Imaging just keeps getting more complicated!

[Freddie]

23 hours ago, ollypenrice said:

I don't give PHD2 any information at all, Carole. My Lodestar drivers are pre-loaded so I select them with a click, choose 'on camera' and calibrate. That's it. But I'm not using EQMod because my mounts are not ASCOM compatible. (I'm not sure you can join the Dinosaur Club if you're using anything as fancy as EQMod!)

?lly

Press "shift" and then click on the connect icon and it will save you having to select "on cam" as it will automatically select everything you had connected before.

[wimvb]

Once upon a time there was a software entrepreneur, whose name was William, but everyone called him Bill. Bill was a clever guy, and he developed software that everyone had to use in their computers. He called this software Windows. His software was the securest in the land, he said, and he called it Windows CE.

Then on the brink of a new Millenium, he showed the world a new software. Which was the securest in the land, he said. He called this Windows ME.

For the corporate world, he developed yet another software version. Which was the securest in the land, he said. He called this Windows NT.

Finally the people understood that William, or Bill as he was called, had developed a monster that slowed down their precious computers to a grinding halt.

Well, what else do you expect from a guy who sells you CEMENT?

--- End of story ---

I control my kit from a raspberry pi. This is definitely not Plug and Play. But once set up, my problems can always be traced back to either hardware not working, or being too far away from my wifi access point. Only when I switched to a newly developed, highly experimental clone, did I have start up problems. These were promptly solved by a very responsive community. Even with frequent software updates, I haven't had any serious issues. And I'm now at a point where, if anything goes wrong due to my experimentations, I can simply reformat my sd card and reinstall a backup image of my configuration. Or have a spare computer (£ 35 worth) lying around to just plug in and go. "You get what you pay for" doesn't always apply. There are working alternatives to Windos/ascom.

[Stub Mandrel]

43 minutes ago, wimvb said:

There are working alternatives to Windos/ascom.

It would help if somewhere in the documentation of Ascom and the various things that use it there was a plain English explanation of what it is and how it works.

My guess is that it is some sort of 'hub' that queries and receives information from multiple sources and while answering queries from those sources. I imagine that it also shares some generic information and broadcasts certain messages.

I had a go at reading the documentation, I retired hurt.

[Andyb90]

1 hour ago, Stub Mandrel said:

It would help if somewhere in the documentation of Ascom and the various things that use it there was a plain English explanation of what it is and how it works.

Do you have a copy of the book Making Every Photon Count? As it has a plain English explanation of ASCOM.  In fact all the topics in the book are very well explained. ?

Andy.

[Stub Mandrel]

20 minutes ago, Andyb90 said:

Do you have a copy of the book Making Every Photon Count? As it has a plain English explanation of ASCOM.  In fact all the topics in the book are very well explained. ?

Andy.

I don't think he does much more than explain the acronym and that it creates a standard interface for different bits of kit. As s pomeopne witha bit fo programming experience I'd like to see a plain english explanation of how it works - it would greatly help with fault finding and things like understanding what actions cause a crash and what is OK. If my mount loses power - can I recover? Do I  need to park it manually than restart or can I just pick up from where I left off? Why does changing one program crash it but changing another have no effect?

All easier to understand if I knew what it was actually doing, something more than 'it's an interface' and less than 'abstraction layers' and 'object oriented programming'... the documentation appears to have been written by an EU astro-committee :-0

[Hallingskies]

2 hours ago, wimvb said:

Once upon a time there was a software entrepreneur, whose name was William, but everyone called him Bill. Bill was a clever guy, and he developed software that everyone had to use in their computers. He called this software Windows. His software was the securest in the land, he said, and he called it Windows CE.

Then on the brink of a new Millenium, he showed the world a new software. Which was the securest in the land, he said. He called this Windows ME.

For the corporate world, he developed yet another software version. Which was the securest in the land, he said. He called this Windows NT.

Finally the people understood that William, or Bill as he was called, had developed a monster that slowed down their precious computers to a grinding halt.

Well, what else do you expect from a guy who sells you CEMENT?

--- End of story ---

I control my kit from a raspberry p. This is definitely not Plug and Play. But once set up, my problems can always be traced back to either hardware not working, or being too far away from my wifi access point. Only when I switched to a newly developed, highly experimental clone, did I have start up problems. These were promptly solved by a very responsive community. Even with frequent software updates, I haven't had any serious issues. And I'm now at a point where, if anything goes wrong due to my experimentations, I can simply reformat my sd card and reinstall a backup image of my configuration. Or have a spare computer (£ 35 worth) lying around to just plug in and go. "You get what you pay for" doesn't always apply. There are working alternatives to Windos/ascom.

