From: Milton Aupperle <milton@outcastsoft.com>
Date: February 10, 2008 3:54:39 PM MST
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: [Astro_IIDC] Re: Focusing
Hi Guys;
The main issue is that unless I have the hardware in house to work with I won't even bother trying, and to have the hardware in house means I need to spend around $800+ USD just for this one case.
First off autofocus has the same mechanical / electrical "fun" factor as as guiding does, which is horribly complex. Almost all of the Focusers use serial port controls, which means I need to handle that as well as the guiding code and make sure they don't interact. Secondly most of the focusers have temperature sensors that require calibration so that they compensate for temperature changes which affect focus.
Secondly, I've done remote debugging for hardware trial and error in the past (i.e. cameras, USB, FireWire, CardBus, Serial Ports, Parallel port etc.) and it's a complete PITA (Pain In The A**) to do. Basically I change something in code, you try it out (maybe 1 to 6 weeks later because of weather or your schedule or whatever other delays there are), and then send me back a feedback report. Then I make another "change" when I have time and we go though this cycle on and on and on until we both get fed up with it and give up after 8 months of farting around. Where as if I have it in house maybe a month goes buy before I have something debugged enough to test with, assuming I'm not scrambling around looking for consulting work and have the time to do this.
And thirdly, to buy those products (i.e focuser, motors, controllers, hubs and parts for my C8) will set me back $$700 to $850 USD + taxes, assuming that the company will provide me with all the information to talk to it. I make less than $45 CDN a copy on Astro IIDC (after deductions for credit cards and service fees and taxes) so to do this means I need to sell 20 to 30 copies of Astro IIDC to just pay for the hardware. Then i have probably a month or twos time writing and testing all the software, which is time away from earning real income consulting and working for other companies.
Lastly I need to repeat all of the above for each product that needs to be supported (i.e RoboFocus, JMI etc.), because there are multiple systems out there and not everyone is using one single unit.
And ASCOM Drivers don't help much this case either, because all they are is "drivers" which you still have to manipulate and write all the functional code for it, assuming they now create both PowerPC and x86 versions of the drivers as at least 70% of my user base is still PowerPC. Basically it means sending a command over the Serial Port to whatever hardware I'm supposed to be talking to and then hoping that the company that made the product is factual in telling you what to send, how often to send it and if there are any "bugs" when sending too it (timing, sequences etc.).
So basically it isn't going to happen unless I suddenly win a lottery to buy all the hardware toys to work with and retire so I can do this full time. Sales of Astro IIDC pay a few bills, but they don't even pay for basic hardware expenses like computers, camera and other hardware for testing against.
Hope that clarifies things.
Milton Aupperle
On 10-Feb-08, at 2:39 PM, Joe Breault wrote:
Dear Mark, Alan and Milton,
Thanks for your help and advice.
Re: solar washout: that is a great idea Alan, thanks for the tip. I'll
try it. Glad that screen focusing works well.
Milton, any chance that future editions of the Astro IIDC can access
auto focus hardware using the FWHM/HFD or sharpness indicator in a
feedback loop to achieve onging critical focus? I sae that starlight (I
have a 3.5" FT on my scope) came out with a motorized add on
(http://www.starlightinstruments.com/digital-FTS.html) that can control
the focuser through an ASCOM compliant software interface. Mark
mentioned that ASCOM is PC based, though I run parallels within my
macbook for windows programs - not sure how that would interface with
Astro IIDC in OSX. ASCOM had a 2008 announcement they would develop
drivers for mac (http://forums.dc3.com/showthread.php?t=2729) which
might make this type of plug in for Astro IIDC easier.
Thanks again to all for your helpful insights
Joe