[APBeta] Startup and scope control

[Paul Rodman]

On Aug 14, 2009, at 6:18 AM, Bruce Pipes wrote:

> I tried using APv2b53 last night to control my Meade 8" LX200R out  
> at the observatory I use. When I started AP up, I noticed something  
> I had seen before, namely that it was veeeerrrryyyy slow to start up  
> (even though an hour earlier at home it had started up quickly). I  
> found the source of the problem. Some of the other folks at the  
> observatory control their scopes over a wireless local network.   
> Apparently, when I started my Mac up, it connected to the wireless  
> network. It was this wireless connection that was causing the slow  
> startup for AP. When I turned off Airport on my Mac, AP started  
> normally. It was as if AP was trying to connect to the internet when  
> it started. Unfortunately we do not have internet at the observatory.

I don't know why that would be. V2.0b53 does not do any network  
connects AFAIK, unless you ask for some on-line resource. V2.0b54  
(released yesterday) does do a very brief connection after 30 seconds  
(if an Internet connection is detected), but that shouldn't last for  
more than a few seconds at most (if the connection can't be made).

> When I finally got AP running, it connected to the scope and I was  
> able to do a couple of high precision slews. I then connected to my  
> camera with Equinox Image and started doing things like focussing  
> and framing the image. At this point, when I tried to move the scope  
> with the AP, it froze up. I had to force quit. As always, when I  
> went back to APv1.6.1, everything worked flawlessly.

I'm working on scope control reliability.

Paul R.