ASIAIR v2.4.2 has been released!: Page 10

ASIAIR v2.4.2 has been released!

Gatsu87

This forum has become pretty useless by now; it's just a discussion between various users reporting tons of problems. zwo responds a couple of times a week, telling them to report problems. Most of them aren't fixed, or they are fixed, and then the problems reappear in subsequent releases. Many features were requested and promised by Zwo a few years ago, but haven't been implemented yet. I understand that the company is primarily focused on releasing new products to make even more money, but you have to take care of your customers and provide stable versions of the software. Otherwise, many products will be unusable, and many people will abandon zwo products (some are already doing so). The last stable and working version of Asiair was 2.3.3, which was released several months ago. What have you done in all this time? Every time a new version comes out, you always have to hope that everything works, but unfortunately, that never happens. Please, we've spent a lot of money on your products; we deserve adequate support and software that works properly and doesn't cause any damage.

Corsair

Gatsu87
When it comes to things like the ASIAIR the golden rule applies:
If you have everything working as you like - don't upgrade the firmware unless you really need to (not want - need).

That's why it has been recommended - for quite a while now - to turn off auto update of the ASIAIR App

The app and firmware are a matched set. So when the app updates, it then checks the ASIAIR firmware when connected, and then updates the firmware if required. The firmware for the ASIAIR is included in the release of the ASIAIR App.

FYI: I'm still on 2.1-10.74

AstroDude42

Gatsu87 i bet all PMs are already off to the other community (see my thoughts about it at https://bbs.zwoastro.com/d/25081-feedback-to-astroimg-your-one-stop-solution )

Gatsu87

Corsair Yes, I've also adopted this method now. As for the missing features that have been promised for some time and the existing problems, I think we have to make do with what we have; otherwise, there's a risk that things will get worse.

4H29wipq

Yes that is a prudent method, however I got a new EAF and was forced to update as it would not recognize the position correctly in Asiair. After that I've been in update/bug limbo sadly.

I think the solution from ZWO is very easy. Keep a stable version that is known to function and allow the beta program that we currently have for adventurous imagers. Then if all the issues are solved , and only then release the next 'stable'.

Luxo

Still no sign of 2.4.3 for iOS on the App Store.

Corsair

Luxo why would there be? 2.4.3 was specifically released for Android to fix an Android bug with 2.4.2

So Android 2.4.3 is the same as iOS/ iPadOS 2.4.2

erossi

Luxo Corsair according to pyger looks like they're testing a minor bump to 2.4.4 alongside a 2.5 which worries me a lot as it may be yet another dumpster fire

erossi

@Tech@ZWO can you please reach @PMTeam@ZWO as they're ignoring us and publish 2.3.3 again on TestFlight?

Luxo

As of tonight I’ve switched to Touptek. It is also buggy, incomplete and untested too, but it have got it working well enough.

Bye bye ZWO.

flappah

Luxo more or less a similar route here. Out of curiosity added a second astro computer to my FF80 a couple of month ago however with all the ongoing issues with the ASIAIR software I’m using the MelePC with Nina currently as my main computer. I only use the ASIAIR to power the dew heaters and this is replaced by an svbony sv241 pro as well in a couple of weeks. Still using the same hardware but I’m really looking at the 585mm touptek camera (with filterwheel and filters).

gm6wS8xS

I should have known, but if you've never installed ZWO IOS version 2.3.3, the shared version won't work either—thanks a lot to Luxo II anyway. And hacking Apple's DRM is beyond my capabilities. But I was able to get the Android 2.3.3 apk running on my Silicon Mac in 5 minutes using an Android emulator. What nonsense.
I'll also check out StellaVita now.
CS

Corsair

gm6wS8xS
Plenty use BlueStacks to run the ASIAIR App on their computers

If you use a Windows computer then BlueStacks 5 works great.

https://bbs.zwoastro.com/d/18040-how-to-setup-your-windows-1011-computer-with-bluestacks-5-to-run-asiair-app

I'm still running ASIAIR App 2.1-10.74 on my Android phone and my Windows laptop.

Good thing about Android is it let's you turn off auto update for just the ASIAIR App.

Apple only let's you turn off auto update for all apps.

wvreeven

gm6wS8xS Which Android emulator do you use?

gm6wS8xS

wvreeven

Bluestacks Air
https://www.bluestacks.com/mac
The emulator that Corsair also recommended. The irony is that as someone who has worked in the computer industry for 40 years, with a lot of work in embedded Linux, I returned to my hobby this year after a 30-year absence from astronomy to find some distraction, and now I'm only dealing with computer problems again.

fA426YZQ

I went a different route. I loaded Raspberry pi on my ASIAIr Pro and then compiled KStars, Ekos, PhD2, indi, Firecapture and Gpredict for the build. It was a lot of fun, and a great learning experience. Any device with realvnc can control it and the onus for maintaining it is on me! I looked at astroberry but everything was out of date.I have a lot of respect for what ASIAir has done for the industry and I still think it is an excellent product, just potentially bad updates. I keep a sd card for ASIAir and I also have one (64MB) for my Raspberry build. For my outreach events, I will use ASIAIr. I am thinking of buying a small mini to install Linux with realvnc to project to a TV I use for the outreach. We will see.

franco

fA426YZQ You can just mirror your phone to a smart TV.

