Orion StarShoot Solar System Imager III & Win 7

[NJB]

Hi Everyone.

I have a new Orion StarShoot Solar System Imaging Camera III. I am trying to install the camera on a Windows 7 laptop. The driver installation fails with a message listing the OS's it is suitable for (and excluding Win 7). I searched on Orion's website for updated drivers, but no luck. How do you get it to work with Windows 7? (I tried just plugging it in, and no luck either. Win 7 couldn't find a driver to download.)

Noel

[NJB]

Well, unless there is some secret solution out there, then there is no way to get this camera to work in Win7. Orion themselves replied to an email I sent and said as much. I was hoping someone may have known of a hack to do it.......

[John M]

Noel,
I have had partial success running the Orion SSSSI III on a cheap MSI netbook running Windows 7 Starter. Windows detected the OS incompatibility and offered the option to trust it to change some settings, which I did. Sometimes the SSSSI works when I start the Maxim software and sometimes it doesn't. Weirdly, it ALWAYS works with the computer's included webcam software, Arcsoft webcam companion. Therefore, arcsoft is using a compatible driver. I am in the process of trying to find out who actually makes the camera because they may have a specific Windows 7 driver. [I have a Belkin F5U109 serial to USB adapter from the XP era. Belkin claims there's no Win 7 support and offers to sell you more hardware. However the chip is made by Magic Control Technologies and they have a Win 7 driver that works first time and every time. I therefore am sceptical about assertions such as that made by Belkin and, in your case, Orion.]
Regards,
John.

[supernova1965]

If this is a new and current model camera and Orion have not provided upto date drivers for the new standard OS then they are selling a product that will not work as advertised. Windows 7 is widely excepted and used so I believe it is their resposibility to provided drivers and I would be demanding they provide new drivers it is their responsibility not Microsofts to provide it.

[mithrandir]

Is this another one of those devices with a Vista driver which may very well work with Win7?

[supernova1965]

I thought that Win7 would check for Vista drivers but maybe not:shrug:

[NJB]

Thanks for the thoughts. I will experiment a bit more. I didn't get any option by windows 7 to change any settings. It just didn't load it. Still, maybe there is hope. While I bought the camera new a week ago or so, Orion may have stopped producing them ages ago, and the stock is still in the system.

[jr27]

You could download the XP mode virtual machine from microsoft. I found that this worked with a Mead LPI imager that did not work with Windows 7. The link is http://www.microsoft.com/windows/virtual-pc/download.aspx

[NJB]

Thanks, James, for the suggestion. I tried it as per your link, but when I try to run it, I get the message that Windows XP mode is not available for my version of Windows 7. :(

I think I will try to exchange the camera for a more recent model.

Noel.

[EddieDog]

One of the probs with XP mode in Win7 is that it is really business orientated and does/may not work well at all with graphics or high res graphic progs