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Serial Port Splitter By Fabulatech

Mav359

By Mav359
in Discussions - Software

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Mav359

Mav359

Posted
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I have a Celestron CGEM Mount which is brilliant overall but its downfall is the lack of PC connectivity support, unlike the Skywatchers theres no way to use multiple applications at the same time to interact with the mount like EQMOD & Astrotortilla,  with the Celestron you can only connect one piece of software (Ascom or otherwise) to the scope, this is because they try to use a COM port already in use. If i am running the Celestron Handset software i cant use Stellarium or Alignmaster, its one at a time or nothing.

Now that i finished teaching you all how to suck eggs i think i may how found a work around...

http://www.serial-port-splitter.com/serial-port-splitter.html

This is a piece of software caller Serial Port Splitter by a company called Fabulatech, Im still testing and its only a trial version so i may have more to report back but for now its very positive.

in this case it is 'Sharing' the COM port (In this case COM7), I currently have connected the 'Celestron Handset Software', Stellarium & AstroTortilla. I have also had Alignmaster connected as well. For me its an important step in controlling the scope as i want to be able to automate as much as possible and it makes working from inside my motorhome easier.

So

The software is £80 to buy so its not cheap but to be honest for me it would be worth it, before making a purchase though i want to see if anyone new a way to do this cheaper or nativly in windows? or can achive the same thing a different way?

As for the software its easy to use and works well (So Far), ive only 14 days trial so i'll keep playing and feedback if anything changes.

Cheers

PS: I notice that Stellarium gets the same description as the handset software, don't know why but all three are working

post-9689-0-95321200-1402523891_thumb.jp

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perfrej

perfrej

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That sounds like a bad idea, but don't quote me on that. Suppose one application sends a command, a reply comes in and all attached applications gets information they didn't ask for... Or does the software filter out? If so, how long of a delay does it channel the information to just one for?

Hmmm....

/p

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Christopher Davenport

Christopher Davenport

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Not a celestron owner.

But I thought that Using ascom as a driver platform allows a unified method to connect any software to any (suported) mount. In this method all software can be connected to ascomm and it controls the mount.

I have not tested this with a celestron, but before I started using eqmod, I had a play with the celestron ascom drivers and it all worked with my skywatcher handest. Although the driver was a complete resource hog, running the CPU at 30 utilisation.

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chrisshillito

chrisshillito

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Not a celestron owner.

But I thought that Using ascom as a driver platform allows a unified method to connect any software to any (suported) mount. In this method all software can be connected to ascomm and it controls the mount.

I have not tested this with a celestron, but before I started using eqmod, I had a play with the celestron ascom drivers and it all worked with my skywatcher handest. Although the driver was a complete resource hog, running the CPU at 30 utilisation.

ASCOM drivers themselves are not required to support multiple client connections (EQMOD does but many don't). However the ASCOM Platform installs with a software hub called POTH to provide this functionallity . POTH connects to the driver and all the separate applications then connect to POTH.

Where the sticking point may lie is simultaneous use of the mount handset - As I understand it CGEM mounts can come with a number of connection options - i.e. a direct ''PC' serial port on the mount controller itself, an aux port that can be used with a special serial adapter and an option for a 'PC' serial port on the handcontroller. Depending on what you have it may be possible to have the handset and PC connected simultaneously via different ports.

Chris.

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Mav359

Mav359

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That sounds like a bad idea, but don't quote me on that. Suppose one application sends a command, a reply comes in and all attached applications gets information they didn't ask for... Or does the software filter out? If so, how long of a delay does it channel the information to just one for?

Hmmm....

/p

Seems to work OK so far

If i pick a target on Stellarium and slew to it i can see Astro Tortilla updating the co-ordinates live along side. They also responded straight away to manual changes made to the mounts position using either the Physical or Virtual Handsets. It seems to be working well so far but there's still more testing i want to try. Resource isn't an issue i build a new astro PC, 3.6ghz quad core 16gb of RAM so perhaps its quick enough to remove the delays. Software may also be clever enough to sort that out.

The Software lists each application connected to it separately and they are assigned virtual COM ports, i would assume that any requests or instructions from a COM port virtual or otherwise would only be processed by the app that started the request.

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Mav359

Mav359

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ASCOM drivers themselves are not required to support multiple client connections (EQMOD does but many don't). However the ASCOM Platform installs with a software hub called POTH to provide this functionallity . POTH connects to the driver and all the separate applications then connect to POTH.

Where the sticking point may lie is simultaneous use of the mount handset - As I understand it CGEM mounts can come with a number of connection options - i.e. a direct ''PC' serial port on the mount controller itself, an aux port that can be used with a special serial adapter and an option for a 'PC' serial port on the handcontroller. Depending on what you have it may be possible to have the handset and PC connected simultaneously via different ports.

Chris.

Never looked into POTH i thought when i looked it looked to be all about dome control, will check that out later. If it does work as you suggest with the Celestron mount then i may already have the answer installed on my PC.

I have only ever seen one picture of what looked like a three way splitter that split the AUX port into 2 AUX & a PC port. I can't find one retail anywhere. There are AUX splitters out there but as for controlling the mount i don't know that i can or can't control the mount via the AUX port, that's something else i can try later as well.

Cheers

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chrisshillito

chrisshillito

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Never looked into POTH i thought when i looked it looked to be all about dome control, will check that out later. If it does work as you suggest with the Celestron mount then i may already have the answer installed on my PC.

POTH does dome control as well.  but its original and most widely used application, is as a Plain Old Telescope Hub :grin:

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Mav359

Mav359

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Nope no good

Connected the scope to the PC via the bottom of the handcontroller as always, connected to POTH no issues, can use the ASCOM built in hand controller but once its connected i cannot connect a second application whether the Virtual handest or stellarium.  Maybe/possibly if i had the Serial cable to connect to the AUX port it MIGHT behave differently IF i could connect but right now no way.

Must be a celestron thing, am on the latest ASCOM scope drivers but i  cannot connect anything else once a single app is running

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chrisshillito

chrisshillito

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Nope no good

Connected the scope to the PC via the bottom of the handcontroller as always, connected to POTH no issues, can use the ASCOM built in hand controller but once its connected i cannot connect a second application whether the Virtual handest or stellarium. Maybe/possibly if i had the Serial cable to connect to the AUX port it MIGHT behave differently IF i could connect but right now no way.

Must be a celestron thing, am on the latest ASCOM scope drivers but i cannot connect anything else once a single app is running

You are selecting POTH as the mount driver in the second application?

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Mav359

Mav359

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You are selecting POTH as the mount driver in the second application?

Yep i feel like an idiot

works

Cant believe i havent come across this before, gutted. Its working though and thats £80 i dont have to spend & i have learned something new.

Cheers Guys

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Mav359

Mav359

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East is positive in the world, west is negative :)

/per

In decimal, GPS cordinates for West are written as a negative but this i thought the ability to change North/West meant it was Deg,Min,Sec

Are you saying that i should enter the GPS details as thier decimal values?

52.425706

-0.084764

second image is the decimal value

post-9689-0-07002000-1402670776.jpg

post-9689-0-27085500-1402671932.jpg

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