54 replies to this topic

[jpengstrom]

If you use NINA, there's a plugin for the advanced sequencer which spins up Robocopy and copies all the images on the fly. I copy to USB, but I could also open up a share and have it copy there instead. If you don't use NINA, you can manually spin up Robocopy and have it watch the imaging folders.

I wouldn't want to transfer a night's images all at once over wifi the next day, but it's not impossible.

 

Whatever anyone decides, don't try to copy them over remote desktop using its built-in file sharing. That's painfully slow for anything more than a single file. 

 

Pete

I just started using NINA on my last evening shooting.  While the Robocopy sounds like a cool option, my SAN does provide a SAMBA share to my computers on the network so I could just point NINA at my share as its imaging folder.  But, the WiFi signal out at the mount isn't great - not terrible but not great.  And since I can copy 500 50MB image files over WiFi inside in about 12 minutes I'm OK with that...especially since my image files are only 22MB and its unusual for me to have more than 300 of them (that would take me 3 minutes to transfer - more than fine for me).

[rgsalinger]

The most important thing to understand in choosing an imaging computer, whether atop the OTA or not is this. After getting through the initial setup, your issues will come from your astronomy software and from integrating new hardware into your system. The Eagles fail to address this problem and so the advantages, pricey or not, are frankly of almost zero value beyond aesthetics. 

 

I buy and recommend refubished very small footprint PC's, not new ones. They cost around 200 dollars. The two that I have in current rotation have i5 chips, 8gb of memory and came with 256gb of SSD. They also have built in wifi and 4 USB ports. They came with Win10 Pro installed and still do. I can access them in precisely the same manner at the PL Eagles - remote desktop, iPad, Phone, etc. 

 

I don't "wait" for updates when I get one. I just proceed to load the ASCOM platform (latest), the device drivers I need for the equipment I own and then 3 or 4 imaging packages. Now I'm ready to go. It's now taken me about 3 hours max. Total cost is still under 250 dollars. Note that these are equivalent to the 2000 dollar Eagle box in terms of processing power and storage. That way, unlike with a fixed in time appliance, I can stay completly uptodate using the same OS that the vendors use for testing. I really don't want to be ages behind in 4 years time in my OS or drivers. But that's me. 

 

With regards my 250 dollar laptop, the only thing I change is to use a DC/DC converter which (from memory) cost me around 20 dollars and 5 minutes to adapt the power cable. I love the backlit screen and 15" of screen real estate. I'm sure that it draws more power than an Eagle but I have plenty of battery power if I need it and you should too. 

 

I have to admit that I've never bothered with a GPS at all. I only image from 3 different places and I store the location data in my software. I like that I'm not dependent on yet another component that can break or malfunction 

 

Now I will add in max 300 dollars for a USB hub and for a Powerwrx 4 port power distribution system. I then run a couple of cables - mount power/usb - usb to hub power to Powerwrx - and I'm done. I could put the tiny computer on the OTA, but it's not worth the trouble and it just saves one cable. Once you have your cabling correctly set up it just doesn't matter. Using a PL4 you still have to get power to it via a cable. 

 

So, in the end the PL computers are a bad bargain. The "features" are going to be rarely used and it will be difficult to get repairs, additional cables are expensive and there is no support in the USA if you have any issues. I have never figured out what spending a morning and 500 dollars is worse than spending 2000 dollars.

 

Now, really if you plan to spend your time turning on and off the USB ports and the power ports instead of actually imaging then that PL4 sounds like exactly what you need. If you just have to eliminate 1 or 2 cables then that has some value. If you need an "machined" box for your computer the PL4 is a great choice. 

 

Rgrds-Ross

[Psychlist1972]

The most important thing to understand in choosing an imaging computer, whether atop the OTA or not is this. After getting through the initial setup, your issues will come from your astronomy software and from integrating new hardware into your system. The Eagles fail to address this problem and so the advantages, pricey or not, are frankly of almost zero value beyond aesthetics. 

 

I buy and recommend refubished very small footprint PC's, not new ones. They cost around 200 dollars. The two that I have in current rotation have i5 chips, 8gb of memory and came with 256gb of SSD. They also have built in wifi and 4 USB ports. They came with Win10 Pro installed and still do. I can access them in precisely the same manner at the PL Eagles - remote desktop, iPad, Phone, etc. 

 

I don't "wait" for updates when I get one. I just proceed to load the ASCOM platform (latest), the device drivers I need for the equipment I own and then 3 or 4 imaging packages. Now I'm ready to go. It's now taken me about 3 hours max. Total cost is still under 250 dollars. Note that these are equivalent to the 2000 dollar Eagle box in terms of processing power and storage. That way, unlike with a fixed in time appliance, I can stay completly uptodate using the same OS that the vendors use for testing. I really don't want to be ages behind in 4 years time in my OS or drivers. But that's me. 

 

With regards my 250 dollar laptop, the only thing I change is to use a DC/DC converter which (from memory) cost me around 20 dollars and 5 minutes to adapt the power cable. I love the backlit screen and 15" of screen real estate. I'm sure that it draws more power than an Eagle but I have plenty of battery power if I need it and you should too. 

 

I have to admit that I've never bothered with a GPS at all. I only image from 3 different places and I store the location data in my software. I like that I'm not dependent on yet another component that can break or malfunction 

 

Now I will add in max 300 dollars for a USB hub and for a Powerwrx 4 port power distribution system. I then run a couple of cables - mount power/usb - usb to hub power to Powerwrx - and I'm done. I could put the tiny computer on the OTA, but it's not worth the trouble and it just saves one cable. Once you have your cabling correctly set up it just doesn't matter. Using a PL4 you still have to get power to it via a cable. 

 

So, in the end the PL computers are a bad bargain. The "features" are going to be rarely used and it will be difficult to get repairs, additional cables are expensive and there is no support in the USA if you have any issues. I have never figured out what spending a morning and 500 dollars is worse than spending 2000 dollars.

 

Now, really if you plan to spend your time turning on and off the USB ports and the power ports instead of actually imaging then that PL4 sounds like exactly what you need. If you just have to eliminate 1 or 2 cables then that has some value. If you need an "machined" box for your computer the PL4 is a great choice. 

 

Rgrds-Ross

I'm glad you're happy with what you use.

Pete

[arbit]

I just started using NINA on my last evening shooting. While the Robocopy sounds like a cool option, my SAN does provide a SAMBA share to my computers on the network so I could just point NINA at my share as its imaging folder. But, the WiFi signal out at the mount isn't great - not terrible but not great. And since I can copy 500 50MB image files over WiFi inside in about 12 minutes I'm OK with that...especially since my image files are only 22MB and its unusual for me to have more than 300 of them (that would take me 3 minutes to transfer - more than fine for me).

One reason I use Robocopy is it is effectively a real time backup. Useful for those of us paranoid about backups :-)

As you said, file transfer over WiFi doesnt take that much time, and its negligible (1-2 sec for 17MB file in my case). Since it happens in a batch instead of all at once, impact on system performance is negligible.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

[jpengstrom]

One reason I use Robocopy is it is effectively a real time backup. Useful for those of us paranoid about backups :-)

As you said, file transfer over WiFi doesnt take that much time, and its negligible (1-2 sec for 17MB file in my case). Since it happens in a batch instead of all at once, impact on system performance is negligible.

Sent from my SM-N960F using Tapatalk

I’ll have to test out the speed I get from WiFi with my laptop outside by the mount next time I setup. Having a backup is never a bad thing.