Automadome, the sky 6 and the G11 - how can i get all 3 working together?

[h0ughy]

I can slew the dome with the Ascom drivers but i cant control the dome with Automadome (latest download). To be honest i not quite sure what i am doing wrong (and i know i am doing something wrong)

i have the latest sky 6 update running and gemini drivers. i can connect the G11 to the sky6 and can slew the scope around and can hit D on the keyboard and bring up the popup but cannot get it to connect. i can outside the sky?

using Win7 64bit (load everything up on 32bit) the sky works fine. HELP!!!:question::help::help::confu sed2::screwy:

[Bassnut]

wtf, you can "connect the G11 to the sky6 and can slew the scope around " but you "cannot get it to connect". Geez

[h0ughy]

yep thats right Fred

[Bassnut]

OK, alls well then, you can and cant connect, like a quantum entanglement, all possible options at once ,until you collapse the wave function by looking at it and it all turns to crap? :P :)

[h0ughy]

its the most convoluted programme - you would think that if it was written for specific thesky integration it would be seamless with no problems connecting to anything - not i am regretting the 249 US pricetag to find out it doesnt work:mad2::mad2::mad2:

[bert]

I do not know if you have tried it this way. First of all read this:

http://ascom-standards.org/FAQs/TheSky.htm

Install the teleapi plug in, then and select poth (plain old telescope handset) in the ascom chooser window as your telescope/dome driver, read below for a basic overview of poth.

http://ascom-standards.org/FAQs/POTH.htm

Basically in the poth setup you select your telescope driver, which in your case is gemini, and also select your dome driver in poth. Poth will read the mounts location and slew with it.

Brett

[h0ughy]

i did get it working with poth but it doesnt handle the zenith areas very well with the dome - but that could be me as well - again

[bert]

Check that you have your mount dimensions/offsets right in poth.

[h0ughy]

i think i need to go right back to the beginning and start again. this is very frustraiting and it shouldnt be? But the point is why did i buy automadome when it doesnt work "out of the box" - isnt that why you spend the money - to get that seamless integration that works and is reliable? SB is a scam - you still have to spend an extra 25 dollars a year to keep your licence as well. I am regretting purchasing this......

[marc4darkskies]

Forget about connecting to TheSky for the moment. Can you connect to the dome just using Automadome? If not then your com port config in Automadome may be wrong. Are you using a USB to Serial adaptor and is it working? BTW, I've never had a prob with this software - worked out of the box for me.

If you haven't already, check this out: https://www.bisque.com/tom/DomePage/domepage.asp#Registering the necessary DLL files

Cheers, Marcus

[h0ughy]

thanks Marcus - that may work with winXP etc but i am not sure about Win7 will try that today

[allan gould]

David
I used Ascom dome control, the sky 6 with latest update (or ECU with Losmandy ascom driver). Initially it was off with pointing/slaving to the dome but after making sure all measurements were spot on and ticking the slave to dome box it all works perfectly. I'm using a Belkin serial to USB on both the mount and dome with no conflicts. I'm using xp by the way.

[h0ughy]

OK i reset the home position to exactly north (off the alignment of the mount) and placed the home sensor, then set the park position to where i lock it down.

i was able to then get it to look as though it came close to where the scope was pointing and when slewed it followed. this was using ascom software - POTH.

then i tried again in thesky - could link the mount but still cant get the ruddy dome to connect.

so then i set the sky to run as service pack 3 XP compatibility mode in the win 7 machine - success in that i was able to now select the local setting that was eluding me when running normally in win7 in THESKY6. but i still cant link the ruddy dome. it will run by itself and i can link to the dome and rotate it so i know in some way automadome worked. FOr the life of me I cant see how a 250 dollar program still wont ruddy work!!!? I am exceedingly frustraited:mad2:

[marc4darkskies]

I had the error code 660 a long time ago too and posted a question to Bisque. I fixed it myself and reposted:

"I looked back into the couple of other threads on the topic. I had already done everything suggested except reinstall Automadome. So I uninstalled it properly and reinstalled it after turning off Virus software (Mcafee - can't imagine why this would matter). Anyway, linking still didn't work from TheSky after I did this (error 660) so I again reregistered the iras* DLLs in C:\Program Files\Common Files\System directory and hey presto it sprang to life! So I guess it was a combination of a reinstall PLUS reregistering the DLLs - go figure!

