[APBeta] EX 125 Telecsope Control

[Paul Rodman]

On Jun 16, 2010, at 7:29 PM, Michael Wright wrote:

> Thanks everyone for jumping in and trying to help with this problem.
> 
> I am using a Sabrent USB-to-serial connector to the Meade serial/RS-232 cable to the Autostar controller.  The driver that came with the USB-to-serial is by Prolific Technology.  According to Windows, it is up-to-date.  It is configured to emulate COM3 at 9600 Bits/sec.  I played around with the port settings tonight.  If I turned off the FIFO buffers or changed them to a low setting, I could get the scope to return the RA (18:50:27) in response to the #:GR# command using the "Test Telescope Communications" panel.  AP still would not connect from the main window.
> 
> I left the FIFO buffers off and tried this.  On the Telescope resource tab, I used the Auto-Detect option to tell AP to scan COM3 for "Meade: ETX series".  It returned "Autostar detected on COM3".  Still AP would not connect from the main window.
> 
> There appears to be limited communication between AP and the ETX, but not enough to connect.  Any thoughts?

When you try and connect, AP should leave a log file on the desktop (by default, unless you turned that option off). If I could see the contents of that file, it might help. It sounds like you're almost there...

> 
> Paul, Is there a way to use the ASCOM driver for the ETX with AP?  It's already installed on my computer because Cart du Ciel uses it.

Sure, just select ASCOM as the Computerised Mount type, Edit it and select the Meade ASCOM driver.

Paul R.