Dome control and USB.

[allan gould]

Originally Posted by Hagar

Looks like the RS232 card was just what the dictor ordered. I have now run everything for 4 X full days and a couple of nights without so much as a glitch of any kind. Hopefully it stays this way.

Doug
Going on your success, I found an old laptop that had a native serial port at the back, re-installed all my software on it ( what a bugger) and fired it all up. I'm glad to report that the dome now rotates etc as it should, however I did fire off a petulant email to Doug George of Maxdome II informing him that for the price charged they could include a serial2usb converter that they say works or make it a USB connection. It's pretty rude to say "oh it must be your converter" and then walk away from the problem. It like the RACQ saying "it must be your petrol" when your car won't start and leaving you to figure it all out.
It's only a site like IIS where we share knowledge and problems that keep us sane. Thanks again Doug and the Tempest Observatory survives another ill wind.
Allan

[allan gould]

Further to my gripes about MaxdomeII, Douglas George is now considering making the device USB and not serial.
see http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/s...users/messages

[h0ughy (David)]

Originally Posted by allan gould

Further to my gripes about MaxdomeII, Douglas George is now considering making the device USB and not serial.
see http://tech.groups.yahoo.com/group/s...users/messages

would be good to get a USB version as one day PC with serial wont be available

[allan gould]

Originally Posted by h0ughy

would be good to get a USB version as one day PC with serial wont be available

Well thats what I said to Doug George and asked if an upgrade were to be available.

[marc4darkskies (Marcus)]

Strange, so far I haven't had probs with my dome rotation. I run RoboFocus and Maxdome II via a hub and two Belkin USB serial converters on a WinXP lappy. Been working for years with Automadome and TheSky (with sidereal tracking using a vbs script or CCDAutopilot).

I've just upgraded to a new Win7 64 bit lappy and it still works (after finding the right 64 bit driver for the Bellkins - that wasn't easy!). I'm touching wood of course because I haven't yet used the new system in anger but it all tests out and integrates in bench test mode.

Word of warning though - especially for laptop users. Power saving settings (for win7 at least) include selective switching off of USB ports (!!!). Dunno what the criteria are but worth disabling for sure!

Cheers, Marcus