ICEINSPACE
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Moon Phase
CURRENT MOON
Waning Gibbous 95.4%
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04-05-2015, 06:43 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,051
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But which one Fred? The choices baffle me.
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04-05-2015, 07:26 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Kilmore, Australia
Posts: 3,342
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Well, they are more expensive for one thing. In my case it is primarily the fact that I already have the nuc.
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05-05-2015, 08:47 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: May 2009
Location: Para Hills, South Australia
Posts: 3,620
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Power consumption is a main factor in my choice. As long as it functions completely.
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05-05-2015, 03:25 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Posts: 3,916
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I'm with Fred on his suggestion for a FITPC. I have two FITPC2 headless systems I purchased back in 2009 and they are both still running flawlessly today. The only maintenace that I needed to perform was replace the CMOS battery once as the system clock would reset upon reboot. They are powered on 24x7 controlling mount, cameras, focusers, etc. I made the transition to an SSD drive for the units in 2012 which has made the unit cooler (and faster). It runs SkyX, MaximDL, FocusMax, ACP w/Scheduler and more without a glitch on Windows 7 (32bit). You don't need grunt to run telescope and imaging control apps. I wouldn't dare attempt to process or calibrate images on this system. Its solely used for data acquisition and does that exceptionally well. When they do eventually die, I will certainly be going the FITPC route again. If you buy one, make sure you get the headless dongle that plugs into the HDMI port so you can run at full screen resolution via teamviewer, radmin or VNC. When you've got a lot of apps running doing different things its nice to see them all on one screen. Product rundown here - http://fit-pc.com/download/General/f...e-overview.pdf
Ultimately any industrialised fanless pc will do the trick. FITPC2 will run 5W under normal load, 8W under high load so is power efficient.
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05-05-2015, 09:02 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Kilmore, Australia
Posts: 3,342
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They do look like a good bit of kit, but while I have a NUC lying around spare it does not make sense for me to buy one.
What does make sense though is buying one of their headless HDMI dongles. Getting a decent screen resolution to run the NUC headless took a fair bit of messing around creating files in the command line in Linux and downloading dummy drivers, and also effectively disables the display when you do plug it in.
The dongle will be a much neater solution. Money is tight, something for next month. But it did need the higher resolution to get Stellarium to run.
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05-05-2015, 10:28 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Kilmore, Australia
Posts: 3,342
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I will keep them in mind in a couple of weeks. I am in the middle of running a fibre optic link to my workshed (distance and a couple of other factors make getting cat6 run less than desirable) that will soak up some money and time for now.
I am currently trawling ebay for sfc compatible gear, tossing up between upgrading our switch or buying media converters instead.
Last edited by The_bluester; 06-05-2015 at 06:38 AM.
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06-05-2015, 12:20 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21
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Jason, Which model fitpc are you using?
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06-05-2015, 10:44 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Posts: 3,916
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Michael, I used a FITPC2 (1.6Mhz, 2GB ram). If I were to purchase another today, I would look at a FITPC3 or 4 with a higher CPU and memory.
I did come across a use case for greater processing power recently when using CCDInspector to provide real time scope collimation adjustment information. It needs to process each individual exposure to report on what adjustments are recommended. Admittedly I was doing this with a 30mp ccd that had raw FITS files 55Mb in size so it took some time. Current camera produces 32Mb files so likely to be less of an issue. Still when you are making such adjustments, timing is of the essence especially when you are standing on the end of a ladder, in the cold, making miniscule tweaks to the secondary mirror.
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09-05-2015, 10:32 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1,638
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I took a gamble this weekend on an open box Pendo Pad 8. $120.
http://www.pendo.com.au/pendopad/pen...dppw81q716blk/
Running Windows 8.1. Quad core. Many input methods (micro USB, hdmi, micro sd card, BT etc). $25 rebate from MS at the moment. When that arrives, this unit will have cost me $95! I can't begin to tell you how well this thing performs, for the money. It's my new potable setup. Forget Raspberry Pi !
P.s. oh, and they throw in a one-year full subscription to Microsoft Office 365.
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09-05-2015, 11:21 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,051
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Out of stock now.
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11-05-2015, 12:51 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Apr 2015
Posts: 21
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Logan, What software have you installed on the tablet?
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11-05-2015, 02:04 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1,638
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Everything. Phd2. Nebulosity. Ascom. Drivers etc.
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11-05-2015, 04:10 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Jun 2013
Location: Lake Macquarie
Posts: 7,051
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How does it perform? Win 8 can be a dog with all the trickery enabled and usually needs to be stripped bwck to run well.
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11-05-2015, 07:43 AM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1,638
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Quote:
Originally Posted by glend
How does it perform? Win 8 can be a dog with all the trickery enabled and usually needs to be stripped bwck to run well.
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So far, well! Are there any downloadable benchmarks to load up graphics / CPU that I can try for you and report back?
A quick comparison- it smashes my 2010 Intel Atom netbook which has 2gb or ram...
Might try SkyX tonight. Image Link is a tough test on the netbook. The old netbook falls down there...
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11-05-2015, 12:21 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Feb 2007
Location: Melbourne, Victoria
Posts: 1,053
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try DSLR Controller with the Canon 350D is you're having trouble with Backyard EOS - used to work like a dream for me.
cheers
niko
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11-05-2015, 12:41 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Feb 2011
Location: Kilmore, Australia
Posts: 3,342
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They list the 350D as non compatible though. Which is a pity, I would happily go out and get an android device if it could work.
The main issue I face with the current setup is focus, without live view it is much tougher. I am looking at getting a Bahtinov mask to make it a bit easier.
Primarily I am trying to keep my forays into AP at the ver much cheaper end of the spectrum! A later camera would probably have been easier but not as cheap obviously.
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11-05-2015, 01:26 PM
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Bust Duster
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Join Date: Nov 2008
Location: Brisbane, Australia
Posts: 4,846
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Jase/Fred - How do those little Fit PCs go with plate solving? Would be running Sequence Generator Pro with local Astronomy.net, AstroTorilla type stuff.
Logan - how about those Pendo pads running the above?
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11-05-2015, 02:12 PM
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Registered User
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Join Date: Mar 2010
Location: Canberra
Posts: 1,638
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In my limited experience, it's Image Linking (plate solving) in SkyX that really tests my hardware, drawing on 4gigs on UCAC4 star data and the likes. That test is coming...
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