Astronomy Control Centre (ACP)

[Physopto]

I just purchased Astronomy Control Program (ACP). This is developed by Bob Denny in America. It allows automation control of all aspects of your camera, rotator, focuser, mount, weather monitor gear and the opening and shutting of the observatory itself.  It can control the meridian flips and then restart imaging, amongst  a myriad of  other things.

I downloaded the trial and tried it with a mixture of simulations and real gear for couple of months to get used to the software. Unfortunately for me some of the gear I had ordered ( rotator and focuser), did not arrive in time for testing before the 60 day trial ran out. Never the less I decided on the strength of what I had seen, to go ahead and order up the program because of its inherent abilities.

I had tested it on my main computer because it had a large monitor and could do that in some comfort.

My imaging setup is only controlled from a laptop. I tried setup ACP on the laptop only to be greeted with error after error.  I spent some hours trying to determine what was wrong but failed miserably. In the end, yesterday, at about 1620 hrs I posted a plea for help on the ACP forum. I also noted that in America they were going on a short “Labour Day” holiday until Tuesday next. So I had resigned myself to plodding on in the dark, in an attempt try to find out what had gone wrong.

To my utter amazement, I received a call from America probably less than an hour later with Bob Denny on the line. He spent a considerable amount of time trying to find out what had gone wrong with the installation, by taking control of my computer from his end.  Unfortunately he could not fix the problem, because it was not his software that was at fault, but my installation of Windows 7. It turns out my computer was missing the vb (visual basic) and the js (java script) scripting engines from within windows 7 operating system. This is quite strange as I have been using this computer for the last few years without any problems, so I can only suspect that none of the other programs use vb or js scripting, that includes EQMOD.

 So no fault of ACP at all !!!

I must admit it was very frustrating to find this out,  but he was a perfect gentleman and extremely nice to talk to. Most importantly he had given me a reference point to look for in the computer.

Today, I have tried reinstalling windows from a backup hard drive, but found that that, had a faulty windows installation as well, so it must have been like this for a long time. I have never used vb or js scripting so had no idea it was missing or corrupted. To cut a long story short I have had to install Windows 8 as I did not want to reinstall every program and updates into a completely fresh Windows 7 installation.

On trying the ACP install this time it all went smoothly with no errors. I now have a working computer and most importantly a fully working installation of ACP.

Without Bob’s expertise I would have been stumped for a long time if not completely. I cannot praise him enough for the excellent backup he gives to his software products.

A costly program some might say, but I can see why with backup service like that and what ACP is capable of doing. I am now looking forwards to trying ACP out at the next Star Camps, Galloway and Kielder.

Thank you,  Bob Denny.