lx 90

[mozzie (Peter)]

theres been a bit of talk on the lx 90 yahoo site with updates and patches for firmware in gps aligning we live east of greeniich and meads gps only gives us major cities so when we align on our 2 star setup mine are 10 to 15 degress out so ive turned of gps-lnt and i do a manuel 2 star enter time date etc went to first star and it was within the half deg range of my telrad went to second star it was the same so that tells me a lot about all this extra crap on scopes do the basics and it is usually spot on.why worry about all the updates when sometimes basics prevail
does anybody else think this with there goto systems
mozzie

[acropolite (Phil)]

Peter, I have the model prior to GPS and I found that it's best to ignore the LNT/self align and manually level and 2 star align. I've had 3 builds of handbox software since new all have been buggy in one way or another. I never change firmware just for the sake of changing, simply to correct bugs that interfere with my use.

[mozzie (Peter)]

thanks phill i have manually set my home position and the aligning stars are so close its not funny .dont get me wrong when i take the scope to star parties all the technology is great let it do an auto align easy as but im not confident to do any firmware updates incase things go terribley wrong and have to send control back to bintel i can only imagine what don would say to mejust a quick question do you have any probs parking scope mine doesnt seem to turn on and be aligned always 10 deg out in r.a
thanks mozzie

[acropolite (Phil)]

Parking is OK on mine, although I don't use it that often. There's not much to be worried about with firmware updates, make sure you have a stable source of battery power to the LX (powertank), I use a fully charged laptop with the screensaver turned off running from the mains so that if the power fails the d/l continues on battery backup. If you do a firmware update it's necessary to recalibrate and retrain the drives.

[mozzie (Peter)]

thanks phill im set up in my pod have mains power to scope so constant power no prob no im not going to update if the scope works fine why change ill see how parking goes being set up all time makes life a bit easier if all ready aligned
thanks for help ill keep in contact mozzie

[AndrewJ]

Gday Mozzie

theres been a bit of talk on the lx 90 yahoo site with updates and patches for firmware in gps aligning we live east of greeniich and meads gps only gives us major cities

The patch in question only relates to LX90 GPS scopes, and only to the use of the GPS unit itself. It has no effect on aligning per se

When you start yr scope, the GPS is supposed to get date/time and location. Currently, for users east of greenwich, its stuffing up the location, and forcibly reverting them to nearest city.
For users within major cities, this isnt a huge problem,
but the user who found the bug ( in Norway ) was 400km off
and many outback users in Oz will be way off as well.
Using the patch just means you can use the GPS to get date/time/location automatically, which is a good thing, and doesnt affect the LNT.
How you choose to align after that is still up to you.
( however, manual 2 star is the quickest and best )

Andrew

[mozzie (Peter)]

thanks andrew yes im smack in the middle of sydney and brisbane and every time you start the scope its a new site gps tells me im in brisbane nearly 500 k,s away the new patch would help but nervious about downloading (ie dont know how to do it i have the cables but never done it)could you explain it simplified they talk a bit heavy on the lx90 site
thanks mozzie

[AndrewJ]

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

[mozzie (Peter)]

hi andrew was just on starpatch and noticed patch 21 for gps has been added you beauty it is easier to upgrade to the hand control i havent done it yet im in the process of buying a new laptop to use in my pod what do you think of acer as6530 model your input would be much appreciated
mozzie

[AndrewJ]

Gday Mozzie

hi andrew was just on starpatch and noticed patch 21 for gps has been added

If you mean the 43GD.spf then yep, thats her
( I could have sent you that a week ago )
Just load it, select the reqd options, and yr GPS should start working properly.

what do you think of acer as6530 model your input would be much appreciated

Absolutely no idea
Last time i bought a lappie, i wanted one with a real serial and real parallel port, so it was for totally different usage.
Others on this site will be able to help more, but you also need to specify what you want to be able to do with it.

Andrew