INDIClient 1.0.15: New INDIMount Tool

GoTo in INDIMount without internet is very important for me.
I use my equipment in mountains where is no any communication. No mobile, no electricity, and internet.
So, i can't use INDIMount. >:D 
 
So, i can't use INDIMount. >:D

Well, you _can_ enter equatorial coordinates manually in the GoTo section  8)

Local catalogs will be available in one of the next versions (probably in September). We are working to implement this functionality as soon as possible.
 
The thing missing in other product is the ability to take remote control via a true api.
When you're on the field, every Watt count and then a minimal hardware with a low power consumption remote control (phone or tablet) is a must.
If we could have something like that it would be great.

So :
Daemon without graphical interface (running on a Raspberry or Odroid device, controlling the mount)
A client on Android for remote control. (Or just an API allowing us to develop the client)
 
Daemon without graphical interface (running on a Raspberry or Odroid device, controlling the mount)

An INDI server on Raspberry is already a reality.

A client on Android for remote control.

Well, this clearly excludes PixInsight ;) Seriously, an INDI client with the functionality that we are going to implement in PixInsight is only possible on a desktop or laptop machine. I don't think that power consumption is really a problem nowadays. For example, the next generation of MacBook laptops is impressive in this regard. And PixInsight runs nicely on OS X...
 

Attachments

  • INDI_clients.png
    INDI_clients.png
    162.2 KB · Views: 82
In the list row for PixInsight, the column "Operating Systems" should be: FreeBSD, Linux, OSX, Windows.

On the other hand, although the PixInsight Core application is proprietary software, the INDIClient module is an open-source project released under a BSD-like license:

https://github.com/PixInsight/PCL/tree/master/src/modules/processes/contrib/kkretzschmar/INDIClient
https://github.com/PixInsight/PCL/blob/master/LICENSE.txt

IMO this is a very important fact that should be mentioned.
 
Juan Conejero said:
An INDI server on Raspberry is already a reality.

Yes but no descent API out there.

Juan Conejero said:
Well, this clearly excludes PixInsight ;) Seriously, an INDI client with the functionality that we are going to implement in PixInsight is only possible on a desktop or laptop machine. I don't think that power consumption is really a problem nowadays. For example, the next generation of MacBook laptops is impressive in this regard. And PixInsight runs nicely on OS X...
The Mac book still consume about 30 to 40W compared to the 2W consumed by an Odroid or a Raspberry, it makes a huge difference.
A Raspberry can be powered during more than 10 hours with a small and light 13AH Li-Ion battery.
Plus the fact the Mac book is very expensive (~$1000-2000) compared to the $30 raspberry. Drive a mount and autoguide doesn't need so much CPU power.
For me bringing a laptop to the field is always a pain in the ass, it's the device consuming 80% of my battery. I really think mount driving and autoguiding could be done much cleverly.

I can't imagine I'm the only one that have had to give up a session because the laptop is gone, and when you live in a city like me and have to do hundreds of kilometer to have a nice sky, an aborted session is more than frustrating.
 
Juan Conejero said:
In the list row for PixInsight, the column "Operating Systems" should be: FreeBSD, Linux, OSX, Windows.

On the other hand, although the PixInsight Core application is proprietary software, the INDIClient module is an open-source project released under a BSD-like license:

https://github.com/PixInsight/PCL/tree/master/src/modules/processes/contrib/kkretzschmar/INDIClient
https://github.com/PixInsight/PCL/blob/master/LICENSE.txt

IMO this is a very important fact that should be mentioned.
Ok. No problem.
 

Attachments

  • PI_INDI.png
    PI_INDI.png
    31.5 KB · Views: 67
For me bringing a laptop to the field is always a pain in the ass, it's the device consuming 80% of my battery. I really think mount driving and autoguiding could be done much cleverly.

I understand your power requirements to operate in the field. However, our INDIClient module is an ambitious project. We pursue levels of functionality, flexibility, automation and accuracy that certainly require processing power. On the other hand, INDIClient is a PixInsight module, fully integrated with the PixInsight platform, and PixInsight does not run (and won't run in the foreseeable future) on small portable devices.

Tryed Starspi but it's not stable at all.
... and other INDI clients for Linux on your Raspberry Pi or Odroid.

This forum is about PixInsight and this thread is about the development of a PixInsight INDI client module, so let's keep the discussion on-topic as much as possible.
 
