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Kstars Mac - Rigel systems N-Step focus motor driver ??

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Hi Ron,

Which version of the nStep? Small in a sleeve or box with buttons? With Wifi?
Does it show with an assigned port under port selector?
Do you see a /dev/tty.usbmodem* and /dev/cu.usbmodem* (on High Siera anyway).
Does it show up in 'About This Mac'->SystemReport->usb ?
You can try talking to it with something like Zterm (or other terminal app that can connect to a usb serial device).
Open ZTerm, select the device, hit a few ctrl-F's, should get an 'S' back for each hit.
2 years 4 months ago #77054

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So indi_nstep_focus in the INDI directory that you found is the driver as I pasted in the screenshot I sent as well.  You don’t need any header files as it is an already compiled computer program. There isn’t a script or anything that is human readable because the driver is a compiled program. You don’t need to download anything INDI related to get it to work.  The Mac version of KStars has all these drivers included.   That being said, a number of devices communicate with usb serial or serial connections.  Sometimes they need a separate driver installed so the Mac can communicate over the serial interface.  That is obvious if you are using your own usb serial device, but it isn’t as obvious if the device has a built in usb serial device.  I don’t know anything about this device or this particular driver as I said, but based on other drivers, this might be part of the issue.  If this device has an embedded usb serial device, that should be fairly easy to find out which one and then download and install any needed driver.

I think what gene n said is also very helpful and he sounds like he knows a lot more about this specific driver.

 
2 years 4 months ago #77063

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Thanks Rob, If i get it right you're saying I need a Mac compatible driver for Serial-USB converter for the N-step motor. The Rigel has a serial connection input off the stepper motor and USB 'module' output to the Mac. I know the port and cables all work fine, since everything else in kstars runs fine from that USB port and a hub. The Rigel USB Nstep converter driver is Windows & ASCOM only, which of course is not Mac compatible and why INDI should work instead if the program is in Kstars. I can try it tomorrow with a Mac-compatible Keyspan serial-USB converter which I've used for other astro-devices for years. I'll update with what I find. Ron

  --- But it occurs to me now that if it only needed a Mac serial-USB converter then  EKOS should show a Connection made in the Simulator, since there is no actual focuser hardware plugged in.    
 
Last edit: 2 years 4 months ago by Ron M.
2 years 4 months ago #77064

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So as I said, I don't know much about this driver nor the device, but are you sure that there is no driver for its USB-Serial converter, which you called the "module"?  I don't mean an ASCOM or INDI driver to talk to the device with serial commands, we have that, that's not an issue.  It's from the USB-Serial device manufacturer, which most likely isn't Rigel, since they usually use off the shelf parts for that.  You would need to know who made the part.  There almost certainly is a Mac driver for it.  I know one common one I have needed is the Prolific PL2303 driver, and another one is the FTDI driver.  I think my moonlite focuser uses the FTDI driver.  Later in your paragraph you said you could try another serial - usb converter, does the "module" as you called it come off the focuser easily?  I don't think I can take that part out of my moonlite focuser, since it's pretty much built into it.

For the last one I am not sure I know what you mean about the Simulator, some INDI drivers have a button in their INDI Control Panel commands where you can click that to turn on a simulator feature in the driver, is that what you mean?  I just looked at it in a profile I made and I don't see that option.  There is the "Focuser Simulator" driver which is not related to this driver at all, but I don't think that is what you mean.
2 years 4 months ago #77065

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Hi Ron,

Be advised I am not a normal MAC user but I am an nStep'er they are my device, circuitboard/firmware and working with Jasem to get the INDI driver running a few years ago.

MAC should need nothing added to be able to see and be able to talk to the device as long as you version OSX supports USB CDC devices. It is not special like FTDI needing a low level driver.

