As wreeven alerted me to, there is a problem with the Shoestring Astronomy autofocuser in KStars 3.3.3.
I installed that KStars version on a new NanoPi-M4 and found the focuser getting stuck after the first image.
I am still running KStars 3.2.0 on another machine (Zotac 332) and that runs flawlessly.
Unfortunately, the logs were not turned on (off by default) when I tested the focuser on the NanoPi.
However, Wouter experienced the same problem and had already alerted me to it, so he should have informative logs.

Jasem, did you make any changes in the module itself or is this exclusively a driver problem.
Because, in the latter case, one should be able to get around it by installing Peter's INDIGO driver, as I did in the past.

Best
Jo

This is using INDI driver. If there are any issues, please submit the logs so we can see where the problem is.

Indeed I ran into this shortly after the release that contained the first INDI Shoestring driver but that was KStars 3.3.2, wasn't it? I'll admit that I only tested this with pressing the Focus In and Focus Out buttons when Jasem was developing the driver and I was testing it. The buttons work flawlessly so I am surprised that the autofocus doesn't work. In any case, I'll search for logs containing the autofocus. If I cannot find them on my systems then I'll try again tonight (fingers crossed for clear skies).


Wouter

OK I found logs but they are confusing since my guide cam (ASI120) was shooting guide images while the imaging camera (ASI1600) was being used for auto focusing and it is unclear which exposure etc is for which sub system. I'll try again tonight whilst not guiding.


Wouter

Sorry, as I wrote, I am installing this on a NanoPi-M4 and the logs were not turned on there by default. So I only found out later that it would have been nice to have the logs. But this is what is reported in the focus module progress window. There is only one picture taken, after that the camera hangs. The second focusing step at 2019-08-07T21:28:29 was triggered manually, to see whether that would resolve the hang. No effect. The aborted captures were also triggered by me hitting the Stop button. The timeouts were triggered by the module itself.


2019-08-07T21:37:09 Exposure timeout. Aborting...

2019-08-07T21:35:08 Exposure timeout. Restarting exposure...

2019-08-07T21:33:07 Exposure timeout. Restarting exposure...

2019-08-07T21:31:07 Capturing image...

2019-08-07T21:30:50 Capturing image...

2019-08-07T21:30:50 Please wait until image capture is complete...

2019-08-07T21:30:27 Capturing image...

2019-08-07T21:30:27 Please wait until image capture is complete...

2019-08-07T21:30:26 Capture aborted.

2019-08-07T21:28:31 Capturing image...

2019-08-07T21:28:29 Focusing inward by 1000 ms...

2019-08-07T21:27:46 Focusing inward by 1000 ms...

2019-08-07T21:27:46 FITS received. HFR 5.75. Delta (1e+8%) Min HFR (1e+6)

2019-08-07T21:27:46 Image received.

2019-08-07T21:27:43 Capturing image...

2019-08-07T21:27:43 Please wait until image capture is complete...

2019-08-07T21:27:31 Image received.

2019-08-07T21:27:28 Capturing image...

2019-08-07T21:25:13 Idle.

OK I did try to use the auto focus of Ekos with the Shoestring driver last night but I made a few mistakes (among which the step size having been set to 2000 ms which is WAY to large) so I didn't produce sensible logs. I am afraid that I will not be able to try this again until at least Monday and possibly later. Sorry.


Wouter

Here the logs from multiple attempts. KStars would always hang up, so I had to restart it.

www.dropbox.com/sh/fsoy08udawdm9ra/AAD70...90L_xBLRpwtQ70a?dl=0

I tried numerous permutations, including installing Indigo, which worked previously, and then calling up the indigo fcusb driver. That at least allowed the camera to function, but it threw a different error.

Either way, with the indi_fcusb_focus driver the focuser hangs after the first autofocus image capture.

Ok, I had to comb through most of the logs which mostly were testing indigo driver which I didn't look at, and then I found one instance of old INDI driver indi_fcusb_focuser

However, the new INDI driver is indi_fcusb_focus

So remove indi_fcusb_focuser from your system and then test again. Better to remove all indigo stuff as well for now to make sure they do not conflict with INDI driver as it happened now. Make sure to turn Focus + Focuser logs in Ekos --> Logs as well.

Last night i was finally able to test the auto focus using the Shoestring driver. It looks like the driver doesn't report back that the focus maneuver has finished because the focus motor moves and then Ekos just sits idly. Logs attached.


Thanks, Wouter

Thanks, I think I found the issue in the driver. When it stopped, it was setting case to IDLE instead of OK, so Ekos didn't know it stopped successfully. I just pushed a chance to the driver, can you please recompile and test?

Thanks very much for the quick action Jasem. Unfortunately I will be away from home until Sunday so I will not be able to test this. Hopefully early next week. I'll make sure to use the nightly build to test.


Wouter

I may be able to test this before Wouter. Where can I download the changes you made?

Also, I saw a thread where others describe the same problems with ASI cameras that I had encountered when reporting this focuser problem. Are those changes fixed in the same revision?

Thanks

Jo