Hello,
I have been struggling for days, attempting to get my previous config run as I thought it ought to.
I finally gave up, and bought Stellarmate OS, hoping it would be easier.
Unfortunately, it seems it is even worse. Maybe I am too stupid to achieve this, but I am totally new at this and quite alone in my region to use such setting.
The camera : ZWO ASI183MC classic
The hardware : rPI4B 8GB
The software : Stellarmate OS 2.6.5 on android tablet.
I set everything up : profile to local - not distant -, equipment, train, etc. - cf. corresponding screenshots.
In indi options, I set the destination as local and saved the config - cf. screenshot 04-Indi-1.
Then in capture tab I set 10 lights at 1 s exposure (1) to be saved to a local folder (2) (don't pay attention to the typo, it has been corrected since).
Started the job which did not run as expected, since 3+ secs were added to each 1 sec take for downloading purpose (3) & (4).
As it can be seen on the last screenshot, the destination in Indi were toggled from Local to Distant (1) & (2).
So, how can I manage to have my setup capture images and save them directly to the local folder without thinking it has to send them to some imaginary non-existant distant device ?
Thanks in advance for preserving my mental health.

Hi Jean-Luc,

A few questions:

1) The screenshots you provided - I assume they were from a screen share from a computer since they show the KStars interface rather than StellarMate interface? If they weren't a screen share, are you running an KStars/EKOS client on a computer and using the RPi as an INDI server? I ask because I use my RPi as an INDI server (it is running the Stellarmate OS) and I use KStars/EKOS from a desktop computer and I save my image files to my desktop computer, not the RPi. I have my setup Mode = Local, just like you (because KStars/EKOS is running "local" on the desktop and I want the images there). I also see that the Host is the localhost.

2) You mention the StellarMate app version number. Assume you are also on the most current Stellarmate OS on the RPi?

3) The last image you provided showed the INDI control panel for the camera which showed the upload settings changing. Does the capture module show it also changing or does it still show /home/stellarmate/Pictures or does it show something else?

4) Is the Pictures folder empty on the RPi?

These things can be frustrating!

Hello Fred,
1- No, they were taken from the rPI itself connected to mous, keyboard and screen.
So, everything is running on the rPI.
2- Again, no - until about three hours ago.
I bought SM OS yetserday, and downloaded the image at the same time, thus did not fell the necessity to update it.
3- No, once more : the path remains unchanged.
4- And still no, the folder contains the pictures.
This is this last thing that makes me wonder why the SW thinks it has to waste 3,6 secs to save the files in a place straght forward.
I am going to give it another try, now the OS on the rPI has been updtaed as well.

So... no changes at all. And time for a log - attached.
Puzzled by some of the reports in the log, but I let you see by yourself.
Please tell me if you find something unusual.
And - I did not completely reply to you - yes, setting a job that ought last 2 hours and see it last four times longer is very frustrating.
As for 63 flats at 0.75 s that take about 4 min to finish, when you hold the flat screen and you are tired and you know you will need half an hour to repack all and another 40 minutes to drive back home, and you will only have 3 hours left before having to wake-up...
Rgrds,

Jean-Luc,

I am no expert in reading these logs. I looked at yours and, since I did some imaging last night, I looked at mine as well. The events that I note:

1) For each frame there is a log entry for "Upload Complete". I suppose this is KStars receiving the image from the camera.

2) Next are log entries for "Image received" which is followed almost immediately (a fraction of a second) with an entry for "FITS file saved". For your frame #001 this the time between "Upload Complete" and "FITS file saved" is 1.432 seconds.

3 ) Next are a series of steps where the software reads the file buffer (the image I assume), performs WCS Data Processing, and logs the image as "Captured". For your frame #001 the time between "FITS file saved" and "Captured" is 1.63 seconds

4) The sum of those two times is 3.062 seconds which is very close to the "Download Time" for frame 001 in the log, which is 3.07 seconds - I'm sure I'm just not picking up all the correct time codes.

Looking at one of my files, the time between upload complete and FITS file saved is similar to yours (although I am not saving to the RPi - I'm going from the INDI server to an SSD attached to a desktop machine). My time for the second step is closer to .6 seconds vs the 1.6 seconds your image took. I'm guessing this is because I'm running on the software on a desktop vs an RPi. I'm guessing the WCS (World Coordinate System) step is running to write the image coordinates to the FITS file and that point it recorded as "Captured"?

Someone who knows more about this than I do (which is probably almost anyone), please chime in.

