Tablet for autoguiding

[Richard Wesson]

I currently am looking at starting autoguiding with my rig which comprises an EQ3 driven by the Astrogadget SimpleDream EQ3 and interfaced by GuideDreamST4 to provide pulse guiding. I have managed to connect it up  to a laptop running PhD2 with ASCOM and relevant drivers installed and everything is talking after a couple of hours doing initial set up. 

This should work pretty well when at home with power within easy reach, but in more remote observing sites I was thinking that a more compact setup with regard to computer would be better. I am now toying with the idea of getting a windows tablet for running the autoguiding software as this is more compact and should have longer battery life than the laptop, plus powering is likely to be simpler as I can add power from a 5v power pack as opposed to having to run inverters or similar of my 12v battery power supply which I will use for the mount and dew heaters.

Has anybody experience of using a windows tablet to do this and if so can you give me an opinion on pros and cons of this approach?  

[happy-kat]

There's a thread on this using mainly a HP Stream. Lots of shared stuff on it.

[happy-kat]

Here's the thread.

https://stargazerslounge.com/topic/234107-anyone-using-cheap-windows-tablet-with-apt/

[Richard Wesson]

Thank you for that Kappy-kat. I will study the thread you linked to. I am guessing that if the tablet has Win 10 installed, it should run the software, drivers etc without too great a problem. The only other issue is I guess the single usb that is common, but I could get around this using a USB hub.