Most equipment is connected via USB. StellarMate is equipment with 4 USB ports. However, it is highly recommended to use an external powered USB Hub as it can reliably support power to your equipment.

WARNING


Most problems in operating your equipment with StellarMate are related first and foremost to power problems. Therefore, please invest in reliable power supply for all your equipment!


Some filter wheels are connected to USB as regular USB devices while others are connected as Serial-To-USB devices. For the latter case, you need to purchase a Serial-To-USB adapter suitable for your filter wheel model from the manufacturer. When you plug in your Serial-To-USB devices, they are assigned a specific port under StellarMate (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB0). However, this port is not static. That is, next time you plug in the same device on another session, it might get assigned another port (e.g. /dev/ttyUSB1). Since INDI drivers require the port name to communicate with the device, this could lead to communication issues. With the help of StellarMate Serial Port Assistant, you can assign permanent designations for your devices so that they always get the same port whenever they are connected.

If your Filter Wheel mode does not uses a Serial-To-USB chip, you will not see any settings for serial Port settings in the driver and can therefore connect directly.