tekkydave

I think you will be ok.

I have one of These which I bought when I had some money It has continuous analogue output accurate to a degree but I don't know how it works internally. I'm certainly not taking it apart as I could never afford to replace it now. I also have an Inspeed anemometer. I bought them from Hobby Boards a few years ago (now no longer trading) and they came with a 1-wire controller board.

Yes - you don't need to modify the driver, you need to change your client. You don't mention what web technology you use but it needs to do the polling. The driver is just there to hide the complexity of the hardware from Ascom.

You've made a nice job of that. Thanks for using and also posting the finished item. If you need to change the step speeds there are some parameters in the sketch that can be played with.

Good news

Sounds like it. Check you have the correct board and port selected in the Arduino IDE. Also try uploading one of the example programs such as 'Blink' which flashes the onboard LED.

Sounds like the AAF2 ascom driver is not installed correctly, is not correctly selected in the ascom application or is not connecting to the correct COM port.

Are you getting the error message from an Ascom application? If so it sounds like you have the wrong driver or COM port selected. Can you send commands to the nano from the Arduino Serial Monitor (e.g. V# should return the version number of the sketch). Check you have the correct baud rate set (9600).

I would be wary of using a database - it will probably just increase the overhead and frustration (do you need any more ). A simple method of using appropriately named directories and filenames should give you enough flexibility. A database will only add value if your application can store/retrieve details directly into it. Even then it has to keep sync with the physical files which will be on a separate filesystem (storing huge images in the database is not a good idea).

Might be worth going through the pre-installed applications, put there by the vendor and uninstalling them. If there is an anti-virus program leave it installed for now. I always switch to AVG on my Windows systems and VMs as it is FREE and does a good job. Install any replacement program before removing the old one though. Even AVG though tries to push you to buy the paid-for version at every opportunity. You have to be careful where you click.

Sounds like ad-ware to me from a pre-installed app. McAfee and other anti-virus s/ware are regular scammers in this way.

The ESP8266 should work as it is code-compatible with the Arduino although you need to do some fiddling to get the Arduino IDE to talk to it. I was thinking of trying it myself but decided not to as the bluetooth option turned out to be much simpler. Bluetooth on a PC presents itself as a COM port which is what the Ascom driver needs. A Wi-Fi solution like the ESP8266 needs an extra layer of middleware running on the PC to create a COM port from an IP address. I decided it was too complex for just a simple focuser. Bluetooth is designed for simple point-to-point devices like the focuser so I went with that. If you fancy it - give it a try Instructions for setting up the Arduino IDE for ESP8266 are here.

Filezilla is useful for ftp'ing files from pc to rpi. connect using using same credentials as putty.

You need to wget the url of the file link not the web page its link is sitting in. Try right-click on link to get url from properties. Or hover over link and get url from info on bottom-left of browser window.

It definitely benefits from having a gigabit network.

I think the s/w is aimed at the non-tech user to get them started. I dont think its needed for normal use. I dont remember having to install anything with mine.

These are good for a networked solution. I have 2x 3Tb drives in mine. https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-ShareCenter-Network-Storage-Enclosure/dp/B004AIWOXY

Eg Find all jpg files under /home/dave older than 90 days and delete: find /home/dave -name "*.jpg" -mtime +90 -exec rm {} \; See here http://www.binarytides.com/linux-find-command-examples/

Finding files based on a multitude of criteria then performing an action on each one e.g. copy, move, delete.

The Linux find command is the best. You need to know what you are doing with it though as the scope for cock-ups is big. Suggest a good google first.

I think I'll try controlling my Canon 1100D instead. The 120MC is only useful with my 127Mak for planetary. With the Canon I can do widefield, solar & lunar.

Tested the ASI120MC with my Win10 laptop and it works fine. I think these older cameras have issues working with Linux and virtual machines. It doesnt work at all with a Windows vm running on Linux and only works when it feels like it with a Linux PC. I have no chance with a RPi methinks. I'll leave that for now and stick to the laptop for capture. Screenshot from Win10 Dell 630 laptop:

Looking at the images you have kindly posted they look to be the correct modules. There is known to be a lot of variations in the manufacture of these and some, like mine have the pin 34 connected internally. I will update the notes on Sourceforge when I get a minute. Thanks for the feedback. It's useful to know what issues others have. You are the first person I am aware of to do the BT upgrade.

Are you connecting to the correct IP address. Does putty give any error message?

I think the various drivers listed on the page are for Windows. They are .exe files.