Juan Conejero said:
....
This forum is about PixInsight and this thread is about the development of a PixInsight INDI client module, so let's keep the discussion on-topic as much as possible.
Users can find more information about the INDI on its site and forum.
 
passer_by said:
Hi!
Excuse for my English.
Use for GoTo in INDIMount online of catalogues strongly narrows possibilities of application INDIMount on the nature.
Whether there is a possibility to make connected catalogues from a hard disk? UCAC4, UCAC3?
Thanks,
Evgeniy
Wait...
What problem you want to solve with UCAC catalogs?
Maybe, you need some "handmade" DSO catalog:
Code:
IC 1396	21h39m36.51s	+57?34'28.0"	C+N	m: 3.50	Dim: 89.0 x 89.0'
M 39	21h32m47.48s	+48?30'22.2"	OC	m: 4.60	Dim: 32.0 x 32.0'
M 52	23h24m56.05s	+61?40'23.8"	OC	m: 6.90	Dim: 13.0 x 13.0'
M 74	01h37m34.83s	+15?51'58.7"	Gx	m: 9.40	Dim: 10.0 x 9.4'
M 110	00h41m17.74s	+41?46'22.6"	Gx	m: 8.10	Dim: 19.5 x 11.5'
M 32	00h43m35.83s	+40?57'22.0"	Gx	m: 8.10	Dim: 8.5 x 6.5'
M 31	00h43m35.88s	+41?21'22.0"	Gx	m: 3.40	Dim:189.0 x 61.0'
Stock 2	02h15m52.95s	+59?33'32.3"	OC	m: 4.40	Dim: 60.0 x 60.0'
M 76	01h43m20.26s	+51?39'55.3"	Pl	m:10.10	Dim:163.0 x107.0"
M 33	01h34m49.48s	+30?44'00.4"	Gx	m: 5.70	Dim: 68.7 x 41.6'
Cr 464	05h14m40.82s	+73?59'05.8"	OC	m: 4.20	Dim:120.0 x120.0'
M 103	01h34m29.80s	+60?44'00.6"	OC	m: 7.40	Dim: 6.0 x 6.0'
M 77	02h43m32.29s	+00?03'08.2"	Gx	m: 8.90	Dim: 7.3 x 6.3'
M 45	03h47m58.49s	+24?09'59.1"	C+N	m: 1.20	Dim:100.0 x100.0'
M 34	02h43m09.48s	+42?51'08.6"	OC	m: 5.20	Dim: 35.0 x 35.0'
Mel 20	03h25m28.51s	+49?55'25.3"	OC	m: 1.20	Dim:185.0 x185.0'
M 79	05h24m52.44s	-24?30'09.5"	Gb	m: 7.70	Dim: 7.8 x 7.8'
M 42	05h36m06.24s	-05?22'25.3"	C+N	m: 4.00	Dim: 90.0 x 60.0'
M 43	05h36m18.29s	-05?15'25.6"	Nb	m: 7.00	Dim: 20.0 x 15.0'
Cr 70	05h36m49.91s	-00?59'26.3"	OC	m: 0.40	Dim:150.0 x150.0'
Cr 69	05h36m00.09s	+09?56'34.9"	OC	m: 2.80	Dim: 65.0 x 65.0'
Sh2-264	05h37m12.12s	+10?00'33.2"	Nb	m: 5.00	Dim: 70.0 x 70.0'
M 78	05h47m38.32s	+00?05'18.3"	Nb	m: 8.00	Dim: 8.0 x 6.0'
M 1	05h35m29.07s	+22?01'35.7"	Nb	m: 8.40	Dim: 8.0 x 4.0'
IC 2602	10h43m29.26s	-64?29'09.5"	OC	m: 1.90	Dim:100.0 x100.0'
IC 2944	11h38m40.16s	-63?26'26.3"	C+N	m: 4.50	Dim: 60.0 x 35.0'
Cr 132	07h16m02.02s	-30?42'46.3"	OC	m: 3.60	Dim: 80.0 x 80.0'
Cr 140	07h25m07.62s	-31?52'58.5"	OC	m: 3.50	Dim: 60.0 x 60.0'
M 41	06h46m42.17s	-20?46'05.8"	OC	m: 4.50	Dim: 38.0 x 38.0'
M 50	07h03m17.18s	-08?24'28.8"	OC	m: 5.90	Dim: 16.0 x 16.0'
M 47	07h37m21.13s	-14?31'14.6"	OC	m: 4.40	Dim: 30.0 x 30.0'
M 46	07h42m33.06s	-14?51'21.3"	OC	m: 6.10	Dim: 27.0 x 27.0'
M 93	07h45m11.61s	-23?53'24.8"	OC	m: 6.20	Dim: 22.0 x 22.0'
M 35	06h09m54.17s	+24?20'46.6"	OC	m: 5.10	Dim: 28.0 x 28.0'
 
