ASCOM Driver for Meade AutoStar/AudioStar based telescopes

[michael8554]

Hi Wayne

Colin will most likely pick this up, but you should PM him with the problem.

Michael

[cjdawson]

HI.    Yep. I will most definatly be picking this up and wanting to get it resolved.

First thing that I'd suggest is to perform an uninstall then a reinstall of the driver just to make sure that everything is registered properly.    

After that, I need more details about your setup.   which version of the ASCOM Platform do you have installed?   Which version of windows?   Are you patched fully up to date?

And of course, which version of the driver are you attempting to install?  I do hope it's version 0.7.9.198

Edited November 18, 2019 by cjdawson

[Wayne_Ford]

Thank you for trying to assist

I did try the re-install option but no luck

I am running ascom platform 6.4

I did verify that it is version 0.7.9.198 that I reinstalled

I am working on a 64 windows 10 machine

 

 

[cjdawson]

2 hours ago, Wayne_Ford said:

Thank you for trying to assist

I did try the re-install option but no luck

I am running ascom platform 6.4

I did verify that it is version 0.7.9.198 that I reinstalled

I am working on a 64 windows 10 machine

 

 

Great, that's the same setup that I'm using on my astronomy laptop, so I know that it works for sure.

 

The error message is attempting to start the right com object, so I'm not sure what's going wrong.   Can you try uninstalling then running the installer with this command please?

 

you'll need to change the path msi filename and the log path to suit.   once the install is completed, can you send the .log file that gets created to me so that I can check it and figure out what's going on?

msiexec /i "C:\MyPackage\Example.msi" /L*V "C:\log\example.log"

 

 

[Wayne_Ford]

Attached is the log file

example.log

[cjdawson]

Thanks Wayne.   I'm at work at the moment and have taken a quick look through the log, it looks ok at first glance.

I'll take another look when I'm home this evening and can compare against a test install.  hopefully  that will shed some light.

[Wayne_Ford]

Thank you appreciated

[cjdawson]

@Wayne_Fordwhat program were you using when you got the error?

[cjdawson]

I've just taken a closer look at the install log and it looks good to me.  It does tell me that there was a reboot pending after the installer completed, I hope you did that 😉

I think I'll need to know more about what you were trying to do to make the error happen, as it was the calling program that threw the error not the driver itself.

[Wayne_Ford]

I did do the restart. I even made sure I removed any other Meade drivers I have installed

I was just trying to connect to the scope.SO I opened POTH then selected the driver.Then I clicked the properties button so that I could specify the com port.It is when I click this button that I get the error.I also tested it with NINA and SGP

[cjdawson]

I don't use NINA myself, but do use SGP successfully, also checked and was able to open the settings in POTH as well.  I'll admit this one has me stumped at the moment.  I'm going to do some more investigation and also ask some other developers.

[cjdawson]

The more that I'm thinking about this, the more I'm convinced that everything is installed as I'd have expected.  Which makes this really confusing.   So next step in trouble shooting is can you look in the windows event viewer and see if you can find an application event that shows any more information about what's failing?    At the moment, all I know is that something isn't working right, but I don't have much in the way of a clue to tell me what.

 

Whilst you do that, I'll be thinking what else I can come up with to help diagnose this one.

[Wayne_Ford]

I am not really sure what to look for in it but all I see is this message under ascom in the applications and services log.

ChooserForm - Failed to load driver: "ASCOM.MeadeGeneric.Telescope"
System.Reflection.TargetInvocationException: Creating an instance of the COM component with CLSID {D9FD4B3E-C4F1-48AC-A16F-D02EEF30D86F} from the IClassFactory failed due to the following error: 80131604.
   at System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandle& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
   at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean fillCache)
   at System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceImpl(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipVisibilityChecks, Boolean fillCache)
   at System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
   at ASCOM.Utilities.ChooserForm.cmdProperties_Click(Object eventSender, EventArgs eventArgs) in C:\ASCOM Build\Export\ASCOM.Utilities\ASCOM.Utilities\ChooserForm.vb:line 232

 

[cjdawson]

Yep, that's the same entry as the dialog that you saw on screen.    Shame it's not giving me any extra information as to what's going on      Still have my thinking cap on.   My thought is that maybe we could setup a skype call over the weekend, so that I can talk to you direct and get things moving at a much much faster rate.  I'm in the UK, judging from the timings of your posts, I'm guessing that you are somewhere down under.

