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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

New Internal Guider Tools

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  • Thank you received: 559
I've been looking at adding a new Internal Guider algorithm, and in the process of doing that, needed to get a better look at what was going on. I realized that we could use some more visualization for the internal guider. So, I introduced two new capabilities in the latest code. These are not part of any official release, but if you compile from source or if you use the nightly builds, you should be able to use them.

These are both experimental, and please feed back any issues you notice. To quote dmsummers, who I've bounced ideas off of said (please give him credit for ideas, but the blame for any issues is all mine): don't go tearing apart / fixing your mount because of something you saw on these plots--the software is new, may have bugs, and I haven't fully implemented the phdlogview log.

Calibration View

I added a sub-tab (just to the right of the "Drift Plot" subtab) which shows the mount positions recorded during internal-guider calibration.
https://photos.app.goo.gl/YX6DSLnwoGkQN7SR8
Basically, if things are going well, it should display dots in two lines which are at right angles to each other--one when the calibration pushes the mount back and forth along the RA direction, and then when it does the same for the DEC direction. Not a ton of info, but can be useful to see. If the two lines are at a 30-degree angle, something's not going well with your calibration! Here's a picture of it in action using the simulator
https://photos.app.goo.gl/F2FieTBdXqfSPprv8
The colored dots (same color scheme as the internal guider) shows the RA and DEC samples on their way out, and the small white and yellow circles show their return paths.

Phdlogview compatibility

phdlogview openphdguiding.org/phd2-log-viewer/ or adgsoftware.com/phd2utils/ is a program written by Andy Galasso to analyze Phd2 logs. It's very nice. I've tried to have the internal guider output a mostly compatible log file so that if you installed phdlogview, you could use it to also browse your logs from the Ekos internal guider. A few things to note:
  • The logs are placed in a directory parallel to the standard KStars logs directory. Instead of logs, it is guidelogs. So, for example, on linux you'd find them in this directory ~/.local/share/kstars/guidelogs/
  • You can turn on/off this logging by going into the Options menu on the internal guider tab, clicking on the Guide tab on the left and checking/un-checking the box labeled "Save Internal Guider User Log".
  • There are many features in phdlogview. Explore and look at Galasso's documentation for how to use it.
  • I have not fully implemented all the header fields that PHD2 adds when it saves logs. I've tried to implement everything that affects the graphs, but I'm not sure. Also, Phdlogview may change in the future, and that is out of our control.
  • I don't think the polar alignment error in the "drift" section is working properly. Still trying to understand what the issue might be.
Here's a nice example of its usage, especially if you enjoy periodic error!
https://photos.app.goo.gl/TtjP7cmEhW6oPiSaA

Enjoy and please send feedback,
Hy
The following user(s) said Thank You: Jasem Mutlaq, Alfred, Ferrante Enriques, Wouter van Reeven, Brian, Doug S
3 years 9 months ago #54829

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