You are not logged in. [Login] Entrance · Main Index · Search · New user · Who's Online FAQ · Calendar

Speciality Forums >> Astronomy Software & Computers Previous   Index   Next   Threaded

Pages: 1 Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Updating Synscan firmware in Linux       #5409905 - 09/08/12 11:25 AM Attachment (29 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Recently I bought a used 10" Newtonian on an EQ6Pro mount - for just C$1200. The instruction manual indicated that the Synscan version was 3.03 but the controller itself indicated v.3.12 and had a number of menu entries not in the manual. The mount also came with what turned out to be a GPS mouse on a PS/2 / mini Din6 cord (male), along with a PS/2 (female) to RJ-11 cord to plug it into the controller. Additionally included was a PS/2 (female) to USB cable with a small inline circuit box, presumably for using the GPS unit with a computer. The previous owner was apparently unaware of what this stuff was (as was I initially), he having bought it used himself. My guess is that the initial owner had added the GPS equipment and had done the firmware update on the controller. Unfortunately, what the mount did not come with was the RJ-11 to DB9 cable for connecting the controller to a computer. So I visited my friends down at Focus Scientific here in Ottawa and by sheer luck they had a spare RJ-11 to PS/2 (male) cable from Sky Watcher in stock, as they had been sent an extra some time ago. What this would allow is to plug that new cable into the USB converter cable, thus I could connect the controller with a computer. Edited by Aurneth (09/08/12 11:28 AM) Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409910 - 09/08/12 11:29 AM Attachment (29 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Since I use Linux I looked into both Stellarium and KStars, and for that I would have to see that there was a driver for the converter and what device it was using. So I plugged it in to a USB port and issued the following command: Code: ~# lsusb Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409913 - 09/08/12 11:32 AM Attachment (33 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   So the device was found, and it was the apparently fairly common PL2303 USB to Serial converter. Next I checked where the device was located on the system and if it had a driver (module) loaded yet: Code: ~# dmesg Post Extras:       rmollise Postmaster Reged: 07/06/07 Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409923 - 09/08/12 11:38 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Well, that's all fine, but unless you plan to run the SynScan firmware updater with an emulator, I don't see how you plan to update the HC firmware with this rig... Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409937 - 09/08/12 11:43 AM Attachment (34 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   And happily the system loaded a driver module and the device is unsurprisingly located at /dev/ttyUSB0. I used this information to set the mount up in both Stellarium and KStars. However, I also wanted to update the firmware. This could be a bit more challenging since the updater from Skywatcher is a Windows program. I have access to a Windows 2000 machine and I tried and tried to install a driver for the USB Serial cable, but to no avail (contrast that to the instant installation by my Debian Linux OS). I just couldn't get rid of the yellow warning sign in the Hardware Manager and the updater software couldn't find the controller when attached. So I decided to give wine a go. The biggest thing you actually have to do is create a symlink to the linux device in a way wine and the updater software can understand (its looking for COM ports), but fortunately WineHQ has the way to do it: http://www.winehq.org/docs/wineusr-guide/misc-things-to-configure Code: cd ~/.wine/dosdevices ln -s /dev/ttyUSB0 com3 As you can see, I also added a pair of serial devices as well, just for completeness. Edited by Aurneth (09/08/12 12:20 PM) Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409949 - 09/08/12 11:49 AM Attachment (29 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Now on to seeing if it would work: Code: $ wine SynScanFirmwareLoader_Ver3.0/SynScanFirmwareLoader.exe And here we are, the SynScan Firmware Loader running under wine in Linux. I pressed the HC. Version button to confirm that it had detected the controller, which it had. Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409953 - 09/08/12 11:50 AM Attachment (30 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Next, accessing the update file: Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409955 - 09/08/12 11:51 AM Attachment (30 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   And the file itself: Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409960 - 09/08/12 11:53 AM Attachment (30 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Now for the moment of truth: will it actually work? It's one thing to find the device and probe it a bit, quite another to actually do something. Here it is at the beginning of the erase cycle (I just missed getting the screenshot of that in the status area). Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409961 - 09/08/12 11:54 AM Attachment (33 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Success! The update is complete. Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409964 - 09/08/12 11:57 AM Attachment (31 downloads) Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Finally, back to the mount itself to plug it in and power it up. As you can see, the firmware has indeed been updated to v3.27. I prepared this little article in case anyone else using Linux was wondering how to update their Synscan firmware with Wine when they don't have recourse to a Windows box that actually functions properly... Post Extras:       lambermo sage Reged: 07/16/07 Loc: .nl Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5409976 - 09/08/12 12:03 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Cool post. Post Extras:       mclewis1 Thread Killer Reged: 02/25/06 Loc: New Brunswick, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: lambermo]       #5410192 - 09/08/12 02:30 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Aurneth, Yes, regardless of the update situation it's always interesting to hear from someone who's documented using USB-serial adapters and planetarium/scope control apps in Linux. Thanks for the info. Post Extras:       Aurneth member Reged: 08/11/12 Loc: Ottawa, Canada Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: mclewis1]       #5410530 - 09/08/12 06:10 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Mark, I didn't think that using Planetarium/scope control apps in Linux was all that remarkable anymore. It was pretty straightforward, really. I suppose the USB-serial adaptor added an extra wrinkle but the OS dealt with that easily. But updating the SynScan firmware in Linux is something I can't even find a reference for, so that's why I decided to document my attempt. Kudos to the Wine developers for making such a straightforward way of adding virtual COM ports because without that it would have gone nowhere fast. David Post Extras:       groz Carpal Tunnel Reged: 03/14/07 Loc: Duncan, BC Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: Aurneth]       #5413166 - 09/10/12 11:52 AM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   We have 3 synscan mounts here, bunch of linux computers, and my wife uses a mac. We still have netbooks with xp on them specifically for the telescopes, but, will be moving to an all linux setup for the scopes over the next few months, so this is a very handy thing to know. I just checked, and googling for 'update sysnscan firmware in linux' already returns a direct link to this thread, so, now it's 'out there' for anybody hunting, easily found. Post Extras:       knro member Reged: 11/08/11 Loc: Kuwait Re: Updating Synscan firmware in Linux [Re: groz]       #5421532 - 09/14/12 08:18 PM Edit   Reply   Quote Quick Reply   Thanks for the detailed information. I just followed your instructions and successfully upgraded my synscan to 3.27! One _less_ reason to switch to Windows now :-) Post Extras:       Pages: 1

