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INDI Library v2.0.6 is Released (02 Feb 2024)

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Running Kstars / ekos / INdI from SSD with rpi4

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Since you put your SSD into an external case, I take it you are connecting the SSD to the Pi4 via a regular mini or micro USB cable: Did you check whether that case contains a USB2 or a USB3 > SATA converter?

If the external enclosure is an older one, it may be USB2 only, which could also explain why your system is not as fast as you expected. By the same token, the SSD has to be connected to the USB3 ports on the Pi4 to get maximal speed, not to a USB2 port.

I may be stating the obvious here, but just in case...
4 years 2 months ago #47487

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Yes it’s in a USB 3.0 case with mini USB 3.1 cable, and connected to a USB 3.0 port.
This is the case I bought...

www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B00T8F298Y/r...02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1
4 years 2 months ago #47493

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Ok, so here's a possibly dumb question: would we be better off running an external wifi router at the mount and just connecting the Pi to it with an ethernet cable, then connecting your computer to that router's wifi network? You can now get some pretty small wifi routers, small enough even to physically attach to the mount, say on top of the counterweight.

Or, alternately, especially if at home, setting up the router as a client on the home wifi network, thus in effect substituting the Pi's wireless interface with the router's - with OpenWRT this can be done fairly readily.

I've certainly noticed this lagginess with VNC, and that's with the Pi in client mode. It's even worse if the computer is on wifi as well.

I had actually had a notion a while back of compiling INDI for OpenWRT and running it on a decently-well specced wifi router with a USB interface and powered USB hub, but it was simpler to just use a Pi3B+ and run Ekos-KStars on it directly.
4 years 2 months ago #47533

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I honestly don't consider the lagginess a big issue. I have to run my Pi4 using a wireless extender to connect to my home wifi network, to which my desktop is connected via ethernet, however. Even so, my transfer speed is usually ~ 300 Mbs, sometimes up to 433 Mbs. Lagginess is at most 1 second, which is an non issue for controlling the Pi4, which is running EKOS autonomously.

That's the price of wifi, if one really wants to have minimal lagginess, only Gigabit ethernet can provide that.
4 years 2 months ago #47562

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Well if you had read my first post, you will see that I get same issues with lag over the rpi4 gigabyte Ethernet too, also it is an issue when I can’t even have the Hips overlay enabled to give object images, as if I do, then after moving or zooming on the skymap, it takes a good few seconds to catch up and can’t do anything, not even click a drop down box until it has.... and that is with both rpi4 and PC connected to router with network cable...and using VNC on desktop to rpi4... so go figure...
4 years 2 months ago #47565

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But don’t forget I am running in 4K resolution, which I guess must be the issue....but not much better on 2560 x 1600....
4 years 2 months ago #47566

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Possible that he lagginess comes from 4K resolution, but there may be another explanation: When you are connecting through WiFi, is your Pi seeing your network through the 2.4 GHz AND through the 5 GHz connection? If it is connected through both, you will get extreme lagginess, due to data collision.
I have that as well, and sometimes the Pi becomes unresponsive for 20 s or longer. After I disconnect the 2.4 GHz network, it is snappy, with almost no lag.
The same would happen when you connect via Ethernet, that might explain why you have these issues. Naturally, you would not see any of this when you control the Pi via keyboard and mouse.
4 years 2 months ago #47708

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I have the hotspot set to 5GHz, and connect to that from my PC...but my PC sees both 5ghz and 2.4ghz on my home WiFi network, but if hotspot is set to 5ghz, then that should be ok..??? Or not..??
with network cable it only sees 2.4 as the wifi network plug it connects to only has 2.4ghz, and laggy on them both...
So when you say you “disconnect the 2.4ghz” what do you mean turn it off in the router settings...?
4 years 2 months ago #47736

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When you look up your connection information, what are you seeing? Is your PC then connected to your Pi only (i.e. does it only have one IP address) or is it connected to your Pi with one IP address and to your home network with another? If you have multiple IP addresses on the same machine, it greatly slows down data transfer.
In my configuration, the Pi is connected to a WiFi extender, which then connects to my main WiFi router. So not on Hotspot mode. The Pi connects through both 5 GHz and 2.4 GHz to the extender. For reasons unknown to me, it will not connect if there is only a 5 GHz network available. So what I need to do is connect to the Pi via Remmina on the 2.4 GHz network, ensure that the 5 GHz network is present and connected, then disconnect the 2.4 GHz network in the Pi network manager. Now the Pi is running on 5 GHz only with a single IP address. My desktop is connected to the home WiFi router via Ethernet (old Cat5 cables that top out at ~ 10 MB/s transfer speed) and through another (!) router .

With that (definitely suboptimal) constellation, I experience almost no lagginess, certainly not more than 300 - 400 ms occasionally, barely perceptible, even though the entire traffic is routed through an extender and slow cables(!). But again, that is at 1920x1080 resolution. 4K resolution results may be different.

However, whenever I try to move data while the Pi4 is connected via both 2.4 and 5 GHz to my WiFi network, everything slows down dramatically. I suspect that you have something similar going on and that data are colliding on your network. I suggest making sure that there is only a single route that connects your Pi with your desktop.
4 years 2 months ago #47739

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Ok my PC is connected to my router via a network cable but not WiFi, and then my PC is connected to the rpi via the hotspot in 5ghz mode, so if I just disconnect my PC from the router, will that be correct to fit your recommendations and test....or do I need to do something on the rpi other than set the hotspot to 5ghz only..?.
Last edit: 4 years 2 months ago by AstroNerd.
4 years 2 months ago #47755

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You say your rpi is connect to WiFi by both 2.4 and 5ghz at the same time, and that is impossible, it can only connect via one connection at a time, how can it possibly connect to both with just one internal WiFi card....??
4 years 2 months ago #47756

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As I had stated earlier, my Pi4 will not spontaneously connect to the network on the 5 GHz band. I don't know why, but when I plug in a 2.4GHz dongle, it will connect through BOTH at the same time with two separate IP addresses. I need to disconnect the 2.4 GHz dongle then to run on 5 GHz only.

Clearly not the same situation you have. And also my Pi4 is not running in hotspot mode, which may use more resources than running in client mode, I don't know. All I can say is that I have barely perceptible lagginess on VNC, but big delays when the 2.4 GHz network is connected at the same time. Not surprising. That's why I wonder whether you may have a problem with data collision.

What happens when you run $ ifconfig -a in the terminal on your desktop and on the Pi4. That might give you a clue.
4 years 2 months ago #47768

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