Advice for PHD2 guiding on a Mac

[Leti Theobald]

Hello all,

I have decided to start guiding so I can get longer exposures. 
my current set up is:

HEQ5 Mount

WO Zenistar 73

50mm WO Guidescope 

ZWO Asiar Mini 120mm

Canon 600d Astromodified 

Please bear in mind I use a Mac computer which I know makes some stuff a bit awkward 

I have downloaded PHD2 is just starting set up. The questions are what else do I need?

- Can I use the St4 connection between the camera and mount to do the guiding or do I really need ASCOM and connect the mount to my laptop? 
- will I need any other software? 
- if I use ASCOM do I only install the drive for the mount or do I need anything for the camera?

I bought a cable to connect the mount straight to a USB for my laptop but hasn’t arrived yet.

thank you so much

Leti

Edited February 28, 2023 by Leti Theobald

[newbie alert]

Hi Leti... You be better off pulse guiding so not using the ST4 connection...

You will need the ascom platform driver and the drivers for your guide cam installed regardless of how you guide

benefits to pulse guiding are that you only have to calibrate once, with ST4 you have to calibrate every time on every target and after a flip.. plus if you bring up the drift align tool it will tell you where you're pointed so helps with calibration on equator 

 

[Leti Theobald]

11 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Hi Leti... You be better off pulse guiding so not using the ST4 connection...

You will need the ascom platform driver and the drivers for your guide cam installed regardless of how you guide

benefits to pulse guiding are that you only have to calibrate once, with ST4 you have to calibrate every time on every target and after a flip.. plus if you bring up the drift align tool it will tell you where you're pointed so helps with calibration on equator 

 

Thank you so much, I thought that might be the case but just wanted to make sure. So I guess off to download more things and try to understand how they work 😲

[newbie alert]

1 hour ago, Leti Theobald said:

Thank you so much, I thought that might be the case but just wanted to make sure. So I guess off to download more things and try to understand how they work 😲

Ascom works in the background, it's the translator between software's... Just use the same com ports for the same equipment, don't swap them around

[newbie alert]

5 hours ago, Leti Theobald said:

Please bear in mind I use a Mac computer which I know makes some stuff a bit awkward

Just seen this part

Assume it be the same as windows but not 100%

[Leti Theobald]

3 minutes ago, newbie alert said:

Just seen this part

Assume it be the same as windows but not 100%

I thought it would as it says that ASCOM can be used on a Mac but for the life of me I can’t find a way to make it work, haven’t been able to download it at all. I’ve managed to connect the camera do PHD2 fine but I should get the cable for the mount tomorrow and might attempt using EQMac for the mount and see what happens!

otherwise I will have a go at with Kstars and Ekos , otherwise INDIGO 1, hopefully one will work. 
macs make everything more complicated but Im going to persist with it!
 

[alacant]

3 hours ago, Leti Theobald said:

Kstars and Ekos

Hi

Add an INDI server and you have a complete imaging system for the Mac; all three run natively.

https://indilib.org/get-indi/download-mac.html

Or... Perhaps to begin with and as the heq5 has a guide port, keep it simple by connecting the mount directly to the 120 using the ST4 cable and use PHD2 to guide 'on camera'.

HTH

Edited February 28, 2023 by alacant

[Leti Theobald]

4 hours ago, alacant said:

Hi

Add an INDI server and you have a complete imaging system for the Mac; all three run natively.

https://indilib.org/get-indi/download-mac.html

Or... Perhaps to begin with and as the heq5 has a guide port, keep it simple by connecting the mount directly to the 120 using the ST4 cable and use PHD2 to guide 'on camera'.

HTH

Hi HTH,

is this the link to use it in Kstars? I’m completely new to guiding and using a laptop for imaging but really interested to know the best system to use. And do you know any simple and good tutorials for it? It’s all a bit mind boggling!

[alacant]

16 hours ago, Leti Theobald said:

link to use it in Kstars

Hi

No. That is the link to download the -open source- software.

16 hours ago, Leti Theobald said:

simple and good tutorials

There are many, but before jumping in, it's probably best to have aims as to what you want to do.

The first one I came across on a YT search was the one below, but keep looking and keep reading bearing in mind that there's a lot of rubbish and misleading ap stuff in Internet.

My advice would be to go along to an astro club. It's so much easier having someone alongside who knows what they're doing and there's sure to be a mac guy who will help get you started. In an hour, rather than DIY in a year!

 

Edited March 1, 2023 by alacant

[rickwayne]

So INDI is a device-independent instrumentation library for all sorts of platforms. It's very like ASCOM on Windows, but has several significant advantages. By far the commonest INDI client is KStars/Ekos, but that does not mean you must have both of them. The INDI server is a piece of software that mediates between clients (Ekos, PHD, etc.) and device drivers (e.g. for your mount or camera). You can actually configure and run it completely from the command line, but most folks use some sort of graphical UI to do things like select what drivers will be loaded. I don't know what the current state of play is for those; Cloudmakers had some programs for that at one point but they may have gotten out of the game. In addition to all its other bazillion features, Ekos has a module just for creating driver profiles and starting/stopping the INDI server with them.

You can run just an INDI server to talk to your mount and guide camera, and PHD2 as only client, if you want to run everything else some other way (e.g., a DSLR on an intervalometer).

The best place to ask questions is the INDI forum: https://indilib.org/forum.html

I have muddled around with INDI on my Mac, but decided very early on that I wanted a dedicated computer at the scope instead of running it with a laptop, so I built myself a StellarMate device and just use the Mac as a terminal into that 99% of the time. I have run imaging sessions all on the Mac that way, though: CloudMakers' INDI server, with KStars/Ekos running as a client, and the PHD2 guiding option selected in Ekos.

Edited March 1, 2023 by rickwayne