Which NUC?

[garymck]

Hi,
looking to find out which NUC or NUC like device/mini PC (I'm aware that NUC is an Intel product name) could be recommended. Looking to attach a micro PC to my scope, run image aquisition software on it and connect via wifi to my PC inside the house. save on cables dangling everywhere, and leave permanently set up. Looking for the minimum I can spend, but have reasonable performance - USB 3 a necessity. Have tried a Raspberry Pi 4, but it sufferes from really crappy and unreliable wifi. After days exploring every possible fix, I've given up on it.

TIA
Gary

[billdan]

Hi Gary,

These are some of the range that Amazon (US) has, but your local Computer importer could probably get something similar at better prices. Like Acer or Asus etc.

I was going to buy the QHY Astrobar ($390) because it had 8 x USB ports, but its now discontinued and they are producing something similar to the ASIair (Raspberry Pi based).

https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07N49D2KG/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o09_s00? ie=UTF8&psc=1

[The_bluester]

I am using an 8th gen i5 nuc with a good size SSD in it.

My advice would be don't cheap out, I went to the i5 instead of Celeron or i3 for speed of plate solving, particularly blind solves.

Wifi may always be an issue for you, IMO WiFi is just rubbish for anything but handheld devices. I am actually using it now on mine but I have an access point in my shed near the pier and I am using sync software on my NAS in the house that will just keep trying to transfer image files until it is successful if the WiFi goesd a bit flaky. I am going to buy an outdoor access point soon as I currently have to leave my shed door open for it to work well.

[garymck]

Hi,
Billdan,
I have seen some people in the US using the box you linked to successfully, going to look in to it a bit further.

Paul,
I agree about wifi, unfortunately I can't run cables to where the scope will be located to, so will be looking in to some form of repeater or mesh network upgrade so I don't have to worry about connectivity. I also think an I5 is the way to go - every I3 I've ever seen worked slowly.

cheers
Gary

[The_bluester]

If you can sort some file sync software that tolerates flaky connection speeds it becomes less of an issue. What stays an issue though is using Teamviewer or similar to see what is going on if the connection is poor, it tends to fall over and have to be reconnected often.

[OICURMT]

You need to be more specific on the wifi issue. I run a RPi4 and have no issue with the WiFi connection. Note I do NOT run it in AdHoc mode, but rather though my router.

Changing computers won't help get a better wifi signal if you have issues with your coverage. You need to analyze what's going on first, then decide on how to overcome the issue.

So,questions:


Adhoc or infrastructure (via router) ?
2.4GHz or 5Hz ?
802.11ac or 802.11n ?
Omni-directional or directional antenna ?
QoS active or disabled ?

[Camelopardalis]

Gary, I'm with Paul...if you've got iffy wifi, a NUC isn't going to solve the problem... I experience wifi issues with my NUC and I know the signal is good. As a workaround, I find plugging the ethernet cable of the NUC into a mini-switch stabilises the wifi...maybe it's a Windows issue :shrug:

I do think they're great little machines though...the 8th Gen are the best so far, and i5 is worth the extra few pennies over the i3 as it's quad-core over dual-core (although the individual core performance is comparable).

[garymck]

Hi,
have a Pi 4 4gb.
Have installed both Astroberry and Stellarmate. Am unable to get it to connect to infrastructure via either 2.4 or 5. This is within 10 metres of the router (ASUS RT AC88U). Have tried every which way I can think of of find online. Have upgraded eeprom etc, used raspiconfig via ssh etc as well as in the graphical interface....just will not connect. It sees the connection, but will not connect. It will only work in Hotspot mode, can't get it out of this.

cheers
Gary

[LostInSp_ce]

Hi Gary, it seems that you had it working before but now it's stopped. Hard to say what's going on but you could have a faulty network adapter? Does the OS recognise it? Is the correct adapter driver installed?. Sorry I'm not too familiar with Pi systems.

If you do get up and running again and still have signal issues then some other ways to improve it include, adding a range extender, switching to 5GHz bandwidth (if supported), disable any nearby devices possibly causing interference and/or get a better quality modem/router.

As for the NUCs, definitely go with a 8th Gen i5. It's what I use and in my opinion it's all you need. It handles all camera, telescope and observatory control software with ease via wifi. They're great at multitasking, and the hardware will have no issues with application upgrades for a while, so you won't need to buy a new one in 12 months time.

[garymck]

Hi,
because of boredom due to the lockdown (have to be strict as I'm in an at risk category) I had one more go at getting the Pi going.

