malc-c

Just an experiment... Install EQMOD, ensure the ASCOM pulse guiding sliders are both set to x0.90 and both rate boxes are checked. Then repeat the above using the same stars etc to see if you get the same result. If you do then it would suggest that the issue is not with the "driver" used to control the mount, be that GSS or EQMod.

Running the Autorun.exe in the C:\Users\Username\Downloads\fed8de52aadfd0f07c528dacd992b377\Digitus DA-70156 Driver 20220329 WIN10_11 folder from the link @alacant provided launches an application giving the option to install Driver or read the manual. Clicking on Driver opened a file explorer window with a dozen folders for various operating systems. Clicking on the Windows 10/11 folder I get three sub folders "CDM v2.12.12 WHQL Certified " with X86 32 or 64, along with a CDM21216_Setup.exe program. Running the setup.exe application brings up a window "FTDI CDM Drivers" and I'm invited to click extract. Doing so launches the installation wizard and to click "next", and then agreed the EUL and "next". I left both packages ticked and clicked finish. The installation window ran a progress bar that was over very quickly and then closed. with no errors. Now I don't have your scope so can't confirm if the driver works with the mount, but I was able to open CdC and the telescope select window without any errors. Now it may be just the USB - Serial adapter that needs plugging in for windows to launch the driver and present it into device manager and thus any application that accesses the com ports, so try that first before connecting the mount via the handset as per the manual Looking at the path in your error statement, I don't have C:\ASCOM which is the start of all the path statements in that message. The normal path is C:\Program Files (x86)\ASCOM\Platform 6 which to me suggests you have downloaded and install the developer package. I would suggest you uninstall ASCOM and the USB/Serial adapter driver and then download the current release build 6.6 SP1 of ASCOM from https://ascom-standards.org/Downloads/Index.htm (the box to the right) and then reinstall the FTDI driver as detailed above. Then with the usb to serial adapter plugged in, connected to the handset and with the handset connected to a powered mount see if you can launch CdC and choose the correct option form the telescope selection window.

Yes, I think this is where @Marian is getting slightly confused. Probably better to think of ASCOM as a standard that software, including drivers for hardware has to agree to and forms the frame work that handles the communications between them. The zip file @alacant has linked to provides the driver for the USB to serial device, along with detailed instructions on how to install the driver and the settings that are needed to allow the mount to communicate with a Windows based PC. Reading the manual the method of control appears to be via the handset, in that the USB to serial adaptor is plugged into the PC, then the serial lead connects to the handset with the handset plugged into the mount. The resulting serial port that the driver installs needs to be set to 57600 baud to communicate to the handset. I'm sure you'll get there eventually...

I heard a rumour that some law suit might get filed against Microsoft as Windows 10 was marketed as being the last OS Microsoft was going to release and that it would just get annual revisions rather then the normal windows 7, 8 10 etc. So people purchased machines to meet it's specification on the understanding that new hardware would not be required, especially as things like core count and such means that there was less need to. Now how true this lawsuit action is I can't say, but its grounding is understandable. My main daily runner is a first gen Ryzen 1500x (4 core 8 threads) processor running at 3 ghz. It has 16GB of DDR4 Corsair Vengeance ram, and a Samsung 960 Eco Nvmen hard drive, and I run 2 x 24" BenQ monitors from a Gigabyte Radeon RX550 GPU. All of this was current "state of the art" in 2017 when the machine was built... yet it failed the hardware requirements for windows 11. Now if an OS needs higher spec than what is quite a powerful machine you have to question why... People have mentioned Malware protection and the like.... but why integrate such protection when most users pay for this and AV protection through approved software packages. I've seen various suggestions to circumvent the restrictions, and MS have / are opening up some options to widen the hardware windows 11 will run on, but again if you have to use 3rd party hacks to overcome the restrictions whos to say that every time MS release a service pack or major build of win11 the PC won't stop running. I'll stick with windows 10, even if it stops being supported by MS. My Eset software protects me from iffy websites and strips dodgy attachments from emails and hasn't let me down (yet).

ASCOM is just a platform that all other astronomical applications used to communicate with. In basic terms it allows your planetarium application to send the co-ordinates of the target you want to look at to the application that handles mount control. Now the grey area here is that the two mount control applications commonly used (EQMOD or GSS) is based around Skywatcher brand of telescope. But if your mount has been designed for control from a PC then the manufacture should provide an ASCOM complying application. A decade ago a typical set up would be: EQMOD for mount control Cartes du Ciel or similar for selecting targets APT or similar to control the imaging camera to take all the exposures PHD (later PHD2) to control the guiding. These days most of the above combine more than just one function and now cover target acquisition for example. The two cables you have that connect to the camera are USB for data transfer and possibly an ST4 control cable. Are you using the ZWO camera as the main imaging camera or a guide Camera ? I've only ever used separate imaging camera and guide camera's so can't really comment if using the same camera for both is practical or possible. It may well be the case that only one application can access the camera and thus presents the first hurdle. My workflow used to be as follows, and this is for a permenant set up in an observatory. Naturally you would need to set up and polar align the mount if you have a mobile set up. There are more ways to do this, especially now with applications such as NINA so this is not a defacto procedure: Power up the mount and cameras. Boot the PC up Launch EQMOD and confirm connection Launch APT, PHD2 and CdC. Unpark the mount, select a target in CdC that is near the intersection of the meridian and celestial equator. Select a guide star in PHD2 and run a calibration. Select the target I want to image in CdC and instruct the mount to slew to target Once the slew is complete, select a guide star in PHD2 and once its guiding minimise the application In APT I would open a plan to take say 40x 5 minute exposures through the main imaging camera (which in my case is a Canon D400 Dslr) and set it running. Now as I said, this is just my old fashioned way of doing things. Using modern applications such as NINA may well overcome any issues using the same camera for imaging and guiding - I don't use it so can't comment or advise if this is the case. Hopefully though my post will help you understand what the basic functionality of each application and how they use ASCOM and the drivers to pass commands and share data.

