Hello and welcome
Watching this thread with interest...

Hi Dean,

I've had great success with Astroberry but as you can see from my last post, one that is nearly concurrent with yours, you need to pay attention to power. Avoid like the plague over-voltage and under-voltage PSU's. Before plugging in power to your Pi test the no-load voltage. It should read 5.2V +/- 0.05V.

I may make the jump into Ubuntu server and then git clone and compile indi from
scratch. Thnx for the heads up: I also read a lot of posts on the forum about pi power so I already purchased
an Orico powered 4 usb hub. All the pieces of this puzzle are coming together ... just need the weather to co-op

Hi Dean,

IMHO, the best configuration is to run the server aboard your scope. It's not unusual to have many USB devices: camera, filter wheel, focuser, Flip-Flat, GPS. The more advanced you are, the more devices, and then you need a powered USB hub! Again in my opinion it is best to have the fewest number of wires dangling between your scope and the ground. In the past I've run a Linux laptop on the ground and lots of USB cables connected to devices on the scope. I don't recommend it. Anyhow, good luck! There are lots of configurations.

Dean,

One more thing I want to add: INDI server is important but also consider the client. The client can run several places: (1) on the same box as the server, (2) on a remote computer on a reliable hardwired network, or (3) on a remote computer on an unreliable wireless network. My choice is #1 although #2 is a close second. (The problem with #2 is that you need to run an Ethernet cable between your scope and your remote location.) I know that people run #3 but understand the following: (1) the "brains" behind astrophotography runs on the client (in other words, the server is just carrying out commands and doing the dirty work,) (2) if you have an unreliable connection between the client and the server then you should not be surprised that your imaging session could be unexpectedly and abruptly interrupted. The advantage of an Astroberry or Stellarmate solution is that client and server run on the same box, and as an added bonus you connect to it via Virtual Access Point, so no need to run Ethernet cables between it and your remote computer. If your connection to Astroberry or Stellarmate is interrupted then astrophotography proceeds uninterrupted. Why? Because the client is running on the server (i.e. Astroberry or Stellarmate). The ONLY negative is having to use "remote desktop" software to check the progress of you image capture. It is less "snappy" than the other solutions.

Dean,

Just so it doesn't sound like I am receiving kickbacks from the makers of Astroberry and Stellarmate, I have to say that running entirely off of an SD card is less than ideal. They don't last forever, and they will just suddenly fail. Solid State Drives are a great alternative but it requires some DIY work to implement.

good points on 1) 2) and 3). My goal is to minimize cable wrap, hence the rpi, and my balcony is wood and surprisingly
the tiniest deflection due to my standing and manual focusing etc. causes things to go "off". I don't mind one ethernet cable
back into the house so Im thinking client+ server on the rpi is the way forward. Thanks for your help, Im fairly new to
astroP but Im enjoying the learning

I don’t find the rpi3b+ powerful enough to run all the imaging software, it’s just not got enough grunt, so I run Kstars on my client Linux based laptop and just use the rpi as an INdI server...

I have not yet graduated to "advanced imager" so the 3B+ works fine for me. The model 4 will be out just in time but given the weather perhaps it will be the model 5

Last night there were two objects visible: the Moon and Arcturus. Par for the course.

Makes me wonder why I spend so much on gear when all I get is two opportunities per month to image. Cost-benefit analysis is not good.

The two enemies of astrophotographers are:

1. Light Pollution
2. Water Vapor

Air pollution is a distant third. In fact major strides against air pollution have been made in America. Fifty years ago you could see a thick blue haze of car exhaust driving through Manhattan. My eyes would sting. Now you can close your eyes and ears and think you were in Central Park.

IMHO, the enemy is water vapor. Perhaps we could deploy a massive matrix of TEC coolers to condense the vapor to liquid water.

that's funny ... on Thursday night all I got here (Dundas, Ontario) between the clouds rolling in was the moon, Capella,
Arcturus. Thanks everyone for replying with solid advice. I hadn't considered addressing SD card reliability with an SSD drive.
I will post a followup once I implement a solution.
cheers!
Dean

I highly recommend just buying the StellarMate OS and load it onto an SD card, plug it into your RPi3B+ and you're good to go. Run Kstars at the other end of your ethernet cable and you'll have excellent performance - you can use Wifi but in a populated area its likely to be hindered - at a dark site its not a worry.

I think there is no good or bad solution. It depends mostly of your own skills with a Unix system. If you're a beginner, or just coming from the Windows world, then an "all-in-one" solution like Stellarmate or Astroberry is probably perfect for you. On the opposite, if you are familiar with networks, bash, vi, git, and compiling your own version (eventually your own branch) then you'll certainly prefer to have a "true" server/client architecture with an indi server ( one or several ) on the mount and multiple clients on your laptop. Personally, I think the best advantage of Indi/Ekos/Kstars **IS** this full server/client architecture which gives you almost infinite possibilities, only limited by your own imagination. Besides, I personally love the Unix philosophy which is "One tool for one purpose", opposite to the "Swiss army knife" solution "à la Windows". Plus, having the sources on my own git tree is something that provides me with incomparable confidence. The best point overall is that there is a solution for everybody, from beginner to advanced, and a community of nice persons always ready to help you doing your first steps.
-- Marc