Mesu 200 and servocat

[Barv]

Hi

I have purchased a Mesu 200 with the older Servocat system. I am having trouble finding or downloading the driver software to link the Servocat to my PC. I am using windows 7, can anyone help please?

Much appreciated!

[ollypenrice]

In what way do you want to link it to the PC? I have this mount and it runs with the Argonavis planetarium and handset. Maybe you're hoping to link it to a PC planetarium? We did try to get it working with Sky Safari but never succeeded so I just use the Argonavis which works well.

Olly

[Oddsocks]

For the Argo Navis - Stellarcat - Servocat, Gen 3 model and Win 7 the USB drivers are automatically loaded from the internet, just ensure you are on line when you plug the USB cable into the computer and allow windows to search the internet for the appropriate USB-SERIAL driver. The Servocat Gen 3 uses the common FTDI USB-SERIAL chip and the driver is not specific to the Argo Navis system so Windows can install this without any software disk or need to download a specific file.

If unsure see the appendix "B" section of the user manual.

http://www.stellarcat.com/Graphics/ServoCAT%20Manual%20V11-1.pdf

If still struggling with automatic Windows driver download then go to the FTDI website and download the USB - Serial driver direct here:

http://www.ftdichip.com/FTDrivers.htm

[Oddsocks]

Once you have FTDI's VCP (Virtual_Comm_Port) driver installed and Windows is able to see the serial comm port then you can download the ASCOM driver for the Servocat system from here:

http://www.unm.edu/~eschman/

Once the ASCOM driver is installed your planetarium software should be able to control the mount, see the read-me file on the linked page above at Pete Eschman's site for how to use the ASCOM driver.

[ampleamp]

I have no doubts that what Oddsocks is telling you is absolutely correct in which case you can probably stop reading now.

I will say that in over three years of ownership of my Mesu I have found it to be 100% rock solid reliable with the AN/SC system and whilst it isn't necessarily as swish as some systems, it is remarkably easy to get used to and just works. I ask no more of my kit, then I only have myself to blame for [removed word]-ups.

[ollypenrice]

I have no doubts that what Oddsocks is telling you is absolutely correct in which case you can probably stop reading now.

I will say that in over three years of ownership of my Mesu I have found it to be 100% rock solid reliable with the AN/SC system and whilst it isn't necessarily as swish as some systems, it is remarkably easy to get used to and just works. I ask no more of my kit, then I only have myself to blame for [removed word]-ups.

This is exactly what I find.

Olly

[Barv]

Hi Guys and thanks for your comments, - all very helpful.

Olly. - I only need to get into the program because for some reason my tracking isn't tracking correctly, it is miles too slow. It could possibly be auto guided out but I would like to have it mre accurate than it is now. I can see that the Argo Navis is a great tool too and I am more than happy to continue with just that as I want to be able to use the system without the PC too.

Regards

Harvey

[ollypenrice]

I see. That's a pest.

Olly