INDI camera usage

[GoogleCodeExporter]

What steps will reproduce the problem?
1. set up an indiserver, like : indiserver indi_v4l_philips

Now the question is how to configure PHD to use this INDI camera.

I've tried configuring PHD in various ways using the INDI->Configure , 
INDI->Controls and the Main Camera button in different order.

The following lists the farthest I could get, using a weird setup order I'm 
sure :

I can get PHD to connect to the INDI camera, but not use it. The 'loop' button 
stays grayed out.

I start with configure INDI server in PHD with : INDI->Configure, fill in 
hostname and port.

Then pressing 'Connect' results in :

Failed to connect to INDI server.

However, pressing OK and going to INDI->Controls and pressing 'Connect' there 
aways works. I see the camera start, the INDI server logs :

2011-05-29T18:18:51: Driver indi_v4l_philips: width: 160 - height: 120
2011-05-29T18:18:51: Driver indi_v4l_philips: pixel format: V4L2_PIX_FMT_YUV420
2011-05-29T18:18:51: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Min X: 160 - Max X: 640 - Min Y: 
120 - Max Y: 480
2011-05-29T18:18:51: Driver indi_v4l_philips: V4L 2 - All successful, returning
2011-05-29T18:18:51: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Philips Webcam is online. 
Retrieving basic data.
and some more details.

Now I go back to INDI->Configure and the dropdown box for the Camera Driver is 
filled in. I select 'Philips Webcam' and guess /dev/video0 for the Camera Port.

Next I use the main window Camera button and select INDI camera.

PHD logs :
Found CONNECTION for camera Philips Webcam
Camera connected state: 0
Camera connected state: 0
Camera connected state: 0
etc.

The INDI server logs :

2011-05-29T18:25:15: Driver indi_v4l_philips: VIDIOC_DQBUF error 9, Bad file 
descriptor
2011-05-29T18:25:15: Driver indi_v4l_philips: VIDIOC_DQBUF error 9, Bad file 
descriptor
2011-05-29T18:25:15: Driver indi_v4l_philips: VIDIOC_DQBUF error 9, Bad file 
descriptor
etc.

What version of the product are you using? On what operating system?

PHD 1.12.4 compiled from trunk r74
32-bit Ubuntu-10.10 using Linux-2.6.35-28-generic-pae wx-2.8.11.0-0ubuntu4.1
Stock SPC900 webcam
INDI server Code $Revision: 726523 $. Protocol 1.7.

Please provide any additional information below.

The INDI Options screen shows a green light next to the Connection, the INDI 
server confirms this :

2011-05-29T17:08:35: startup: indiserver indi_v4l_philips 
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: width: 160 - height: 120
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: pixel format: V4L2_PIX_FMT_YUV420
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Min X: 160 - Max X: 640 - Min Y: 
120 - Max Y: 480
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: V4L 2 - All successful, returning
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Philips Webcam is online. 
Retrieving basic data.
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Brightness -- min: 0 max: 128 
step: 1 value: 63
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Contrast -- min: 0 max: 64 step: 
1 value: 0
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Saturation -- min: -100 max: 100 
step: 1 value: 0
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Red Gain -- min: 0 max: 256 step: 
1 value: 40
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Blue Gain -- min: 0 max: 256 
step: 1 value: 17
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Gamma -- min: 0 max: 32 step: 1 
value: 0
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Shutter Speed (Exposure) -- min: 
0 max: 256 step: 1 value: 219
2011-05-29T17:10:52: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Gain Level -- min: 0 max: 256 
step: 1 value: -9
2011-05-29T17:11:35: Driver indi_v4l_philips: Starting the video stream.

Selecting 'Stream on' in the INDI Options screen results in a yellow light.

Do we have a mailing list ? Or an IRC channel ? I think that'll be a lot easier 
to communicate.

Original issue reported on code.google.com by h...@dse.nl on 29 May 2011 at 6:31

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Got a working setup. Yet another order :

1. Start INDI server :
indiserver indi_v4l_philips

2. Start PHD, use INDI->Configure to set the hostname (PHD does not remember 
this one). Do not press Connect (this is the 1st different part). The Camera 
Driver is already set to what I selected from a previous attempt. Leave it 
untouched. Also the Camera Port is empty. Leave it empty (this is the 2nd 
different part). Do not use the INDI->Controls window to connect to the camera 
(though that works, it seems to prevent the next step). (This is the 3th 
different part)

3. Press the Main window Camera button, select INDI camera.
It works :)

I used the INDI->Controls to change the resolution to 640x480 . Btw, the window 
needs to be longer to fit all entries of the screen.

Original comment by h...@dse.nl on 29 May 2011 at 7:02

[GoogleCodeExporter]

I have had issues getting INDI to save the camera info.  I found if I manually 
save it in the ~/.PHDGuiding file that it does work though.
You also may consider using the v4l driver instead of INDI as it has much 
better performance.

I'll see if I can reproduce the indi settings issue again.  I thought I'd 
already improved it.

Original comment by geoffr...@gmail.com on 19 Jun 2011 at 12:57

• Changed state: Accepted

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Hi, I have a Starfish camera and I am using the indi driver. However, getting 
the camera connected is not straight forward.
1) I have tried clicking the startserver under tools and the server starts but 
clicking the camera icon will not start the camera. I am assuming this is 
because the server starts with the default port which is not going to work as 
it is used by something else.

2) I manage to get it to work by going into configure and setting the port to 
7270.
Then I start the indiserver manually with indiserver -vv -p 7270 
indi_fishcamp_ccd.
This way when the camera connects you can see what is happening.
Then I click on the controls option and a separate window pops up.
Then I click on the camera icon and the camera connects and shows up with the 
green button in the controls window.

3) The fishcamp camera has a particular problem in that it has to connect 
twice, so I have to disconnect it and reconnect. Note at this point the 
CCD_FITS_BLOB button is still not green. Setting the temp at this point works.

4) I now press the loop button and PHD begins to take images and the blob 
button goes green. So all looks well, however, I cannot get the mount to 
connect, but I will start a separate thread for that.

GREAT WORK so far.
Brian

Original comment by b...@astronomicalresearchaustralia.org on 10 Feb 2012 at 6:00

[GoogleCodeExporter]

As per comment 2 I can save my options in the .PHDGuiding file. However, if all 
the fields are filled out it will not connect to anything. The only way I can 
get it to connect to my camera is to specify the driver name in the 
'INDI-configure-drivername' and then specify the correct port number in the 
hostname port. Leaving the camera port blank. So although the INDI-configure 
window looks like you can specify both the camera and scope details, you can 
only specify one at a time because the port number is being taken from the 
hostname port, not the camera port(hope I am clear here). Brian

Original comment by b...@astronomicalresearchaustralia.org on 24 Jul 2012 at 4:25

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Note at the bottom of my .PHDGuding file it has this LastCameraChoice=INDI 
Camera
However, I have had On-Camera selected for some time. Mount=5 is the first 
option.

Original comment by b...@astronomicalresearchaustralia.org on 24 Jul 2012 at 4:34

[GoogleCodeExporter]

Given all the changes for phd2, I'm marking all PHD1 unowned bugs as "WontFix". 
If somebody objects, I can undo it.

Original comment by br...@boneheads.us on 30 Aug 2013 at 12:47

• Changed state: WontFix