EQMod For Mac

[OzDave]

I haven't thought about Carte du Ciel as I've never used it. I could look into it for a future version. I'm about to release a Stellarium interface if that is any help.

Also, I am not sure, but if you are based in the southern hemisphere, you may find more bugs in the software, like it may move the mount in the wrong direction. If so, it would be useful to know what goes wrong and I can fix it pretty quick.

David

[gbealnz]

CdC is what I use with my NEQ6, and EqAscom.

It would be good to try it though, and the CdC idea is worth considering.

Yes, down under, so it may go the wrong way, only one way to find out.

Gary

[carldr]

Great work on this. I (almost) exclusively use Macs, and it's such a shame that software on that platform is so far behind Windows. The only time I use Windows is for astronomy.

There needs to be critical mass for the manufacturers to start supporting the Mac, so any work towards that end is important, but I suspect something rivalling ASCOM in terms of support is several years away.

I'll check this out, and will definitely check AOSX out - I didn't know about it until today.

[carldr]

Hmmm - Very little information about AOSX, and a completely empty AOSX repository on the Sourceforge page. I'll post something on NickK's blog.

[NickK]

I'm certainly here, lurking.

AOSX has come on a long way with David's help. Currently he's being working through mount-oriented areas and I've been working through an ATIK Imager plugin to keep out of his way.. Since starting we've restructured the project considerably.

We have a private repository at the moment rather than going via sourceforge. The plan is to get an alpha-debugging release out soon. For this we've taken over a domain last night... so watch this space

[carldr]

It's a shame the repository isn't available publicly. In my opinion, it's the only way for other developers to get involved and for the project to receive the support it needs to succeed.

Certainly in my case, I have strong Objective-C and system architecture skills, and not being able to access the code kills my enthusiasm for the project.

[OzDave]

If you'd like to help out, then we can give you access to the repository, but at this time, we've not decided when or where to make it public - only that it will all be open sourced at some point.

As of right now, we have a functional server and few skeletal plugins and application programs. The most advanced one is the mount software, which I am porting over from my standalone version.

If you'd like to help out in some way, send me and/or NickK a PM and we can set you up with access and have a discussion as to what tasks need doing and what the general architecture looks like (at this time).

David

[OzDave]

CdC is what I use with my NEQ6, and EqAscom.

It would be good to try it though, and the CdC idea is worth considering.

Yes, down under, so it may go the wrong way, only one way to find out.

Gary

Gary, I'm almost certain it will go the wrong way because I know there are a few places that I've thought, Ach I'll do the southern hemisphere case later, which I feel a little bad about since I'm originally from down under but live in the north now. So I'd like to get that stuff fixed really (southern cross is still my favourite constellation :-)

Any feedback you can give me as to what works / what doesn't / what needs changed would be great!

One thing springs to mind immediately...Polaris in the polar alignment will be no good to you. You'll want Sigma Octanis instead I guess?

David

[NickK]

The key for keeping it private initially is that the interfaces have been in flux.

Give me a pm - we can swap skype and have a conversation. It will have to be later in the evening.

[gbealnz]

David,

appreciate the effort you have put in, regardless of the southern side being less catered to. I will sort something out with this and give it a try. In using imaging software which is all but exclusively PC based, I have had to use an old desktop PC at the scope, but if I can run everything on the Mac, I may return to that as the method of choice.

Just how I try it at this stage will take some thought, might have to lug the mount to the house, or carry the Mac to the mount, depends.

Polaris? Never seen it, LOL. In my case with CdC, I don't use Sigma, as my pier is aligned all the time I roll it out, (drift and repeatable spots). I simply slew to and then synch. Will this make a difference?

Gary

[OzDave]

Gary, you don't need to use the polar alignment aspect at all. If you just fire up the software, do a slew to an alignment star and then a sync, it should be fine. Except that it'll probably go wrong at the slew part, moving in the wrong direction. If so, you'll have to give up at this point and let me know that it definitely doesn't work. I'm about to do a new release of code, so I can probably sneak in some fixes for southerners.

David

[gbealnz]

David.

OK, let me work out how I get the Mountain to Mohammed, or vice versa.

Even if it is just inside. Don't have a Mac laptop unfortunately, just the iMac.