Cheers, Marcus

[h0ughy]

I did reinstall the programme - but i must admit i did not disable the virus programme bullguard - i havent yet for all my installations.

Also i am using win7, not windows XP so using the dll registering method they suggest just doesnt work

[marc4darkskies]

So you've been able to run Automadome by itself, connect and slew the dome?

[h0ughy]

yes Marcus, thats what is frustraiting me the most

[marc4darkskies]

Did you register the DLLs - using regsvr32 I think works in Windows 7 (??)

[h0ughy]

i tried that but it didnt work, so i copied the dlls to the appropriate area. but the programme worked outside the sky before i did that?

[marc4darkskies]

You copied them to the c:\Program Files\Common Files\System dir? Where from? That probably means you have two copies of the DLLs and you need to register those in the correct dir and disable the others (eg rename them). You should only have one registered copy of each.

[h0ughy]

i removed them afterwards:question: because it didnt seem right that the programme worked out side but not in. but getting it to run under winxpSP3 worked by allowing me to select the local setting - not that it linked up in the sky? so i uninstalled and reloaed - that didnt work either

[h0ughy]

surely i cant be the only person to be using win7 with this software?

[marc4darkskies]

Those iras* DLLs need to be in the right location. It's fine to copy them there if one or two are missing but then they need to be registered there.

When I was solving this exact same problem myself I found that you need to do things in the right sequence. I recall it was reinstall->check presence of DLLS->register. I don't know whether my Virus software had anything to do with it but it had been mentioned in other threads on the SB forums so I added it to my remedy.

When you reinstalled Automadome, did you uninstall it properly first? Running out of ideas here.

[marc4darkskies]

Not sure - maybe Mr Ward, he runs windows 7 I believe. Not sure he uses Automadome though.

[h0ughy]

yes by using program uninstall. will try without the virus scanning tomorrow - how hard can this be?;)

[marc4darkskies]

Check out this old thread on the SB forum too - it may hold a clue. http://www.bisque.com/sc/forums/p/2087/5882.aspx#5882

[h0ughy]

reading that now - thanks

[Peter Ward]

Have you run Bisque's Orchestrate and activated server connections for The Sky, CCDSoft and Automadome?

[h0ughy]

it wont be operated remotely peter.

i dont own ccdsoft or orchestrate?

[Peter Ward]

The server connections can be local or remote, but need to be activated.

Orchestrate comes with the standard PME package...doesn't help you... but
it might be freeware now so I'd seek out a download.....I recall not being able to establish a local link without it.

From memory, the MaxDome .dll also needs to reside within the Automadome directory.

I am running AutomaDome under Win 7 x64 pro...works fine.

[h0ughy]

when running as winxpsp3 i can tick the local setting, but it doesnt connect? be interested in finding out your settings?

[h0ughy]

Peter i managed to download orchestrate and for what it is worth i installed it. I have also made sure that Maxdome dll is in the Automadome directory. I have done that and i now have dome control.

thanks Peter

so how do i now setup the some so it will be in sync with the mount?

[marc4darkskies]

That's great Dave - you got it working! If you're talking about dome geometry and slaving to the mount as it tracks - I sent you a word doco and a programme a week or two ago. Both are based on what SB already provides. The word doco about dome geometry just has a couple of things I needed to understand written a little more plainly. The programme I gave you will slave the dome to the position of the mount while tracking. It is a modified version of SBs Dometracker2.vbs to allow you to specify dome slew interval (minutes) and the frequency of checking the mounts position (seconds). Without using this programme, the dome will only slew when you slew the scope. Get your geometry set up first.

