Wireless Gamepad for EQMod??

[Merlin66]

Not being a "gamer" and no kids at home....

What is the best type of wireless gamepad recommended for use with the EQMOD????

What about this one??

Sweex Wireless/USB Gamepad with Dual Shock - SVP

[beamish]

Aye that'll do

Or have a look here

http://www.xettmultimedia.co.uk/pps2.htm?gclid=CJSwjIX-op0CFZoU4wod1Fyk2g#controllers

[Milamber]

Without doing the EQmod, can I go wireless with a pad like this then? Not that I am averse to the eqmod... just want to do one thing at a time!

Arthur

[beamish]

Don't know Arthur

[SteveL]

probably not arthur, as it is EQMOD that reads the game controller input and moves the mount as required

[Merlin66]

Beamish,

When you add the cost of the Ps2>USB adaptor...about the same price??

Arthur,

I think you need ASCOM, which really means EQMOD to use the Gamepad with the mount.

[beamish]

Sorry Ken, didn't spot that

Take a looksie at this

Logitech PS2 Cordless Controller - Gamepad

[arad85]

You need to be able to conect it to a PC, not a PS2... Make suore you have the right connector

I have an Xbox360 gamepad for windows which works OK - except the bottom two buttons aren't buttons, rather variable inputs. Eqmod doesn't pick these up as buttons, so I've lost 2 inputs

[ncjunk]

I bought a thrustmaster 2 Thrustmaster 2-in-1 Dual Trigger Gamepad : Read reviews and compare prices at Ciao.co.uk

it works well and you can map the buttons, wasn´t so good with Bioshock though and I prefer keyboard and mouse for games. Bought it for astronomy and for that it works well....never can remember what commands I have setto which buttons

NC

[beamish]

Clearly should have stayed in bed this am, that's kids for yer

[Milamber]

Beamish,

When you add the cost of the Ps2>USB adaptor...about the same price??

Arthur,

I think you need ASCOM, which really means EQMOD to use the Gamepad with the mount.

You need Ascom whatever connection to the PC, but if it's eqmod that reads the controller port as Steve says then I'm up the creek unless I jump in!

Arthur

[Beyond_Vision]

There may be a way of mapping the controller buttons to a keyboard character such as the direction buttons.

Regards

Kevin

[Merlin66]

Question:

Can "ASCOMPAD", which seems to be part of the EQMOD suite, and controls the mounting RA/DEC and focuser, be used WITHOUT Eqmod???

I was thinking it should plug into the ST-4 guide port.... but then how do you get a signal to the focuser???

Anyone actually tried it??????

[chrisshillito]

Question:

Can "ASCOMPAD", which seems to be part of the EQMOD suite, and controls the mounting RA/DEC and focuser, be used WITHOUT Eqmod???

I was thinking it should plug into the ST-4 guide port.... but then how do you get a signal to the focuser???

Anyone actually tried it??????

ASCOMPAD provides a gamepad interface that operates at the ASCOM level. As such it is intended to work with any ASCOM or Focuser driver. That said there isn't any real point in using ASCOMPAD with a SYNTA mount as EQASCOM already provides integrated gamepad support. The mount control feature of ASCOMPAD was really intended so that folks with other types of mount could experience the type of wireless gamepad control that EQASCOM users enjoy.

Please note that ASCOMPAD doesn't physically connect to any hardware, it just issues ASCOM commands to the mount/focuser drivers.

For focusers it will depend on you focuser type but they usually use a dedicated COM port interface.

I don't understand you're thinking on using the ST-4 guider port. EQASCOM doesn't connect there and I can't think of an alternative ascom driver that does.

Chris.

[Merlin66]

I was sort of thinking that the ASCOMPAD interface could use the USB-ST4 connection to get the "signals" to the mount and move it around without using the full EQMOD and dedicated cable adaptor ( to answer Arthur's comment??)

From what you say: Use EQMOD to control the mounting and a separate USB>focuser control for the focuser...

[chrisshillito]

I was sort of thinking that the ASCOMPAD interface could use the USB-ST4 connection to get the "signals" to the mount and move it around without using the full EQMOD and dedicated cable adapter ( to answer Arthur's comment??)

It would be possible to for someone to write a simple app to read the gamepad and drive a GPUSB type device directly thereby providing a very simple wireless nudge controller. Of course using the guide port would restrict movement rates to the guiding rate which limits the functionality somewhat. There might also be problems if you also want actively guide using the same port.

From what you say: Use EQMOD to control the mounting and a separate USB>focuser control for the focuser...

Yes, if you use EQASCOM then it makes sense to use its own internal gamepad handler for mount control. If you also have a focuser then you would use ASCOMPAD to poll the same gamepad but pick up on different buttons / joysticks to move the focuser (and you wouldn't bother defining any mount control functions in ASCOMPAD). You would just need to make sure that the button assignments in EQASCOM and ASCOMPAD were mutually exclusive (unless you want to focus and slew at the same time!)

Chris.

[arad85]

You need Ascom whatever connection to the PC, but if it's eqmod that reads the controller port as Steve says then I'm up the creek unless I jump in!

Arthur

Hi Arthur,

What are you trying to achieve? It's not clear from what you are saying what your problem is.

[Starflyer]

I use one of these, it's worked fine every time for me, although I've found it best to give the built-in rechargeable batteries a quick charge before each session. You'll also need a usb to mini usb cable to charge it as it doesn't come with one, but most people will have one for cameras etc.

