Mac Focuser

[SgtBilko]

Having got fed up with not being able to run my complete set up from a Mac I decided to brush the cobwebs off my vb.net skills and learn obj-c.

Getting OSx to speak to hardware is not easy but after a month of research and learning the ropes I have a working app which will control HiTecAstroDC focusers.

The app currently works on a 64bit iMac running Lion, but I see no reason why it would not run on Snow Leopard or a 32bit machine.

I intend to make the app available free of charge, but I do not have the time to support it past bug fix stage. I promised HiTecAstro I would obtain their consent before issue and I imagine that I will not be able to release the source code due to intellectual property issues.

Subject to the day job, I need about 3 weeks more to polish, test and make the installation. I will keep you all posted.

Next Mac projects….. controller for SCB4000 and maybe HiTecAstro Mount Hub Pro.

Ian

[NickK]

Nice work

I've been considering sorting out a focuser but for now it's finalising the ATIK stuff and working towards an alpha AOSX. Work gets in the way :/

[Sp@ce_d]

Oh great news.. More than happy to test it on Snow Leopard

[Graphic]

Hi that sounds interesting being a mac user myself. I will watch this space for news.

[SgtBilko]

Thanks everyone. Sp@ce_d, I very happy to make it available for beta testing once I have it in a near finished state. Probably 3 weeks time.

I am looking forward to AOSX !!! Once I've finished this project I would be happy to help (if I can).

[SgtBilko]

Delays delays delays !!

1st I'm trying to move house and secondly I am integrating gampad support (thanks to David Hulse at EQMac).

Might be a month or so yet !!

[SgtBilko]

Beta test version is at Mac Astronomy Apps if you want to have a go.

Ian

[Sp@ce_d]

Nice one Ian..

Hmmm I can see I'm going to have to give in and upgrade one of the Macs to Lion then..

[SgtBilko]

Nice one Ian..

Hmmm I can see I'm going to have to give in and upgrade one of the Macs to Lion then..

Sorry about that !

I had finished before I realised that the way I had written it wouldn't work with Snow Leopard.

I like Lion although It was tough to make it work with my NAS and printers when it first came out. Upgraded drivers and firmware sorted that out. The only problem I have now is that Preview hangs when saving a pdf. It is a well known permissions problem, although my daughters machine doesn't suffer the same problem. I'm leaving my MacBookAir in Snow Leopard.

Ian

[iapa]

Sorry about that !

I had finished before I realised that the way I had written it wouldn't work with Snow Leopard.

I like Lion although It was tough to make it work with my NAS and printers when it first came out. Upgraded drivers and firmware sorted that out. The only problem I have now is that Preview hangs when saving a pdf. It is a well known permissions problem, although my daughters machine doesn't suffer the same problem. I'm leaving my MacBookAir in Snow Leopard.

Ian

Hi Ian,

Tried your link, but it seems to be defunct now.

I want to do the same thing - for the same reasons. David at HiTechAstro sent me the link to this forum/thread.