[Bob Denny]

Is it possible that any of the bits involved here are set to run "As Administrator? If so turn that option off on all of the drivers/apps involved. Just a wild thought...

[cjdawson]

With help from @Wayne_Ford I figured out the problem and will be doing a release tonight with the fix.  Turns out it was a little gremlin hiding in the code.

[FrozenYack]

Hi,

I am new to the Star Gazers Lounge and joined because I found your Meade ASCOM driver.

First off, thank you for putting it together for us all!  I appreciate it!  With all the extra time that I have with the pandemic, I decided to break out the old scope.  I have been trying to get my old ETX-125EC working with some of the new software for a couple weeks now, with little luck.  After following many Google rabbit holes I stumbled across your driver!

Unfortunately I am also having a couple issues.  I will not say that they are driver related, but something with the APT (Astrophotography Tool) / driver interface is a bit confused.

The East/West control is backward, but N/S seems fine.  I know there is a setting in the AudioStar controller that will reverse this, but it is working fine with both the controller and Meade AutoStar Suite software.

In addition, when first connected to the focus controller, the motor starts running continuously (until manually stopped).  The focus control in general is laggy too... it either sticks or doesn't run.  I think this is more related to APT, but I have no way to confirm this.

I would like to test the ASCOM driver with PHD2, but we have had clouds since I found the driver two days ago.

Have you used your driver with APT or PHD2?  I am curious if it is my setup or something else.  Also, if I can help in any way - run tests or something else, please let me know!

Thanks again!

 

[cjdawson]

Hi @FrozenYack

 

I created the driver using using my Meade LX-90 which also uses the Autostar, I did most of the work using the latest official firmware for it, I think it's 43Eg if I remember correctly.  It's not really been change by meade in the last 10 or so years.   I've also got an AudioStar handset, and have started using that in preference.  That said it should not make any difference which of the two hand controllers you use, both work just fine.

The EW being backwards seems a bit strange to me.   Could that be a hemisphere setting related issue in your setup?     I've got people all over the world using the driver without any issues, so I'd be reluctant to say that's a driver issue.  It's very strange and I'm very curious as to what's going on there.

Using the scope with PHD2 works just fine, I've had some good results with it. I've not used APT, as I use Sequence Generator Pro. 

 

As for the focusser, that's a problem on the Meade Firmware.  It has problems responding to start and stop commands, I've found it to be un reliable, so the point that I've even had it crash the telescope and that was testing using the Autostar Suite.  The commands are sent to the handbox correctly, it's just that the handbox firmware doesn't really like running the focusser properly.

[DougSolar]

Dear Sub Dwarf,

Thank you for providing your driver. Can I ask you for a little more information please? I am just finishing set up a Technical Innovations Pro Dome (15') that has an LX200GPS on an LX850 GEM which has AutoStar II. I have a Digital Dome Works (DDW) hardware controller for the dome and Tim Long kindly provided me today with a recent ASCOM driver he wrote. I don't have a specific LX200GPS control program and was looking around for a possible ASCOM driver which you seem to have. I am running Windows 10 on a powerful (used) desktop machine and the latest version of ASCON platform 6.4 SP1. I also have SharpCap pro camera software. Will your Meade driver play nicely with this mixture and if so can you please supply a link.

Thanks very much.

Douglas

[cjdawson]

Hi Douglas.   Here's the response that I posted on my website to the same question.

Quote

Hi Douglas.

I’ve not tried the driver with the LX850, however the meade command set is fairly stable and the driver should work just fine. If there’s any issues, I’m that they can be sorted out. I’ve used the drive happily with SharpCap Pro, PHD2, SGPro, Cartes Du Ceil and a few other programs… all at the same time.

Here’s the link to the driver page, all the details about the driver, including the release history is on there.
https://bitbucket.org/cjdskunkworks/meadeautostar497/wiki/Home

Regards
Colin.

 

[DougSolar]

Dear Colin,

I was able to use a PEC editing program by Andrew Johansen Melbourne Australia  toto test the com5 port and my RS232 to usb converter is working as I could access the LX850 handbox and change my address data. So it looks like there is a problem possibly with your driver?

Best wishes.

