Raspberry Pi 4

[Star Dad]

Hi all -
I am seriously thinking about getting the astroberry/Pi4b. I'm looking at this Pi :

Then there is this one - more $$$ :

This one has the box as well:

While cost is a concern - I don't want to skimp - or over buy. Are these good choices? I am planning on permanently attaching it to the tripod. Any concerns about using astroberry that I should be aware of?

[SkyHiker]

I usually get the Canakit ones but any kind should do. The high prices are painful I suppose it has to do with supply chain issues. I see more affordable ones with a lead time until August (https://www.canakit.com/raspberry-pi-4-extreme-kit.html).

I have the 8 GB Pi4b version and it works beautifully with Astroberry. Install Samba and you can mount a Pi4b folder directly as a disk on Windows. I have no experience with a 4 GB version. I believe the early StellarMate uses a Pi3b with 4 GB, now I see them with Pi4b - haven't checked thoroughly.

If you want to power your gear, what I did is add a 7 port powered USB2 hub (the main reason for USB3 is image transport for the main camera and the autoguider, and the Pi4B has 2 on board - USB2 is good enough for the rest). I also added a 12 to 5 V DCDC and cannibalized a USB-C connector to put 5V on the power lines. In addition I plugged some USB2-powered devices into the Pi4b and altogether I can use it to power all my gear.

So, I had to jump through some hoops to get the power situation worked out for my ASI2600(MC or MM), EAF autofocuser, ZWO 7x 36 mm filter wheel, Pi4b, ASI120MM mini autoguider, and OnStep controller using a single 12 V ACDC or a 12 V battery. It worked out really well and Kstars/Ekos is great.

Instead of mounting it on your tripod I recommend building a wooden rig clamed with a rubber piece of inner tube to the OTA so you can mount it and unmount it easily. Namely, the cables of all these devices are short - apparently made to work with an on-OTA computer. If you mount it on the tripod, you will need extension cables, and you have unwanted cables flopping around and dragging.

You may want to check out StellarMate as well, it is from the INDI guys and has a few more connectors that I don't know.

The ASI Air has power connectors IIRC and live stacking but personally I prefer the original open-source INDI. The StellarMate advertised on OPT (https://optcorp.com/products/stellarmat ... controller) advertises live stacking as well. So maybe a more recent version of Astroberry has live stacking that I don't have. That's the one feature that is nice for star parties although in most cases you will want non-live stacking. For that I use DSS on Windows. I haven't found anything user friendly enough on Linux. Perhaps Siril but so far I found it frustrating to use, it is installed with Astroberry.

[Star Dad]

Had not thought about mounting the Pi on the OTA itself. I could certainly use shorter USB cables, though mine current all go to a laptop on a table via a powered USB 3 hub or straight into USB 2 on the laptop. Power cables still need to run down to the deck and via extension cord to the AC. Same goes for when I use a 12V (I have a pure sine wave inverter that I can use if I need it). But I have a 3 and a 2 outlet 12VDC "cigarette lighters" that mount on the battery to supply 12V if I'm in the field without AC power.

Based on your advice I think I'll go with the Canakit w/8 MB. For $30 more it seems worth it. And let's face it, it's a LOT cheaper than a new laptop - which it's hard to find decent ones with "old" USB style connectors. They seem to be trending to micro connectors or even manufacturer specific ones. Many thanks for the advice. My laptop is getting up there in years - it's now 11 years old (I think) and Windows is starting to get flakey, though the Linux side is rock solid. So the writings on the wall for the Windows side of things. And win7 is no longer supported .