Also, 63 flats seems like quite a few. I generally take 25 (per session/filter) with good results and I know some here take fewer than that.

Good luck and I hope someone with more technical knowledge can provide additional assistance/recommendations.

This is the correct behavior. "Local" means something different in INDI and Ekos.

Ekos (Local) --> Save to the PC where Ekos is running. This means the images MUST be sent back to Ekos which is the client of INDI server.

INDI (Local) means save locally where INDI server is running and DO NOT send any images back to Ekos
INDI (Client) means send the images back to the client (Ekos)

If you chose in Ekos (Remote) then in INDI it would be set to LOCAL. This might not seem intuitive at first but this is how it works and the behavior is 100% correct.

To have it working as you suggest, do these changes:
1. Change Ekos Profile to REMOTE
2. Make sure INDI Web Manager in checked
3. Set capture mode to REMOTE
4. Set remote capture directory to /home/stellarmate/Pictures

Then in this case, no images are sent back to Ekos. You can also toggle FAST EXPOSURE on so that exposures run one after another without any delays, but this is an experimental setting.

Thank-you Fred,
I appreciate. And I think Jasem found the reason for all my problems - I hope.
Rgrds,
J.-Luc

OK, so the server is not a server, as I thought it was, but rather a service. This is a very frequent confusion.

No, not intuitive at all. But, once again, I understood Local as being used when accessing directly the equipment on the local PC, and Distant when driving the equipment on a remote location from a local PC.

So I think it ought to be like in the first screensho, Kstars sideAnd then it would be as shoms on the second screenshot, Indi sideIt seems a little better, but still seems not run at it ought to. I attached another log, maybe will it show the weird things.
I launched a series of 120 takes at 0.25s, they started to run at the speed they were to, but ended up in lasting far more than they ought to. At the end, the whole system was almost frozen: I had to wait several seconds - up to 30~40 - before the cursor could move or I could click a button. Even opening the file selector had become hard. Then I finally could close the app, and things became normal again.
I will try and manage to restart from the beginning and check everything step by step.
Rgrds,

Still not able to reply quoting yours, the editor erases 3/4 of my text. Have to go to bed now, will try again tomorrow.

Hello,
I did some more experiment today. Not really convinced, still puzzled.
I thought I had understood the thing about Kstars-Distant / Indi-Local.
For testing purpose, I first set kstars as adviced (cf. 01-KstarsSide), but left Indi on Client (02-IndiSide01 3) and set the path (... 4).
Launched a series of 60 lights at 1 sec, as expected it toggled from Client to Local (cf. 04-IndiSide03 6).
However, as it can be seen on same screenshot, it still adds 1.5~2 seconds as loading time (7).
Not a big problem for few long exposures >30 s, but a real one for many shorter >10s ones, as it fastly increases the total time.
For 1440 takes at 10 s, it would be as adding the equivalent of 360 takes, so something like one more hour.
By the way, I am not sure about what I must do with the option showed on 03-indiSide02 5 : how does this act ?
I finally modified the output format with Date placeholder and launched a last series of takes after setting capture to remote and Fast exposure to Active (cf. 05-IndiSide04, 8 & 9).
It can be observed in the log window that the time separator is ":" instead of "-", which leads to unuseable data. The names must be modified before they can be transfered for processing purpose.
Add to this that the output format does not follow what is set in the capture window.
And still those randomly added seconds, and again the whole system being slowed down near the end of the process, but not as strongly as in my prevoius tests two days ago.
Finally, the whole log, hoping it will help to tell if it is me doing thins really wrong, or if it is related to something else.
Regards,
J.-L.

Hi Jean-Luc,

Sorry to hear that the system is not behaving as you would like it to...Have you tried working with these parameters ONLY via Ekos? I rarely (if at any time) touch the INDI panel. I am wondering if you are setting something in INDI and Ekos is overriding it.
A couple of questions :
Why are you trying to get such short exposures (is it for lucky imaging?) - have you considered recording video instead?
What kind of SD card are you using on RPi? Is it causing the lag

Hello AstroMuni,
The main reason is that I am currently using a Star Adventurer classic, with rather poor accuracy, so the less the exposure the less bad the result.
Other reasons would be too long and difficult to explain, english is far from my native language.
Regarding the fact I touch Indi parameters, I am trying to figure out which one does what and how to get them make things work as I think they ought to.
I did not consider taking videos. Better master single shots.
The sdcards I am currently using are this one and this other one , both stated as class 10 - so ought to run fine.
Power is 5v~5A, so might not be a problem as well.
Rgrds,
J.-Luc