Juan Conejero said:
I understand your power requirements to operate in the field. However, our INDIClient module is an ambitious project. We pursue levels of functionality, flexibility, automation and accuracy that certainly require processing power. On the other hand, INDIClient is a PixInsight module, fully integrated with the PixInsight platform, and PixInsight does not run (and won't run in the foreseeable future) on small portable devices.

I understand I'm not the target of your module, sorry to have bothered you.
But just to say, small portable devices are more and more powerful and are definitely the future. Making things compatible with them (ARM compatible) will be a near future mandatory thing.

Juan Conejero said:
This forum is about PixInsight and this thread is about the development of a PixInsight INDI client module, so let's keep the discussion on-topic as much as possible.

Pixinsight is entering in competition with other products. It's positive to compare for making a good product.
 
Vicent has raised my attention to the UDOO x86 project:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/udoo/udoo-x86-the-most-powerful-maker-board-ever

It seems that this device will be able to run PixInsight on Linux without any problem. As soon as we can get one, I'll start making tests. With one of these, you can run an INDI server and PixInsight as a client on the same machine, then connect with a laptop through a wireless network when necessary, just to point the telescope and start an acquisition sequence. Very promising...
 
while nowhere near as cheap, intel is now selling non-atom versions of the compute stick.

having said that i'm running my imaging rig on the atom-based compute stick with no problem. 2GB of ram, 32-bit windows home, ascom, sequence generator pro, astrometry.net, etc. clearly PI won't run on that hardware, but right now i am successfully doing image acquisition with this device. idle consumption: 2W.

rob
 
Juan Conejero said:
Vicent has raised my attention to the UDOO x86 project:

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/udoo/udoo-x86-the-most-powerful-maker-board-ever

It seems that this device will be able to run PixInsight on Linux without any problem. As soon as we can get one, I'll start making tests. With one of these, you can run an INDI server and PixInsight as a client on the same machine, then connect with a laptop through a wireless network when necessary, just to point the telescope and start an acquisition sequence. Very promising...

Hi - I got one of these last week. I haven't tried it under the stars yet (weather poor), but I have used it to run The Sky X with simulated mount, camera etc - works very well and takes about 5W - a little more than the 3-4W for the Pi and Odroid XU4, but not signifcantly.

PixInsight seems to run fine - my board is the advanced plus with 4GB and I have an M.2 SSD. Timing a few things it takes about 5 times as long as on my desktop PC, which has a PixInsight benchmark score of about 6000.

I don't plan to use the Indi driver with this (I wrote a couple of X2 drivers so that I could use my equipment with a Pi running TSX), but I do think it would work well with INDI and PixInsight.

Colin
 
Hi Colin,
good to know thanks! Just to clarify, the indiserver itself runs fine even on a raspberry pi 2. If you use a pi with ubuntu mate it is very easy to install and upgrade all the required indi software.

Klaus
 
I use a 195AH marine battery now and i can run all night and have enough juice to make coffee in the morning.  Seriously if you have power needs, just buy a bigger battery or several of them.

Keep up the great work Juan. I know this will develop over time.  All suggestions should be taken positively.  Everyone has their unique needs and wants and their consideration should be no less than anything else.  :). Maybe someday i can ditch all of these other buggy apps and just use this for all of my needs.

Juan Conejero said:
Daemon without graphical interface (running on a Raspberry or Odroid device, controlling the mount)

An INDI server on Raspberry is already a reality.

A client on Android for remote control.

Well, this clearly excludes PixInsight ;) Seriously, an INDI client with the functionality that we are going to implement in PixInsight is only possible on a desktop or laptop machine. I don't think that power consumption is really a problem nowadays. For example, the next generation of MacBook laptops is impressive in this regard. And PixInsight runs nicely on OS X...
 
Back
Top