Newbie looking for advice on software for control of eq mount with focuser and aux controls.

[skyguynca]

Hi all, I am David. I am a machinist and welder. Retired Army, retired professional skydiver/tandem instructor.
I have build many cnc mills, lathes, routers and a plasma cutter.

Is there a software that runs on a PC that I can use to control my horseshoe eq mount, along with some aux controls such as focuser, etc?

Something that outputs the control thru the parallel port or maybe thru a ethernet connections to control stepper drivers or such?

Thanks

David

[newbie alert]

Have you looked at onstep ?

[lenscap]

9 hours ago, skyguynca said:

Is there a software that runs on a PC that I can use to control my horseshoe eq mount, along with some aux controls such as focuser, etc?

Hi David, as said above, this looks like a job for Onstep;     https://onstep.groups.io/g/main/wiki/3860

The free Onstep software runs on a diy (micro-controller based)  control box attached to the mount. The controller can be directed by wifi from an Android phone/tablet running the free Onstep app and/or graphically by planetarium phone apps such as Skysafari plus or pro.

Or you can direct it by planetarium software running on your PC such as Cartes du Ciel, Stellarium or Kstars depending on your operating system. The PC can be connected by wifi or USB.

Have a look at the Wiki, there are lots and lots of options.

I've recently finished an Onstep for my EQ5 using the WeMos D1 R32/CNC V3 board. This is the controller before I put it in a case.