Installing AlpacaBridge onto ToupTek StellaVista controller

[Hibou]

I'm increasingly interested in using ASCOM drivers over ethernet, even though standardisation means that some unique camera fearures are lost. The ZWO ASIAIR and ToupTek StellaVita control boxes with their Ethernet outputs look appealing, and since ToupTek devices are more open, I'm going to try flashing their StellaVita box (when it's back in stock in 3 weeks) to install AlpacaBridge. I hope then to make ToupTek and eventually ZWO cameras available via POE Ethernet to SharpCap, and more generally to my own FITS.dll scripts.

If anyone has tried this, or has comments or advice, I'd be interested. Otherwise I find Google AI very helpful.

[Hibou]

Finally I decided that it was cheaper and more versatile to use a headless mini-PC instead of ToupTek StellaVista or ZWO ASIAIR to control a remote camera over WiFi or Ethernet, and with the help of Google AI have written up some instructions for doing that on https://neutronoptics.com/computers.pdf

[admin]

Hi,

thanks for sharing those instructions - they look handy for minimizing the amount of resource drain due to Windows bloat and getting everything set up right. I have a mini PC (an old Intel NUC) that runs overnight for an all sky camera, and it only draws about 8W while running - I expect the smaller modern ones may draw even less.

One more nice tip is a way to get into the BIOS on a modern PC where the time you have to press 'Delete' or 'F11' or whatever the BIOS key is can be really short... From a windows 'Administrator' command prompt, run

Code: Select all

shutdown.exe /r /fw /t 1

That will reboot windows and boot into the BIOS on the reboot - at least on UEFI BIOS

cheers,

Robin

[Hibou]

Thanks Robin. I was also a fan of NUCs but now my old one is stuck on Win-10, and the Chinese do the same thing better and cheaper. My main computer is an even smaller and less expensive GEEKOM Ryzen 9, but I mention a couple of even cheaper Ryzen 5 models in my continuously updated instructions. I found Chrome Remote Desktop great, but Google AI says lab. administrators would object to it, so it added another page about a closed GigE ethernet arrangement.