Quote:
Originally Posted by rogerg
G'day all,
I've been trying to get my Losmandy Gemini running connected to my new Vista laptop. My old USB -> RS232 converter doesn't appear to work with Vista.
So I went out and bought a new Belkin one. It seems to not function either, same symptom that TheSky just can't connect to the telescope. The Belkin one has send/receive indicators on it. The send indicator flashes but nothing on the receive indicator.
Can anyone vouch for a particular converter and Vista and Gemini? I'm considering the Bintel one but on their website it doesn't mention Vista.
Thanks,
Roger.
PS. I should add that I am purposefully avoiding the Express Card option, as I'd much prefer to keep my current system of only one USB cable from scope to laptop, with hub at the scope.
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Hi Roger,
If you are like me and subscribe to the "life is just too short" philosophy,
buy yourself a Keyspan USA-19HS USB Serial Adapter.
It works. Period.
There are many other brands on the market and most with a lower price point
than the Keyspan. There are many users that have luck with other brands.
However, through the enormous amount of interaction we have had through
thousands of customers around the world, running every variant of all the
popular OS's (i.e. Windows - including Vista, Mac OS X, Linux), the Keyspan
solution has always just worked.
As a result of the worldwide war of attrition of users doing battle with various
serial solutions, we decided several years ago to recommend and stock the
Keyspan adapter ourselves. We essentially stock it as a service to our
customers with the added motivation on our part that its reliability as a solution
means less support calls. Important when you are dealing with thousands
of users with diverse backgrounds and levels of experience.
A good adapter is combination of a good hardware and a good driver.
Whereas USB was optimized for bulk data transfers, most telescope
control applications are typified by a single or handful of bytes being transferred
at a time. Many adapters on the market simply fail in some applications because
they don't handle small data transfers correctly.
One of the other advantages of the Keyspan is that it comes with a diagnostic
utility called the Keyspan Serial Assistant that provides diagnostic features
as well as allows you to see at a glance the port assignment and
change it, rather than having to drill down through the Windows hardware
menus.
Its success as a solution is also well known in many environments outside of
the astronomy control world. As a result, we now and then sell them to people
who have mission critical applications in areas such as the mining sector,
Point of Sale (POS) terminal interfaces, veterinarians and manufacturing.
A good example was an American who called from a dock in Brisbane who
had just sailed from San Francisco and was heading into the shark and
pirate infested waters of Indonesia. "Did we have a Keyspan Adapter in stock
and could we get it to him today", was the query. When I explained that it
would at least take overnight, since we were in Sydney, he decided to stay in
port for an additional night. Apparently he already used them and required
another for some navigational equipment. We sent him his adapter and
I thought to myself, "Here is a man whose life might well depend on the
reliability of this adapter and he knew
exactly which brand and model to buy".
One can go out and find other adapters for as little as ten dollars.
But many end up being hundreds of dollars worth of time and trouble.
Buy it anywhere but just buy a Keyspan.
Hope this tip is helpful.
Best Regards
Gary Kopff
Managing Director
Wildcard Innovations Pty. Ltd.
20 Kilmory Place, Mount Kuring-Gai
NSW. 2080. Australia
Phone +61-2-9457-9049
Fax +61-2-9457-9593
sales@wildcard-innovations.com.au
http://www.wildcard-innovations.com.au
