Software (EN) – Page 2 – allsky-rodgau.de

Raspberry Pi as a digital picture frame in kiosk mode – hardware, setup & troubleshooting

December 18, 2025December 18, 2025 Hardware (EN)|Software (EN)|Website (EN)

I had the crazy idea of building a digital picture frame to display the latest photo from my Allsky camera. The main trigger was the realization that indi-allsky with Redirect Views makes it really easy to always display the latest picture. And the second realization: touch displays aren’t even that expensive.

In this article, I document a tried-and-tested setup with Raspberry Pi 4, HDMI touch display and Chromium in real kiosk mode – including typical pitfalls and their solutions.

Hardware setup

The following components were used for the setup:

Raspberry Pi 4 (2-8 GB RAM)
HDMI touch display (10.1 inch, 1280×800) – available e.g. from a large Chinese online retailer – detailed information here
MicroSD card (min. 32 GB)
Separate power supply for Raspberry Pi and display
USB touch cable + HDMI cable

Contrary to the manufacturer’s instructions, I use neither a Y-cable nor a loop-through solution for the power supply of Pi and display, but a dual-port power supply (USB-C for the Pi, USB-A/micro-USB for the display).

Complete backup of the Raspberry Pi microSD card – indi-allsky backup

December 12, 2025December 15, 2025 Hardware (EN)|Software (EN)

indi-allsky on a Raspberry Pi system regularly writes data (logs, databases, images, videos).
microSD cards are only designed for this to a limited extent and can fail without warning in the worst case.

A 1:1 backup of the entire SD card is possible in an emergency:

Insert a new microSD card
Restore the backup
System starts exactly in the previous state

Optimal configuration for indi-allsky: Stable day-night transition and reliable moon mode

December 9, 2025December 16, 2025 Software (EN)

An all-sky system must be able to switch perfectly between day, twilight, night and back again. There is also a special case that is often underestimated – the moon. Particularly bright phases of the moon can quickly push cameras to their dynamic limits and lead to overexposed areas of the sky or incorrectly set exposure times. This article explains how to configure indi-allsky so that transitions are smooth and the moon mode is only activated when it is really needed.

Optimum day and night configuration for the ZWO ASI678MC in indi-allsky (2025-Howto)

December 9, 2025December 16, 2025 Hardware (EN)|Software (EN)

The ZWO ASI678MC is one of the most powerful all-sky cameras for day and night operation. Its back-illuminated Sony IMX678 sensor offers high sensitivity, low readout noise and full RAW16 support. This means that both high-contrast daytime shots and brilliant night-time shots are possible – provided that indi-allsky is configured correctly.

This article describes a tried-and-tested configuration for optimum image quality by day and night. The values are adjusted to:

The aim is a setup that delivers stable, high-quality results all year round without manual intervention.

Optimal debayering for the ZWO ASI678MC in indi-allsky

December 9, 2025December 16, 2025 Hardware (EN)|Software (EN)

The right choice of Bayer pattern is crucial for correct colors, clean day images and error-free night image processing. Like almost all modern ZWO color sensors with Sony Starvis II technology, the ASI678MC uses an RGGB pattern. If this is set incorrectly or automatically recognized incorrectly, typical artefacts occur.

Below are the most important findings from the practical tests and the indi-allsky documentation.