Gday Alistair
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wonder when skywatcher will release some info on how to control their mount from a PC or even about the usb port.
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Dont understand???
If you want to leave the hbx fitted
You can
a) use the basic ASCOM celestron driver via the Hbx rs232 port
b) use EQASCOM via PCDirect mode into the Hbx rs232 port
c) use a USB direct into the the USB port
If you dont want the Hbx fitted, you can use an EQDir cable directly into the Hbx port on the mount itself.
One thing i have noted so far is if using PCDirect mode, the Hbx slew keys are "supposed" to still work, but i have found that it doesnt always work as expected, ( i suspect some sort of clash with EQASCOM, as it assumes it is the only thing connected and hence can poll for stuff when not expected. EQASCOM does a LOT of polling )
Once you have the ASCOM driver there, any app that can control scopes via the ASCOM type interface shld be able to control the scope.
( EQASCOM wont work for AltAz, but i believe the celestron driver will )
That said, the ASCOM drivers dont know about ( and hence cant use ) some of the newer features.
I am still playing with different functionality, but what you need to understand is the new USB port ( really just an internal USB2Ser converter ) connects directly to the motor cards, it doesnt talk to the Hbx.
It uses the commands that are reserved for PCDirect mode.
Thus, if you want to "control" the mount via it, you need to do everything "celestial" externally, as the cards know nothing about time, RA/DEC, location etc, they just know about basic motor commands and current microstep count from a set datum.
Most of these commands have been published by Skywatcher, but again, only a limited no of them will be useful unless you plan to rewrite the whole control system.
Andrew