A very true story?.  If only there was a way of picking out the dross from Windows and just leaving in the bits you actually need.  As for the Raspberry Pi, I had to Google what that was.  Sounds interesting and totally beyond me.  Smart phones are smarter than I am, unfortunately.  "Definitely not Plug and Play" puts me off.  But what is "plug and play" these days? Not much.  Plus, my local WiFi transfer speed has to be measured with a calender so any hopes I have of real-time data collection and control rests on good ol' Cat 5...

[Hallingskies]

6 hours ago, carastro said:

Totally agree, it was only when my XP packed up I was forced to buy a Vista Machine which was the one being sold then, and it is still going strong except for the mousepad.  Rarely put it on the internet, have had to sh'ft over to firefox because IE and chrome won't do it any more if I ever need anything on the internet, never bother to update it but it is getting rather slow for anything but imaging.  Which was why I bought the refurbished W7 a couple of years ago as a back up.

Carole 

Am typing this on a 10+ year old Lenovo laptop running XP!  Only went for Win7 (my son's old desktop) in my obbo because when I upgraded my guide camera to a Lodestar X2, it simply would not run on any of my XP machines.  I thought it was just me but even Terry Platt couldn't sort it!  I find I have to occasionally scrub and reload Chrome to get it to work on the XP laptop but otherwise it's still OK for most things.   How stable is Vista for your astro kit?  I have an old but good laptop running Vista Pro that I'm looking to press into service.

[carastro]

Quote

 How stable is Vista for your astro kit?

Works fine on all my cameras and software.  I run Artemis (2 Atik Cameras and an electronic FW), PHD 1 & 2 works on it.  APT, Maxim (Maxim works for capture too, as I had a lesson once, but have not yet had a chance to try it myself), Canon Utility, Stellarium, DSS, Astroart, Registar, and I can work EQMod on it too when I want to be bothered and manage to get a hub working.  Sharpcap, Firecapture, Registax, Autostakkert, Photoshop etc etc. 

The only thing that is clapped out is the Mousepad, right click initially, and some kind soul swapped my right and left clicks over for me, but 18 months down the line they have both pretty much packed up now, so I am forced to use a mouse, and this requires a hub as I only have 3 ports.  If the hub isn't working, I will have to use the Lenovo W7 laptop.  This has only happened the last time I was out, so not yet tried it with the full rig.  

Carole 

[JohnSadlerAstro]

On ‎03‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 01:47, Sunshine said:

Many times ive wondered if imaging DSO's is actually fun?? 

Imo it isn't. Theres nothing worse. DSO Imaging is a sad addiction.  

John

[Hallingskies]

11 hours ago, carastro said:

Works fine on all my cameras and software.  I run Artemis (2 Atik Cameras and an electronic FW), PHD 1 & 2 works on it.  APT, Maxim (Maxim works for capture too, as I had a lesson once, but have not yet had a chance to try it myself), Canon Utility, Stellarium, DSS, Astroart, Registar, and I can work EQMod on it too when I want to be bothered and manage to get a hub working.  Sharpcap, Firecapture, Registax, Autostakkert, Photoshop etc etc. 

The only thing that is clapped out is the Mousepad, right click initially, and some kind soul swapped my right and left clicks over for me, but 18 months down the line they have both pretty much packed up now, so I am forced to use a mouse, and this requires a hub as I only have 3 ports.  If the hub isn't working, I will have to use the Lenovo W7 laptop.  This has only happened the last time I was out, so not yet tried it with the full rig.  

Carole 

Thanks for the reassurance, Carole.  Good to know someone is getting good value from it.  I can remember when Vista first came out - most of my colleagues complained about it crashing all the time and wanted their old XP machines back!

[DaveS]

I pretty much have to use win-dross as the mount-specific software I use (Autoslew and Sequence) won't run on anything else. Not sure about Maxim and Pinpoint which I use for platesolving and capture. Guiding is taken care of by encoders and model.

[Yoddha]

On ‎03‎/‎06‎/‎2018 at 01:15, Stub Mandrel said:

I did try adding APT into the mix, but having practised using Ascom simulator for the mount, it's refusing to find the real one and just starts another instance of EQmod ?

APT can be for another evening and if I can get it to work I will try dithering.

Already a little voice is whispering Astrotortilla in my ear, although I'm not 100% sure what the benefits are... and there's fine tuning my PA.

Hi Neil,

Use Shift+Click on the telescope connection button and it will allow you to change the simulator.

I would not bother with AstroTortilla. APT has better integration with other solving applications and it definitely wort giving a try. Centering and framing an objects in less than 2-3 minutes something that makes imaging ways easier

More info about PointCraft here - https://ideiki.com/astro/usersguide/pointcraft_and_plate_solving.htm?ms=AAA%3D&st=MA%3D%3D&sct=MTE2Ng%3D%3D&mw=MjQw

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

On 04/06/2018 at 13:50, ollypenrice said:

The easiest way to make it easier is, of course, to have a permanent setup.

