I have a laptop coming this week and will also be buying a 6-pin firewire expresscard. From several postings re: DMK, I am not sure that the 6-pin will actually get enough power to the DMK.
And I have other issues with connections required & accessories I am needing to know.
Hi Craig
No I haven't written it, but it's still on my how-to list. All of the information is in the various posts around here, it's just a matter of collating it.
In my experience, you WILL need a powered firewire hub as the camera won't get enough power from the PCMCIA card. I got mine from streetwise.com.au but Fahim recently tried there and couldn't find it, so maybe ask him (netwolf) where he got one from?
I use the "Comsol" Firewire PCMCIA card (purchased from Harris Technology) and I have a 12V 1.6A mains adapter that plugs into this card and it powers my DBK 21AF04.AS reliably every time, without problems.
My DMK connection is flakier, sometimes requiring several plug and play efforts and the occasional re-boot before it is recognized. I suspect I may have a faulty DMK as it should not do this.
Dennis, contact imagingsource on the forum or by email and ask for the Firewire Performance Manager. I had the same problem (along with a faulty lead) but once the manager was installed I had np at all. There is a problem with some type of chip sets in the PCMCIA cards.
Dennis, contact imagingsource on the forum or by email and ask for the Firewire Performance Manager. I had the same problem (along with a faulty lead) but once the manager was installed I had np at all. There is a problem with some type of chip sets in the PCMCIA cards.
Hi Paul
Thanks for this, but I have already installed this software (a few weeks ago) and it hasn't helped.
Sometimes my Notebook (4 year old IBM ThinkPad R40) locks up after multiple ejects/insertions of the PCMCIA card in an attempt to get the DMK recognised.
Luckily I'm into colourful double stars with the DBK at the moment. The DBK works flawlessly, it’s just the DMK that takes 5 or 6 attempts to get it recognised.
I got the last ST Lab card from a local shop and it was 35$ on special, no cables. It has the NEC chip, i usually prefer geting cards with the Texas chip in them. Watch out for cheaper cards using VIA chipset, I have had issues with these. Some cards have problems with some laptops, regardless of chipset. Have a look on Staticice.com.au, do a search for firewire pcmcia and find the cheapest and best in your state.
The cable the provide is quiet stiff. Depends weather your keeping the hub close to the laptop or close to the camera. I got a 6pin to 9pin belkin 4m cable for about 30$ also of ebay, he does not seem to have 6-6 though. This one is thin and and perfect to goto the camera, as you dont want to much weight on the camera.
I am still waiting on a email back from the local DMK distributor on cables and hubs. The do list the unibrain items but they have not responded to my inquiry via email.
What I would like to know is that if there is a standard IIDC/DCAM Firewire camera software that we can use like Astro IIDC for the MAC on Windows.
It seems to only one on Intel is Coriander which is Linux based.
Regards
Fahim
The laptop has the new expresscard port - replaces the PCMCIA. There are firewire cards available (1394a).
No one here has the expresscard on their laptop? There probably won'tbe any issues with expresscard - I hope
The Imaging Source faq says that with a laptop I will probably need a power source/hub but it is a bit vague - it can mean they think most laptops will not have a 6 pin connection, so need a hub.
The expresscard firewire adapter I am looking at only has 2 firewire ports (6pin), should I get one that also has usb port? Or can I use the existing usb ports on the laptop?
I read the posts about the cables - "get the thin cables"
Be careful getting one that also has a USB port. I had no end of trouble with a combo one. Under Device Manager I kept getting the message "Not enough Resources". Even the guy at the tech shop couldn't get it working. I don't know what it means but it was a pita. Straight firewire PCMCIA worked np
don't know about expresscards Craig, I do PCMCIA cards. But if it has a power inlet and you can get an adapter for it, as long as it is 6 pin I don't see why it shouldn't work.
Be careful getting one that also has a USB port. I had no end of trouble with a combo one. Under Device Manager I kept getting the message "Not enough Resources". Even the guy at the tech shop couldn't get it working. I don't know what it means but it was a pita. Straight firewire PCMCIA worked np
Wow – this is a real component/system integration nightmare!
I have a 3 port Firewire PCMCIA card and also a 1 Port FW + 2 Port USB2 PCMCIA card and both work flawlessly on my ThinkPad with the DBK. I only have problems with the DMK. Curiouser and curiouser as Alice said?
Yeh I got the 1.8m thin white cable from the Apple shop. It's HEAPS better than the silvery ones that come with the camera and hub.
My set up benefits from using the 4.5 metre cable. I run the cable from my observing hutch to the Tak German Equatorial Mount, then use cable clamps to fasten it at strategic points on the saddle/ mount. This allows me to perform unsighted GoTo’s without the worry of the cable fouling the mount.
So, in my case, a longer cable is better and the stiffness doesn’t worry me as the cable is routed and clamped to overcome this otherwise potential problem.
Gee, it's only 1 camera, yet there so many variations in our experiences of using it, connecting it setting it up!
It's been confusing for me. Thanks for all the help.
I will get the DMK on Monday from Telescopes-Astronomy $495.
Matthew (the proprietor) emailed me a DMK pdf (from TheImagingSource) with all configurations for connecting the DMK to pc and laptop. I never found this pdf at TheImagingSource.
It covers about 2 pc & 4 laptop configurations, in regard to firewire ports - powered & unpowered.
It seems that although some laptops have 6pin firewire, it doesn't mean that this port supplies power (or enough power for DMK).
I'll be taking the laptop and see what I actually need to connect if I get an expresscard by then.
For PST imaging do I need the cs adapter? I have read that you can unscrew borlow lens and screw it into the DMK for use on the PST.
Pic 1 camera with adapter showing shoulder
Pic 2 camera in PST
Pic 3 camera with adapter showing shoulder removed
Pic 4 camera with removed shoulder in PST
The first pic also shows the C/CS adapter removed.
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