Nice solid construction and plug'n'play - £18 inc delivery is a bargain in my book

[tooth_dr]

It must be fate. Just when I need to get a gamepad, I got an email from ebay offering me ten percent off from 22-26 Feb on ebay purchases. I bought one of the speedlink strike3 wireless controllers.

Cheers for the info on SGL

[themos]

I've been using ASCOMPAD the last two nights so that I can drive the EQ6 and my diy focuser (both through their ASCOM drivers: EQMOD and my diy "Iffley" driver) with a Wiimote+Nunchuk.

It kind of works but ASCOMPAD needs some fixing, I think.

First off, ASCOMPAD seems to automatically connect on startup to whatever devices were connected last time you ran it.

Secondly, the focuser GUI supports 3 user-settable rates: the first one does single steps for each button press and the other two repeat a number of steps for as long as the button is held down. When I set it up so that the second rate does 10 steps, I found that one button press did 20 steps (10 followed by another 10). I couldn't get it to just do 10. It will be better if there are two rates that are guaranteed single-fire and two more that do the continuous firing.

Thirdly, it manages to create runtime errors when driving the focuser Simulator ASCOM driver which means it's not coded cleanly. Together with point 1 above, this means you get into a situation where ASCOMPAD connects on startup to the driver, which then gets a runtime error and then you can only exit and repeat this (frustrating) process as you're given no chance to select another driver or reconfigure the selected one.

Once these glitches are sorted out, it will be really useful!

[Merlin66]

I chicken'd out of using the Numpad for the focuser, and as it was just a SW DC unit, (or the #1206 which is basically the same idea) I wired it to the PC via the SS adaptor.....

Now I've sold the smaller Meade Lx's and gone to the C9.25 I face a similar but different problem.... Is there a focuser motor for the "basic" knob on the C9.25???? Yes, Yes, I've heard all the wonderful news about Moonlite focusers etc but I really don't need the additional weight and space of a cryford; just a fine, vibrationless control of the original knob!

Ken

[Starjumper]

Hi Ken,

I went along this road , and as a noobie to electronics found it not too difficult

Homemade Electric Telescope Focuser

Rgds

John

[chrisshillito]

I've been using ASCOMPAD the last two nights so that I can drive the EQ6 and my diy focuser (both through their ASCOM drivers: EQMOD and my diy "Iffley" driver) with a Wiimote+Nunchuk.

It kind of works but ASCOMPAD needs some fixing, I think.

First off, ASCOMPAD seems to automatically connect on startup to whatever devices were connected last time you ran it.

Secondly, the focuser GUI supports 3 user-settable rates: the first one does single steps for each button press and the other two repeat a number of steps for as long as the button is held down. When I set it up so that the second rate does 10 steps, I found that one button press did 20 steps (10 followed by another 10). I couldn't get it to just do 10. It will be better if there are two rates that are guaranteed single-fire and two more that do the continuous firing.

Thirdly, it manages to create runtime errors when driving the focuser Simulator ASCOM driver which means it's not coded cleanly. Together with point 1 above, this means you get into a situation where ASCOMPAD connects on startup to the driver, which then gets a runtime error and then you can only exit and repeat this (frustrating) process as you're given no chance to select another driver or reconfigure the selected one.

Once these glitches are sorted out, it will be really useful!

To be fair many other folks are using ASCOMPAD quite happily with a range of commercial focusers so it can't be all that bad out of the box:-)

Note that that ASCOM makes no provision for moving focusers at different rates (ASCOM "standards" are actually rather clunky and inconsistent when you look at them closely). The step size only dictates the size of movement to be made but not how fast. The three presets that ASCOMPAd provides are intended to therefore provide fine and course adjustment of the focuser. Preset 1 is always applied as a one shot - in this way you can nudge the focuser in and out a know amount by successive button presses. Presets 2 and 3 provide a continuous . As soon as the focuser completes movement (in step size increments) it is sent another one. If your focuser moves really quickly and the step size is small then its quite possible you will always get 2 or more movements in the time it takes ASCOMPAD to detect a single button press but this really shouldn't present any operational problems in practice - when you want fine adjustment use preset 1.

I don't know why you should be getting runtime errors when connecting to the ASCOM focuser simulator. I can't seem to reproduce - perhaps its is something specific to how the simulator itself has been setup. Perhaps you could experiment with different setting and see if you can nail down the error further.

ASCOMPAD will automatically connect to the focuser(s) and/or telescope it was previously connected to on startup (unless you had explicitly disconnected). The connection settings themselves are held within the ASCOMPAD ini file so deleting that should prevent this if your stuck due to "runtime errors" (type %appdata%\eqmod into an file explorer address bar and you should find it) .

Chris.

[themos]

Chris, thanks for the speedy response!

ASCOMPAD will automatically connect to the focuser(s) and/or telescope it was previously connected to on startup (unless you had explicitly disconnected).

Ok, I'll find the ASCOMPAD .ini file and deal with that as you suggest. I guess it saves a couple of clicks having it connect at startup.

I don't know why you should be getting runtime errors when connecting to the ASCOM focuser simulator.

I'll try and and get it reproducible, if it persists.

when you want fine adjustment use preset 1

two points: please give us one more one-shot preset, it is useful. And if you could mark on the UI which ones are one-shot and which are continuous that would be neat too as it took me a while to realize.

Also, if anyone has a GlovePIE script for using the nunchuk joystick for focusing control, I'd love to see it (and the way you set up ASCOMPAD to use it).

Many thanks!