No worries, and yes it does look as if your firmware version isn't one of the affected drives

Have you seen that a batch of 2TB 980 Pro drives have issues

HWInfo is a tad confusing... the Asus X370-A has 2x PCI, 4x PCI Express x1, 3xPCI Express x4 and 1x PCI Express x16 but then states that the supported version of PCI Express is v3.0 I've checked BIOS updates and there is nothing about updating the PCIe version, more to do with win 11 support To all the other contributors, I would strongly recommend you look into a backup solution such as a NAS that at least has RAID 1. Whilst its not a disaster recovery option in the event of fire / flood etc, it's a life saver for important files. You can use free software to take the snapshot and image a whole drive or back up files or folders. Being RAID if one drive fails you still have access to the data whilst you get a replacement, which often is hot swappable, to rebuild the RAID. Backing up files to the NAS has saved my bacon on more than one occasion

Not that I do a lot of processing these days, but having a dedicated Nvme drive as a scratch disk for many such applications can make a difference. These days most mid range boards have two or three NVme ports, some with full access to the PCI lanes with others rated at SATA bus speeds. My machine is now 5 almost 6 years old, so only had the one NVme port, but I fitted an Samsung Evo960 as the system drive and it's read/write and throughput speeds are fast (though not as fast as the Pro version of the same drive). Granted having it as a system drive does impede performance somewhat as other apps and system processed access the same drive, but when I did process data (RAW files form a canon 400D) it rendered the image in minutes rather then hours. My benchmarks are below - 256GB Evo 960 vs 2TB WD 5400spin HDD Now comparing the HDD results to Vlaiv's - the free space may have some bearing on the outcome. But you can also see the improved performance Samsung Pro Nvme drives have over the EVO, and how much of a difference there is between Nvme and mechanical drives. Also given the age of my machine, newer generations of drives may also use improved chipsets and Flash memory compared to my first gen drive.

The only thing that stands out is the HDD interface. There will be other factors that make mechanical drives slightly slower than SSD's, but both will be connected to the PC via SATA cables, through the SATA bus, so will basically have the same data transfer rate. Given the spec of your machine, I would guess that main board has Nvme ports. Do you have an Nvme drive installed, and if so try running the same experiment having pointed DSS to a folder on that drive and see how faster the processing is. One other thing to mention, is to check that DSS can use all processors - When stacking the pop up states how many in use. It may not use all cores, but should use all (16?) processors.

Interesting design... Keep an eye on the ROR section as an unbraced roof will want to drop slightly due to expansion and contraction from heatwaves in the summer and sub zero temps in winter. Other than that it looks to be a sturdy well build observatory. Can't see from the pictures, but did you leave a hole in the floor so the mount sits on a solid base? If not then you may find the flexure of the floor will be transmitted through to the mount and scope.

The best analogy I've used in the past is to use cars. A Land Rover, a Ferrari, and a Ford Focus are all quite happily driving along a motorway at 70mph. But if you also had an interest in off road driving then the Land Rover would be best suited and depending on the "level" of off road driving the Focus may be capable in parts, but could get stuck in others. As for the Ferrari, well it wouldn't get passed the first curb. Likewise if you were interested in track days, then the Ferrari will leave both of the other cars for dust and give you the best performance without being taxing to use. The same goes for various telescope / mount combinations

One thing that does make me feel less inclined to offer my opinions or assistance on threads is when I've previously responded and asked various questions to help me and other members make recommendations and the person then doesn't reply with details requested. So I'll ask again.... what is your budget (ie how much money do you have to spend ?) Seeing "as far as possible" is meaningless - you can see billions of miles when observing stars and other objects with just your eyes ! It would also help if you completed your profile and include your location. It's no good any of us recommending something that won't perform under a heavy light polluted city.

