Automadome, the sky 6 and the G11 - how can i get all 3 working together?

h0ughy (David) · #1 20-01-2011, 07:44 PM

I can slew the dome with the Ascom drivers but i cant control the dome with Automadome (latest download). To be honest i not quite sure what i am doing wrong (and i know i am doing something wrong)

i have the latest sky 6 update running and gemini drivers. i can connect the G11 to the sky6 and can slew the scope around and can hit D on the keyboard and bring up the popup but cannot get it to connect. i can outside the sky?

using Win7 64bit (load everything up on 32bit) the sky works fine. HELP!!!

:confu sed2:

Bassnut (Fred) · #2 20-01-2011, 08:05 PM

wtf, you can "connect the G11 to the sky6 and can slew the scope around " but you "cannot get it to connect". Geez

h0ughy (David) · #3 20-01-2011, 08:15 PM

yep thats right Fred

Bassnut (Fred) · #4 20-01-2011, 08:29 PM

OK, alls well then, you can and cant connect, like a quantum entanglement, all possible options at once ,until you collapse the wave function by looking at it and it all turns to crap?

h0ughy (David) · #5 20-01-2011, 08:33 PM

its the most convoluted programme - you would think that if it was written for specific thesky integration it would be seamless with no problems connecting to anything - not i am regretting the 249 US pricetag to find out it doesnt work

bert (Brett) · #6 20-01-2011, 09:25 PM

I do not know if you have tried it this way. First of all read this:

http://ascom-standards.org/FAQs/TheSky.htm

Install the teleapi plug in, then and select poth (plain old telescope handset) in the ascom chooser window as your telescope/dome driver, read below for a basic overview of poth.

http://ascom-standards.org/FAQs/POTH.htm

Basically in the poth setup you select your telescope driver, which in your case is gemini, and also select your dome driver in poth. Poth will read the mounts location and slew with it.

Brett

h0ughy (David) · #7 20-01-2011, 09:29 PM

i did get it working with poth but it doesnt handle the zenith areas very well with the dome - but that could be me as well - again

bert (Brett) · #8 20-01-2011, 09:31 PM

Check that you have your mount dimensions/offsets right in poth.

h0ughy (David) · #9 20-01-2011, 09:47 PM

i think i need to go right back to the beginning and start again. this is very frustraiting and it shouldnt be? But the point is why did i buy automadome when it doesnt work "out of the box" - isnt that why you spend the money - to get that seamless integration that works and is reliable? SB is a scam - you still have to spend an extra 25 dollars a year to keep your licence as well. I am regretting purchasing this......

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #10 21-01-2011, 08:30 AM

Forget about connecting to TheSky for the moment. Can you connect to the dome just using Automadome? If not then your com port config in Automadome may be wrong. Are you using a USB to Serial adaptor and is it working? BTW, I've never had a prob with this software - worked out of the box for me.

If you haven't already, check this out: https://www.bisque.com/tom/DomePage/...sp#Registering the necessary DLL files

Cheers, Marcus

h0ughy (David) · #11 21-01-2011, 11:07 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

Forget about connecting to TheSky for the moment. Can you connect to the dome just using Automadome? If not then your com port config in Automadome may be wrong. Are you using a USB to Serial adaptor and is it working? BTW, I've never had a prob with this software - worked out of the box for me.

If you haven't already, check this out: https://www.bisque.com/tom/DomePage/...sp#Registering the necessary DLL files

Cheers, Marcus

thanks Marcus - that may work with winXP etc but i am not sure about Win7 will try that today

allan gould · #12 21-01-2011, 02:09 PM

David
I used Ascom dome control, the sky 6 with latest update (or ECU with Losmandy ascom driver). Initially it was off with pointing/slaving to the dome but after making sure all measurements were spot on and ticking the slave to dome box it all works perfectly. I'm using a Belkin serial to USB on both the mount and dome with no conflicts. I'm using xp by the way.

h0ughy (David) · #13 21-01-2011, 05:23 PM

OK i reset the home position to exactly north (off the alignment of the mount) and placed the home sensor, then set the park position to where i lock it down.

i was able to then get it to look as though it came close to where the scope was pointing and when slewed it followed. this was using ascom software - POTH.

then i tried again in thesky - could link the mount but still cant get the ruddy dome to connect.

so then i set the sky to run as service pack 3 XP compatibility mode in the win 7 machine - success in that i was able to now select the local setting that was eluding me when running normally in win7 in THESKY6. but i still cant link the ruddy dome. it will run by itself and i can link to the dome and rotate it so i know in some way automadome worked. FOr the life of me I cant see how a 250 dollar program still wont ruddy work!!!? I am exceedingly frustraited

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #14 21-01-2011, 05:32 PM

I had the error code 660 a long time ago too and posted a question to Bisque. I fixed it myself and reposted:

"I looked back into the couple of other threads on the topic. I had already done everything suggested except reinstall Automadome. So I uninstalled it properly and reinstalled it after turning off Virus software (Mcafee - can't imagine why this would matter). Anyway, linking still didn't work from TheSky after I did this (error 660) so I again reregistered the iras* DLLs in C:\Program Files\Common Files\System directory and hey presto it sprang to life! So I guess it was a combination of a reinstall PLUS reregistering the DLLs - go figure!

Cheers, Marcus

h0ughy (David) · #15 21-01-2011, 05:37 PM

I did reinstall the programme - but i must admit i did not disable the virus programme bullguard - i havent yet for all my installations.

Also i am using win7, not windows XP so using the dll registering method they suggest just doesnt work

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #16 21-01-2011, 09:23 PM

So you've been able to run Automadome by itself, connect and slew the dome?

h0ughy (David) · #17 21-01-2011, 09:26 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by marc4darkskies

So you've been able to run Automadome by itself, connect and slew the dome?

yes Marcus, thats what is frustraiting me the most

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #18 21-01-2011, 09:32 PM

Did you register the DLLs - using regsvr32 I think works in Windows 7 (??)

h0ughy (David) · #19 21-01-2011, 09:37 PM

i tried that but it didnt work, so i copied the dlls to the appropriate area. but the programme worked outside the sky before i did that?

marc4darkskies (Marcus) · #20 21-01-2011, 09:45 PM

You copied them to the c:\Program Files\Common Files\System dir? Where from? That probably means you have two copies of the DLLs and you need to register those in the correct dir and disable the others (eg rename them). You should only have one registered copy of each.