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Old 23-04-2020, 10:35 AM
Emuhead (Andrew)
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Pi4 with Stellarmate (or similar), ASIAir Pro, NUC - which way to go?

Hi all,

I cant decide between the below and wondering how your experience with any of these has been. Are any easier to use in the field than another? ASCOM vs INDI equally reliable? Power draw, reliability, software, easy of use, grin factor are all things im interested in.

1. Raspberry Pi 4 with Stellarmate, Indigo Sky, Astroberry
2. ASIAir Pro
3. Mini PC like a NUC
4. Laptop is ruled out. Id rather not get a laptop if i can avoid it.

Right now I have a Fuji X-T2 which def is not supported by ASIAir Pro, or Astro Photography Tool, or Sequence Generator Pro. The only thing that does support it Entangle (for GPhoto2 for the Pi4 option).

I also am guessing the NUC might be overkill for what i actually need out there as ill bring home the images to process on a beefier machine, but would Windows software be more reliable for guiding software, meridian flips, etc?

Power draw is another factor, the NUC would draw more power id wager. I have a 42000mAh/3.7V (155Wh) portable battery with 12V DC outputs, and a 240V 100W AC output.

The Guide Camera will be a ZWO camera, so if i do go the ASIAir route, i can use an intervalometer for the Fuji shooting and use the ASIAir for Guiding.

There are a lot of factors at play here, but really, what do you use and how happy are you with it? Thanks!
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Old 23-04-2020, 11:07 AM
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billdan (Bill)
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A similar thread just started on Cloudy Nights if you want some more information.

https://www.cloudynights.com/topic/7...why-not-a-nuc/

I still use a Win-XP Laptop outside but I would prefer to go the Mini PC route.
The key for me is the number of USB ports they provide, the one I am looking at for $US 290 has 3 x USB 3.0 ports and 2 x USB 2.0 ports. Has Win10 installed, 8Gb ram, 256Gb SSD drive and 2 HDMI ports plus WiFi etc.
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Old 24-04-2020, 09:21 PM
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lazjen (Chris)
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I'd agree with avoiding the laptop if you can - or to have that as a completely separate view platform. Also, they tend to generally suck with number of USB ports and the power handling on them. Normally you have to do some hoop jumps in Windows, for example to stop USB issues.

As for the NUC or the other options, how do you plan to control it (as in log into it/view a screen)? A display of some form will draw power as well.

Personally, I think a NUC will be better overall. For example, plate solving, if you want to use it, will be faster on the NUC.

Also, I wouldn't be worried about whether it's Windows or Linux you use, more the software on top that you want to drive things. Again, I'd lean towards Linux/INDI personally.
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Old 02-05-2020, 08:11 AM
phomer (Paul)
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Emuhead View Post
Hi all,

I cant decide between the below and wondering how your experience with any of these has been. Are any easier to use in the field than another? ASCOM vs INDI equally reliable? Power draw, reliability, software, easy of use, grin factor are all things im interested in.

1. Raspberry Pi 4 with Stellarmate, Indigo Sky, Astroberry
2. ASIAir Pro
3. Mini PC like a NUC
4. Laptop is ruled out. Id rather not get a laptop if i can avoid it.

Right now I have a Fuji X-T2 which def is not supported by ASIAir Pro, or Astro Photography Tool, or Sequence Generator Pro. The only thing that does support it Entangle (for GPhoto2 for the Pi4 option).

I also am guessing the NUC might be overkill for what i actually need out there as ill bring home the images to process on a beefier machine, but would Windows software be more reliable for guiding software, meridian flips, etc?

Power draw is another factor, the NUC would draw more power id wager. I have a 42000mAh/3.7V (155Wh) portable battery with 12V DC outputs, and a 240V 100W AC output.

The Guide Camera will be a ZWO camera, so if i do go the ASIAir route, i can use an intervalometer for the Fuji shooting and use the ASIAir for Guiding.

There are a lot of factors at play here, but really, what do you use and how happy are you with it? Thanks!

Emuhead,


This depends a lot on what equipment you have and whether it is supported.
INDI on a Raspberry Pi is a good low power choice but requires significant knowledge and effort to configure and set up (I guess they all do) whereas using Stellar Mate avoids much of that effort because it is already setup and only needs to be configured.


Paul
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Old 03-05-2020, 12:15 AM
AnakChan (Sean)
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I went through the same questions a few months back and drew up a little sheet for myself (for the pros, this is a noob sheet so I apologise in advance for its basic comparison) :-

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets...GokWU0Dss/edit


I went with the ASIAir Pro in the end as all my camera gear (main & guide, FW) were ZWO. I’m just learning mono astro so it’ll be fine for a few years till I outgrow the ASIAir Pro.
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Old 05-05-2020, 08:29 AM
Saturn488
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Intel NUC hands down. Sure it may end up costing more but I think it's well worth it in the long run for the following reasons:

- Much more powerful than a Pi
- WiFi range is stronger
- Can have as much or as little storage and RAM as you like
- Sequence Generator Pro!

ASIAir Pro looks like a great device but it's only compatible with their hardware. Stellarmate I had a look at but what concerns me the most is it has a less than 4 star rating out of 5 and I can't find many people using it at all.

I custom built mine in an enclosure that sits on my tripod, best thing I have done. I have seen people mount it on their scope but I wanted to keep the weight off (just run long USB cables so you don't get any tangles). I RDP to it from my PC inside the house over wifi and it's very smooth. If I want to take it out in the field all I do is run an ethernet cable from the NUC to my laptop and RDP again.

You won't need anything more than an i3, 8GB RAM and 250GB SSD. 16GB would be nice but not necessary, I get about 65% RAM usage now with my 8GB.
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  #7  
Old 05-05-2020, 09:00 AM
carneb (Barry)
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I'm running Stellarmate on a Rapberry Pi 4 4GB version. It was a bit slow when only the beta was available for the Pi 4. Now the stable version is available its much better though.

My equipment is AZ-EQ6, ASI1600mm-pro, ASI EFW, ASI EAF, ASI290mm for guiding and its runs them all with no problems. It even worked with my Nikon Z6 when I was still using that.

It relies on KStars/ EKOS to do all the actual work and this has a few bugs occasionally but overall is very good. Once the scope is set up and polar aligned (aided by Kstars/ EKOS) then everything can be done from the laptop inside. No more standing next to the scope with the laptop on a cold night.
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