I am considering the use of a Fitlet2 mini PC to control my observatory and am wondering what the consensus is on whether these devices have sufficient processing power to handle the workload. Software running would include SGP Pro and PHD2 supporting a QSI and a ZWO camera, EQ8 mount, Loadstar guide camera and Focus Lynx focuser. I am considering upgrading my camera to the ZWO 6200 which connects via USB3 and has VERY large sub frame files (120Mb). This has started me thinking that my ten year old W7 32 bit lap top might just about be ready for a replacement
The specs for the Fitlet2 PC that I am looking at are:
Celeron CJ3455 CPU
16Gbyte RAM
512Gbyte SATA SSD
Windows 10 Enterprise LTSC 2019 [X10E]
2 x G bit Ethernet
2 x USB3
6 x USB2
DC operations 7v - 20v
Temp range -20c - +70c
So my question is, will the above Fitlet2 PC have sufficient processing power to run SGP Pro (and the rest of the equipment in the observatory) ?
Yes, I think that would be fine. I would recommend going with a “normal” windows Pro or Home edition though. Sometimes the Enterprise versions can be quite obnoxious with .NET versions and other libraries that software uses. You give up a lot of control when you go to an enterprise version.
I’ve been running SGP (and all the other software required for remote operation) on a similar setup: Celeron J1900 (4 core), 4 GB RAM, 128 GB SSD, Win 10 Pro for several year now without any difficulty. You should be fine.
I tried running everything on a LattePanda and wasn’t happy with it. Painfully slow plate solves made it a no go for me. Went back to an old i5 laptop.
Processor: Intel Cherry Trail Z8350 Quad Core, 2M Cache, up to 1.92 GHz
Operation System: Pre-installed Windows 10 Enterprise LTSB with License
Ram: 4GB DDR3L
Storage Capability: 64GB
GPU: Intel HD Graphics, 12 EUs @200-500 Mhz, single-channel memory
