Supported hardware
If your gear has an INDI driver, ARIS runs it.
ARIS supports any device with an INDI driver, and Windows-connected equipment through a NINA rig — controlled from iPhone, iPad, Android, or any browser. This page lists the hardware we test with; if yours isn’t here, it may still work.
Three kinds of rig
INDI rig
A Raspberry Pi or Linux machine running the ARIS backend with INDI drivers — the standard setup. One installer sets up the backend, INDI drivers, PHD2, plate solving, and auto-start. Raspberry Pi 5 recommended; Pi 4 works but slower.
Rig install guideNINA rig
A Windows imaging PC running NINA 3.x with the ARIS plug-in. NINA stays your capture engine; ARIS adds planning, monitoring, and control from phone, tablet, or browser. NINA rigs run a subset of ARIS features today.
NINA integrationSmart telescope
Early support is rolling out, starting with the ZWO Seestar line, with more smart scopes coming. A smart telescope joins the fleet as one more rig on the dashboard.
Current statusMounts
GoTo, sidereal/lunar/solar/custom tracking rates, parking, adjustable slew rates, and automated meridian flips with pause-before-flip and post-flip re-centering.
| Mount | INDI driver | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ZWO AM5 | indi_lx200am5 | Primary tested mount; Heavy-Duty payload mode toggle supported |
| ZWO AM7 | indi_lx200am5 | Tested on a NINA rig; Heavy-Duty payload mode toggle supported |
| LX200-compatible | indi_lx200_generic | Generic support for LX200 protocol mounts |
The Heavy-Duty mode toggle is feature-detected — it only appears on mounts that report support for it.
Cameras
ARIS exposes every setting your camera driver reports — exposure, gain, offset, binning, cooling, USB bandwidth, and readout modes.
| Camera | Type | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| ZWO ASI6200MM Pro | Full-frame mono | Default configuration |
| ZWO ASI294MC Pro | APS-C color | |
| ZWO ASI120MM Mini | Guide camera | Used with PHD2 |
| ZWO ASI2600MC Air | APS-C color | USB-C for file transfer; WiFi too slow for guiding |
The rest of the imaging train
ARIS manages eight device types across your rig. Beyond the camera and mount:
Focuser
Absolute and relative moves, temperature compensation, and backlash compensation.
Filter wheel
Name and color every slot, switch automatically in sequences, and carry per-filter focus offsets so a filter change doesn’t cost a focus run.
Rotator
Plate-solve-driven position angles, one-tap calibration, and cable-wrap protection with your configured rotation limits.
Guider
ARIS runs PHD2 — the industry-standard guiding engine — on the rig: profiles, live guide graphs, settling, and aggressiveness tuning.
Cover / flat panel
The flat wizard finds the right brightness and exposure per filter and saves the results to your equipment profile.
Power box
Switch DC ports individually, set dew-heater power per channel, and control USB power groups.
Smart telescopes
Support for the ZWO Seestar is rolling out now in early access: a Seestar joins your ARIS fleet like any other rig — discovered on your network, monitored from the same dashboard, its images handled alongside the output of your INDI and NINA rigs. Early access means exactly that — capability is expanding week over week. More smart telescopes are planned.
Smart telescope statusTelescope presets
ARIS includes built-in optical profiles for common telescopes:
Software ARIS works with
- INDI — the open driver ecosystem ARIS is built on. No proprietary black box, no hardware lock-in.
- PHD2 — runs on the rig as the guiding engine; ARIS provides the full guide interface on top of it.
- NINA — the ARIS plug-in makes a Windows imaging PC a first-class rig, and ARIS sequences push to NINA’s Advanced Sequencer.
- Telescopius — import saved observing lists (CSV), Autostar tours (.mtf), and mosaic plans with per-pane position angles.
The app side
The ARIS app runs on iPhone and iPad (iOS 13+), Android (7.0+), and the web — Chrome, Safari, Firefox, and Edge, on phones, tablets, and desktops. No hardware yet? A complete practice observatory is built in — learn every screen with the free simulator, then connect real equipment whenever you’re ready.
The full matrix — platform minimums, rig computer requirements, and known limitations — lives in the docs.