THERE HAS TO BE A WAY!!!!

[Mav359]

Hi guys

i didn't know where else to post this.....

Has anyone ever got EQMOD ACSOM to work with a CGEM mount, before everyone jumps in i know its for the Synscan mounts but its an open source program and there are ASCOM drivers for the CGEM mounts so i want to see if anyone who knows has had a go?

Drivers are essential a Operating Sysytem's instruction manual on how a piece of hardware works, those drivers are already written so why cant EQMOD be made to see them?

I'm no Software Developer (wrong IT field) & i'm sure there is more to it then that but it cant be that far away.

I love my CGEM mount, its great but the more i dig the more i feel i'm missing out on EQMOD and the apps like Align Master

Please Help......

[E621Keith]

I could be wrong, but I believe EDMOD is designed to drive mount driven by stepper motors (such as Synscan), whereas CGEM uses servomotors. Stepper motor are controlled by commands which tell the motors to move by N number of steps to the desire position. Servo motors are controlled by an encoder feedback loop. The motor would be asked to move until the encoder senses the motor is at the required position, then a command is issued via the motor controller to stop the motor.

The two types of motors uses different control algorithms, which is probably why EQMOD won't work for CGEM.

[chrisshillito]

Hi Alan,

The stumbling block preventing EQMOD being adapted to support other mount types isn't technical (though there are challenges), it is finding someone with the motivation and skills to do it. Currently I'm the only active developer on the EQMOD project. The only mount I have is a Synta EQ mount and I'm sure you'll understand that that is where my particular focus lies. As it stands I give more time than I can really afford to the support of EQMOD - to such an extent that my own astronomy has effectively taken a back seat! The only way I can see myself undertaking nexstar integration would be Celestron made it worth my while to do so by sponsoring the development.

There have been others who have supposedly started work/investigations on nexstar protocol support but in each case these folks don't seem to have had the drive/energy/time to see it through to completion and haven't been heard from since.

This all said there is no reason why you should miss out on using apps such a Alignmaster or indeed EQMOD project applications such as EQTOUR, EQMOSAIC, EQMODLX, ASCOMPAD etc. These are all written as ASCOM client applications which means they can potentially work with any ASCOM driver.

Chris.

[Mav359]

Hi Chris

I was under the impression there were loads of people working on this, quite frankly i'm amazed that manufacturers like celestron whos products can't use this aren't clambering over one another to get to you or even develop there own systems.

It seems like quite a hole in the market.

Top job Chris, i'll continue to drool over the simulator for now.

[mhard26339]

Indeed, the fact that I can use EQMOD was the decider for me to buy NEQ6 Pro over the CGEM although I wish I could use Star Sense which seems a great accessory; swings and roundabouts!!! Although I still have problems with alignment I would not swap the control that EQMOD gives me; poor alignment is my technique which i can improve.

Mike

[dROU]

Just a big thanks to Chris for an outstanding contribution and will patiently watch with interest.

Phil

[astromerlin]

If anyone wants to take up the gauntlet and delve into Eqmod, an explaination for the Nextstar protocol is here:

http://www.celestron.com/c3/images/files/downloads/1154108406_nexstarcommprot.pdf