Douglas

[cjdawson]

On 22/05/2020 at 23:29, DougSolar said:

Dear Colin,

I was able to use a PEC editing program by Andrew Johansen Melbourne Australia  toto test the com5 port and my RS232 to usb converter is working as I could access the LX850 handbox and change my address data. So it looks like there is a problem possibly with your driver?

Best wishes.

Douglas

I released an update to the driver on 23-may which has an extra feature and if the driver fails to connect to the scope properly, it will put messages into the trace log.   If you could try that one with trace logging on, it would be helpful to narrow down what is going on with that driver.

[pgoelz]

Hi there, I'm new to this discussion.  I am trying to get my classic 8" LX200 and simple JMI motofocus (plugged into the focus port in the drive base) working over ASCOM with a couple planetarium programs.  While everything sorta works with the standard (old) ASCOM LX200 driver "Meade LX200 Classic and Autostar #494, #495, and #497 (combined telescope/focuser, 5.0.4, May 2013)", there are some serious quirks and I am hopeful your driver will eliminate those quirks.  

However, when I installed your version 0.7.12 I find it has its own quirks

1.  Slew buttons in the ASCOM device hub are greyed out and non-responsive.  This is important to me since I was hoping that I could use the device hub to center objects once I perform a GOTO in a planetarium program.  Not sure why this is.  FWIW, they work (briefly) in driver "Meade LX200 Classic and Autostar #494, #495, and #497 (combined telescope/focuser, 5.0.4, May 2013)" but after one use, the hub throws an error and complains that it cannot determine side of pier.  

2.  There is no way to enable focuser dynamic braking.  This is important for a simple DC focuser.... especially since focus movement settings below a certain point do not result in smaller movements in version 0.7.12.  Dynamic braking works in driver "Meade LX200 Classic and Autostar #494, #495, and #497 (combined telescope/focuser, 5.0.4, May 2013)" but I do not know if dynamic braking is an LX200 function or if the driver issues a brief opposite polarity after a movement.  

3.  Not sure if it is important, but the site longitude in "static properties" is inverted.... it shows my longitude as -82.xxxx when it is actually +82.xxxx.  Not sure where this comes from but if it is supposed to have been read from the scope, it is displayed correctly in the hand controller display.  

Thanks for your continuing work here!  Hopefully you can get things working 100% and breathe more life into the venerable LX200.  I stand ready to help in any way I can.  Got nothing else to do

Paul

Edited August 12, 2020 by pgoelz

[cjdawson]

Hi Paul.

Here's my initial responses....

1. hmmm, that's something I'm going to have to look into.  Not tried the device hub at all myself.  I can't think of a reason why they'd be disabled.  I might have to ask on the developer group what decides if those buttons are enabled or not.

2. focuser dynamic braking isn't implemented at this time.  I'm using the old 5.0.4 driver as a source of information and it looks like this is a software feature.   It's on to the todo list, but to be frank, I've found that the focuser has been very unreliable in hardware.

3. I'm going to have to look into that.   I'd love to know where these "static properties" that you are talking about are.  Would be handy to help with checking stuff.

 

[pgoelz]

On 12/08/2020 at 13:59, cjdawson said:

Hi Paul.

Here's my initial responses....

1. hmmm, that's something I'm going to have to look into.  Not tried the device hub at all myself.  I can't think of a reason why they'd be disabled.  I might have to ask on the developer group what decides if those buttons are enabled or not.

2. focuser dynamic braking isn't implemented at this time.  I'm using the old 5.0.4 driver as a source of information and it looks like this is a software feature.   It's on to the todo list, but to be frank, I've found that the focuser has been very unreliable in hardware.

3. I'm going to have to look into that.   I'd love to know where these "static properties" that you are talking about are.  Would be handy to help with checking stuff.

 

FWIW, I just discovered POTH 6sp1.... is this an older version of the device hub?  I installed it and it looks like it has replaced the ASCOM Device hub.  In any event, EVERYTHING works correctly and as expected in POTH hub 6sp1 including focuser dynamic braking.  

The static properties were (I think) a read only display supposedly from (or at least about) the scope somewhere in Device Hub but I can't tell you for sure since Device Hub has been replaced by the POTH hub...... or at least its shortcut is dead (Windows can't find the program any more).  

Paul