Gary

[gbealnz]

If I could make it work with the iPad I'd be laughing of course.

Gary

[NickK]

Here's a screenshot from David's EQMount running against AOSX:

The eqmount window should look familiar! The blackstar at the top is AOSX. AOSX also appears on the taskbar at the moment as it makes closing the app easer!

There's still a way to go - I'm just about to integrate my imager changes into some interface changes made.. but I just wanted to show it's progressing!

edit.. will butt out as this is Chris's thread..

[chrisshillito]

David,

Write yourself a motor controller simulator and folks can easily test things like southern hemisphere operation without requiring a connection to a real mount. This is what we did early on for EQMOD and it enabled many folks to get involved with the initial testing without having to worry about having access to hardware (given at that time there were no ready made EQDIRs or PC-Direct). All my code gets tested under simulation before risking it on the real thing!

Chris.

[gbealnz]

Could be a southern hemisphere thing (me being thick that is) but I can't even enter the right values for lat/long. I am trying to load the long, 175º E and it gives me an error message ("Value out of bounds ( >90 or <-90 )").

Any ideas?

Gary

[wrinkly]

And we used to say "All the culture in Oz was in a yoghourt pot".

Well done OzDave, looking forward to the altaz version.

Also looking forward to Lion and the track pad and so have taken to practising "gestures" on the bus. Was arrested yesterday.

Suppose Lion will being you troubles and then there is IOS.............How do your software types put up with it?

[NickK]

Lion is ok, question is- rotating gesture: should it rotate the camera?!

[OzDave]

Could be a southern hemisphere thing (me being thick that is) but I can't even enter the right values for lat/long. I am trying to load the long, 175º E and it gives me an error message ("Value out of bounds ( >90 or <-90 )").

Any ideas?

Gary

Sorry Gary, I think it is an overzealous range check. I'll make a correction and post a new version, maybe even today.

David

[Digz]

This is looking great and Im liking the way its developing. Cant wait to try the Stellarium interface.

I only had a quick play with it on Sat and most things seemed to work, although I havent really tried it in anger as it were.

Keep up the good work guys

[James]

I'm really hoping to test this out this week (if it clears down here)

Possibly a really silly question but to connect this all up I should only need to plug a USB-serial adaptor (eg Keyspan) into my MacBook and then connect the cable from my handset into the USB-serial adaptor and take it from there..?

james

[OzDave]

Possibly a really silly question but to connect this all up I should only need to plug a USB-serial adaptor (eg Keyspan) into my MacBook and then connect the cable from my handset into the USB-serial adaptor and take it from there..?

Not a silly question at all, in fact it's good to ask because of the silly connectors that Skywatcher choose to use. If you make a mistake you can easily apply the wrong voltage to equipment resulting in damage.

I've got a section on the website that explains the connections. But in your case it sounds like you want to connect via the normal handset. So, yes you'll need something like a Keyspan USB serial adapter. You connect that to the serial cable supplied with your mount (it plugs into the middle socket on the bottom of the handset). The handset then connects to the mount as normal. You must then power up the mount, go through the settings on the handset till you get to alignment, and then say NO. Then place the handset in PC-Direct mode. Once you've done that, you can fire up the EQMac software and it should communicate ok.

Please have a look at the instructions in Documentation section of the website as this is explained in more detail there, along with some other important things.

David

[OzDave]

This is looking great and Im liking the way its developing. Cant wait to try the Stellarium interface.

I only had a quick play with it on Sat and most things seemed to work, although I havent really tried it in anger as it were.

Keep up the good work guys

Glad to hear that it worked for you so far! I have finished the coding on the Stellarium interface and am in the process of testing it. However, I've been slightly delayed because I want to make some corrections so the software will work properly for southern hemisphere users. Once I have tested those changes, I'll be making a new release. I hope that will be later tonight.

David

[Digz]

Glad to hear that it worked for you so far! I have finished the coding on the Stellarium interface and am in the process of testing it. However, I've been slightly delayed because I want to make some corrections so the software will work properly for southern hemisphere users. Once I have tested those changes, I'll be making a new release. I hope that will be later tonight.

David

Yay, looking forward to it

[gbealnz]

Me too, slip a post on when the newer version is up there.

Gary