BackyardEOS and Meade LX200GPS ASCOM Control

[mmantini]

 

 

Hello Guylain,

 

A few months back I made you aware of a problem that I was having with using BYE ASCOM control of my LX200GPS. After a few emails back and forth, you came to the conclusion that the wrong instructional calls were being sent to the mount. You indicated that you would try to fix this in a future version. Anyway, I really love using BYE and can't imagine not using it. Can you possibly give me an idea when you will be addressing this issue? I know at least 5 other LX200 users who would also like to have this capability.

 

Thank you for your time.

 

Mike Mantini

[astroman133]

I think I'll add a message in BYE at the very least indicating if the ASCOM driver used is implementing the MoveAxis command. 

 

If it does not BYE should at least warn the user that it can not move the scope due to the ASCOM driver used.

 

Guylain

 

Guylain,

 

I think that the purpose of the CanMoveAxis property is to support exactly what you have proposed to do.

 

 

 

[admin]

Guylain,

 

I think that the purpose of the CanMoveAxis property is to support exactly what you have proposed to do.

 

Yes, and I do check that property,  just don't let the user know the ASCOM driver doesn't implement it and it may lead to confusion.

 

Guylain

[AaronSmall]

Guys,

 

I don't know if this is relevant or not but I found it on another forum discussing a Meade with the old ASCOM drivers:

 

Re: Ascom Dirvers

 

Wed Mar 26, 2014 4:04 pm (PDT) . Posted by:

"Tim Long" t_p_long

 

Tigra Astronomy is working on replacement drivers for the aging vb6 drivers, which most ascom developers now regard as 'unsupportable'. If you would like to be notified when they are ready, please drop me a private email to tim at TiGraNetworks dot co dot uk and I'll add you to the mailing list.

--Tim Long

 

Sent from Windows Mail

[darknight]

If I understand the above thread, BYE does not work with Meade ASCOM drivers. That may explain the following problem I'm having:

Hardware/Software:

   a) BackyardEOS 3.0.3 - Premium Edition

   Windows 8.1, 64 bit

   b)Telescope: Meade LX200 GPS, 8"

   c) Focuser: Meade Zero Image Shift-Electronic Micro-Focuser

   d)USB 2.0 port of laptop is connected to USB 2.0/RS232 adapter (FTDI chipset), which is then connected to RS232 port on telescope.

BackyardEOS setup:

   a)ASCOM Focuser chooser has "Meade LX200GPS/R" selected.

   b)ASCOM Focuser area of screen has "Meade LX200GPS Focuser" in window.

Symptom of problem:

  a)In the ASCOM focuser area of BYOS, using the left pointing buttons results in the Meade Focuser extending a certain amount, then retracting to its previous location (net change of nuthin').

  b)The right pointing buttons work as I would expect, i.e. the focuser retracts a certain amount and stays there.

 

If the ASCOM/driver incompatibility doesn't explain this problem, then I presume I've either missed something or set things up wrong. Please advise.

 

Thank you.

 

Mike N.

[admin]

Mike, I'm confused.  I thought you were trying to operate your telescope... but now you are talking about a focuser

 

Guylain

[darknight]

l'm Mike N. not Mike M.

Sorry for the confusion.

[darknight]

Since the microfocuser is driven through the Meade controller, I thought the issues might be connected. My apologies if I am posting in the wrong section, I'm a newbie at both astrophotography and BYE.

 

Best regards.

 

Mike N.

[admin]

l'm Mike N. not Mike M.

Sorry for the confusion.

LOL :-) Guylain

[admin]

Mike, I did look a bit deeper and the only ASCOM command I can send to the mount to move a single axis at a time is the ascom moveaxis command.

 

All ASCOM drivers seems to implement the 'goto target' function but not the 'moveaxis' function; it does look like your ascom driver does not implement the moveaxis command.  I would need to do some intensive ra/dec calculation to use the goto target function to move only one axis. 