Try the search function or just browse through the forum and read previous threads of the same nature. It would help if you could advise us what your budget is, what you are hoping to see, what interests you and your daughter and if you want to learn the night sky or have a computerised mount find the targets for you. You will never get one scope that suites planetary and deep sky objects, and don't expect to see the same images in books or magazines when looking through a small table top scope. Like I said, this is probably one of the most regularly asked questions on the forum, so there is plenty to research, so sit down with a cuppa and start browsing

I might be wrong, but the term "computerised" may be referring to the Arm based processor used on the new generation of control boards. Older synscan mounts used PIC microcontrollers which (splitting hairs) technically isn't a processor. There are subtle differences between the "R" versions of some mounts as described above, and with the new generation of control boards have USB connectivity making them easier to hook up to a PC without the need to purchase an EQDIR cable

@TrevaP I've dropped you a couple of PMs regarding close up pictures of U7, hopefully you can oblige. In the mean time any news on the repair, did the replacement FET work? If anyone else has one of these new MC020 board and could take a close up image I would welcome a PM from you.

I think Brexit has mudded things... From what a friend has told me it seems that UK government now want overseas companies to charge VAT at UK rate at the time of purchase, and then basically pay HM Customs the VAT when there is a VAT return and its declared as "export", which is why a lot of companies now won't ship to the UK as there is so much paperwork that its too much hassle as it means more VAT returns as HM Customs will naturally not wait for payment when a company does a normal year end accounts... How true that is I have no idea, but it would seem logical based on Stu's comments above

From my limited knowledge I was always under the impression that as the supplier is exporting the item it is supplied VAT free. Then the VAT and duty is paid to the customs department at the point of entry as the rates may differ from the exporting country. If you are paying the 19% VAT that Germany applies, then the UK government are not going to benefit from the importation of the item, and if they do have a system where they recover that you would still need to pay the difference between the 19% German rate and 20% UK rate... hence why goods are exported tax and duty free. But I could be wrong as Brexit has caused a lot of confusion. I did find this which may help explain how to reclaim the duplication of VAT payment should you have no choice but to pay VAT at the point of sale and upon the goods landing in the UK - Hope that helps?

Can you elaborate on this... was this from personal experience or a copy and paste form some sales literature 🙂 Yes the 200P is a great scope, and yes you can get excellent image.... but the mount will be at, if not over its limits which can make the task frustrating (and that is from personal experience as I started with that combo before converting the scope to a PDS using a larger secondary and then buying an HEQ5 as the EQ5 just didn't hold the scope still enough for imaging on anything other than a windless night)

Thanks guys for giving examples of what the OP could expect to get under ideal seeing conditions. What I was trying to get across was that the OP should not be expecting the scope to give images like this which uses a 14" scope with a 7.5m focal length at f20. (example taken via google)

To me (and no expert) that seems to be related to those who are developing and writing drivers rather than the "end user". I was not able to locate a driver for the serial to USB cable in the support / download page, however chances are it uses either FTDI or more probably the Prolific 2303 driver which was dropped from Windows when MS developed windows 10 (Prolific didn't want to sign up to the licencing agreement) Chances are you get a warning under device manager against the COM port assigned to the adapter / cable. Right click on it and select properties. Click the details tab and then select Hardware ID from the "property" drop down list. Copy the first line that appears in the value box, and then past that into google. It should then bring up links to the driver for that chipset. Download and install the driver which hopefully go smoothly and resolve the issue

Elp has a good suggestion, but I think both Justin and myself have the same opinion that it's reflection between the camera lens and the eyepiece.... If you want to take images then maybe invest in a astro camera that replaces the eyepiece and plugs into a laptop or tablet. An example is this one that gives you full 1080P HD for under £60. You'll get better results and can use software to stack frames of the video, which can also remove the trailing of the stars (to a degree)

Rich, Justin has made a good suggestion. There are some excellent tools on the internet that can give you some idea of the field of view for any telescope aperture, and focal length when used with various objects Here's one for example Now you may not see the detail in the image it uses, but you will get some idea of how much an object might fill the view. One thing that often disappoints newcomers is that they see a picture of a distant galaxy in a magazine or book that has all the dust lanes in and lots of colour, and then when they look through a scope at the same galaxy all they see is a faint, slightly smudged thing with a slightly brighter centre, and sometimes have to use averted vision (looking to the left or right, top or bottom of the view) so the eye can pick out some detail.... Again a lot depends on your location. In a dark site away from light pollution, and with good seeing conditions you'll see more than from a garden in a town.

What was the target you were trying to photograph ? Ruling out M27 I would say it's reflection between the camera lens and the eyepiece

You might be expecting too much. To view planets in great detail you need a long focal length scope, short focal length eyepiece and aperture. Magnification is a product of the scopes focal length divided by the eyepiece focal length. Assuming you had a decent 4mm eyepiece the max magnification for your scope would be 225x... but at that magnification the image will be very dark and grainy as the aperture of the 130 is small at around 5". Using barlow lenses does effectively double the magnification, but also dims the image further. It's for these reasons that people opt for large, long focal length scopes like Cassergrain Schmitt telescopes, or similar, where you have 8" or more aperture and a 2000mm + focal length. You're scope is more suited for some of the brighter DSO's, where a wider field of view with the low magnification eyepiece (the 25mm for example) could show a nice defined smudge of say the Andromeda galaxy, or the Orion Nebula. Under really dark skies and with good seeing you should be able to see quite a lot of the globular clusters and open clusters. Hope that helps