Previous   Index   Next   Threaded

Extra information 1 registered and 6 anonymous users are browsing this forum. Moderator:  Bowmoreman, richard7  Print Thread Forum Permissions       You cannot start new topics       You cannot reply to topics       HTML is disabled       UBBCode is enabled Thread views: 763 Jump to *Announcements and News* -----   Cloudy Nights Announcements   Discussion of CN Articles, Reviews, and Reports   Celestial Events*General Astronomy* -----   Beginners Forum   General Observing and Astronomy   Outreach   Light Pollution*Equipment Discussions* -----   ATM, Optics and DIY Forum   Binoculars   Binoviewers   Cats & Casses   Classic Telescopes   Equipment   Eyepieces   Mounts   Observatories   Reflectors   Refractors    Video and Electronically Assisted Astronomy*Astrophotography and Sketching* -----   Beginning and Intermediate Imaging   Film Astrophotography   DSLR & Digital Camera Astro Imaging & Processing   CCD Imaging & Processing   Solar System Imaging & Processing   Sketching   Astro Imaging/Sketching Contest *Observing* -----   NEO   Planetary and Solar System Observing   Lunar Observing   Deep Sky Observing   Double Star Observing   Solar   Variable Star Observing and Radio Astronomy*Telescope Specific Forums* -----   Celestron NexStar    NexStar GPS / CPC Telescopes   Questar Forum   Meade ACF/RCX / LX / GPS    Meade ETX*Speciality Forums* -----   Arizona Science and Astronomy Expo   NEAF (Northeast Astronomy Forum) and NEAIC (Northeast Astro Imaging Conference)   AstroArt   Astronomy Clubs and Star Parties   Astronomy Software & Computers   AstroWebsites   Science! Astronomy & Space Exploration, and Others   Space Rocks   Stellar Media*Swap and Shop* -----   Shop and Swap Audio Components*CN Feedback and Vendor Announcements* -----   Vendor and Group Announcements*International Year of Astronomy 2009 - Forums are now closed.* -----   IYA Archive Info

CN Forums Home