INDI support

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yoandresmza
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Re: INDI support

#11

Post by yoandresmza »

Again, my proposal is just to add more flexibility to Sharpcap by making it capable of connecting with INDI devices. If you feel more comfortable placing a laptop on your telescope and running Sharpcap connected via USB to the devices, good for you! that option will remain available. But maybe it is not what all users prefer and I think this would be a good advance.

Andres
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oopfan
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Re: INDI support

#12

Post by oopfan »

Andres,

Here is something to consider before diving into INDI:

I must run a version of Astroberry that is nearly TWO YEARS OLD. Why? Because Atik told INDI that they MUST use the Atik-sourced library, not the one that INDI wrote for Atik cameras. That ruling meant that my 10-year-old Atik 314E was no longer supported. And, believe it or not, INDI didn't support Altair cameras two years ago. So my choices are (a) an old version of INDI that supports the Atik 314E but not the Altair 290M, or (b) a new version of INDI that supports the Altair 290M but not the Atik 314E.

Guess what? I still have the ASCOM driver for the Atik 314E when I purchased the camera, so I have no problem using the camera with SharpCap. But what good is an ASCOM driver with INDI? To the best of my knowledge, not much of anything. The great thing about SharpCap is camera support. Robin is a genius at solving camera problems. And, if there is something that can't be solved, you can always fall back on the ASCOM driver.

I made the move to INDI two years ago because SharpCap did not have a Scheduler. Now that SharpCap has it, there is little reason to continue using INDI. Furthermore, you don't need a laptop to run SharpCap. You can purchase a Windows Single-Board Computer that rides atop your scope, which is the only thing I like about the Raspberry Pi.

Brian
yoandresmza
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Re: INDI support

#13

Post by yoandresmza »

Brian,
As far as I know in INDI you can have different versions of drivers for each device and not necessarily update the entire INDI library. In your case, I think you could have the newer driver for your Altair and keep an old driver for your Atik.
I also know that Jasem Mutlaq has repaired and updated several drivers to keep the INDI library as compatible as possible. Did you try to communicate with him?

I know that using a singleboard PC with windows mounted on the telescope is a possibility to run Sharpcap locally. But that would be an additional expense and they are much more expensive than a Raspberry Pi.

Andres
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oopfan
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Re: INDI support

#14

Post by oopfan »

Andres,

I did not work with Jasem himself, but with Peter at CloudMakers. I believe his company developed the Atik library that is now no longer used. I don't mean to cast dispersion on anyone, but I find that I prefer Robin as a single point of contact rather than INDI's model of distributed development.

Brian
str3aml1n3
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Joined: Sun Nov 07, 2021 12:53 am

Re: INDI support

#15

Post by str3aml1n3 »

Hi,

I am a novice at best but here's my opinion:
-Having SharpCap INDI client without on-prem SharpCap server is more valuable interop wise.
-INDI is not used only on slow WiFi, there is fast WiFi and ethernet too.
-My D3400 camera is only supported by INDI drivers, no thanks to ASCOM and SharpCap, so supporting INDI is essential to the(my) ecosystem ;)

Regards.
Last edited by str3aml1n3 on Sun Nov 07, 2021 12:58 am, edited 1 time in total.
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oopfan
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Re: INDI support

#16

Post by oopfan »

Hi Regards,

Thank you for your opinion.

Brian
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admin
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Re: INDI support

#17

Post by admin »

Hi,

just looked at this again and found this - https://www.nuget.org/packages/INDISharp/ - an INDI library that is compatible with SharpCap both in terms of the programming language used and having a license that is compatible with a commercial application. I will investigate a bit more as this may remove a lot of the repetitive work from getting INDI working.

cheers,

Robin
mads0100@gmail.com
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Re: INDI support

#18

Post by mads0100@gmail.com »

I would like to see this added. It’s for my DSLR.
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admin
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Re: INDI support

#19

Post by admin »

Hi,

I investigated the Indisharp package and also emailed the author (who I have worked with before in the past). Unfortunately the package looks like it needs more work and I haven't yet heard back from Ilia the author. I am keeping an eye on any progress here though.

Out of interest, has anyone found the installer/instructions for the Indigo/Alpaca bridge that should make Indigo (and hence INDI) stuff show up as ASCOM devices - there is a summary of how it is supposed to work here (https://github.com/indigo-astronomy/ind ... ent_alpaca), but I can't find any installer or further instructions. It looks like it would fill this gap quite nicely.

cheers,

Robin
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Re: INDI support

#20

Post by mads0100@gmail.com »

Hey Robin,

First, I’ll freely admit I’m a novice Linux user. I will say that the guys on the INDI forums are mostly developers. I would recommend getting ahold of the (Jassem Matlaq is one, he maintains the stellarmate program). I think they’d be able to get you on the right path.

Also, you might talk with the developer of Voyager. He implemented INDI and seems like a good guy in my emails with him.

Lastly, Michel Würzburger is the developer of Mountwizzard4. He used to be ASCOM only and ported over to completely INDI due to its portability. He helped me get his software working on an astroberry.. I’m sure he’d at least give you advice on how to tackle this.

Not entirely helpful, but everyone I’ve dealt with on the Linux side of things has been super helpful. I’ll dig around with what you posted and see what I can discover. I’m good at researching 🤗.

Chris
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