[cwjohn (Chris)]

Hi

I now have my remote observatory, at my house, built, and I am looking for advice as to how to setup the computer systems and network.

I have set up outside wireless Ethernet and there is quite a strong signal at the observatory, and the connection is good to my home office. Most of the latest equipment is set up for wireless Ethernet but I want to run some legacy equipment which uses RS232 only, and in the case of the dome rotation RS232 is my only option.

I intend buying the latest MS surface laptop for data processing and this is obviously capable of running the equipment remotely.

There seems to be several ways of connecting RS-232. One involves Ethernet to RS-232 devices and another a local server to USB to RS232 which seems simpler.

My big picture question is whether I should equip a simple computer in the dome to control the systems via usb to RS-232 connections and then download the data to my home office over Ethernet for processing or whether it is really feasible to control the whole thing from my home office. If in fact a computer in the observatory is the best option what is the specification for this device given that data processing would be done separately.

Cost is not really a concern for me. I am more interested in setting up a system that will run with the minimum of operational problems.

I would appreciate any advice from those that have gone through this loop previously.