Thanks for testing, Willem.

Regarding "automatic mount model": Am I assuming correctly you're using the "Mount Model Tool" which can be started in EKOS Align Tab by the button "Mount Model"? I tried this with CCD simulator as well and I did not observe any issues. But I will test it again tomorrow. Did EKOS crash or the hand controller?

Regarding Firmware Version: There's obviously a small bug in the data field. It seems to append the serial number of the mount which is not intended. This did not happen during my tests but to be honest, I somehow deleted my mount's serial number. I will try to fix this issue – but most likely will be difficult since I'm not able to test it live.

Regarding pulling of V&T: I made this optional and turned off by default because I was not sure whether everyone is interested in this information and if active in sum three serial commands are being continuously sent (limited by set pull rate) additional to the mount's more important data like RA/DEC & ALT/AZ positions. Unfortunately I did not figure out how to store the setting in the driver's config file yet – this would be the most convenient solution.

Indeed, it is the “mount model tool” I am referring to. It almost seemed like a timing issue, that’s why I thought it might be the CCD simulator. If you have no issues with it, perhaps it is some setting I had not correct in the current test setup. Will try again when there’s some clear skies.

Ah, yes, I see, in log files you would flood important pointing info with unimportant V&T info. We can easily leave it as it is. If you want to know the info, it immediately populates as soon as you enable the pull V&T.

Thanks again for all your work.

"If you want to know the info, it immediately populates as soon as you enable the pull V&T." >> Sorry, have to ask one more thing: Enabling the pulling of V&T does immediately populate the serial number in the firmware field? Or immediately populates the log files with the V&T data?

Enabling pull V&T immediately populates the log files with V&T data. Serial number is in there regardless enabling/disabling pull V&T

Great development! Thank you very much!
One question - does this new star alignment feature need the hand controller to be connected or it's all happening in Ekos?
Thanks!

I've checked the command works well, even without the iHubo controller. But I would recommended connecting the hand controller - when a star is aligned, there'll be a beep sound from the iHubo and you can see the number of stars aligned from the HC display. At first I thought the HC is kind of bulky, but later I've found it's handy on certain commands. Like I want to HOME the mount I just press and hold ILL.

Willem, I gave the mount model tool a detailed look. I was observing a single (non repeatable) crash of Ekos/KStars as well when using RST-135. Interestingly though is that a crash can be repeatably forced by either hitting "pause" during the automatic alignment routine or hitting "stop" no matter when. I tried it with simulator drivers only (no real hardware connected) and the same behaviour was observed. Can you please test this as well? It should occur by just opening the mount model tool and then hitting the stop button on the very bottom-right corner.
Ekos Debugger shows this when it happens:
I noticed a function "abort()" getting called in KStar's mountmodel.cpp "MountModel::resetAlignmentProcedure()" as well as in "MountModel::startStopAlignmentProcedure()" when hitting "pause". Maybe abort() is a little too harsh?
@Jasem: Any ideas on that? I think there's a bug in the mount modeling tool.
 

Christopher, yes, the same thing happens here. Just pressing the stop button in the mount model tool crashes KStars. Makes no difference if I have the RST-135E selected, or using the mount simulator.
Same happens on Ubuntu as well on Mac. Both running Kstars 3.5.7 Beta.

Just noted another strange thing. Under the Connection tab, there are no options to configure which serial port to use. It connects well, perhaps because the required info is still in the configuration file?
Is this something that could have changed due to the update? Is there something I may have missed?

 

This does not look like that on my system – all normal here. Steven, can you check please?

  
Mine looks like this.... appears to be normal.

Willem can you try at the Options Tab, and Purge Configuration once, and restart INDI and see if the port comes back?
 

Thank you, Stephen (I'm sorry for misspelling your name).
Can you please tell me as well if the serial number on your General Info tab get's spilled into the firmware field? This happened on Willem's screenshot and I cannot reproduce this behaviour here. I was able to get back the serial number and at my installation it behaves as it should (6 letters in firmware field and 6 letters in serial number field).