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asaint
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 04/25/03
Posts: 2021
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Dob Driver II (CN Report)
Edited by jrcrilly (01/12/08 09:03 AM)
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Peter Argenziano
Watcher of the Skies
Reged: 11/11/03
Posts: 2813
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John,
Thanks for a nice review, replete with photos. I've been interested in this system and your report provided the necessary details. I already have an equatorial platform, so I don't see myself actually implementing this solution - still, it was nice to read all about it.
Thanks,
Peter
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Peter
14.5" Starmaster
I hail from the explosive jetsam of a multitude of high-mass stars that died more than 5 billion years ago.
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Oldfield
Postmaster
Reged: 03/20/02
Posts: 5218
Loc: Hong Kong
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Great report.
I understand that the DSC option is not even being developed, however, my information could be out dated.
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The Home Astronomer from a city where most people are proud of the light pollution
Toys: C5, Ranger, Borg 45ED II, SM40/BF10, Unistar Light, TG-SP II, LXD55, ToUCam Pro, DMK 31AF03, Canon 10x30 IS, Pentax PCF III 10x50...
My observation log and ideas My General Blog
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
I understand that the DSC option is not even being developed, however, my information could be out dated.
Hi, Oldfield.
I'm sure there's nobody actively working on it. I was surprised to see that they have been developing new hardware recently, so they aren't ignoring the product. What I REALLY want to see is a port of the Roboscope software to something that'll run on a Pocket PC, plus any necessary hardware to interface with a PDA serial port. I forgot to mention in the article (but you probably already know) that the Roboscope interface uses a parallel port. Then I could skip the encoders.
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
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Oldfield
Postmaster
Reged: 03/20/02
Posts: 5218
Loc: Hong Kong
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I had been trying to port the software into Windows, however, after the birth of my daughter, I stopped.
Using parallel port is one of the worst thing ever, this is an "obsolete interface"... hard to make to work with a PDA, even not easy to work with my new notebook without parallel port.
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The Home Astronomer from a city where most people are proud of the light pollution
Toys: C5, Ranger, Borg 45ED II, SM40/BF10, Unistar Light, TG-SP II, LXD55, ToUCam Pro, DMK 31AF03, Canon 10x30 IS, Pentax PCF III 10x50...
My observation log and ideas My General Blog
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
Using parallel port is one of the worst thing ever, this is an "obsolete interface"... hard to make to work with a PDA, even not easy to work with my new notebook without parallel port.
Yes. I figure sooner or later someone will port the software into a more convenient platform and then we can add a box with serial to parallel conversion to talk to the DDII. It might be better to build a box that looks to a PDA like an LX200 and talks to the DDII so the usual planetarium software could be used as a front end. My techie days are over, though, so it'll have to be someone else.
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
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Anonymous
Unregistered
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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Hi, Lawrence.
As I mentioned in the article, I have an aversion to dangling cables so I haven't tried a video or CCD camera. Once Dobbest has the laptop platform installed I'll be trying some imaging and perhaps autoguiding. Visually, the motions are smooth and consistent, and tracking seems good at reasonable magnifications. I haven't tried really cranking it up due to a lack of available planets since the project was completed. Next time I'm out I'll give it a torture test.
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
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Oldfield
Postmaster
Reged: 03/20/02
Posts: 5218
Loc: Hong Kong
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I did capture a lot of images using my ToUCam with a DobDrive II driven system.
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The Home Astronomer from a city where most people are proud of the light pollution
Toys: C5, Ranger, Borg 45ED II, SM40/BF10, Unistar Light, TG-SP II, LXD55, ToUCam Pro, DMK 31AF03, Canon 10x30 IS, Pentax PCF III 10x50...
My observation log and ideas My General Blog
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
I did capture a lot of images using my ToUCam with a DobDrive II driven system.
I'm convinced that's a possibility with the Dobs also. I fiddled around tonight with Dobber tracking stars near an East-West line at over 300X and it looked good.
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
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kwkee
sage
Reged: 08/17/03
Posts: 254
Loc: Far East
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Hi,
Is it a must to use a rounded ground board for the azimuth motors?
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davidpretorius
professor emeritus
Reged: 09/25/05
Posts: 575
Loc: Tasmania, Australia
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Hi Guys, great report. I have installed this system and it work well last night. I have since tried to get it to talk to the windows xp SP2 laptop thru the printer port and no go.
