Atik EFW v1

Features

The INDI Atik EFW v1 driver controls legacy Atik USB electronic filter wheels that are no longer supported by the current Atik Linux SDK. It is a standalone USB driver and does not require the Atik camera SDK.

The driver provides:

• Filter slot selection from INDI clients such as Ekos.
• Configurable slot count for wheels that do not report it reliably.
• Filter name storage through the standard INDI filter wheel controls.
• Simulation mode for profile setup and testing without connected hardware.
• Direct USB access to the legacy FTDI-based wheel protocol.

Supported Hardware

Use this driver for the legacy Atik EFW v1 USB filter wheel. The device is usually visible on Linux with an FTDI USB identifier similar to:

0403:af01 Future Technology Devices International, Ltd Atik Filter Wheel

Use the SDK-based Atik driver instead when the wheel is an Atik EFW2 or another model still supported by the Atik SDK. The fixes made for INDI issue #1222 target the legacy v1 driver only.

Connectivity

The wheel connects over USB. Connect and power the filter wheel before starting the INDI driver. On Linux, the user running INDI must have permission to access the USB device; if the wheel is visible with lsusb but cannot be opened, check your distribution’s udev rules and user group membership.

This driver is installed as:

• Package: indi-atik-efw
• Executable: indi_atik_efw
• INDI device label: Atik EFW

Operation

First Use

When configuring Ekos or another INDI client, add Atik EFW as the filter wheel driver. If your system offers multiple Atik filter wheel entries, select the one backed by indi_atik_efw for legacy v1 hardware.

• Connect the wheel by pressing Connect in the Main Control tab.
• Open the Filter Wheel tab.
• Set the number of slots if the detected value is not correct.
• Enter the filter names for each slot and press Set.
• Open the Options tab and save the configuration.

After the configuration is saved, INDI clients can select filter slots normally.

The driver communicates at 9600 baud using the standard INDI serial connection plugin. Select the actual serial device assigned by the system; the driver does not open the FTDI USB device directly.

Main Control Tab

The Main Control tab connects and disconnects the wheel. When connected, the driver initializes the USB interface and reads the current wheel position when the hardware provides it.

Filter Wheel Tab

The Filter Wheel tab provides the standard INDI filter controls:

• Filter Slot: displays or changes the current filter position.
• Filter: stores names for the filters installed in each slot.
• Slots: sets the number of available positions when the wheel does not report the slot count reliably.

Options Tab

The Options tab provides the common INDI driver controls:

• Debug: enable verbose logging when diagnosing USB or status response problems.
• Simulation: test the driver profile without connected hardware.
• Configuration: load, save, restore, or purge saved driver settings.
• Polling: controls how often the driver checks wheel status.

Troubleshooting

If the wheel is detected by USB but does not connect, first confirm that the Ekos profile is using indi_atik_efw. The other SDK driver, indi_atik_wheel, is for SDK-supported Atik wheels and does not solve the legacy v1 SDK deprecation issue.

If the driver cannot open the wheel, verify:

• The wheel appears in lsusb.
• The USB identifier is the legacy FTDI Atik wheel identifier.
• A serial device is created by the kernel for the USB device.
• The INDI user has permission to access the serial device.
• No other process is already using the wheel.

The previous direct USB implementation configured FTDI RTS/CTS flow control before sending wheel commands. The serial implementation uses INDI’s standard raw 9600 8N1 serial connection, which leaves hardware flow control disabled. If a host setup requires RTS/CTS for this adapter, handle it outside the driver or through future INDI serial flow-control support.