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Kurly
member
Reged: 11/02/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Rockwood, Ontario, Canada
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Hi All,
I have an iOptron SmartCube G Mount. The manufacturer claims:
"The 8402 hand controller comes with a USB port that tremendously expands the functionalities of the already powerful system. With the USB2COM driver installed, the USB port works as an RS232 serial port. It supports firmware upgrades and computer control. With ASCOM protocol, you can control your telescope with most ASCOM compatible software. This enables you to utilize the CPU, large screen, and disk space of your PC/laptop. With a wide selection of software, your star gazing experience will never be the same again."
Has anyone managed to get PC control of this mount?
If so, which software did you use and was it relatively straightforward, or complicated?
Can it be done with CdC?
Cheers,
Mike
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Kurly
member
Reged: 11/02/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Rockwood, Ontario, Canada
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Bump - is there anyone who's tried to control their iOptron unit with a PC out there?
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Telescopeman54
Vendor - Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC.
Reged: 08/17/07
Posts: 1541
Loc: New Hampshire
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We have used Voyager, CDC, HKSky and SKY6 with our Mini Tower and GOTONOVA if that helps.
Steve
--------------------
Stephen Forbes - President
Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC
61 Valhalla Farm Road
Hillsboro, NH 03244
Web: http://TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Email: Stephen.Forbes@TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Phone: 1.603.325.0619
6" f/15 Jaegers refractor on GOTO GEM
5.1" f/8 Burgess on CG-5 w/ iOptron GOTONOVA
102mm f/7 refractor on iOptron Mini Tower
1975 Celestron Orange Tube C8 on Equatorial Mini Tower
1978 RV-6 on iOptron Mini Tower
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CharlieB
sage
Reged: 12/11/07
Posts: 237
Loc: Southern NH
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I had one of the original Cubes and I remember using CDC (but with an 8401 controller) to run it using the Astro-Physics ASCOM driver and the USB2COM executable. That was a while ago and I don't remember all the details, but it did work quite well.
--------------------
Charlie
C6-R, Apogee Widestar 5", Apogee Widestar 4", C4-R
Wideview 4", Orion 4", Apogee 3.5", AT80EDT, 66SD, Tasco 2TE
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Lenardo
sage
Reged: 02/19/09
Posts: 222
Loc: Ma
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I'VE used stellarium's scope control and umm cert de cuil (or however it is spelled) using the ascom drivers.
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Kurly
member
Reged: 11/02/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Rockwood, Ontario, Canada
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Thanks for the replies, gentlemen!
Consider me a beginner - can you take me through the basic steps in Stellarium to connect to the mount?
(Or CdC, for that matter).
I have both softwares loaded on my computer, but I have no idea what's involved in getting them to talk to the mount...
Cheers,
Mike
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Kurly
member
Reged: 11/02/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Rockwood, Ontario, Canada
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Hi Lenardo,
Which ASCOM driver did you use, the Astro Physics one?
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Telescopeman54
Vendor - Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC.
Reged: 08/17/07
Posts: 1541
Loc: New Hampshire
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You probably need to load the USB port to serial port drivers, first. The instructions are in the support section on the iOptron web site.
sbf
--------------------
Stephen Forbes - President
Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC
61 Valhalla Farm Road
Hillsboro, NH 03244
Web: http://TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Email: Stephen.Forbes@TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Phone: 1.603.325.0619
6" f/15 Jaegers refractor on GOTO GEM
5.1" f/8 Burgess on CG-5 w/ iOptron GOTONOVA
102mm f/7 refractor on iOptron Mini Tower
1975 Celestron Orange Tube C8 on Equatorial Mini Tower
1978 RV-6 on iOptron Mini Tower
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Kurly
member
Reged: 11/02/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Rockwood, Ontario, Canada
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Hi Telescopeman,
Thanks for your replies. I got everything hooked up and running last night, I chose the AstroPhysics ASCOM driver and got Stellarium Scope to connect to the mount.
Unfortuntely, my cube is Alt/Az, I don't have a wedge. It looked to me like the AstroPhysics ASCOM driver was under the impression the drive was in equatorial mode. When asked to slew to the zenith, it pointed about 45 degrees from horizontal, which would make sense for an EQ mount located in southern Ontario, Canada.
Does anyone know if there's a way to run the unit with Stellarium Scope in Alt/Az?
Perhaps I should choose a different ASCOM driver?
I've looked everywhere I could think of on iOptron's website, but I don't see any mention of which ASCOM driver should be used... 
Edit: THERE it is! I just found the iOptron ASCOM driver executable, I'll have to give that a try tonight...
If in the meantime anyone has any heads up for me, I'm still all ears, suggestions would be much appreciated!
Cheers,
Mike
Edited by Kurly (10/26/09 11:25 AM)
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Telescopeman54
Vendor - Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC.
Reged: 08/17/07
Posts: 1541
Loc: New Hampshire
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Mike:
I must admit that most of my experience is with the Mini Tower. However, the Cube is very similar. We have used Voyager with excellent results. Voyager undrstands A/A mode.
Keep us posted.
CS
Steve
--------------------
Stephen Forbes - President
Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC
61 Valhalla Farm Road
Hillsboro, NH 03244
Web: http://TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Email: Stephen.Forbes@TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Phone: 1.603.325.0619
6" f/15 Jaegers refractor on GOTO GEM
5.1" f/8 Burgess on CG-5 w/ iOptron GOTONOVA
102mm f/7 refractor on iOptron Mini Tower
1975 Celestron Orange Tube C8 on Equatorial Mini Tower
1978 RV-6 on iOptron Mini Tower
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Kurly
member
Reged: 11/02/07
Posts: 69
Loc: Rockwood, Ontario, Canada
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Well, I tried the iOptron driver last night and, while I got Stellarium Scope to connect to the mount, I couldn't get it to slew. Every time I hit CTRL+1 I got an error message saying "telescope already slewing". I tried it in CdC and got the same.
Looks to me like iOptron still has some work to do on the driver  (
I guess the smart thing to do here is to build a wedge and use the Astro Physics driver.
Cheers,
Mike
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Telescopeman54
Vendor - Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC.
Reged: 08/17/07
Posts: 1541
Loc: New Hampshire
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That's weird. We use Voyager, DCD, etc. on our MT all the time. Since we have none of those Cubes here I will need to borrow one and play with it. Catch up with me at my email and I'll let you know what I can find for answers.
Steve
--------------------
Stephen Forbes - President
Trapezium Telescopes & Services, LLC
61 Valhalla Farm Road
Hillsboro, NH 03244
Web: http://TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Email: Stephen.Forbes@TrapeziumTelescopes.com
Phone: 1.603.325.0619
6" f/15 Jaegers refractor on GOTO GEM
5.1" f/8 Burgess on CG-5 w/ iOptron GOTONOVA
102mm f/7 refractor on iOptron Mini Tower
1975 Celestron Orange Tube C8 on Equatorial Mini Tower
1978 RV-6 on iOptron Mini Tower
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