I have two questions concerning the focus module process, and it's use during a session.

First, if I understand the focus operation correctly, it will perform a series of iterative focus sweeps back and forth until it hits the lowest HFR number. When it finalizes this lowest number, has it moved the focus motor "out" towards infinity, or can it revert back from "past" infinity until it hits the lowest HFR number? The reason I ask is because I will be using the focus module with an SCT scope, and the final focus movement on an SCT must always be counterclockwise towards infinity, in order to "push" the mirror up to avoid mirror flop. So does the focus module finalize it's focus setting "pushing outwards", or does it just move either way until it hits the lowest HFR?

The second question concerning focusing is how do I get it to periodically refocus. Watching the Stellarmate focus module tutorial video, which is now five years old, the camera module had a provision to set refocusing for a given amount of time, as well as to refocus if HFR rose above x setting, as you can see in the screen grab below. Those settings are no longer in the camera module, and I don't see any other module that has them. So how do you set Ekos to refocus at a given interval of time?

Thank you.

Hmm, I'm not Linux savvy, where do you find the kernel logs, and what is dmesg?

I tried the unit by itself on all 4 USB ports with nothing else connected, so I'm not sure what it's expecting to see.

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Thanks. Is that something that is done in the profile editor?

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I recently picked up a C8 and a Celestron focus motor for it. I noticed with the Celestron Windows software, there is an initial calibration procedure required for the focus motor.

Id there a similar routine needed in Ekos?

Thanks.

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OK, I think I got it, thanks. So to follow up, if I were to use an OAG instead of a separate guide scope with, say, the C5, I would set up the guide camera as below?

I'm not following this guys. I made what I believe you're asking, and I'm not seeing it working. Below you can see what I've done.

I used to be able to set where the guide camera communicated to in the Guide module. I don't see that setting there any more. Where is it?

When I set the guide camera in the Guide module, the top control panel is grayed out. If I set the main camera in the Guide module, the top controls return.

So I'm not understanding what I need to do here.

I'm trying to get KStars going on Unbuntu installed on a Mele Quieter 3C MiniPC, and the version available to download was version 3.6.3 using the "kstars-bleeding" install.

However this version is quite different from 3.6.0 that I am used to, and I don't understand how to get the modules to see the proper hardware. I have various imaging and guide cameras, scopes. as well as mounts. Normally the cameras and mounts would get set up in the Profile Editor, and the scopes in the mount module. But that is all different now, and no matter what I set up in the available setup boxes, Ekos only see the imaging camera and main scope, even in the guide module (I'm using a mount sim while running camera setups). There is no way to change any hardware parameters.

Below in one example of what I see with the available setup boxes.

How do I get the modules to see the proper hardware?

Also, is there a 3.6.0 version of KStars I can install on Unbuntu? That would really bypass all of this.

Thanks.

So you're on a Linux laptop and not Astroberry? I was able to finally get it to run on Astroberry once I ran a general update, using the SV305 driver.

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Does Ekos automatically shift a mount's tracking mode to moon when you tell Ekos to center and track the moon? I noticed that when I do it using the sims it appears to do exactly that.

However I see independent settings in the INDI Control Panel to set the the tracking mode to sidereal, lunar, solar, or custom.

So how would I go about tracking the moon (or the sun) in Ekos? Does it change to the proper tracking mode automatically, or do I need to manually set it in the INDI Control Panel?

Thanks.

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Well, it was a curiosity more than anything else. I couldn't understand why it couldn't be ported to work natively in Windows.

Even with running Linux in Windows, it's still all rather convoluted.

ASCOM in a pain because you have to deal with a splatterfest of apps, and if something doesn't work right the fingers all point in different directions. Been there, done that. That's what I like about Ekos, everything runs from one place.

Of course, it's easiest just to run it on the Pi, but sometimes the Pi's lack of power can get in the way. I've been looking at MiniPCs to load some Linux variant, then install the software and try to set it up as a hotspot like the PI. Linux is too convoluted for me with it's terminal-everything approach to doing things, so I'll just stick with the Pi and deal with it. I do wish there would be a Pi 5 already.

Thanks for your feedback.

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Hmm, well, I'm not a programmer, so I don't grasp a lot of this stuff, but it got me thinking about something else.

The setups I've seen so far for running Ekos on Windows is to use a Pi running Astroberry to access the INDI server, apparently via a network.

However since Windows 10 there is the ability to run Linux right in Windows, in what I think is a virtual machine (again I'm not savvy on this stuff):
www.youtube.com/watch?v=l9YxTXDiiFY&t=560s

So is it somehow possible to run the INDI server from the Linux OS running within Windows? I suppose INDI and libgphoto2 would need to be installed on the Linux OS, or are those already in Linux distros?

The idea is to run it all from one machine and not have the need to have a separate computer running INDI, connected through a network. From what I've seen so far, the present arrangement of running Ekos on Windows is completely impractical.

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I see that INDI can readily run on Linux and Mac machines, but it is a total convolution to run Ekos on Windows because the INDI server has not been ported over to run natively in Windows.

Why is that?

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No, they are the same, as you can see below. The userdb.sqlite files are under Astroberry, not Pi. However everything appears to be working, I haven't had an actual session yet, but I did run some cameras through their paces. My Olympus E-M5 Mk II and the Player One Uranus-C are working as they should, so I should be good to go. We'll see.

Thanks again for your help.

Hmm, OK, well that worked, but the database was under /home/astroberry/.local/share/kstars/userdb.sqlite. After I backed up and copied the file over, the HiPS ALL SKY OVERLAY was turned off, and I had to reinstall all the catalogs in DATA under the KSTARS ADD-ON INSTALLER, which is quite a tedious process. I also got this error message when I opened the ADD-ON INSTALLER box that you see below. I had installed these databases when I initially flash Astroberry, because I believe they are really needed, so I couldn't understand why they weren't recognized as already installed. The installer went ahead and installed (or reinstalled) the catalogs anyway, so I'm not sure what that error message pertains to.

What's odd (for me) is that the userdb.sqlite file was exactly the same file size, for the file I backed up, the one I copied, and a backup file that already existed in the folder.

All's well that ends well however. Thanks for your help.

My main Astroberry setup has a corrupt driver for one of my cameras, and I don't know how to fix it. However I have a backup Astroberry system on another Micro SD card, and I need to know if it's possible to transfer the flags from the primary system to the backup. The primary works just fine otherwise.

Thanks for any info on this.

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