My astronomy project:
Setup astroserver with Raspberry Pi3

Content:

1. Change from Windows to a Linux astroserver
2. Collecting information and demands on the astroserver
3. Installation of Ubuntu Mate, setup WIFI
4. Installation of vino VNC, setup screen
5. Installation of KStars on Raspberry (Old, don't use this instruction !)
6. Test of controlling the Canon camera in KStars/Ekos (Old, don't use this instruction !)
7. Test of controlling the mount with INDI EQMod in KStars/Ekos (Old, don't use this instruction !)

Related projects:

• KStars / Setup GPS Raspberry
• KStars / Setup WIFI Hotspot Raspberry
• KStars / Linux commands and udev rules
• Setup astroserver with Raspberry Pi3
• Setup astroserver with Raspberry Pi4
• Setup astroserver with Raspberry Pi5

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

2, Collecting information and demands on the astroserver:

For me that haven't used Unix the last 20 years, it's a very big step to start with Linux. But with help from friends at the Swedish forum Astronet I had solved how to start and what's needed. You can follow the thread here, note: in Swedish language: Astronet.se Swedish forum. Magnus gave me a great introduction to this Linux & Raspberry world over Skype with screen sharing, thanks a lot Magnus!

From friends at Astronet I was provided these links to start with:

• https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v= HTL170a-QaM (An introduction of Ekos, part of Kstars, by Jasem Mutlaq, it's one and a half hour long, but you will stay here until it ends!)
• http://free-astro.org/ index.php/ Ekos(Ekos from freeastro)
• http://indilib.org/ about/ ekos.html(Ekos from Indilib)
• https://edu.kde.org/ kstars/(Kstars, graphical cross platform)
• http://www.indilib.org/(Indilib home)
• http://free-astro.org/ index.php/ Main_Page(Free astro, main page)
• http://gphoto.org/(Gphoto, library to handle CCD and DSLR cameras)

Now I also have some demands on the server:

• I want the server to run independent from my network and overhead computers. I don't want it to go down because of bad network communication.
• DSLR camera control
• Mount control
• Focus stepper motor control
• Auto guiding
• Dithering
• Drift align (polar align)
• Filter Wheel control (in future)
• Star atlas with GOTO mount control
• Sync with plate solving
• Certainly a lot of other things too

Note:
What I tried to do here didn't work, too heavy load on the processor. You can follow my instructions to page 4.

What I'm doing here is a bit different compare to normal installation and more complicated. If you want the system to run over network and have the KStars installed on the client you will do it in a different way and use other versions of the software, you should not follow this instructions in detail then. My solution will run independent of the network if it goes down, but still I control it over the network.

And with all that information, demands and advices I bought these parts:

I found these parts at a Swedish company, but there are lot of others places where you can find it.

• A box in Darth Wader black
• Raspberry Pi 3, quad processor, 1 Gbyte RAM (today 2020, choose the Pi 4 with 4 GB RAM)
• microSDHC class 10, 16 GB memory card (class 10 was to slow, better with faster)

It's amazing, this small computer has HDMI output, four USB ports, Ethernet port, WIFI, Bluetooth and there are even more I/O's too!

There are other more power full one card computers, Odroid is one example, but Raspberry will be a good start for me to get some experience. And it will have enough power to work what I have understood, even with the KStars and Ekos installed on the server.