indi_pylibcamera setup

OS Distribution

• Recommend Raspberry Pi OS 12 64-bit (bookworm) minimum

Git repo

https://github.com/scriptorron/indi_pylibcamera

Bullseye note

It may be possible to install on Raspberry Pi OS 11 (bullseye), but libcamera is an older version.

Memory

indi_pylibcamera is writtin in Python, therefore, it has higher memory requirements versus other camera drivers. It is recommended to have at least 2GB of RAM.

Install system packages

sudo apt-get install \
    python3-picamera2 \
    python3-libcamera

# may be necessary
sudo apt-get install \
    libgles2-mesa

Note: It is possible to install picamera2 in the indi-allsky virtualenv, but it is not possible to install the libcamera python modules [in the virtualenv].

Virtualenv change

System modules must be allowed in the virtualenv

Edit virtualenv/indi-allsky/pyvenv.cfg and set include-system-site-packages = true

Example:

home = /usr/bin
include-system-site-packages = true
version = 3.11.2
executable = /usr/bin/python3.11
command = /usr/bin/python3 -m venv /home/pi/indi-allsky/virtualenv/indi-allsky

Reactivate the virtualenv

deactivate

Install indi_pylibcamera

source virtualenv/indi-allsky/bin/activate

pip3 install indi-pylibcamera

systemd indiserver unit changes

The indiserver systemd unit must be updated to allow the indi_pylibcamera module to function correctly. Uncomment the two Environment settings and add indi_pylibcamera

Note: Some of the paths are user, architecture, and python version dependent

File: $HOME/.config/systemd/user/indiserver.service

[Unit]
Description=Indi Server
After=network.target

[Service]
#User=pi
Environment="PATH=/home/pi/indi-allsky/virtualenv/indi-allsky/bin:/usr/local/bin:/usr/bin:/bin"
Environment="PYTHONPATH=/home/pi/indi-allsky/virtualenv/indi-allsky/lib/python3.11/site-packages:/usr/local/lib/aarch64-linux-gnu/python3.11/site-packages"
ExecStart=%INDI_DRIVER_PATH%/indiserver -p 7624 indi_simulator_telescope indi_pylibcamera
ExecStop=/bin/kill -TERM $MAINPID
RestartSec=5
PrivateTmp=true
UMask=0022

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Reload the systemd config

systemctl --user daemon-reload

Restart the indiserver

systemctl --user restart indiserver

Validation

systemctl --user status indiserver

This should show something like the following. If there are any exceptions, something is wrong.

● indiserver.service - Indi Server
     Loaded: loaded (/home/pi/.config/systemd/user/indiserver.service; enabled; preset: enabled)
     Active: active (running) since Tue 2024-01-30 11:07:54 CST; 31min ago
   Main PID: 856 (indiserver)
      Tasks: 11 (limit: 817)
        CPU: 6.919s
     CGroup: /user.slice/user-1000.slice/[email protected]/app.slice/indiserver.service
             ├─856 /usr/local/bin/indiserver -p 7624 indi_simulator_telescope indi_pylibcamera
             ├─890 indi_simulator_telescope
             └─891 /home/pi/indi-allsky/virtualenv/indi-allsky/bin/python3 /home/pi/indi-allsky/virtualenv/indi-allsky/bin/indi_pylibcamera

Jan 30 11:07:54 allsky systemd[708]: Started indiserver.service - Indi Server.
Jan 30 11:07:55 allsky indiserver[856]: 2024-01-30T17:07:55: startup: /usr/local/bin/indiserver -p 7624 indi_simulator_telescope indi_pylibcamera
Jan 30 11:07:55 allsky indiserver[856]: 2024-01-30T17:07:55: Driver indi_simulator_telescope: HaAxis: TrackRate 1, trackingRateDegSec 15.041067 arcsec

INDI config

These are not recommendations, just examples.

Enable AWB

{
    "SWITCHES": {
        "CAMCTRL_AWBENABLE": {
            "on": [
                "INDI_ENABLED"
            ],
            "off": []
        }
    },
    "PROPERTIES": {},
    "TEXT": {}
}