Previously I had installed both Stellarmate and Astroberry disk images multiple times without success at getting connection to my wifi at home. Both would successfully create a hotspot, would see my router, but would not connect. I tried everything I could find on the web to fix it spending the better part of two full days trying to do so -I don't know linux so I had to take it slowly :-)

As a last resort I installed Raspian to see if wifi worked with that - low and behold it did!! Then, rather than installing Astroberry from a disk image, I used the terminal commands to install it onto Raspian. After doing this Astroberry still worked on wifi and on hotspot.

I guess this means there is something about both the Astroberry and Stellarmate disk images that is causing issues..I'll post to the Indi forums about this..

Thanks for all the suggestions
Gary

[Saturn488]

I am running a 6th i5 NUC and have had 0 problems.

WiFi is fantastic, and runs super quick.

[OICURMT]

ASUS RT AC88U is a great router and support beamforming, which is important as you get toward the fringes of coverage. That said, your problem sounds odd. 10 metres is nothing really unless you have a brick or metal wall in the line of sight.

I assume you tried to create a new connection in Astroberry using the control panel... if you have, then ssh into the RPi4, then do the following:
1) cd /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections
2) ls -l

you should see a file called "SSID".nmconnection where the SSID is the name of your network.

edit this file and check the following:


id - this should be the same as the name of your network
ssid - this should be the same as the name of your network
psk - this should be the network password
method - under ipv4 and ipv6 - make sure both are set to "auto" (no quotes)

If something is wrong, then edit the file and correct the errors.

[garymck]

OK, more to report.

I thought I'd have one more go at installing these to try to figure out what was going on -even though I had the Raspian, updated to Astroberry working. I have a pile of micro sd cards, so didn't have to overwrite the working one.

I found that both Astroberry and Stellarmate work perfectly when installed on 32gb micro sd cards, but will not connect to wifi when installed on this micro sd card:

https://www.amazon.com.au/gp/product/B07FCMBLV6/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o03_s00? ie=UTF8&psc=1

This was one I specifically bought for the Pi as it came up very well in speed tests.

After the successful 32gb installs, I tried the 64gb again. I had the same problems as originally. I have no idea why they don't work on this card, but I'm happy now that it is all working as it should on the 32gb cards.

Thanks to OICURMT for those instructions, have copied them as a reference in case I have issues in the future! May I pm you if I have any other queries?

cheers
Gary

[OICURMT]

Yes you may...


I hane my own issues with Astroberry at the moment. My QHY-10 keeps intermitently failing (about every 5-8 frames).



Trying to track it down, but if fails every so often on ExpQHYCCDSingleFrame. Appears to be an issue with the underlying INDI driver for the QHY (or possibly the SDK from QHY). The only way to clear it and get it workng again is to reboot the the RPi4.


OIC!

[JimsShed]

I've had an Intel i5 NUC on my mount for almost 2 years now with Win10 Pro and using Windows Remote Desktop (RDP) to interact with it. Great setup. Did have an issue with RDP dropping connection, but after NUC bios and network driver updates, no more problems. Setup is about 10 metres from outside mount to Wifi router in the shed.

[netwolf]

I have been mulling over a NUC for my c8 evo , but has anyone used the Lenovo TinyPC? Or similar dell HP units. The Lenovo looks quiet industrial and older models are comparitevly priced to NUC some even better.

[glend]

The Beelink BT3 seems more cost effective than Most of the ones mentioned prior. It is just a couplebof hundred on Amazon au.
However, I am not generally a fan of NUC type boxes because I believe they are not actually cost effective compared to laptop units available on sale or run out. With NUC prices quickly escalate once you consider all the other stuff you need to complete the package.

[sunslayr]

My pick would have to be the Beelink Gemini X55 or X45. They have a great form factor that supports an internal sata ssd, has 4 usb3 ports and run on 12V like the rest of my equipment. Twice the ram and runs much faster than my other BT3 style minipc. Wifi seems a little slow though so I might try adding an internal mpcie wifi card as well. Not to mention an atom based minipc can run on <= 10 watts so its good for batteries too.

[The_bluester]

I would have to agree with that. The big advantage to the NUC and similar style machines is the form factor, not the price. That said, I don't consider them that expensive in the scheme of things, in the right application.

[chromus]

The problem with NUC's is the lack of USB ports.

USB hubs are the devil and end up as choke points. What you need is more USB host controllers sharing the load, not maxing out 1 controller trying to handle all of the load.

Have a look at the Hystou store on Ali Express. they have machines not much bigger than an NUC that have 8 USB ports run off 4 USB host controllers. They have SATA and M.2 Storage controllers for nice fast storage and gigabit ethernet.

Even better they run on 12v so if you have a high quality 12v power source you dont have issues trying to get it to 19v like some NUCs demand.

There is a range of CPU options from celeron upwards, but if you want something that is a bit future proof get at least an i3 7xxx and 8GB ram and 128GB storage.