Previous ASCOM drivers for ZWO camera.

[tooth_dr]

I'm trying to locate the previous version of the ASCOM drivers for ZWO cameras.  I dont want to run ASCOM platform 6.5, but the ASCOM drivers on ZWO require this to operate.  Is there any ZWO ASCOM drivers that will work ok with ASCOM 6.4 platform, and if so would anyone have a copy or link as I cant find it.

 

Cheers

Adam

Edited March 6, 2021 by tooth_dr

[tooth_dr]

Might not need it now.  APT has the option to connect to a ZWO camera, not via ASCOM.  Is there any difference this way?

 

[symmetal]

44 minutes ago, tooth_dr said:

Might not need it now.  APT has the option to connect to a ZWO camera, not via ASCOM.  Is there any difference this way?

 

The ZWO camera option uses the ZWO native driver which you seem to have installed along with the ZWO Ascom driver. They are two different files on the Zwo download site.

The native driver is tailored for the camera so should have access to all its features, while the Ascom driver only accesses features that are available by the Ascom standard. A common difference is that camera offset is not settable via the capture program using the Ascom driver, while it is via the native driver. You have to use the Ascom driver config screen to set offset if you're using the Ascom driver for the camera. In practice, I tend to use the Ascom driver as it can set features like Dew heating of sensor glass, and USB speed while these don't seem quickly accessable via the native driver, though they probably are somewhere.  They don't appear on the native driver setup screen which seems very sparce,  just allowing gain and offset.

I seem to still have the Zwo native and Ascom drivers going back to 2018 so I can upload them for you if you wish. 🙂

Alan

Edited March 6, 2021 by symmetal

[Jeffrey Johnson]

On 06/03/2021 at 12:49, symmetal said:

The ZWO camera option uses the ZWO native driver which you seem to have installed along with the ZWO Ascom driver. They are two different files on the Zwo download site.

The native driver is tailored for the camera so should have access to all its features, while the Ascom driver only accesses features that are available by the Ascom standard. A common difference is that camera offset is not settable via the capture program using the Ascom driver, while it is via the native driver. You have to use the Ascom driver config screen to set offset if you're using the Ascom driver for the camera. In practice, I tend to use the Ascom driver as it can set features like Dew heating of sensor glass, and USB speed while these don't seem quickly accessable via the native driver, though they probably are somewhere.  They don't appear on the native driver setup screen which seems very sparce,  just allowing gain and offset.

I seem to still have the Zwo native and Ascom drivers going back to 2018 so I can upload them for you if you wish. 🙂

Alan

Hello!

I just created my account (this moment) just so I could reply/inquire regarding the above. I have looked high and low...and this was the only thing even close that I could find.

I have done quite an upgrade to my imaging system, but I have a (very) old but very dependable laptop...that I do not wish to upgrade. I have gone through many configs and have it working well even with a brand new mount (AP mount delivered in December).

That said, I also have a new ZWO EAF that ... well, I am looking for old versions of ZWO drivers - just as described here.

I know the thread here is a bit old, but if those older drivers are still available by "symmetal" I would be super appreciative!

Thank you,

Jeff

[symmetal]

1 hour ago, Jeffrey Johnson said:

I know the thread here is a bit old, but if those older drivers are still available by "symmetal" I would be super appreciative!

Hi Jeff,

I just checked and they are still on my hard drive. 🙂  I'll bundle them all into a zip file and upload them either here or MediaFire cloud storage tomorrow. I may have even older ones on my old desktop PC so I'll check there as well.

Alan

[Jeffrey Johnson]

31 minutes ago, symmetal said:

Hi Jeff,

I just checked and they are still on my hard drive. 🙂  I'll bundle them all into a zip file and upload them either here or MediaFire cloud storage tomorrow. I may have even older ones on my old desktop PC so I'll check there as well.

Alan

Wow, Alan - you are a life saver! Thank you so much in advance!

Jeff

[symmetal]

@Jeffrey Johnson Here you go Jeff. Here's a list of what's included in order of date. Mixture of native and Ascom drivers including those from when the filter wheel driver was separate. My old PC just had one from 2016. Hope you find one that works for you. 🙂

Old_Zwo_Drivers.zip

Alan

[symmetal]

As an update to my 2021 post, the camera offset is now accessible and changeable via Ascom. Not that changing offset with gain is worth doing nowadays, though it was fashionable when CMOS cameras first came out.. 😏 

Alan

[Jeffrey Johnson]

10 hours ago, symmetal said:

@Jeffrey Johnson Here you go Jeff. Here's a list of what's included in order of date. Mixture of native and Ascom drivers including those from when the filter wheel driver was separate. My old PC just had one from 2016. Hope you find one that works for you. 🙂

Old_Zwo_Drivers.zip 47.09 MB · 2 downloads

Alan

So awesome, Alan! Thanks again so much!
I have some discussion with ZWO and as of now (since before I posted here), and they have steered away from the "old drivers" question I asked, ha!

I did find some interesting things last night... my very old machine I normally run XP...and that is where it ["latest" ZWO driver for ASCOM] *almost* works....but ends up freezing (short story version). I have a clone of Win7 also for that same laptop...ran it essentially identical setup...and it WORKED. So, some XP stuff is just not making it with the latest ZWO drivers --- I'll absolutely test out what you sent and give a report

Thanks again!

Jeff

Edited March 30, 2023 by Jeffrey Johnson

[Jeffrey Johnson]

Well, super cool luck last night - I am not sure what did it, but managed to get the ZWO EAF to work under XP on my very old laptop! I installed and uninstalled different drivers, including what you kindly provided, Alan!
In the end, I still have the "latest" ZWO ASCOM driver plus the 3.16 version (a bit old) of their "Cameras" driver. I also installed the older EFW driver that Alan provided...not sure if/why that would help, but at this point, I'm leaving it since it is tiny and the EAF is working!

Lastly - I did get another reply from ZWO (great response time): They said, "Our latest ASCOM driver is not designed to work on XP nor Win 7 32-bit" ... but, that is exactly where I have it all working now, ha! I did let ZWO know of my particular case/results.

Thanks again so much Alan ... and to Adam for starting this thread back then!

Jeff

[Jeffrey Johnson]

I just now found the key to success on this:

Instead of the *latest* ASCOM driver (ZWO_ASCOM_Setup_V6.5.6)

For XP use this one:  ZWO_ASI_Camera_ASCOM_6.5.1   (thanks again Alan for providing this!)

V6.5.1 instead of V6.5.6!  (V6.5.6 does work for Win7 32-bit, however...just not XP)

Jeff

[symmetal]

On 31/03/2023 at 06:44, Jeffrey Johnson said:

I just now found the key to success on this:

Instead of the *latest* ASCOM driver (ZWO_ASCOM_Setup_V6.5.6)

For XP use this one:  ZWO_ASI_Camera_ASCOM_6.5.1   (thanks again Alan for providing this!)

V6.5.1 instead of V6.5.6!  (V6.5.6 does work for Win7 32-bit, however...just not XP)

Jeff

Glad to hear you've got it all working now Jeff and that some of my files were useful. 🙂 The later Ascom drivers include the EFW driver so it's not needed as a separate program, but it looks like it doesn't mind having them both installed.

Alan