ASCOM - Windoows 10 in Fusion on OSX

Mckechg (Grant) · #1 30-01-2016, 01:19 PM

Hi,

i have the PL2303 Serial to USB and whilst i can see it is on COM 3, ascom doesn't want to play talking to my mount (AZ_EQ6 GT).

its running in a VM on OSX after moving away from Astro on OSX.

My questions are;

1./ is there a particular set up I need in Windows / Fusion / ASCOM to enable it work happily on a VM?

2./ Would boot camp be a better approach?

thx

rally · #2 30-01-2016, 05:13 PM

Grant,

You dont actually say what app you want to run ? - EQ ASCOM maybe ?

No specific experience doing what you are doing, but plenty with Parallels running astro software in a Windows Virtual Machine.

Did you have this working on a Win PC before this - or is this your first attempt working with ASCOM and your mount ?
ie Do you know how to make the software work in the first instance, do you have all the required hardware and ASCOM drivers installed and configured, .net framework versions etc etc

There can be a large number of issues as to why it wont work, and I doubt that this would necessarily have anything to do with it being in a Virtual Machine - as opposed to all the reasons why it might not be working on a standalone Win PC because something isnt configured correctly.

Have you shared the com/usb ports on the mac to the virtual machine ?

BootCamp would be a retrograde step IMO - you then will only have Windows and Win Apps operational as opposed to being able to run OSX and OSX Apps as well as Win Apps at the same time.
I'd stick with Fusion or Parallels.

Cheers

Rally

Eggmoon (Geoff) · #3 30-01-2016, 08:42 PM

You do have to remember... even the best virtual machines cant run as fast as a native app. So running anything through fusion/parallels it wont run as fast or as well as if it was running on a windows machine, or via bootcamp. That's not to say they wont run... and run fine most of the time... but they can't quite run as fast as native. That's just the way of virtual machines.

90% of the time USB devices work fine in virtual machines... but I have seen the odd device here and there that just doesn't like them... maybe your USB to Serial is one of these.

Also, if it's an older USB to Serial you may have problems. I have one that's about 6 years old, that wont run under Windows 10, but I have a newer one that works fine. Some of the old devices they just haven't bothered creating new drivers for.

Geoff.

torsion (Bram) · #4 31-01-2016, 01:49 PM

I am running Windows 7 on bootcamp and all runs fine.

However, the PL2303 Serial to USB plugs straight into the mac usb port. When slewing the mount at max speed the serial-to-USB connection drops out, and I have to reconnect. I think this has to do with power distributions. I have an FTDI cable but haven't tested that yet, so don't know if that behaviour will change.

Cheers,
Bram