584 replies to this topic

[derek_sj]

Any thought on whether the J5005 is worth the additional cost?  Spec wise they seem pretty close.  I am thinking of upgrading my older minix that has the N4100.  Mostly interested in being able to speed up the plate solves for model building.

Edited by derek_sj, 14 November 2021 - 03:24 PM.

[jragsdale]

Any thought on whether the J5005 is worth the additional cost?  Spec wise they seem pretty close.  I am thinking of upgrading my older minix that has the N4100.  Mostly interested in being able to speed up the plate solves for model building.

Benchmarks seem split. GPU is clearly better on the J5005, but that seems about it. So outside of GPU number crunching, I would go with the J4125 for the smaller 10nm circuits.

[StephenOTT]

Benchmarks seem split. GPU is clearly better on the J5005, but that seems about it. So outside of GPU number crunching, I would go with the J4125 for the smaller 10nm circuits.

jragsdale I used the MELE Quieter2 fanless mini pc recently with a build: https://www.cloudyni...x-advance-gen2/.  It has the J4125 at a low price point and size.  Performance is great.

Edited by StephenOTT, 14 November 2021 - 04:20 PM.

[ChrisWhite]

Any thought on whether the J5005 is worth the additional cost?  Spec wise they seem pretty close.  I am thinking of upgrading my older minix that has the N4100.  Mostly interested in being able to speed up the plate solves for model building.

What plate solver are you using?  I switched to ASTAP and it's really fast for my modeling and precise pointing.  I used to use PS2 which is very slow.  PS-  On the new Minix I have a second RAM stick coming so I'll have 16gb and a ~500GB M.2 stick. 

[derek_sj]

I was using the skyX, so TSX?  And it was really slow with the N4100.  I have changed mounts, so I am going to be trying ASTAP through APPM.

[Cfreerksen]

I was using the skyX, so TSX?  And it was really slow with the N4100.  I have changed mounts, so I am going to be trying ASTAP through APPM.

ASTAP on the J4125 takes about 4-5 seconds to solve. ASTAP is like 10 times faster that everything else I have tried.

 

Chris

[derek_sj]

Chris,

 

That sounds promising.

 

Derek

[ChrisWhite]

I just purchased the newest Minix PC for my Obsy.  https://www.amazon.c...0?ie=UTF8&psc=1

 

It does have a fan, but the previous version did as well and it held up just fine through a couple of northeast US winters.  I really like the minix, they just seem bullet proof and come well spec'd.   The only reason I upgraded is that my previous cpature minix only had a 32GB hard drive (with m2 expansion) but the newer one has 240GB hard drive.  Comes with 8GB ram (expandable to 16gb) and also has an M2 slot that will take up to 1TB. 

 

It only has 3 USB ports, but since I use a pegasus powered hub on the OTA I only need 3.  The other two have my weather station and mount plugged into it. 

 

For $309 it's got a lot of value to offer.  Comes with J4125 Processor.  For $30 more you can get J5005.

I'd like to mention that there is not a spare m.2 slot inside this computer.  There is only a single m.2 that has the primary 240GB hard drive.  You could upgrade the existing drive, but not add a second. 

[james7ca]

ASTAP on the J4125 takes about 4-5 seconds to solve. ASTAP is like 10 times faster that everything else I have tried.

 

Chris

I'm not sure what you are timing and calling being solved, but on my GigaByte BRIX-S running a Gemini Lake, quad-core J4105 processor I can solve a field taken with my 384mm focal length 80mm refractor in about five seconds using PlateSolve2 from within Sequence Generator Pro (SGP). But, that time does NOT include the base exposure time nor the download from the camera for a 20 mega pixel sensor and those two steps actually take just as long (or longer) than the plate solve itself. Plus, that's for a single solve and typically I need to make at least one additional mount move to get within the ten pixel tolerance (about 13 arc seconds) that I've set for centering.

 

Thus, given the mount move (for final centering, a few seconds), the exposure time (about 2s for broadband), the download by SGP (4s), and the solve by PlateSolve2 (5s) it usually takes about 15 to 20 seconds for any single plate solve sequence. But, only 5 seconds of that time is taken by the "solve" itself. But, as I mentioned earlier it usually takes two sequences to get within my ten pixel tolerance so the entire process usually takes something like forty seconds (or longer, depending upon the base exposure time).

 

Frankly, I think a good part of this time is just the overhead from using SGP, which tends to be a pretty slow application.

Edited by james7ca, 20 November 2021 - 06:30 AM.

[james7ca]

I've started a new thread over in the software and computers section of CN on the Jasper Lake mini PCs. Two units are discussed (currently, more in the future), those being the MSI Cubi N JSL-005US and the Asus PN41.

 

Here is the link: https://www.cloudyni...#entry11510275