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stellarmate app become not responsive

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update your system.
1 year 4 months ago #87909
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Christian, when you say "update your system" can you be more specific. Here's my problem....

I am starting from Stellarmate OS version 1.7.3 - Stable - SM-110 installed on the Pi (this is the 64 bit version). I have already updated the Android app to version 2.5.8. I have tried updating the OS repeatedly but each time it fails or does not seem to update.

Method 1 - Direct
I have the Raspberry Pi attached to a monitor , keyboard, mouse and connected to my home network. I click on the icon "Stellarmate Tools" on the desktop. It confirms that I am on version 1.7.3 Stable. I click the "Check for updates" button, and I get the message an update is available and is being installed. The progress bar climbs to around 78% in about 15-20 minutes then tells me to reboot. So I reboot.
Results vary.... On two occasions the Pi refuses to reboot - I assume because something was corrupted during update. On one occasion, the OS starts up but the icons for Kstars, PHD2 are clearly broken and when I click on them, an error message pops up that the source file cannot be found - so another broken update I guess. So I click on Stellarmate tools again and the window confirms that I am still on version 1.7.3. I click on the update button thinking that the update didn't take but I am told there is no internet connection (but I am connected to my network) After each failure I re-flash the SD card and re-install the OS.

Method 2 - via the Android App
After reflashing my SD card back to version 1.7.3 ....again, I connect from the Android app (running version 2.5.8), I go to the device tab in the Android app where I see 1.7.3 is confirmed). I change the connection to my network and I am informed an update is available. So I click on it and it appears that an update is being installed. Many minutes later I reboot the system and I have the same problem where the Pi will not reboot. On one occasion it does, but the device tab in the android app screen still reports I am on version 1.7.3 - i.e. no update occurred.
I also tried the same method but leaving the build selector on "Stable" but same problem occurred.

After two hours of very annoying frustration and re-flashing the SD card multiple times, I was ready to quit Stellarmate and order an ASI Air. So frustrating that such a simple update cannot be performed without errors (I owe Bill Gates an apology for the number of times I cursed Microsoft but that is a breeze compared to this cludge. There is another topic here recently about "How to update Stellarmate" and it seems I am not the only frustrated user.

Since the only reliable way I can update the system seems to be via a full re-flash of the SD card, is there somewhere I can download the "Fixed" version?

As I have stated I am new to the world of Fruit Pi's so if I am doing something wrong, would someone please take me by the hand and walk me through it because for the life of me, I have no idea what I might be doing wrong.
Last edit: 1 year 4 months ago by Paul.
1 year 4 months ago #87922
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Paul, you gotta open a terminal window on the stellarmate OS desktop and type in the following lines to get more information, each line followed by a return (CR)

open terminal app and enter:
sudo apt-get update

sudo apt-get upgrade


These two commands update the repository to get new software package versions, and update software packages for which newer versions are found. You have to enter Y to start the actual system upgrade after you are presented the list of packages about to get upgraded.
I had connection issues today fetching ffmpeg (iirc). If that happens to you, just issue the second command again.
If something still fails, you will see an error message, please post it in here.

@stellarmate team:
I updated the OS and the ever hanging app experience was gone. THANKS for the good work.
When i manually triggered the camera at testing time, at some point the little screen (canon eos 1100d) said: BUSY.
Right after i tried to trigger an exposure from the quick camera controls (app). I could not get the camera to be controlled by Stellarmate again :(

After half a minute i had to disconnect the camera, so it came back to manual mode to finish the session.

Any idea how to reconnect a DSLR without rebooting and restarting everything?
1 year 4 months ago #87923
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Thank you for the instruction, I will try again tonight.

But your advice begs another question. If the terminal window is the proper way to make updates, what then, is the purpose of the "Check for updates" function within the Android app, and in the "Stellarmate Tools" dialog box? Why should upgrades done by those methods keep failing?
1 year 4 months ago #87924
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I'm not a stellarmate developer, but i know this way of upgrading debian based distributions since many years now. It just works best.
For myself, i would assume that the dialog box (application) was made for the desktop user's experience.
However, it is not very verbose about what's going on, so best use the "old way" to check for more output.

And yes, bugs are daily business in software development, it's just that the projects became way bigger and more complicated to maintain.
I wouldn't assume a room filling bug-hunting and functional testing team is at work for $50 of cost for a lifetime license.

It's bad when we run into bugs, even less severe. Sometimes there is an instant workaround available or made obvious.
I could not imagine doing Astrophotography without stellarmate again, but the Asiair stuff has features that don't work as well as with stellarmate, and for sure, it has and will have bugs too. Code is still written by humans...

Also try to look for existing forum threads covering stellarmate OS upgrade issues, might help.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Christian T
1 year 4 months ago #87925
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Mr. Mister, I fully appreciate what you are saying - my problem and frustration up to now has been beyond simple bugs though. Right now I have a very simple astro rig and even with this, 2 months after initial purchase, I have still not been able to use this software "in the field", not even once. After all, this is not beta test software, both the OS and the app have been available for what, 2-3 years?

EDIT
Hmm, just took a look at a couple of long running topics on Cloudy Nights.....seems that many other have either given up or are about to give up on Stellarmate.

www.cloudynights.com/topic/794637-a-begi...rt-eaa-setup/page-15
www.cloudynights.com/topic/813424-a-begi...stated-ver-2/page-12
Last edit: 1 year 4 months ago by Paul.
1 year 4 months ago #87927
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Yeah, who needs trouble anyway?

But for now, let's get back to trying to solve problems. Did you manage to execute "sudo apt-get ..."?
Waiting for results (select all/copy using right mouse button) or select using a mouse and hit the enter key (can't remember exactly).

Let's focus on the solution(s), not the problem(s).
Last edit: 1 year 4 months ago by Mr. Mister.
1 year 4 months ago #87931
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Going home in a couple of minutes, then I am watching the lunar eclipse for a few hours....after that I'll attack it again. Thanks for you assistance, seriously.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Mr. Mister
1 year 4 months ago #87934
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Well, I finally got around to re-flashing the SD card to 1.7.3 as a starting point and started the Pi
I then followed the instructions from Mr. Mister to use the terminal window to do all necessary updates. It "appeared" that everything went smoothly
Re-booted the Pi
Started the app on my android tablet.
Had to re-insert my optical train and profile....again
Just about to start testing, then it complained that the INDI server could not be started
Re-booted the Pi
Desktop icons for Kstars, PHD2 and some other were now broken - something had been corrupted.

Honestly, I have just about had it with this project - I don't have the energy to keep fighting with this garbage.
1 year 4 months ago #88008
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I would open a bug report after trying a last time with a new, high quality sdhc-card.
ASIair was more than double the price and didn't support AZ mounts. This is why i decided to use Stellarmate, and it worked after optimizing some things and a libcamera bug, which was solved within a couple of days after updating.
In AA all the optimization is done already, but you have to pay the price, and AFAIK you can't just expand the system like you can in an open linux system like Astroberry or Stellarmate, browsing the www while capturing frames....
So, as my setup mostly worked, i switched to en EQ mount and decided to keep Stellarmate. I wouldn't call it "garbage" at all.
1 year 4 months ago #88013
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Paul, please submit a ticket to StellarMate Support to follow up with this issue.
The following user(s) said Thank You: Mr. Mister
1 year 4 months ago #88016
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I suggested so too.
Sorry for hijacking the thread :)
1 year 4 months ago #88017
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