Gday Mozzie
The talk on the LX90 site isnt heavy
Deciphering how Meade stuff up simple stuff whilst getting the difficult stuff right is heavy
Upgrading firmware is not really a major problem
and not to be feared.
I sometimes do 10 or 12 reloads a day when testing stuff
If you have the cables and know how to connect your scope
i strongly suggest you first look at Starpatch
http://www.stargps.ca/StarPatch.htm
This is freeware that allows you to update your firmware
and gives you a simple interface to select what patches you want.
It is also much more robust than the Meade ASU utility
If you have a real serial port, its better to use that, as some USB-serial converters barf badly when doing firmware loads.
And if it does barf, its not a disaster if you can get a real serial port
( you wont need to go see Don
)
The Std hbx has an inbuilt safeload facility that allows you to recover if she turns to custard.
After you have confirmed you can connect, the process is
setup starpatch on yr PC
grab the lates rom file and patch file and put them in the required directory
( it looks like Chris hasn't loaded the latest patch yet,
so if reqd we can cheat as per Dick Seymours post on the LX90 group
or i can email you a copy of the patch set up for starpatch )
Connect yr scope, select the options you want and hit go
When it beeps, yr done
Im sure you have more questions, so let er rip
Also, check Mike Weasners ETX site,
http://www.weasner.com/etx/menu.html
as it has huge amounts of detail on how to work with the 497 HBx
Andrew