Powered USB or remote PC

[Coco]

Up until recently Ive been using a netbook in the obs and whilst the data arrives on its Hdd I have then been streaming it back into a warm house ..

What I would like to do is completely remote the obs by either using a powered USB hub (cheapest route) or fully remote the netbook. The problem I'm having with the netbook is the lousy sky router is so weak the netbook looses connection with regular occurrence

These network over mains look interesting ... but I'd still need a remote software package..

Anyone got any ideas? Are powered USB devices reliable?

Guy

[old geezer]

dear coco,ive been setting up to operate my skywatchereq3-2 and heq5pro from my kitchen.the pier mounted eq3-2 is nearly 3 meters from the pc.am using 2 usb 2 repeater cables,one 5 meters and 1 12 meters which will reach the heq5pro which is further away with a further cable extension for the synscan handset.it works ok with my new qhy5 for guiding and atik ic16 for imaging.the qhy5 uses a skywatcher 800x40mmfl scope to give more FOV to find objects.only problem was the hopless packard wouldnt see the usb2 repeaters so use old compaq n400c usb1 laptop with pcmis 2 x usb2 card.the qhy5 wont rUn on usb1 on compaq and crashes usb1 desktop.having a seperate cable for the handset helps when you need to be at the scope should i need to align to a star.use skywatcher focus motors with extension cables as necessary.you could use a 421 usb powered hub but would/may need to power via mains psu.my pier has a mains socket on it for the purpouse.only real problems were pc to usb repeater,its a god idear to try it in side before you fix it outside.did some imaging last nite of ngc7331 but had some icing on atik ic16.next project is to use atik for guiding and qhy5 for imaging.cold weather should help with hot pixel and will only need to change the guiding to mount cable from one camera to the other.hope some idears here,from oldgeezer.ps did think of eq mod but not confident i can get it to run hence kiss,keep it simple sir