Quote:
Originally Posted by bloodhound31
Thanks Marc, but I'm still not sure I understand. How does it work? Does the Starshoot Deep Sky imager need ASCOM to function? Does the Starshoot Autoguid camera need ASCOM to talk to the EQ6 mount? What is the ASCOM for?
Oh!!! AND..... do I need to download PHD guiding in 64 bit as well? Does PHD need ASCOM to talk to the mount or the Autoguide camera?
I really need to understand this as last time I connected it all up was years ago and I have forgotten it all!
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ASCOM is a common interface between hardware and a lot of popular software. It simplifies the work of developers writing drivers, etc...
Each hardware manufacturer make their own drivers. So Orion would make a driver for your camera whether it's an ASCOM driver or a native driver. If it's an ASVOM driver you would be able to connect the camera to any software using the same ASCOM driver. If it's a native driver you would connect to software that suppoprt the native driver(s) but the drivers might be different if you connect with PHD or MAXIM DL or Nebulosity, etc... That's why ASCOM makes everything so much simpler. It's a common ground for the interface.
To install the drivers for your camera, you usually run an installer. Then you plug the camera and the OS will do its thing and find the correct drivers. If not you have to point the OS to the directory containing the drivers (usually *.inf files) then let it do its thing. In extreme situations you have to go to the device manager and click the 'update driver' button and browse to the *.inf file directly.