ZWO ASI676MC

[OrionA51]

I thought I had found somewhere before I purchased the 676, that the Allsky program supported this model. After looking at the list in the text file, the 676 is not found. Will this camera be supported? Or is there a way to install drivers for it?

[EricClaeys]

@OrionA51, that's a new camera that will be supported in the next release.

Allsky uses a library provided by ZWO, and that library determines what cameras are supported.
ZWO comes out with a new library every few months.

If you can't wait for the next version you can download the newest ZWO library
then copy the libASICamera2.a files from the
library to the various ~/allsky/src/lib directories
on the Pi,
then execute:

cd ~/allsky/src
make capture_ZWO
sudo systemctl stop allsky
cp capture_ZWO ../bin
sudo systemctl start allsky

Allsky should now recognize your camera.
Google "ZWO downloads" and go to the Linux page.

[OrionA51]

I followed everything. I removed the existing .a files from all the armv folders and x64/86 folders. Then copied the new ones back into the same folders and ran the commands. It didn't work. The only thing I am unsure of is that I could only find the libASICamera2.a files in the SDK downloads on the ZWO site. I'm not sure if that is the correct way to obtain the file or if its the right ones. Technically I only need the armv8 file since I have a pi5.

[stllrr]

@EricClaeys when is the next release date?

[EricClaeys]

@OrionA51, I never remember which arm* directory goes with which Pi and OS, so I just tell people to do them all.
And I was on my phone when I responded and it's not easy to go back and forth between different windows, so I didn't include the ZWO URL.
I'm on a PC now and got the 1.34 library from https://dl.zwoastro.com/software?app=DeveloperCameraSdk&platform=windows86&region=Overseas. Since I've been working on Allsky the ZWO URL has changed a few times, so I haven't wanted to include it in the documentation.

Anyhow, let's first make sure you have the correct ZWO library. Run the following:

# cd into the directory with the ZWO library - where you unzipped the file
strings "lib/armv8/libASICamera2.a" grep '_SetResolutionEv$' | \
  sed -e 's/^.*CameraS//' -e 's/17Cam//' -e 's/_SetResolutionEv//' | grep 676

With the 1.34 library I grabbed a week ago I get:

676MC_DDR
676MC_Pro
676MM_DDR
676MM_Pro

Is this what you get?
Try the same thing with ~/allsky/src/lib/armv8/libASICamera2.a and with ~/allsky/bin/capture_ZWO.

When I do, I get the same results.

[OrionA51]

When I run stings command I get this:

676MC_Pro13SetResolutionEiii10IMAGE_TYPE
676MC_Pro
676MC_Pro
/0 1710321508 1000 1000 100664 6768 `
strings: 'grep': No such file
strings: '_SetResolutionEv$': No such file

-That has a whole huge list of "676" above it too.
Trying to open the webui and it just says camera type not defined in config.sh

I cant get the strings command to work with the capture_ZWO for some reason even though it exists in the folder when typing ls.
I get this:
pi@allsky:~/allsky/bin $ strings "capture_ZWO" grep '_SetResolutionEv$' | \

sed -e 's/^.*CameraS//' -e 's/17Cam//' -e 's/_SetResolutionEv//' | grep 676
strings: 'grep': No such file
strings: '_SetResolutionEv$': No such file

And I do have the same .a file from March of this year.

[EricClaeys]

Sorry about that. Use

strings "lib/armv8/libASICamera2.a" | grep '_SetResolutionEv$' | \
  sed -e 's/^.*CameraS//' -e 's/17Cam//' -e 's/_SetResolutionEv//' | grep 676

No firm date on next release, but hopefully a month or two.

[OrionA51]

I get this:

pi@allsky:~ $ strings "allsky/src/lib/armv8/libASICamera2.a" | grep '_SetResolutionEv$' | \

sed -e 's/^.*CameraS//' -e 's/17Cam//' -e 's/_SetResolutionEv//' | grep 676
676MM_DDR
676MC_DDR
676MM_Pro
676MC_Pro
676MM_DDR
676MC_DDR
676MM_Pro
676MC_Pro

When I use it with capture_ZWO I get no return...

pi@allsky:~/allsky/bin $ strings "capture_ZWO" | grep '_SetResolutionEv$' | \

sed -e 's/^.*CameraS//' -e 's/17Cam//' -e 's/_SetResolutionEv//' | grep 676
pi@allsky:~/allsky/bin $

[EricClaeys]

@OrionA51, ok, that's good progress.

Try running on ~/allsky/src/capture_ZWO.
If that works then:

sudo systemctl stop allsky
cd ~/allsky/src
cp capture_ZWO ../bin
sudo systemctl start allsky

If the first command didn't find the camera then run the make and other commands above.

[OrionA51]

I got it working. I started from scratch since I wanted to boot from a usb ssd. I pulled the master file from git-hub again and then replaced all the .a files in the lib directory before running the installer. The install completed without error. However, not that it matters, but I cannot access the webui via allsky.local or localhost. I can only access it by typing the IP address I assigned it which I am fine with. Thanks for the help!

[EricClaeys]

Closing Discussion since this camera is supported in v2024.12.06, due out on December 6, 2024.

[nonmatrixhuman]

please share your settings for zwo 676mc
I found a camera with the settings on the map. https://allsky.alexjg.co.uk/viewSettings.php

[Alex-developer]

please share your settings for zwo 676mc I found a camera with the settings on the map. https://allsky.alexjg.co.uk/viewSettings.php

You found mine ;-)

[nonmatrixhuman]

Your site's cool. It's got all kinds of data.
Why are the settings for 676mc so different from 678mc? They are almost identical.

[EricClaeys]

The default values displayed in Allsky come from ZWO.
Sensors differ quite a bit in size, resolution, quantum efficiency and several other measures, so even if 2 cameras "look" similar, technically they may be quite different.