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Issue persists between Pegasus Focus Cube and Power Box

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I do see that some here have had connection issues resolved by changing their driver from Pegasus DMFC to Pegasus Focus Cube.

Some people's issues started when the DMFC driver was changed, (and not knowing a new driver was available) but perhaps some people had connection issues prior to this change and the Pegasus Focus Cube driver fixed this.

I did make that change but my issues are still persisting.  ( I am at SM OS 1.5.8 )  Every once in a while the port connections don't get scrambled and I can connect properly but most of the time this just isn't working.

I do find that if I remove the focus cube from the setup that the probability of connection is greatly increased when I 1st connect to the PPBA, turn off the power, re plug in the focus cube USB, add the focus cube back to the setup and then bring up Ekos.  This is very painful to do every time.

I am thinking that the timing of power distribution might have something to do with my issue, or possibly the sequence of USB distribution (if there is such a thing).

What I am wondering is whether I might be able to improve my chance of connection if it was possible for me perhaps to reverse the order of USB port connection between the 2 Pegasus serial devices.

Presently my PPBA is USB0 (when typing in "udevadm info -a -n /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep '{serial}' | head -n1").  The Focus Cube is USB1.

Before I try to reverse the udev USB assignments (which I'm not sure I can do) I am wondering whether there might be some type of difference between my setup and a successful setup.  I have suggested USB assignments as that was the most apparent possibility to me, but perhaps there might be another issue possibly related to power.

When my devices do connect the connection is stable and it does not drop.

I've been fighting the Pegasus port conflict for over a month now, I really would like to move on.

Perhaps it might be a good exercise to see what udev assigned USB number the PPBA and Focus Cube might be assigned to on the setups of those who aren't running into connection issues.

Another thing that I am curious about is whether anyone has successfully connected the PPBA and Focus Cube who uses the StellarMate OS.
Last edit: 2 years 11 months ago by Paul Imm.
2 years 11 months ago #70844

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I can confirm for me at least, that the latest version of kstars (git pull 20 minutes ago) and libraries from the nightly builds, that
With the Pegasus Astro FocusCube driver doesn't work in my normal configuration. Celestron CGX, Nikon DSLR, ZWO ASI guider, Pegasus Astro FocusCube, gpsd, Manual Filter and OpenWeatherMap (although the latest stable works on Stellarmate for me).
With a profile that includes Pegasus Astro FocusCube driver and only the ZWO ASI guide camera driver, it works.
With a profile that includes Pegasus Astro FocusCube driver and only the Nikon DSLR camera driver, EKOS can't establish a connection to the  Nikon DSLR driver (pop-up notification).
With a profile that includes ZWO ASI guide camera driver and only the Nikon DSLR camera driver, EKOS can't establish a connection to the  Nikon DSLR driver (pop-up notification).
With a profile that includes Celestron CGX driver and only the Nikon DSLR camera driver, EKOS can't establish a connection to the  Nikon DSLR driver (pop-up notification).
With a profile that includes Celestron CGX driver and only the ZWO ASI guide camera driver, it works.
With a profile that includes Celestron CGX driver, the Pegasus FocusCube and the CCD simulator, it works.
Somewhat of a puzzle.
Ubuntu 20.04 on Odroid-N2

cat /sys/module/usbcore/parameters/usbfs_memory_mb
256

 
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Last edit: 2 years 11 months ago by Jerry Black.
2 years 11 months ago #70865

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This afternoon I tried a flurry of different changes to hopefully find the reason for the perpetual Pegasus Port conflict failures.

Not really thinking that this might solve the problem, yet hoping for perhaps a breakthrough with a fresh install I installed the SM OS 1.5.8 on a purportedly faster micro SD card.  When I got this up and running I could see that this did not remove the port conflict between Pegasus Devices.

Next I removed the Pegasus Focus Cube USB connection from the PPBA and moved it into the Raspberry Pi device.  Initially both the PPBA and the Focus Cube came up fine.  The ports seemed to stay stable with the PPBA having USB0 and the Focus Cube taking USB1.  I started up several times with no issues.

Seeing the general issue itself possibly fixed I was very happy and I next added my last serial device which is the EQ6R Pro mount.

Immediately this did not work.  None of the serial devices were able to connect.  I tried numerous little things to get the combination of 3 serial devices to work with each other to no avail.   I found out the USB assignments in this arrangement.  Surprisingly the PPBA moved to USB2 and the EQ6R took over USB0.

I removed the EQ6R connection from my setup and still had a failure between the PPBA and the Focus Cube that I initially did not have.  The difference that I noted was that the Focus Cube took over USB0 and the PPBA had USB1.

Of course going back to where the PPBA was the only serial device made it work.  And this slid it back to USB0.

Very frustratingly I discovered that by adding the Focus Cube back both connections once again failed.  In verifying the USB assignments I could see that the Focus Cube wanted USB0, and the PPBA slid over to USB1.

It seemed the only stable connection occurred when the PPBA stayed at USB0.