I have been thinking about this lately. What’s a good way to go about it? For example I can build a concrete pier quite easily on my ground but what about a covering for it? My mate has a scopedome but I can’t afford that. Heard of any good options? I don’t even mind DIY. I thought about a wooden shed but where I live on top of a hill the wind gets strong in the winter. 

Thanks 

Gerry

[DaveS]

I use one of these

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telegizmos-telescope-covers/telegizmos-365-scope-cover-for-5-6-eq-mounted-refractors.html

And an electric pet-warmer set just warm enough to avoid condensation in the most humid conditions.

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

21 minutes ago, DaveS said:

I use one of these

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telegizmos-telescope-covers/telegizmos-365-scope-cover-for-5-6-eq-mounted-refractors.html

And an electric pet-warmer set just warm enough to avoid condensation in the most humid conditions.

That's very interesting I hadn't seen those. So I guess it's wether or not to build a permanent structure or not. Thanks.

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

26 minutes ago, DaveS said:

I use one of these

https://www.firstlightoptics.com/telegizmos-telescope-covers/telegizmos-365-scope-cover-for-5-6-eq-mounted-refractors.html

And an electric pet-warmer set just warm enough to avoid condensation in the most humid conditions.

So can I ask what you do. Do you just leave the mount outside with a cover on it?  Or do you set it up each time. 

Thanks 

[Stub Mandrel]

1 hour ago, DaveS said:

electric pet-warmer

So taht's something else that want's to be synched up to Ascom...

[ollypenrice]

3 hours ago, Gerry Casa Christiana said:

I have been thinking about this lately. What’s a good way to go about it? For example I can build a concrete pier quite easily on my ground but what about a covering for it? My mate has a scopedome but I can’t afford that. Heard of any good options? I don’t even mind DIY. I thought about a wooden shed but where I live on top of a hill the wind gets strong in the winter. 

Thanks 

Gerry

Gerry, there's a whole forum section devoted to DIY observatories for you to check out. They don't have to be expensive or complicated. I'm embarking on my seventh at the moment. The smallest and easiest is the full 'sentry box' roll-off. The easy way requires a pier rather than tripod. You make a square plywood floor, cut out a slot in it just from one side to the middle to let it roll round the pier, put in on wheels and rails and then bolt a pre-fabricated standard tool shed to that. Nothing could be simpler. You do need to be able to make it very wind proof but chains bolted into the concrete deal with that. When it is rolled off it becomes your computer room.

But there are loads of other ways. Do it!!!

Olly

[Gerry Casa Christiana]

1 hour ago, ollypenrice said:

Gerry, there's a whole forum section devoted to DIY observatories for you to check out. They don't have to be expensive or complicated. I'm embarking on my seventh at the moment. The smallest and easiest is the full 'sentry box' roll-off. The easy way requires a pier rather than tripod. You make a square plywood floor, cut out a slot in it just from one side to the middle to let it roll round the pier, put in on wheels and rails and then bolt a pre-fabricated standard tool shed to that. Nothing could be simpler. You do need to be able to make it very wind proof but chains bolted into the concrete deal with that. When it is rolled off it becomes your computer room.

But there are loads of other ways. Do it!!!

Olly

What a superb way of doing it. Great!

[Stub Mandrel]

We had a presentation on the club's planned observatory last night.

One of the main interests was being able to set up your own equipment around it, effectively a secure 'dark sky' site.

It's planned to have a huge interactive screen inside which can be used for video astronomy or linked to remote telescopes. This means it can be used effectively for groups, even in bad weather or the day time which seems an excellent idea.

Excitement was great as it's hoped to be up and running by September.

[jjosefsen]

On 03/06/2018 at 10:17, Stub Mandrel said:

I'm certainly unsure what the real benefits of plate solving are at my level of imaging and skies - does it take the fun out of finding a target? Does it mean my images are a few pixels larger when I stack two nights data?

I suspect it will be significantly easier to frame up for consecutive nights, that is one of the things that just take way too much of my imaging time.

I suspect it will also be easier for making Mosaics if that becomes a thing.

[jjosefsen]

On 09/06/2018 at 10:48, Stub Mandrel said:

We had a presentation on the club's planned observatory last night.

One of the main interests was being able to set up your own equipment around it, effectively a secure 'dark sky' site.

It's planned to have a huge interactive screen inside which can be used for video astronomy or linked to remote telescopes. This means it can be used effectively for groups, even in bad weather or the day time which seems an excellent idea.

Excitement was great as it's hoped to be up and running by September.

Wow that sounds awesome! I'm so bummed there is no clubs around where I live for this sort of stuff..

[spillage]

I made a concrete pillar for my gear, I then made what my whole family calls the punch and judy tent out of wood and breathable roof felt with velcro front cover. Detach the front and just tip it back onto the garden.

Just used spare kit I had hanging around after building my shed.

Mark.