Help use computer to control Konus Digimax 90

[Zeno]

Hi,

Can anyone offer me any advice on how to use a pc/laptop to control a Konus Digimax 90 scope. I have followed all the instructions in the "manual" and tried various s/w packages (Stellarium, HNSky, Sky Charts, ASCOM, etc) but am having no luck in getting the scope and computer talking. Any clues as to how other scopes connect would be really useful.

Cheers

Zeno.

[Cornelius Varley]

Does your computer have a serial port or are you using a usb/serial adapter to connect the handset to the computer. Stellarium and other programs need to know what comms port the computer has assigned to a usb/serial adapter before a connection can be made.

Peter

[todd8137]

hi there i had a bit of fun with the ascom drivers in the end i downloaded stellarium that as it already built in just select your scope the ports did play about a bit ,but for the life of me still not sure how i did it but i brought all the cables ect it worked a treat ,just kliking the screen and away it goes very nice touch ,but in the end the hand set to control the scope was better in the end and at the time i did not have power in the shed to power the laptop

[Zeno]

Does your computer have a serial port or are you using a usb/serial adapter to connect the handset to the computer. Stellarium and other programs need to know what comms port the computer has assigned to a usb/serial adapter before a connection can be made.

Peter

I am using a usb/serial adapter. I believe I have set up Comms Port 3 and get different results if I change the port number. I might just try connecting to my desktop PC which has a serial port and see if I make progress this way.

[Zeno]

hi there i had a bit of fun with the ascom drivers in the end i downloaded stellarium that as it already built in just select your scope the ports did play about a bit ,but for the life of me still not sure how i did it but i brought all the cables ect it worked a treat ,just kliking the screen and away it goes very nice touch ,but in the end the hand set to control the scope was better in the end and at the time i did not have power in the shed to power the laptop

OK, so I could persevere with Stellarium and may get lucky, but are you saying that the hand controller is better anyway?

[Cornelius Varley]

I wouldn't say either method of controlling the mount is better. It is handy to see a target in Stellarium etc and then slew the mount under computer control.

Peter

[Zeno]

OK Problem solved!

When I bought the USB to Serial converter there was no mention of a "driver" for it, so I assummed it was "plug & play". On another forum with SG Lounge I came across a similar problem that suggested it might be the cable, and had a link to the Astromomiser web site. Having a look here I noticed that their converter came with a disc with the drivers on. Luckily they also had a link to enable me to download the driver, after installing it on my laptop and rebooting, I connected everything back up and was able to drive the scope from the laptop using Stellarium. Brilliant.

Thanks for your help & advice and thanks also to the guys on the other forums for the tips I found there.