[h0ughy]

yeah its a simple installation - NOT;)

for some reason your script doesnt work comes up with an error cant find a server?

now to set up the dome geometry can you explain how to do that to a simpleton like myself?

[h0ughy]

error i get with script

[marc4darkskies]

Hehehe ... dome gemetry ... hehehe. Read the doco and then experiment. If all is well the middle of the dome slit will be lined up with the optical axis after slewing the scope. If it doesn't, fiddle with the parameters, home the dome and try again. DON'T BOTHER trying the script until you've got the slewing working.

For the script to work, Automadome needs to be running (press "D" in TheSky )and linked and TheSky6 needs to be running and connected to the scope. The Telescope->Server Settings in TheSky need to set to accept remote connection I think. I've got most everything in the dialog box ticked.

[h0ughy]

ok i will set up the dome parameters again later but for now they are close, i have set the server settings to accept remote connections but it still bombs out......arrggggg i am giving it a rest as i have been at this ruddy thing for 6 hours - and yes i have made significant progress but, and a bit but, i cant get it to automatically with the scope?

its BBQ time - i will put a steak and a few snags on - feed the family and then maybe sneak out and have another play later:help::question:

[Hagar]

I have had a very similar problem to David except I didn't go out and purchase another piece of software. I just wanted to use POTH ascom drivers to do the lot for me. I had seen POTH in action at Theo's on a very big dome and thought this to be the logical way for me to go.
I had problem after problem and now am totally bald but at least it is now a goer.

It took a while for the penny to drop and for me to realise what POTH actually is. It is an intermeadiary program to control multiple items.
That said to use it or any other ascom drivers in The sky you must download and install the very latest version of The Sky Telescope API from the ascom plug in download site.
Start POTH handset from the start menu, setup scope and dome in the setup screens then close the setup screen. Open or connect both the Gemini and the dome from the POTH handset.
Without closing POTH, open the sky6 and setup telescope as Telescope API, click on settings and select POTH and click OK.
Now establish connection and tick the dome slave to scope checkbox on the POTH handset and it should now all work.

You can minimise the POTH Handset and control everything from the Sky.

[MrC]

Hi David and Marcus,

I'm trying to run Automadome with a dome automation system by Meridian Controls. Also, I have The Sky6 and Orchestrate.

Long story short, I inherited an observatory as a part of a new job. It has been unused for at least five years. At some point, Automadome was able to slew the dome. The old computer, however, died.

Now, I can slew the dome with a hand paddle but can't connect the dome to the new computer. I know that COM 1 is correct and works.

I get a receive time-out, error code = 209. Were you guys seeing a similar error?

It is very possible the hardward is now dead, but I don't want to give up yet.

[OzRob]

If you don't get an answer here you might want to try contacting Software Bisque (http://www.bisque.com/sc/pages/Contact.aspx) or joining and posting on their forum.

[h0ughy]

You have a slightly different problem to what I had – though if your operating system is win7 there may be more configuration issues there especially if it’s a 64 bit system. I tried to communicate to software biscuit but it really fell on a deaf keyboard. I tried to do what they said – to the letter. At one stage I reinstalled my OS twice to refresh with new drivers and even changed the installation of software, method of startup etc. Maxdome just was not recognised with Automadome whatsoever within the sky6. However the ASCOM dome control worked really well - not within the sky6 but externally just with the paddle and the dome control. The slit was slewed to where the scope was pointing at startup and then the mount was connected to the dome – worked like a treat under win7. That was a G11 Gemini 1 mount and maxdome, loaded the Gemini mount ASCOM controller and I was off.. I gave up on the crumbly biscuit software – it just didn’t play at all – wasted 250 US on the stupid thing. do the dome control board lights come on?

[marc4darkskies]

Sorry MrC - can't help - you have a different setup to me and the slightest differences can cause many issues.

Even though I've now used Automadome and Maxdome on 3 different machines (1 x winXP and 2 x Win7 64 bit) with TheSky6 and TheSkyX without the slightest issue, I wasn't even able to help Houghy! :sadeyes:

Cheers, Marcus