I hate VNC - well actually I use it all the time for work but I hate trying to run it on a tablet or phone. I too have tried StellarMate on my Pro but the hardware is too slow and the wifi is crappy, so I bought an OrangePI and put StellarMate on that. I added USB wifi with a big antenna and not had of the reconnects that you often get with AsiAir, I also have the AA mini and that's got better wifi than the Pro but not by much. Only problem with StellarMate is having to use a dummy HDMI because the VNC session is the desktop server, and the OrangePI will not start X with it plugged in. And the other problem with StellarMate is the app - which to me is the whole point of these astro controllers - it's just too cluttered and the icons and buttons are tiny, plus it's still in beta release after many years. I have to say the ToupTek AstroVita app looks very promising, could be just what I'm looking for!

erossi

2.4.4 build 8 just landed on TestFlight, it only states “fixed known bugs”, @PMTeam@ZWO would mind elaborate on that?

Corsair

erossi
The Android beta page - https://www.pgyer.com/7a450cfa7c8eb2b2302b5fb5aae47364/b2aefa959572bc97a94b7b76b8965af4?shortcut=air_beta_android - says

Optimized & Fixed

Fixed color issue of Sun/Moon/planet stacked images in edit function

Corsair

Well I've decided to take the plunge and updated my ASIAIR Pluis 32GB model from app-firmware 2.1-10.74 to app-firmware 2.4.3-12.xx (not sure of the last two digits right now). So big update for me.

I only do unguided EAA using Live Mode for Live Stacking (so my experience will be different but there will be areas of overlap).

I have C8 SCT with f/6.3 Reducer, HEQ5 Pro Mount, and an ASI294MC Pro camera (cooled to 0°C). I'm in the Southern Hemisphere and have a view of the SCP so have not turned on the option to use All Star Polar Alignment nor have I turned on the option to use New Plate Solve.

My process for updating the ASIAIR was as follows:

Disconnect everything from the ASIAIR
Connect power to ASIAIR
Turn on ASIAIR and wait for a minute or two
Connect to ASIAIR Wi-Fi with my phone
Launch ASIAIR App (2.1) on my phone and connect to the ASIAIR
Go to the "i" menu (I think) and choose the option to Reset Firmware. Confirm this reset of the ASIAIR Firmware back to it's original, old, firmware.
Once the reset is done - click Next but don't upgrade yet. Exit the ASIAIR App on the phone and close the app. Leave ASIAIR itself turned on.
Complete uninstall the ASIAIR App from phone (I went to the settings for the App, cleared cache, cleared storage, then uninstall).
Shut down phone (not restart). Wait 10 seconds. Turn phone back on.
Install latest ASIAIR App (2.4.3) from Play Store. After install - check to make sure auto-update of the ASIAIR App is turned off.
Don't connect to ASIAIR Wifi yet but Launch the ASIAIR App on the phone. I allowed access to location information for the app. Tapped on location info (not Enter Device) to check location info was correct. Good to see that you can edit location information here. Confirmed the info then tapped Enter Device. Waited for it go through the inital unpacking process before showing the screen that it couldn't connect to the ASIAIR. Exit the App. Close the app.
Connect to ASIAIR Wifi on phone.
Launch the ASIAIR App and connect to the ASIAIR. Upgrade the firmware.

14. Important step: around 35% it appeared to hang but what actually happened was the ASIAIR had to restart. When this happened - my phone connected to my home Wifi. So I waited for a 5 minutes or so - swipped down from the top of my phone and tapped on the WiFi icon to change the WiFi network from the home WiFi to the ASIAIR WiFi.

When connection was established the ASIAIR upgrade automatically refreshed to show the firmware upgrade was successful.
Confirmed it and checked I could launch the app properly and connect to the ASIAIR etc etc.
Went to the menu in the ASIAIR and chose the shutdown option.
Exited the app and closed it off.
Waitied 5 minutes before powering off the ASIAIR.

Will test it when I next get the chance.

Corsair

Corsair
Well so far I've tested doing calibration frames in Live Mode. All is working well and as expected using ASIAIR AppFirmware 2.4.3-12.55 on my Galaxy S22 Ultra running Android 15.

Slewing around with the on screen mount controls works fine. Going to Home position works fine. Manually focusing for daylight then night time rough focusing works fine.

Mount Time is correct . We've entered Daylight Saving Time now and the time shown on the mount (under Mount Settings > Mount Info ) is one hour behind the time at my location (shown in the top left of the App and on my Android device itself) with the little warning message now showing. All as expected.

All this has been done indoors due to not so great weather. Hoping I'll get a chance soon to test outdoors.

My use case:
Unguided EAA using Live Mode for Live Stacking. I only ever use Preview, Live, Focus, and Video modes. I don't do Meridian Flip.

My equipment:
Galaxy S22 Ultra running Android 15
ASIAIR App-Firmware 2.4.3 - 12.55
ASIAIR Plus 32GB

HEQ5 Pro mount connected as EQMOD Mount (EQMOD cable from mount to usb 2.0 port on ASIAIR Plus) with its own power supply.
C8 SCT with f/6.3 Reducer and dew shield
ASI294MC Pro camera cooled to 0°C connected to usb 3.0 port on ASIAIR and powered from the ASIAIR.

azskyguy

Just for version 2.4.4 for iOS. Says all known bugs were fixed. Installed it and will try next clear night. I have my doubts 'all bugs are fixed', but would be thrilled if plate solves and meridian flips finally work again.

gm6wS8xS

azskyguy

the binaries for platesolving (from Astrometry.net) has changed

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