Has anyone heard or used the OnStep system on mounts?

[tich]

Hi everyone as some of you know I've got an old CGE pro that is broken & is collecting dust, so much so that it's getting to the point of I've been thinking of throwing it away due to the space it's taking up. However I've come across a system called onstep & there's a guy on there who does a kit for the CGE pro which includes motors & a belt drive as well as the boards needed to run the mount, a lot of the stuff is 3d printed but I'd just want to operate the mount via the mini pc in the observatory using NINA, ASCOM & GS server. Has anyone else used the onstep system? Is it any good or is it going to cause me another can of worms & headaches to learn?
I know I need a bigger mount for my imaging rig as I'm on the limit of mine but I don't have 3K plus lying around to buy one but if onstep is a good reliable system I may be able to get the cge fixed.
I think this is a video of the system in it's early stages.

 

[LuckieEddie]

I've completed two Onstep conversations, one on an E-q5 and the other on a G11. I've found the system to be great in use, intuitive and rock steady.

Most of the issues I've seen mentioned on forums are about the physical system design where someone wants to design a conversion from scratch rather than following the established routes. This shouldn't be a problem if your looking to buy a kit.

If you're considering a kit from Instein just be aware that they have a bit of a reputation in the community. It's not that they're bad but that they've forked off their own version of Onstep, which is fine, it's open source, but they don't seem to provide much in the way of support or contribute anything back to the community. The Onstep community can't support their users as the code base is different and they don't want to provide free tech support for a commercial (ab)user of their work.

[Grant Fribbens]

I have been looking at the OnStep project and I think it looks really great. It is interesting that Sharpstar have now brought out a commercial mount which has an OnStep controller being used. As I have had to take a look at my EQ6-R mainboard when you look at it there is only the two stepper motor controllers TMC5130 and then a STM32 processor running the show which is exactly what OnStep does as well. There should be no problem using OnStep from a PC as it supports the LX200 protocol and there is an ASCOM driver. The great thing is that you could go with 0.9 degree stepper motors and got for some TMC5160 as well as Teensy 4 and get a much higher resolution out of your mount.

[newbie alert]

It be far less hassle than the original Celestron board and discontinued motors..

I've seen your questions pop up on the Onstep forum...

[tich]

Thanks for the replies the video I linked was to a guy called Chad Gray who builds the kit for the CGE pro, I did ask about whether he'd build a kit to go inside the original pier but it sounds like it would be to much hassle so I'll probably end up doing that myself if it's possible of course, as I can't see the point of it having dead Celestron boards in there taking up space anyway. Interestingly enough my motors are good as I did test those but as the mount got water damaged the boards are pretty much fried I think.
I guess the only other question I have is onstep intuitive to use? As I'll be plugging in the mini pc & connecting using ASCOM GS server PHD & NINA to platesolve & acquire targets.