A suggestion.
Would it be better to have "All Sky camera management software" as a separate Category on the forum rather than having every single
issue on the one thread ?
We have been getting 100's of updates on this for months on issues that don't have anything to do with original post.
Nick
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Hi I think I need some more info on Optical Train setup.
I have several profiles -eg eqmod-zwo-qhy eqmod-qhy ioptron-altair etc.
For each profile I have many options as optical train - eg different models of zwo camera or diffferent filter wheels, different scopes etc.
The way I thought it worked is that if I choose say eqmod-zwo and then in the optical train box I select which camera (asi178 asi 294 etc) then
it would all be fine. Usually after several attempts the train comes up with the same kit every time.
If I then subsequently select a different camera - eg asi178 instead of asi294 it then complains that the 294 is not connected even though in the optical
train box I selected the 178. If I try to take an exposure kstars crashes with segmentation fault.
I then create a brand new profile called eqmod-zwo2 say and it all works.
Or do I need to create a new train for each and every combination (ouch) ? 4 cameras, 2 guide camera, 6 scopes and 2 mounts - 96 combos !
I thought the point of optical trains is that we can mix and match gear (up to a point) for the same profile. eg different scopes, different zwo cameras etc.
Any pointers in the correct direction appreciated. Having to create a new profile/train for each exact combination is tedious and seems to defeat the point ?
kstars 3.6.9 x86 client, arm64 server.
Nick
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Yes but then doesn't it just become a webcam ? Back to same problem.
You will be talking to the adapter not the camera directly. You will be getting video output.
You wont get the same as using it natively via libcamera. Maybe I am wrong ?
N
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Euripides was that a question for me ?
The piHQ camera is an IMX477 - no flashing required - maybe remove IR filter. Long exposures fine.
The IMX462 is from Arducam and needs flashing for best result. It is not too good if used out of the box.
It is 2MP but very good images if stacked.
Nick
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Not sure if UVC cameras are suitable for allsky ? Just a webcam with limited exposure time ? Maybe someone else had some luck,
I also tried an arducam IMX462. Again this is a proper libcamera device using pi csi cable.
You also need to flash the camera firmware to get long exposures .
forum.arducam.com/t/imx462-libcmaera-sti...n-doesnt-work/3193/4
Download the file imx462_lanes2_firmware_long_exp.tar.gz from the Google drive in the link and untar (tar zxvf imx462_lanes2_firmware_long_exp.tar.gz)
The README says it runs on jetson nano but I ran it on pi3 raspberry pi 32bit os fine (doesn't work on 64bit os).
Flash at own risk !
This extends the exposure from 2secs to 15 seconds and increases the gain limits.
It is a very sensitive IR capable camera so 15secs is way over the top.
3x5second images stacked using imagemagick convert -average command which improves the quality.
Images taken from inside house, full moon, reflections from window glass,
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yes. You will see from the description it only mentions video (mjpeg, YUV) and frames/s.
Under INDI it works using the v4l2 webcam driver.
If you have a dedicated allsky camera, then pi4 is more than sufficient to drive the piHQ camera.
Pic attached taken in September 2023. piHQ camera - IR filter removed. Lens 1.55mm f2.0 CS.
The purple glow at the bottom is from the IR illuminator of a security camera,
The light pollution levels are moderate to high around here (Bortle 6 or worse)
Nick
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As far as I know the SV205 is just a webcam. I don't think it is proper camera like the piHQ or the ASI224. The exposure time is extremely limited.
Also the SV205 has non standard threads and connections if you ever did want to use i for something else (eg planetry).
I chucked mine in the bin years ago.
Nick
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I use the raspberry pi HQ camera with Pi4.
The IR filter is removeable if you want - take out the tiny allen bolts and prise the holder off - push the ir filter out and re-attach the holder.
12.3M pixels.
60 dollars.
As cheap as you can get - sharp detailed images if you also buy a decent wide angle lens.
Nick
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Sorry. Seems to work to be working now !
Tried it on 2 different systems and it didn't show up.
Maybe latest updates missing.
Nick
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Any hope of an indi driver for Altair 678M camera ? I have the latest version of kstars 3.6.9.
Tried the Altair and Toupcam drivers - no luck. Shows up as USB device and registers:
[32523.437146] usb 2-7.3: Product: ALTAIR678M
[32523.437151] usb 2-7.3: Manufacturer: TP
[32972.429536] usb 2-7.3: new SuperSpeed USB device number 10 using xhci_hcd
[32972.456319] usb 2-7.3: New USB device found, idVendor=16d0, idProduct=129b, bcdDevice= 1.00
idVendor looks different to previous ALtair/Toupcam.
Only seems to work under Windows with Ascom !!
Bummer.
Cheers,
Nick
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Yes I don't understand why it finally corrected the xml file after I tried different versions. It seems to work now.
As I already said, I am sure I had a similar problem in the past. Ekos reads an xml file but the driver gets conflicting information,
so is technically crashed or broken and is unable to recover.
My issue was that my camera was on a system that I had frozen at kstars 3.5.8, and I simply copied the xml file across to the new system
to preserve gain/offset etc. A shortcut which proved a not to be.
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No. In this case I set the correct bit size and saved many times. The problem is that save worked but did not turn a corrupt file in to one that the
new version of ekos could understand. Maybe because the format of the original was just too out of date. I've had a similar problem years ago
but I had forgotten. It is only later when 3.6.9 started magically working and I looked at the difference between the new file and old one i realised
that new one was very different.
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I think the moral of this story is that you need to re-generate a device profile when upgrading kstars.
I had the profile from an older release (3.5.x I think) as I hadn't used this camera for a while as it had been on another system not using kstars.
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Ok tried 3.6.8 and 3.6.9 09 fec 2024 build and both work.
Now I try the 3.6.9 01 Feb release it now works.
Looking at the .xml profile 'ZWO CCD ASI294MC Pro_config.xml' I see it is now much bigger and has been re-ordered.
I suspect the old one was somehow incompatible with the new version.
When I ran 3.6.8 or 3.6.9-09 Feb it saved a new version on exit.
Just guessing.
Nick
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Ok I just tested the same setup with kstars 3.6.8 and the ASI294MCPro camera works fine.
It starts on 16 bit and stays there.
I would say there is some sort of bug in the binary version of kstars 3.6.9 that I have.
It was installed from the ppa
deb ppa.launchpad.net/mutlaqja/ppa/ubuntu jammy main
so not a nightly build, but the stable release.
Client x64 Linux mint 21.2 (ubuntu 22.04 base)
Server arm64 Armbian (ubuntu 22.04 base).
kstars runs on the client so not an issue with the server.
Nick
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