Just a short chime, to say that I too use a new Macbook (Air) now to to connect to my astrorig. I was just connecting via VNC to the Linux box that was running INDI/Kstars, but lately its just been too buggy to be reliable.

So now I use the Mac to run the OSX version of KStars and connect to the same Linuxbox (NanoPC T4) and that works great! It's fast, and I solved the issue of download times by installing a 500GB Solid State Drive card onto the NanoPC and have EKOS save files to it instantly. Then I connect to the NanoPC via SMB and share that SSD on my Mac. I can then download files at a later time easily.

I connect the Macbook to the NanoPC via a local wifi network.

The NanoPC rides shotgun on my mount and all my equipment is plugged into the NanoPC which has both USB2 and USB ports. One 12V powercable leads to a saddle on the mount which uses a RigRunner powerstrip #405 to distribute power to the cameras, focuser, NanoPC, and dew heater.

The NanoPC (running INDI) connects to the iOptron CEM25P via iOptron's StarFi wi adapter. It's flawless.

PS: I too would love to see the GAIN and OFFSET settings right on the Capture screen, so they can be incorporated easily in an imaging session.

So when I go out in the field, here's what happens:

1. I setup the mount and attach the entire astrorig to it. I store my complete imaging rig all assembled in a Pelican case. I just take it out of the case, and attach it to the mount. No assembly required. This includes my WO STar71, ASI1600MM Pro, OAG with Lodestar X2, Filter wheel, dew heater with temp probe, NanoPC T4 (Lubuntu), and powerstrip.



2. I turn on the mount and wait for it to aquire it's GPS settings. While it is doing that, I adjust the balance of the imaging setup.

3. I turn on the NanoPC T4 and 6 seconds later it has connected to the Starfi (iOptron CEM25P) and is broadcasting it's own network.

4. I Open my MacBook, connect to the Nano's network, and start KSTARS/EKOS.

5. Ready to roll! I do a polar alignment, and start my imaging session.

That whole setup from car to imaging takes about 30 minutes.



Peter

Hey quick question if that’s OK, how are connecting to the mounts wifi and concurrently presenting a different SSID back to your Mac?

Also what case are you using on the nano and also was OS image is this little guy based on?

Thanks in advance.

Agree 100%, it’d be great to set the gain in the capture screen. I can see the ISO setting but it’s greyed out for my ZWO camera.

My NANO PC sets up a wifi network upon booting. It's crazy, as it has this network up and running in 6 seconds from power on.
The Starfi has a mode that connects to the NanoPC's wifi network.
(I will verify all the settings when I get home)

My Mac also connects to the same NanoPC wifi network to gain access to INDI, and the shared drive folder (SSD).

I am running Lubuntu.
The case is the clear plastic one (top and bottom only).
I tried the steel fully encased one, but it seemed to run very hot that way.

Hi Rob

I'm trying to connect my hardware to Kstars on mac: iOptron CEM60, ZWO 071, Microtouch focuser and Orion SSAG.

Of those pieces, only the ZWO camera gets to connect. Being the SSAG mainly a QHY camera, is it supported now under mac? (your post is of a few months ago)

I'm getting also this message when trying to connect the mount: 2019-06-08T22:58:37: [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.

And this for the focuser: 2019-06-08T22:58:37: [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.

Nevertheless, those devices are shown on the "System information" display (from the apple menu on the top bar, so the MacOS is able to see them.

Is it needed to install an app similar to Indi server on windows?

Thank you very much,

Alfredo

No, the latest INDI server is included with KStars. I can probably look into the star shoot auto guider this summer if I can get access to one. I think some people were connecting to that with the qhy driver, but it wasn’t perfectly reliable . For the microtouch focuser, are you using the focus boss? I have used that with my Mac. It did work but required some configuration. I don’t know about an ioptron Mount . I haven’t tried that

I chose the corresponding drivers on the equipment profile, when configuring Ekos, including the QHY driver for the SAAG.

When doing the same under Linux, all of the devices worked perfectly.

Will it be some port configuration? If so, how can be done?

Thanks,

Alfredo

One issue might be drivers for usb serial devices. Other than that it should work the same as Linux.

Well, only the mount has a serial to USB adaptors. The focuser and the guide camera come through USB 2.0

Any ideas?

Hello everyone
are you capable of running the latest Kstars/Ekos on your mac using Mac OS X El Capitan?
I have a an excellent old mac, with SSD, lot of RAM, dedicated to Astrophotos. Since the latest release of Kstars/Ekos, it does not support anymore the 10.11 OS.
I tried to contact the developers with no success. Is there a way to recompile it for any OS older than the 10.12?

Many thanks

Celestron EdgeHD 800 and AVX, with Celestron 0.7 reducer
Zwo ASI 1600MM Pro and 174mini on Celestron DO

Hello kjeanpaul,

How did you try to contact the developers? This is the first I have heard of this. I have put in quite a bit of work porting KStars to Mac over the last several years, and I am about to build the newest DMG which should be released soon.

So as to the issue with compiling with older versions of OS X, this is not my decision. I actually have a great 10.11 machine I would love to still be able to use with KStars. In fact, that machine is the one I used to use to build kstars for Mac. The issue is that the underlying software on which KStars is build, called QT, no longer supports older versions of OS X. I do not know why they changed this, it happened very suddenly, back in January of 2019, but one day I was able to build for 10.11 and the next day I wasn't. There must have been some issue with the software that was fixed by requiring 10.12 Sierra. Now it is true that the older versions of QT should still probably build for older versions of OS X just fine, but craft, our build system, uses the latest version of QT. And there were some bugs in older versions of QT (there are always bugs in software though) I could probably look into some way to make craft use an older version of QT, but that would require keeping multiple copies of qt on my machine, plus keeping QT in an outdated state will eventually cause problems. But I could probably look into it.

Hello rlancaste

thank you for your response, I think I tried on this forum itself however do not recall exactly how as it was 3 to 4 weeks ago. I am glad you found my message and thank you for response.

So I understand this is due to QT, that is unfortunate as, like you, my ancient macbook from 2008 is still very fast with good SSD and lot of RAM. This has been my perfect companion for astrophotos for long now, and most of it, I do not care to expose it to long cold night macbook computers were build like a rock at that time!

Yes if you find ways it would be excellent, I have read you have introduced new features in the latest release I will need in future, like the support of new focuser from Celestron for instance, It will be my pleasure helping you testing if you need me,

Your Kstars/Ekos is as per me by far the best software available on mac os!