Well I have been investigating the means by which I will control my telescope once I move into my new house in (hopefully) mid October. As such I have decided to run the gauntlet of switching over to Linux based image capture.
So far I have set-up a dual boot OS on my image processing machine and installed Kstars with Ekos and Indi libraries. The simulations so far have been promising.
One reason I am considering Linux is because of the ability to run the indi library as a remote server. This means that I will be able to use a Raspberry Pi (i am using a Pi2 but pi 1's work) as a server host at the scope that I can remote into with Ekos from inside the house using either wireless or Ethernet. Best of all the Pi runs of the same USB hub my other equipment will be plugged into. Not bad for only $35
This means that provided the wireless connection works in my location works I would be able to reduce cabling running up the mount to only one (power). I got the Pi today and have loaded the operating system and Indi server on to it and will be testing the remote server with some of my equipment in the coming days.
I'm sure you're aware of the INDI forums. They should be able to help you out if you get stuck. I've seen some people there exploring using the Raspberry PI. I intend doing so myself if I can ever find time between other projects.
Just a word of warning Octane, in my research I have found that if your imaging using a CCD you need to ensure that the CCD and other devices are plugged into a powered USB hub as the Pi lacks the amps. Also you have to ensure you plug the Pi into the same hub (for power) to ensure there is no differential between devices in regards Voltage and Grounding.
You can plug them in separately but it creates image noise (because the Pi isn't independently grounded.)
That's the beauty of the indi system (well compared to ascom). The Pi doesn't have the grunt to do the heavy lifting but Indi allows you to create a server using the Pi and have the CPU heavy processing be done by a decent rig inside the house.
Essentially its like a cheap Ethernet USB hub lol. The Pi 2 has (theoretically) the grunt to do the imaging capture as well but it is advisable to merely us it as a imaging sever.
About the only thing the Pi may struggle with is doing plate solving at reasonable speed. However, INDI can be run in a remote operation, so perhaps the heavy lifting can be done on a remote computer and the Pi just controlling the mount, etc. Something to consider/explore I guess.
About the only thing the Pi may struggle with is doing plate solving at reasonable speed. However, INDI can be run in a remote operation, so perhaps the heavy lifting can be done on a remote computer and the Pi just controlling the mount, etc. Something to consider/explore I guess.
That's certainly the advice the INDI developers give. It's advice based on the original Raspberry 1 but despite the advances in the new 2B version, probably still holds good - use the RP as server at the scope and remote in from a computer with more grunt. I'm looking at a 2B as server and an Intel Stick Compute as a remote host. Haven't got either yet - Intel Stick on oder though. Anyone tried doing this?
Peter
The only limiting factor about the stick is that it only has wireless connection which is fine if you can run everything on the stick but not so good if your wireless connection is dodgy. Also it costs $189 to replace if you have a Dew event as opposed to $35 for the Pi 2.
If this doesn't work though I will probably go down the stick method lol.
I can't get the INDI library to install. I'm running Raspian. Something about libc6 being less than version 2.17; I didn't think there was any versions greater than 2.13 for the ARM processor.
