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My astronomy project:
Building an astroserver with a Raspberry Pi4


Content:

  1. Introduction
  2. The passive cooler
  3. Formatting the microSD card and transfer of the mirror file
  4. Setup KStars and Ekos
  5. Setup INDI Control Panel 'Telescope simulator'
  6. Setup INDI Control Panel 'Canon DSLR'
  7. Battery test
  8. Indoor test of focus control
  9. Adding a GPS receiver
  10. First Light
  11. Setup as Hotspot controlled from a pad
  12. Setup drivers peripheral
  13. Serial ports handling
  14. Good to know commands
  15. To be continued

Related projects:

  1. HEQ5 as portable mount
  2. Pentax 645 300 mm ED IF f/4 lens
  3. KStars / EKOS and Raspberry Pi4

Note:
I take no responsibility or liability for what are written here, you use the information on your own risk!


9, Adding a GPS receiver:

In my old Windows based astroserver I had a GPS receiver connected to the USB port of the computer. Handy when you move the equipment to different locations, and you get correct time too. Can I add the same GPS unit to the Raspberry ?

Note:
The text below is out of date now and never worked correctly, better to follow the later setup of HEQ5 mount where I succeeded to set up the GPS module correctly: HEQ5 Setup


The GPS receiver:

Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

The GPS receiver has the form of a 'puck' and it connect through a USB port.


GPS model 'BU-353':

Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

I think the model 'BU-353' is a very common GPS receiver. But can Indi drivers handle it ?

I have found a list over compatible GPS receivers:

https://gpsd.gitlab.io/ gpsd/ hardware.html Compatible Hardware

The table has given my GPS device four stars and it should then be excellent. But there is a warning about automount.


There are three GPS drivers and one GPS simulator. I test all three of them and at the same time learn something new.

GPS NMEA driver:

Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

Could it be that easy that it's just to add an Indi driver ? I try the GPS NMEA which I have used in the Windows environment, set it to the 'Aux 1'.

Connect Ekos to the devices, the GPS NMEA driver ask for a network address, not a USB port. Must be wrong driver. Now I know this driver is to use when you take your smart phone's GPS data over the network.


GPUSB driver:

Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

GPUSB sounds correct, lets try it.


Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

No, GPUSB driver can't find the GPS USB device.


GPSD driver:

The last GPS driver to test.

Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

I have read somewhere that GPSD is for Raspberry's own GPS unit which attach direct to the Raspberry's extension connector. But let us give it a try.


Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

Now I got some response from the Indi driver, it found the USB device.


Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

I saved the configuration and tried to have the GPS signal locked. No success yet.

I need more information, when I used the GPS in Windows I had a help software which displayed the satellites it tracked. It should be something similar to use here.


New discussion with my friend who is living all the day with Linux. There are maybe some commands to do. Later I also find this page: INDI GPS Installation.

I gave the commands and rebooted the Raspberry.

Adding a GPS receiver to the Raspberry Pi4

I can see how the GPS connect to Ekos. But nothing is happen, it just waiting for a signal.

Maybe my GPS is bad, I tried to install it in my Windows10 machine. Got the message "PL2303HXA phased out since 2012", but it's only ten years old :-) . But still communicate in the Raspberry.

I have solved this problem after many hours and lot of help from froiends. Here are the details how to do it: Setup GPSD.

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