Quote:
Originally Posted by PeterHA
With an increasing numbers of computers not having any serial port built in, one would think that the Argo Novis would benefit from having a USB instead of an serial port.
Has anyone heard anything about plans for a new version with USB instead of the serial port?
The serial port with the requirement of a serial cable and a serial to USB converter seems to be a bit of a thing of the past.
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Hi Peter,
Thanks for the post.
One of the powerful features of Argo Navis is that it can communicate with all
known planetarium programs.
The way it achieves that is that it supports several telescope communications
protocols. Historically, these protocols are all based on RS-232 serial comms.
What's more Argo Navis can directly interface to the serial comms port of third party
servo motor controllers to provide full slew and track support.
So serial RS-232 in this instance is the right solution.
Plus RS-232 is simple, low power and reliable and will happily work over tens
and sometimes hundreds of meters. These are just some of the reasons why it is
still in such common use around the world particularly in industry. Most
newly released microcontrollers provide on-chip support for serial comms
because it remains so ubiquitous.
These days USB Serial Adapters have become even more affordable. It was
never the intention of the designers of USB for it to ever totally replace comms
systems such as RS-232 but to complement them.
Best Regards
Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au