Maybe I'm missing something blatantly obvious but why won't the devices keep their USB assignments?  I would love to hear that I did something wrong with my setup but there doesn't appear to be a way to keep everything from sliding around when devices are added.

It would be nice if the auto search could be disabled on a device once it successfully comes up.  Let's say the PPBA comes up successfully by itself on USB0, the 1st thing I do is make sure auto search is disabled and then I hit "Save" under options.  When I add another device then there is a battle for USB0, both devices go back to auto search until the search is concluded.  If the PPBA loses then both devices don't connect.

To have the unique serial ID represented for the USB port is a very good idea, but it doesn't lock the port in place.  Am I the only one that is noticing this?

Is this only a StellarMate OS issue as the moderator on the Pegasus Forum suggested?

You can't imagine how frustrated I am with this issue.  I am doing my best to keep patient.

I can certainly imagine that it is frustrating on the programming end as well.
 
The unique serial port idea should solve the problem, but why doesn't it lock?
2 years 11 months ago #70868

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After the PPA updates for Ubuntu 20.0.4 happened overnight, I can now add that everything connects except the Pegasus FocusCube for me. This is the current log output:

[2021-05-01T08:42:05.444 ADT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Pegasus DMFC : "[INFO] Trying connecting to /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Pegasus_Astro_FocusCube_2_PA47RRYI-if00-port0 @ 19200 ... "
[2021-05-01T08:42:05.445 ADT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Pegasus DMFC : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/serial/by-id/usb-Pegasus_Astro_FocusCube_2_PA47RRYI-if00-port0 @ 19200 "
[2021-05-01T08:42:05.445 ADT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Pegasus DMFC : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2021-05-01T08:42:05.445 ADT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Pegasus DMFC : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2021-05-01T08:42:05.445 ADT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Pegasus DMFC : "[DEBUG] CMD <0X23> "
[2021-05-01T08:42:05.445 ADT DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Pegasus DMFC : "[DEBUG] RES <OK_FC> "
[2021-05-01T08:42:05.445 ADT INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Pegasus DMFC : "[INFO] Error retrieving data from Pegasus DMFC, please ensure device is powered and the port is correct. "
2 years 11 months ago #70877

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The driver should be "Pegasus FocusCube" and not "Pegasus DMFC".
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2 years 11 months ago #70878

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Jasem:  I am using the "Pegasus Focus Cube" driver.

It does appear however that Jerry's issue may be resolved by switching out the DMFC driver.

Any thought about the USB port behavior that I am still seeing from my 2nd post in this thread?  I tried a number of combinations yet nothing is making connection consistent? 

It would seem that since each serial device is registered by it's own unique serial id that it would lock the USB ports in place and not cause the auto search confusion that I am seeing.
Last edit: 2 years 11 months ago by Paul Imm. Reason: Clarity
2 years 11 months ago #70881

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Did you try turning off "Auto Connect" in your profile? I suggest you then connect each driver individually, if OK, then turn off Auto Search, and then go to Options --> Save Configuration. When all is OK, then you then edit the profile again and turn on "Auto Connect".
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2 years 11 months ago #70883

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Jasem,

Thank you for this idea.  I thought that it would immediately work as it should remove the auto connect confusion.

I replicated your instructions and the connection still failed.

I think there might be one more problem that may or may not need untangled.

The image below shows that there are 2 port connection options.  Highlighted is the Focus Cube unique serial ID even though I'm in the INDI control panel under the PPBA device.  Is there a way to remove the unwanted device's serial id.  I think that my PPBA wants to connect as the Focus Cube.

Hopefully this might resolve some of the conflict.  Thank you.

 

 
2 years 11 months ago #70886
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The left one the one in ports that is the one the you are is connecting to. The right box is just for "entering" a device. That will be activated when you use the "Set" button. (Otherwhise it has NO effect)

The system-ports indicate the available ports on your system. Select the correct one and DON't forget to SAVE in the options tab
Paul
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Last edit: 2 years 11 months ago by PDB.
2 years 11 months ago #70888

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Thanks for pointing that out. That was the problem! I was using an older profile that hadn't been updated. Duh.
All connections succeed and everything appears to work now, although I have to wait until tonight to fully test.

Many Thanks for all your hard tireless work.
2 years 11 months ago #70890

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Are you sure StellarMate is up to date? Everything installed? It looks like there was a bug that already fixed in stable. Make sure you are on the stable channel and update everything.
2 years 11 months ago #70892

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Jasem,

As far as I know everything is up to date with the Stellarmate Software.

I went through the Software Update icon on the Stellarmate desktop.



I am using the SM OS 1.5.8.

The INDI Control Panel does look different than the previous version I was using in the Connection tab.

  

I am using the SM OS 1.5.8.

The INDI Control Panel does look different than the previous version I was using in the Connection tab.

I am not sure what you are referring to as far as being connected to the stable channel.  I am not using the upper right tab Stellarmate 2.

If you need any specific information from my setup for bug detection let me know.

Thank you for your help in sorting this issue out.
Last edit: 2 years 11 months ago by Paul Imm.
2 years 11 months ago #70901
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