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

Bi-monthly release with minor bug fixes and improvements

Trouble connecting when running KStars on Mac

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I'm relatively new to Stellarmate but thought I had it figured out. But I have the following problem. I can connect to SM from my Macbook Pro over my home wifi. No problem. I can browse to the SM interface, etc. I connect all of my equipment (ZWO 1600, Moonlight, filter wheel, SX Lodestar). When I run KStars on the SM everything seems fine. Indi starts, equipment connects.

But if I just change the profile to run local, and start KStars on my Mac, Indi server starts but none of the equipment will connect.

I thought I had this working before but I may have been confused about where I was running KStars. I've read that its much faster to fun on the laptop instead of on the Pi.

Any ideas?

Bob
5 years 1 month ago #35433

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Did you plug the equipment into the Mac before you tried to connect to it locally instead of using the pi? The computer INDI is running on is where the equipment needs to be plugged in.
5 years 1 month ago #35434

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The equipment is plugged into the Stellarmate. The Mac and the SM are both on the same wifi network. I'm running KStars on the Mac. From watching the videos on youtube I thought this should work. Why would I connect the equipment to the Mac? The idea is to have the Mac inside with me and the SM outside on the scope and the equipment.
5 years 1 month ago #35435

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Right, then in that case you should be running INDI on the stellar mate and connecting to it remotely from the Mac.

Running the INDIServer locally means that INDI is running on the same machine which means the drivers are running on the same machine which means that you must connect the devices to that same machine. Running the INDIServer on the Stellarmate means the equipment must be connected to the stellar mate. Once the INDIServer is running on any particular computer with devices plugged into that same computer (For you, probably Stellarmate), you can take any other particular computer (probably your Mac) and connect to that INDIServer remotely over the local network.

The reason that INDI is faster when run locally is because the devices are connected to the same computer you are running the client on, and thus the device communications do not have to go over the network. But if your goal is to run INDI on a PI and then connect to it from your Mac, then you cannot run it locally, that would be by definition running it remotely.
5 years 1 month ago #35436

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Thanks for your help Rlancaste but I'm still confused.

So I should run Indi server on the Stellarmate and run KStars on my Mac?

How do I do that? Should I use the "Stellarmate Web Manager to start the server?

And on the Mac, how do I set the parameters in the profile? See attached.

If I do the above (start Indi with Web Manager and use this profile in KStars on the Mac) it doesn't work. Nothing connects.
5 years 1 month ago #35493
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Yes you should run the INDIServer on the Stellarmate and KStars on your Mac.

You actually don't need to start INDIServer on the Stellarmate per se, since you can make use of the features of the Stellarmate Web Manager. In your screenshot, do you see the "INDI Web Manager" checkbox? If you check that, then when you click "Start INDI" on your Mac, it will communicate to the Stellarmate Web Manager and start the INDI Server using the profile that you filled out and sent in that screenshot.

First though, you need to get all of the settings in the profile in your screenshot correct. Where it says "Localhost" you need to put either the IP Address or network name of your pi. For example, one of mine is crux.local

Most of the other settings look fine. But you don't need the "Astrometry" driver. That driver is only meant for running astrometry.net on the pi. But since you have a Mac, you can run Astrometry.net on your Mac if you set it up properly with Index files etc. Astrometry.net will run much faster on your Mac.

Thanks,

Rob
5 years 1 month ago #35495

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Got it working. Appreciate the help!
5 years 1 month ago #35496

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