Quote:
Originally Posted by Doomsayer
Serial is the connection of choice for most remote pro-end observatories such as the numerous Paramount driven scopes in the hills around the "New Mexico Skies" site in the US. I was advised by a couple of experts from there that they don't use the USB port on their Paramounts, if one is installed. Considering this is the high end of the amateur equipment market, it still says a lot for serial ports. I'd assume they would still connect serial deviced via a serial-usb converter at the PC end. I certianly don't have any issues with serial connection of my Paramount. Image data transfer is usually best dealt with by an ethernet solution in that situation - cable length and cable quality can be a trap for large dataset transfer,
I guess the longer term concern is that future operating systems may not support such old-style connections.
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Yes, exactly. We at GRAS use serial wherever we can (incl PMEs), even if it means installing extra serial cards. Although at home I use USB, the more complicated your rig gets, the more problimatic USB gets (drivers etc). The same for industrial applications.
BTW, for example, I tried the QHY5 guide cam (USB powered) with my lappie. Any USB extention cable longer than 2foot caused havoc (was OK with longer on a PC). USB powered devices are convienient (not possible with serial really) but can be fraught with problems.