PHD2 Enhancements

Authored by lancaster on Oct 2 2019, 7:21 AM.

Description

PHD2 Enhancements

Summary:
This update is intended to fix several PHD2 problems and provide several PHD2 enhancements.

  1. Fixes an issue where if the user hits the stop button while guiding in the PHD2 interface, then the user restarts guiding from PHD2, Ekos did not pick up the guide state change since no settling occurred and the user didn't click guide in Ekos.
  2. Fixes an issue where the guiding data was not put into the graphs if the user did not enter a focal length into PHD2. Formerly the solution was to put a warning in the Guide log, but users ignored that. Now this tries to set the currentCCD, so the backup method can work the way it was intended to work.

Note-This still won't work if it is a PHD2-only camera and the user doesn't enter a focal length, so the warning still prints.

  1. Fixes an issue when the user had external guide frames selected, they did not appear in the guide view, and instead loaded in the fits viewer.
  2. Enables the loop and capture buttons for PHD2 along with the corresponding functions to make them work. Works well if the camera is connected to Ekos, also works if its not, but it will not display in Ekos. A message prints to the log letting the user know why.
  3. Disables the binning combo box which was enabled accidentally.
  4. If the user has external guide frames enabled, this enables the tracking box so that the lock position in the image can be reported to the user, and it also enables the user to be able to click to change the lock position for PHD2.
  5. This improves Ekos's ability to recognize the guide camera by using PHD2's report of what guide camera it is using. Then Ekos can use this information to disable or enable the receipt of image frames as well as the option to use the SubFrame checkbox.
  6. Improves the communication about the various options and status for cameras connected to PHD2 and Ekos.
  7. Enables the SubFrame method for PHD2 cameras so that they can switch quickly back and forth between the Guide Star image and full frame external guide frames at the push of a button.
  8. After I cleaned up some of the old and no longer needed methods/code, Ekos now connects to PHD2 much faster.
  9. I added the option for the user to select autostar, or to have PHD2 use the star lock position chosen by the user.
  10. Removes the External Guide Frames option since this makes it obsolete
  11. Saves the subframe option between KStars sessions and sets Ekos to receive External Guide frames or not based on it.
  12. Removes all the setting and unsetting of external blobs for Linguider, which doesn't support INDI cameras anyway, so it was pointless.

Test Plan:

  1. Try having external guide frames enabled and guide with PHD2
  2. Try having external guide frames disabled and guide with PHD2
  3. Try starting and stopping the guiding from PHD2 instead of Ekos
  4. Try not entering a focal length into PHD2 so it records the error in pixels
  5. Try using the tracking box to change the lock position during or before guiding with PHD2 using Ekos

Note: A known issue: PHD2 doesn't always decide to use your lock position when selected before you hit guide. To get around this, you can also change the star after it starts guiding.

Reviewers: mutlaqja, alexcherney, TallFurryMan, wreissenberger

Reviewed By: mutlaqja, TallFurryMan

Subscribers: hansl, wreissenberger, kde-edu

Tags: KDE Edu

Differential Revision: https://phabricator.kde.org/D24257

Details

Committed
mutlaqjaOct 2 2019, 7:21 AM
Reviewer
mutlaqja
Differential Revision
D24257: PHD2 Enhancements
Parents
R321:faec39c2d1e1: Fix focus HFR-averaging bug
Branches
Unknown
Tags
Unknown