Which version of the nStep? Small in a sleeve or box with buttons? With Wifi?
Does it show with an assigned port under port selector?
Do you see a /dev/tty.usbmodem* and /dev/cu.usbmodem* (on High Siera anyway).
Does it show up in 'About This Mac'->SystemReport->usb ?
You can try talking to it with something like Zterm (or other terminal app that can connect to a usb serial device).
Open ZTerm, select the device, hit a few ctrl-F's, should get an 'S' back for each hit.
2 years 4 months ago #77076

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Hi Rob,

Ok, I can confirm that ekos on MAC for nStep is broken.

A port scan returns either (depending on the type of nStep)
/dev/cu.usbmodemXXX
or
/dev/cu.SLAB_USBtoUARTXXX

The first issue is there are two enumerations in /dev
/dev/tty.* and /dev/cu.*

The /dev/tty.* is the connection point

But even when I force set the port to /dev/tty type I get a yellow when pressing Connect but no errors display

I have tried the above with both enumerations (tty.USBMODEM and tty.SLAB_USBtoUART)

Now I believe the port scan is deep inside indi and not the particular nStep driver, how does INDI for other devices enumerate USB 'serial' tty ports on MAC? How is the CU scanned versus the TTY?

Also, how can the baud rate be selected for these types of devices?
For the nStep, the tty.usbmodem type takes just about anything but the SLAB enumeration requires 9600 baud.
2 years 4 months ago #77081

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So it’s been awhile since I did this and I don’t have access to my equipment right now, but if my memory serves me right, when I have connected to my Moonlite from the Mac, yes there are tty and cu listings for the connection.    I’m not sure if I remember right, but I think the cu one worked and the tty one did not.
2 years 4 months ago #77083

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As for the other question about ports and port scanning, as I recall Jasem wrote that code a few years ago when we were working on getting a bunch of drivers to be easier to use so that it would find and list all the available ports and make them clickable buttons or drop down boxes, rather than the user having to type in the port’s path directly which was hard for most users.  I do not remember though exactly where that code was
The following user(s) said Thank You: Gene N
2 years 4 months ago #77084

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Rob, yes, you are correct, the .cu is the one to connect to!!! Thank you!

Ron, attached is mac screen shot of nstep runningNote the selected port  

 
Last edit: 2 years 4 months ago by Gene N.
2 years 4 months ago #77087
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I tried reply to your previous questions about the device, but am not seeing it posted... Anyway, The Mac system report shows it when connected to a USB 3 port: USB 3.0 Bus:

Host Controller Driver: AppleUSBXHCIPPT
PCI Device ID: 0x1e31
PCI Revision ID: 0x0004
PCI Vendor ID: 0x8086

USB Stepper Focus v0.1s :

Product ID: 0xfbb2
Vendor ID: 0x04d8 (Microchip Technology Inc.)
Version: 0.01
Serial Number: 00000000P3
Speed: Up to 12 Mb/sec
Manufacturer: Astrogene1000_stuff
Location ID: 0x14100000 / 31
Current Available (mA): 500
Current Required (mA): 240
Extra Operating Current (mA): 0






However, EKOS shows a failed to connect message.

2021-10-30T18:59:09: [ERROR] Failed to connect to port (/dev/cu.usbserial). Error: Port failure Error: No such file or directory. Check if device is connected to this port.
2 years 4 months ago #77097

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Ron,

See the message "Could not connect to /dev/cu.usbserial"

In the INDI control panel for the nStep you need to select the correct port or force set it
In a terminal window, do a
ls -ltr /dev/*usb*

You shoudl see something like
/dev/cu.usbmodemXXX
/dev/tty.usbmodemXXX

See the image of my control panel above, notice the row with the Ports on it

Copy the text of the file name (e.g. /dev/cu.usbmodem621) shown for the cu device and open your control panel, paste the device name into the right field of the Ports and do a 'Set'
Then on the Option tab of the control panel, do a Save
Then try your connect.
2 years 4 months ago #77098

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Maybe we could get some of this good information onto this page

indilib.org/focusers/rigel-systems-nstep.html

to help other users in the future and to avoid confusion.  If you know how we could change the text to more clearly help beginners to this driver, please let us know
2 years 4 months ago #77099

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