Yes, thanks. I have several SD cards dating back to Astroberry, probably 2019! But I am re-purposing them. I have 2 stable USB 3.0 SSD drives that I have been alternating; previous one had 3.5.8 and now this one with Kstars 3.6.3. But they both were under Ubuntu 20.04 LTS as that was working. I have not seen the latest on running Kstars 3.6.8 on Ubuntu 22.04 (as of Decembers it seems there was still some compiling that needed to be done) , so I have not updated the Ubuntu OS. As expected, we (the user community) are the Guinee pigs for determining what is working on what system. That's fine, but that information is not always updated in the forum. You have to wither report a problem or ask for specific details. And now that there are several more mini-computers available (used to be only Rpi) not everyone is running similar setups.

It all gets complicated. But I am glad to see there are new contributors to the program and new features being added. I think I have a handle on how to use my current focus routine successfully (thank you for your assistance), so I will likely stick with that until I get the next version of the program up and running for testing.

One more suggestion. Tonight I was imaging Jupiter again. I use FireCapture to take the videos (just used to it). But in order to do that I have to disconnect the main camera in Kstars. Then the focus module does not work, so I cannot use the 'In" and "out" buttons to adjust focus while looking at the image in FC (I used the hand controller). But, it would be nice to have those buttons in the Indi Control Panel for the EAF, so they are independent from the camera.

Hi Ronald,

I can run Kstars on Ubuntu 22.04 in a VM so I think its fine but, of course, its upto you to decide when to upgrade.

On your second point, you could try setting up another optical train with the ASI EAF connected and the CCD Simulator as camera (as you've noted you'll need a camera attached for focus to be able to use move in/out). The output of the CCD Simulator will of course be useless when you're using FC so obviously Autofocus won't work, but I think basic focuser moves: in, out, goto XYZ will work. (I've not tried this with FC but I think it will work).

The only thing to check is that AF Overscan works as expected. Its fine in 3.6.8 but I don't know about 3.6.3. If it doesn't work you'll have to manually do it with move in / out or goto.

Thanks, I tried your suggestion of setting up a third optical tran just for focus access and that works with FireCapture (FC). FC is supposed to have its own focus module, but it only works with the ASCOM driver on windows. Using the RPI limits what I can run. I don't expect to run the AutoFocus routine when planetary imaging, I am either trying to get a sharp edge, clear definition of surface features or focusing on moons.

the following is just for your information. Since I am not running the latest release I don't expect resolution of these issues.

I turned off the overscan last night and tried setting Backlash. I had some difficulties:
"Failed to set backlash compensation. Error 3"
it would only accept values less than 150? I was running step sizes of 600, focusing on a star. The AF routine moved out as it should, but did not include the backlash amount. I don't know if I had backlash enabled in the ControlPanel. I assumed it would enable it as soon as I set a backlash value.

I started with detection "SEP" but I was getting dozens of stars with HFR of 0.75, so the detection data was skewed. I took darks and engaged the dark option thinking it ws hot pixels. That did not help, still had lots of small stars. I eventually switched to 'centroid' and adjusted exposure so only had a few stars.

Is there a setting to accept only stars with HFR greater than some value?

I eventually reduced the step size (100) and found a solution. It moved to that solution, but did not include any backlash value in its motion, at least according to the log.

I will work on getting an upgraded system running.

Thanks for the feedback.

On Backlash, I don't know why you're seeing errors. Personally I use AF Overscan with the ASI EAF.

On SEP, you might find this video interesting, as it describes how to setup to capture data to analyse SEP offline...

There are a couple of ways to tune out small HFR stars. The easiest is to exclude small stars (Min Size parameter), but it would also be worth checking Min Area and Thresh Multiple. If you follow the steps in the video to save off and then replay the data, you can tweak parameters as much as you like, rerun focus watch what happens.

I just upgraded the firmware on my ZWO EAF to 3.3.8 and I notice there is a lot more backlash now. Before a value of 45 was sufficient.
Unfortunately the firmware only allows to set a value of maximum 255 which does not seem to be sufficient.
I have sent email on this to ZWO...
I hope in the meanwhile overscan can be a workaround.

Are you saying that the value I set in Ekos for backlash it is actually fed to the EAF firmware and is not handled by Ekos at all and that amount of backlash is an adjustment made by the EAF independently. Perhaps that is why I don't see any backlash motion in the EKos log, But I am still running an older version of EKOS.

I have my EAF attached to a FeatherTouch Micro Focuser and it seems that I only need 500 steps to move completely thru focus on a star. So 255 steps backlash should be enough.

I have only been able to set the backlash to 150 (I think). I have been imaging Jupiter at f/20 (with a barlow), so all bets are off at other f/values.

The EAF is new to me and I have not 'played' around with it much, jsut using it to adjust focus for planetary imaging.

Yes, the backlash is handled by the ZWO EAF firmware AFAIK

Turns out, I did not set the grub screws right. There is nothing wrong with the firmware.

Thanks, good to know.

John,
Not sure you can help with this. I have Ubuntu 22.04 running on a Rpi4, I am using the Lightdm display manager and Xubuntu desktop (I am running the server version but with that as the desktop). I am having difficulty getting x11vnc to work. Would you have any suggestions. I set it up the same as for the Ubuntu 20.04 system and I followed a tutorial on linve for setting up x11vnc for Ubuntu 22.04. Neither one works with the VNC client I have on my windows laptop.

any thoughts or suggestons
thanks
Ron

Sorry, I don't have any experience of this. You could try posting it as a separate thread which might attract folks with the right knowledge.