Schrodinger's file?

[Demonperformer]

Just bought a new filterwheel+oag and need to get the software installed.

My laptop does not have a cd drive, so I am attempting to copy the cd onto my usb drive.

The attached screenprint shows:
(1) Background - left hand column =  cd drive (showing desktop.ini)
(2) Background - right hand column =  the directory on the usb drive to which I am copying it (no desktop.ini)
(3) This lack of desktop.ini on the usb drive is confirmed by the cmd window (bottom left)
(4) So I open it in notepad and try to 'save as' desktop.ini on the usb drive (the 'save as' window still shows the absence of the file in the receiving directory, despite using the 'all files' option), but it is also saying that it already exists.

How can it both exist and not exist [it is being observed!]??

In addition to which, I have discovered that the OAG has a "standard C thread", but my camera (QHY5Lii) has a "native CS" thread and so is too big. I am therefore going to need to find some kind of ring that can sit over the OAG's external C-thread and fit the camera's internal CS thread - without altering the distance (too much!).

Why is nothing ever simple?

[Knight of Clear Skies]

If you sit really still that may help you locate it.

Alternatively, I'd guess the folder on the right is configured not to show hidden files, desktop.ini is hidden by default. It's just preferences for displaying the contents of the folder (e.g. icon size), it's not part of the actual application.

[Alien 13]

I opted for the simple option with a portable CD/DVD/Blue ray read/writer for my lappy, the last thing I need is a dead cat in there.

Alan

[Demonperformer]

15 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Alternatively, I'd guess the folder on the right is configured not to show hidden files, desktop.ini is hidden by default.

I see what you are saying, but opening the drive on the left-hand panel still does not show it - but it was showing on that panel when the cd was in the drive.

[Knight of Clear Skies]

15 minutes ago, Demonperformer said:

I see what you are saying, but opening the drive on the left-hand panel still does not show it - but it was showing on that panel when the cd was in the drive.

The viewing preferences for a folder are for that folder, not controlled by where it is displayed.

Computers can be frustrating beasts. I'm currently looking at something that works fine on one but not another...

[Stub Mandrel]

Be afraid, be very afraid

http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/q-are-my-desktopini-files-really-ticking-time-bombs-or-does-tech-support-have-wrong

 

 

 

[Demonperformer]

2 hours ago, Knight of Clear Skies said:

Computers can be frustrating beasts.

They can indeed.

Why microsoft have to mess people around is beyond me. When I say I want to display a list of the files in a folder, I mean 'the files in a folder' not 'SOME OF the files in a folder'.

Grr.

[Demonperformer]

2 hours ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Be afraid, be very afraid

http://winsupersite.com/windows-10/q-are-my-desktopini-files-really-ticking-time-bombs-or-does-tech-support-have-wrong

Actually, that is quite comforting ... especially the comment "If a program requires the .ini file, it’ll build a new one the next time the program runs" - which means to me (not necessarily the computer!) that whether it has been copied onto the usb drive or not is irrelevant - I can just proceed regardless.

[Stub Mandrel]

The desktop.ini file is just one that says how a folder will display its contents. It's totally disposable.

There is a good reason why 'system files' are invisible - if they weren't people who don't know what they are or where they came from would open them out of curiosity and break their computers.

[Demonperformer]

On 10/11/2016 at 15:44, Demonperformer said:

I am therefore going to need to find some kind of ring that can sit over the OAG's external C-thread and fit the camera's internal CS thread - without altering the distance (too much!).

Having done some reading, I am not convinced that the thread I need to use on the camera is a cs thread. It has a diameter of 30mm and, although there is not very much of it to measure, looks as if it has a pitch of about 1mm. It looks as if the bit around the little window might be threaded under the ring, but I can see no way of removing that ring. And anyway, that bit only has a diameter of 22mm, so the 25mm thread on the OAG would never fit. All of this may be complicated by the fact that this was one of the pre-production test models - QHY do seem to have a reputation for making lots of changes as they go along!

Anyway - I have sent off an email to Bernard at Modern Astronomy, who seems to be the 'goto person' for adapters of all sorts, so hopefully he will be able to recommend/provide something suitable. I really don't want to have to fork-out yet another £300-£400 for a lodestar camera!