I have emailed the manufacturers re XP, but has anyone else got the system to work with XP
thanks
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Davo
10" peltier cooled Next with dob driver II, Lu075 camera
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
I have emailed the manufacturers re XP, but has anyone else got the system to work with XP
thanks
I haven't attempted to use Roboscope under XP, but I know there's a software patch available. The T2K guys are good about responding to emails so I'm sure they'll fill you in quickly.
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
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doug76
Carpal Tunnel
Reged: 12/05/07
Posts: 2633
Loc: SE Louisiana
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i realize it has been some 4+ years since this was written, but just had to comment, RIGHT ON! i bought and installed this myself some 2 years ago on my Meade 12" Lightbridge, but i built a new base as i didn't want to alter the original. i also find it's tracking learning ability very useful, and is what i bought it for. mine is the 2x upgrade for accuracy, so it doesn't slew as fast as the standard version, but it's plenty fast enough. all in all, money i consider well spent, and really makes the larger dob much more fun to use. nothing like seeing that big scope move around by itself. would definitely do it again. Doug Bailey 
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Doug
The Truckstop Astronomer
Meade 12" Lightbridge/Dob Driver II
Celestron C6 SCT
Celestron C6R/Moonlight focuser
Celestron XLT150
Astro-Tech AT80EDT
TOWA 60/700 (under construction)
Celestron CG5-ASGT, CG-4
Celestron Nexstar SE (large)
Meade SWA 34mm
Televue Panoptic 24mm
Pentax XW 10mm, 7mm
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Astro-Tech AT66ED
Celestron Nexstar SE (small)
Televue Plossl 32mm
Smart Astronomy Solar System 14.5mm
BO/TMB Planetary 9mm, 7mm, 5mm, 4mm, 3.2mm, 2.5mm
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DeepSpaceTour
Post Laureate
Reged: 10/25/05
Posts: 3023
Loc: In the dark and"WAY"out there!
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I have this system on my 17.5" Discovery Dob,the alt bearings were replaced with Obsession Cast Aluminum runners,the Dob Driver 2 system works fantastic,the other night I was tracking mars at 444X and higher,you can really pull detail out of planets when you can keep the image centered in the eyepiece and track it.
Clear skies.
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Bill
-17.5"F/5 Discovery TD /Dob driver/ArgoNavis
Kendrick dew control/Obsession Alt bearings
-Antares 152-F/6.5 refractor on HEQ-5 Pro
-25x100 Binos
-15x70 Binos
-Collimating tools "LOTS"
- TV ep's *8-Ethos*13-Ethos*31T-5*
- 2" Barlows
- Pelican1600
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firestar
Born to be Mild
Reged: 10/18/06
Posts: 3942
Loc: Cleveland Ohio USA
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Link doesn't work for me?
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Eastlake Ohio
Lots of cheap Asian glass  
Antares 12" Dob,Antares 8" Dob
Meade 8" SCT, Celestron C8 SCT
Zhumell 152 mm F8,Antares 127 mm f9.4
Orion short tube 90 F5.6,Celestron 80 ED F7.5
Imaging Source DMK 21AU04 ccd camera
Stellarvue bv3's with 32,26,23,21,9 mm pairs
Olivon 42,35,28mm,siebert 21,12.5,7mm,GSO superview 20mm,Meade swa 13.8mm,Hyperion 13mm
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jrcrilly
Refractor wienie again
Reged: 04/30/03
Posts: 22464
Loc: NE Ohio
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Quote:
Link doesn't work for me?
Thanks for the heads-up; the link has now been repaired.
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John C
Urban Observatory
Tele Vue Pronto
A&M/Astreya 76mm F/6 APO
TMB/LOMO 80mm F/7.5 APO
Tak FSQ-106N F/5 APO
Meade 152ED F/9 "APO"
152mm F/10 achromat
Tak CN-212 8" F/12 classical Cass/ F/4 Newt
Teeter 20" F/3.8 truss Newt w/ServoCat
LXD750, EM-200, CI-700
ST-10XME
|
firestar
Born to be Mild
Reged: 10/18/06
Posts: 3942
Loc: Cleveland Ohio USA
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Thank you!
--------------------
Eastlake Ohio
Lots of cheap Asian glass
Antares 12" Dob,Antares 8" Dob
Meade 8" SCT, Celestron C8 SCT
Zhumell 152 mm F8,Antares 127 mm f9.4
Orion short tube 90 F5.6,Celestron 80 ED F7.5
Imaging Source DMK 21AU04 ccd camera
Stellarvue bv3's with 32,26,23,21,9 mm pairs
Olivon 42,35,28mm,siebert 21,12.5,7mm,GSO superview 20mm,Meade swa 13.8mm,Hyperion 13mm
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