18T20:54:58.132 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - LX200 10micron : "[INFO] Mount is parked. "
[2023-06-18T20:54:58.132 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - Target coordinates updated to JNow RA: "23h 56m 00s" DE: " 180° 00' 00\""
[2023-06-18T20:54:58.134 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - WatchDog : "[INFO] Mount is Parked "
[2023-06-18T20:54:58.239 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[INFO] Rotator moving to -0.00 degrees... "

Hi Thomas
I noticed the same behaviour with the rotator simulator, but did not pay more attention, because my "Pegasus Falcon" is initialized correctly.
I suppose the "Goto" control in INDI control panel of 'Nitecrawler' is grey, isn't it? What happens, if you try to save the configuration?

Are there other people with similar experiences?

I have saved the configuration with the rotator set to where I want it to be, happens to be 90 to keep filter wheel away from pier. Didn’t change the behavior on starting ekos, it still drives to zero.

OK. Can you check if the LED of the "Goto" control in INDI control panel is grey (e.g. 'idle') after starting EKOS? If this the case, the driver does not initailize itself.

When Ekos starts Indi the goto led is yellow and it is moving. It switches to green when it stops moving. More verbose log attached, relevant movement is around line 400:

[2023-06-20T07:31:03.563 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - LX200 10micron : "[INFO] Gstat initialized at 5 "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.563 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - LX200 10micron : "[INFO] Mount is parked. "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.563 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos.align] - Target coordinates updated to JNow RA: "23h 56m 00s" DE: " 180° 00' 00\""
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.565 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - WatchDog : "[INFO] Mount is Parked "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.607 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] CMD <2SN 4#> "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.650 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] RES <#> "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.651 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] CMD <2SM#> "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.651 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] RES <#> "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.652 MDT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[INFO] Rotator moving to 0.00 degrees... "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.652 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] CMD <GT#> "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.652 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] RES <166> "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.652 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] CMD <GV#> "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.664 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] RES <126> "
[2023-06-20T07:31:03.664 MDT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - NightCrawler : "[DEBUG] CMD <GS#> "

The command comes from 'RotatorInterface.cpp' (cf. info message!) and moves the rotator through the second channel(?) to position 4 ticks (which seems to be translated to 0.00°) .
@Thomas: Can you spot this value '4' somewhere in the INDI control panel?
@all: Who has some experiences with 'NiteCrawler' rotator, especially in 3.6.5?

I have the Moonlite Litecrawer - which is the same unit only narrower. It uses the exact same driver, and it works fine on KStars 3.6.5 (MacOSX). When INDI starts up, the rotator does not move unless I command it to, or I use "Load ad Slew".

@Peter: Thanks for your feedback.
Good to hear that the driver works with your 'Litecrawler'. Until now we do not have any clues what happens with with the 'Nitecrawler' of Thomas. I've been combing through the WWW and I've found some references of the same problem in all operating systems. Chances are that the firmware is malfunctioning. So any other feeback is highly appreciated!

I am traveling for next couple of weeks so won’t have a chance to explore further until end of July.

Back after travels - I can’t find a reference to 4 anywhere in the control panel. It still drives to zero upon startup with indi 2.0.3 and kstars 3.6.6.