INDI Paramount Driver is released with INDI Library >= v1.6.0 To Install the driver under Ubuntu:
sudo apt-add-repository ppa:mutlaqja/ppa sudo apt-get update && sudo apt-get install libindi
This INDI paramount driver interacts with Paramount mounts via TheSkyX TCP Server either locally on the same computer or across a network connection. Bisque does not permit a direct control of the mount and so TheSkyX must be started and configured first. To connect to TSX, the TCP server needs to be enabled. In TSX go to Tools->TCP Server. A pop up window will open. Click the check box Listening For Connections. This option will stay enabled and persist across TSX restarts.
When running on the same computer as TSX, connect to the loopback address of your computer (127.0.0.1). If TSX is on a separate computer, obtain the IP address of the TSX server. The port should be 3040 by default.
Current features are:
In TheSkyX preferences, make sure to turn off TCP Responses close socket.
When the INDI Paramount driver is used for the first time, you must set the TSX IP address and port. Go to Connection tab and see the values, then press set. Then go to Options tab and click Save next to Configuration property so that the IP & Port values are saved across sessions.
Once Paramount is online, you can control it from your favorite client software just like any other INDI mount driver.
The main control tab is where the primary control of Paramount takes place. To track an object, enter the equatorial of date (JNow) coordinates and press Set. The mount shall then slew to an object and once it arrives at the target location, it should engage tracking at the selected tracking rate which default to Sidereal tracking. Slew mode is different from track mode in that it does not engage tracking when slew is complete. To sync, the mount must be already tracking. First change mode to Sync, then enter the desired coordinates then press Set. Users will seldom use this interface directly since many clients (e.g. KStars) can slew and sync the mount directly from the sky map without having to enter any coordinates manually.
Four tracking modes are supported: Sidereal, Lunar, Solar, and Custom. When using Custom mode, the rates defined in Track Rates shall be used. Tracking can be enganged and disenganged by toggling the Tracking property.
Under the options tab, you can configure many parameters before and after you connect to the mount.
If a dome is used in conjunction with the mount, a policy can be set if parking the mount or dome can interfere with the safety of either. For example, you might want to always park the mount before parking the dome, or vice versa. The default policy is to ignore the dome.
Under motion control, manual motion controls along with speed and guide controls are configured.
Time, Locaiton, and Park settings are configured in the Site Management tab.
You can park the telescope by clicking on Park. If the telescope is already parked, click the park button to unpark it. You cannot perform any motion unless the telescope is first unparked!
If you are using KStars as your INDI client, you can click on any object or location on the Sky Map and then set it as the desired parking position as illustrated below:
Most users of TSX use TPoint to build and maintain the mount model. When using Ekos Alignment Module to perform mount alignment, using the default Slew then Sync behavior might adversely influence the T-Point model. Therefore, it is recommended to turn on Differential Slewing. When differential slewing is used, no syncs are sent to Paramount. The different between actual vs. reported mount position is used to correct for the discrepency. Enable this option in Ekos Alignment Options.
There are no known bugs for this driver. If you find a bug, please report it at INDI's Github issues page
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