From: "KirkusMcGurkus" <kirk@stenvall.net>
Date: November 6, 2008 2:43:44 PM MST
To: Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com
Subject: Re: Keyspan adapter vs off brand adapter
I didn't realize this list was the wrong place to ask. I've often
asked similar questions here in the past without it being a problem.
Thank you for the reply.
--- In Astro_IIDC@yahoogroups.com, Milton Aupperle <milton@...> wrote:
Dear KirkusMcGurkus;
On 6-Nov-08, at 12:21 PM, KirkusMcGurkus wrote:
Hi Milton,
I'm still trying to troubleshoot a problem I'm have with Astro IIDC
correctly controlling my RA. I don't believe my problem is with Astro
IIDC, but I'm trying to cover all my bases now. I actually have two
questions.
Well without knowing any other details (which should be filed as a
bug report NOT to this list), I can make all general guesses.
For example I have no idea what version Astro IIDC (4.01.03,
3.00.02, 4.01.0 A8 etc etc.) your talking about , whether this is a
real LXD75 or some hacked interface bought from some guy on the net,
I have no idea what the name of the serial interface is, I have no
idea what Mac this is (PowerBook, Mac Book, MackBook Pro, iMac,
PowerPc , x86, Rosetta emulated etc.) on or what OS X variant it is
and lastly your not showing me any of the guide logs so we can look
at it to even make a guess at what is going on.
So you should really send all the above information to me at
support@... so I can look it over, otherwise I'm just
guessing at what might be going on.
I'm not using a Keyspan Serial to USB adapter. I'm using an off brand
adapter that I bought at my local computer store. I had to search
online for a driver for it and finally found one at SourceForge. I've
been operating under the assumption that because Astro IIDC recognizes
the driver and will move the mount in all four directions, that this
adapter is OK.
Not a good assumption. That only proves that the mount responds to
button clicks over the cable. That doesn't mean anything with respect
to latency and response time, which is what is needed to do good
guiding.
What are the chances that this adapter might work
properly for some functions but not for all?
Frankly I have no idea, but it's certainly within the realm of
possibility, given how little I know of your current set up.
Your using some cheap hardware that has no actual drivers and the
manufacturer could not be bothered to do the work to support OS X.
The free drivers you are using were cobbled together by people with
no vested interest in this, likely on sporadic weekends as a "best
efforts" basis. They offer no support and are likely not to be up on
the latest mess that Apple has made with USB or Serial I/O with each .
0.x Apple update (including security updates). Quite a few people on
the Apple USB list have been bitching lately about changes Apple made
to USB serial devices in OSX 10.5.x and some have dead or crippled
hardware now. However none of them are "KeySpan" interestingly enough.
I hate to spend the money
on the Keyspan since I've already bought this off brand one, but I'm
ready to do so if there's the slightest chance that it will help fix
my problem.
I have no idea if it will fix the issue or not.
Also, when attempting to track a star, all of my trouble is in the RA
axis,
How do you know that all your problems are RA only? Did you calibrate
only on the RA axis and then on only issue RA corrections? That is
indicated in the log recorded for tracking too.
yet the scrolling graph in Astro IIDC is recording the problem,
on screen, in the DEC portion of the window (bottom graph, in blue).
That's not a correct assumption and it's actually says "Dec/Y:" in
the Graphs and documentation. The RA/X or DEC/Y corrections are
screen local, so that the corrections make sense with respect to the
Cameras view. If the Camera is oriented with Y == Dec or X == RA then
yes they are the same, but don't ASSUME it is. The yellow line drawn
when tracking (see illustration on Page 21 of the Astro IIDC manual),
indicates how the Camera's is oriented. As it says in the manual on
page 21, "The Yellow line indicates the angle between camera's
horizontal axis and the telescopes RA axis and if both are the same,
the line will be oriented horizontally."
HTH..
Milton J. Aupperle