 

It is quite possible that I missed something in the ascom documentation though <_>

 

Guylain

[mmantini]

Guylain,

 

Thanks for your quick reply. I failed to mention, that I had been using a small free app called Meade LX200GPS Mini Control to control my mount while you investigated this issue. I have to say that it works perfectly. Is it possible to talk the code writer for this app to get the specifics on the correct instructional calls? It would be great not to have multiple apps running on my small laptop. I would prefer to just have yours running.

 

http://miltonhill.us/software/LX200_Mini_Control.html

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

Mike

[admin]

Guylain,

 

Thanks for your quick reply. I failed to mention, that I had been using a small free app called Meade LX200GPS Mini Control to control my mount while you investigated this issue. I have to say that it works perfectly. Is it possible to talk the code writer for this app to get the specifics on the correct instructional calls? It would be great not to have multiple apps running on my small laptop. I would prefer to just have yours running.

 

http://miltonhill.us/software/LX200_Mini_Control.html

 

Thanks for all your help.

 

Mike

 

Thanks Mike. 

 

I'll skim through his site but he is probably using the Meade protocol to communicate with the mount, not ASCOM.  If he uses the ASCOM driver than there may be light at the end of the tunnel.

 

Guylain

[mmantini]

Guylain,

 

I certainly appreciate anything you can do.

 

Thank you,

Mike

[astroman133]

Mike,

 

POTH is an ASCOM Hub application that is installed as part of the ASCOM Platform. POTH uses the same calls to the selected telescope driver as BYE does. So, it should behave the same way as BYE.  This may be another test point for you.  If POTH behaves the same as BYE then the only way that BYE can nudge an LX200GPS telescope is to abandon ASCOM and use the Meade protocol directly.  This would be a major change for BYE.

 

I looked at the source code for the LX200GPS driver, which can is included in the driver download.  The driver was written with Microsoft Visual Basic 6.0 which has not been supported by Microsoft for several years.  This means that to change the driver would require a complete re-write.  The code indicates that the MoveAxis method is not implemented and that calling that method will raise an error that can be detected by the client application.  Here is the relevant Basic code:

 

Public Sub MoveAxis(ByVal Axis As TelescopeAxes, ByVal Rate As Double)

   

    ' not supported at this time, poor precision in the protocol (0.1 deg/sec)

   

    Err.Raise SCODE_NOT_IMPLEMENTED, ERR_SOURCE, _

        "Method MoveAxis" & MSG_NOT_IMPLEMENTED

 

End Sub

 

I am also a member of the ASCOM-Talk Yahoo group.  There has been a lot of talk in recent weeks by members of that group about the sad shape of the Meade drivers.  None of the drivers were written by, or are supported by, Meade.  The drivers are old and there is some overlap between which drivers can control which telescopes.  There was even some talk about removing the Meade telescope drivers from the ASCOM web site download area because they are apparently no longer supported by the original authors and the rest of the group is not able to provide support.  The basic problem is that none of the developers who have the knowledge to re-write the drivers have Meade mounts (probably because they are not well supported).  The general consensus is that if you are unhappy with the ASCOM support for your Meade mount that you should complain to Meade.  If Meade provided equipment to and paid one of the experienced ASCOM developers, this sad situation could be remedied for the benefit of all Meade owners.

 

Another thought that I had is that there may be more Meade drivers that are available, but not listed on the ASCOM web site, so an Internet search may provide an alternative for you.

 

I hope this helps.

 

 

[admin]

I think I'll add a message in BYE at the very least indicating if the ASCOM driver used is implementing the MoveAxis command. 

 

If it does not BYE should at least warn the user that it can not move the scope due to the ASCOM driver used.

 

Guylain

[mmantini]

Guylain and Rick,

 

Thank you both for your effort here. I'll try to make do with what I have. As I mentioned earlier, I typically use the free LX200GPS mini control app, from Milton Hill Observatory, in conjunction with BYE. Interestingly, this non-ASCOM type app does a great job not only moving the scope, but also controlling my Meade focuser. I just thought that it would be nice to have everything I needed to do on one platform. Not a big deal though.

 

Thanks again and have a great week!

 

Mike