14 replies to this topic

[ranjin]

I found that the Paramount ascom driver seems to have bugs, under windows 10, no matter through nina or phd or any case of calling skyx software through ascom to control Mounts, the following error will appear. This phenomenon is completely normal in win7 system. (After clicking connect, skyx will not be activated, the system just waits indefinitely) I don't know if everyone will have such troubles? How to solve it? (I tested a variety of methods, no matter if I connected Mounts in skyx first, or closed them all, I could not successfully connect to the equatorial mount)

 

 

[rgsalinger]

It looks like you are using NINA. If that's correct then what you need to do is to download the ASCOM X2 driver for the SKYX is you are trying to control a Paramount.  You can't just connect to the SKYX. I have no trouble using NINA with my Paramount and I have that driver downloaded. 

 

https://rockchucksum...a-with-theskyx/ may be helpful. More about your configuration would also be helpful 

 

Rgrds-Ross

[ranjin]

It looks like you are using NINA. If that's correct then what you need to do is to download the ASCOM X2 driver for the SKYX is you are trying to control a Paramount.  You can't just connect to the SKYX. I have no trouble using NINA with my Paramount and I have that driver downloaded. 

 

https://rockchucksum...a-with-theskyx/ may be helpful. More about your configuration would also be helpful 

 

Rgrds-Ross

Oh! Thank you so much~ I just carefully looked at the website you provided me, and I found that I did most of it right, except that the tcp server listening for connection in skyx was not checked, and I didn't use the management Start skyx in member mode. After I do these two items, both phd and nina can connect normally under win10! Thank you so much for your help! Thanks!

[ranjin]

It looks like you are using NINA. If that's correct then what you need to do is to download the ASCOM X2 driver for the SKYX is you are trying to control a Paramount.  You can't just connect to the SKYX. I have no trouble using NINA with my Paramount and I have that driver downloaded. 

 

https://rockchucksum...a-with-theskyx/ may be helpful. More about your configuration would also be helpful 

 

Rgrds-Ross

Hmmm... have another problem... now nina can connect to the equatorial mount, but the three point polar alignment says "Telescope cannot move primary axis, This is required for the automated slews around the right ascrnsion axis!" I don't know where to set it wrong. Also please help me to solve the problem, thank you!

[ranjin]

 

 

[rgsalinger]

Did you home the mount? 

[ranjin]

Did you home the mount? 

Yes, in skyx, the equatorial mount can be moved normally by clicking the east, west, north and south control buttons on the screen with the mouse, but not in nina. In nina, you can enter coordinates to move the equatorial mount, and you can also make the equatorial mount move. park, but N, S, W, E cannot control the equatorial mount.

[Linwood]

Are you current on TSX?  Specifically the X2/ASCOM driver?  I am going on old memory, but I think there was a fix to the moveaxis command last year sometime (which is rarely used, but is used in Three Point Polar Alignment.

 

tPoint actually does a very nice polar alignment by the way, when i was imaging with NINA and TSX, I used tPoint, which also recalibrated the model for that night if I recall.   

[ranjin]

Are you current on TSX?  Specifically the X2/ASCOM driver?  I am going on old memory, but I think there was a fix to the moveaxis command last year sometime (which is rarely used, but is used in Three Point Polar Alignment.

 

tPoint actually does a very nice polar alignment by the way, when i was imaging with NINA and TSX, I used tPoint, which also recalibrated the model for that night if I recall.   

Yes, I have completely installed the X2/ASCOM driver, because in phd2, you can start skyx through X2/ASCOM for guiding.

I haven't used tpoint yet, because I just built a small observatory, and I'm going to use tpoint to be precise about the polar axis

[rgsalinger]

Let's go back a bit. Can you home the mount, park it and the unpark it and slew to (say) Capella in the SKYX? 

 

If that works then can you do the same using NINA to control the mount? 

 

If so, then there's a problem in NINA. If not then it's something about the connection. 

 

The X2 driver has not been changed in years and years. The one I have installed was placed in the comptuer about 3 years ago. 

 

I'm embarassed to say that I can't find the polar alignment wizard in NINA. I have an older version installed that may not have it. So, I can't test that but everything works just fine with the version that I have. Do I need to download a plug in? 

 

Rgrds-Ross

[Linwood]

Let's go back a bit. Can you home the mount, park it and the unpark it and slew to (say) Capella in the SKYX? 

 

If that works then can you do the same using NINA to control the mount? 

 

If so, then there's a problem in NINA. If not then it's something about the connection. 

 

The X2 driver has not been changed in years and years. The one I have installed was placed in the comptuer about 3 years ago. 

 

I'm embarassed to say that I can't find the polar alignment wizard in NINA. I have an older version installed that may not have it. So, I can't test that but everything works just fine with the version that I have. Do I need to download a plug in? 

 

Rgrds-Ross

 

The Three Point Polar alignment (TPPA) is in a plugin, and is in the Beta version of NINA only, installed from the plugin option.

 

TPPA is not the same as using NINA to slew to an object; slew uses a slewto operation with ASCOM, whereas TPPA (in order to be sure it does not move in DEC) uses the MoveAxis ASCOM command, which for some years TSX did not support.  I THINK they added it in a more recent version, but I cannot tell from their release notes.

 

The 64 bit version was released in April 2021, and has had 3 updates since.  I cannot find anything about the 32 bit version being updated, and no mention of MoveAxis so you may be right.

 

I also found that APCC (Astro physics) did an update last fall for MoveAxis, and I think that is what I was remembering (I was changing mounts about then), so I have no idea if TSX/X2 made a change or not, or if it works with TPPA.  I do see searching the support forums on Bisque other people complaining that MoveAxis is not supported.  I did not find (but maybe it's there) any resolution to those requests. 

 

So I have no idea if MoveAxis is supported, and if TPPA can be used with TSX because of that.  You might ask on NINA's discord for TSX users and whether it works.

 

While I love TPPA, and I generally did not like TSX, tPoint worked well and the accurate polar alignment there also worked well and fast, not quite as fast as TPPA (since it needed more points in the small recalibrate model) but fast enough.  

 

Sorry for the confusion on versions.

Edited by Linwood, 17 January 2022 - 09:02 AM.

[rgsalinger]

Thanks. The software engineer in my cannot bring himself to ever download the beta version of anything unless if was truly life saving. I can certainly move my Paramount in all directions with the arrow keys, though, so I would have thought that the MoveAxis method must be supported by the mount. It may or may not be supported in the SKYX ASCOM driver.

 

As an aside, I've had trouble with those arrow keys using the SKYX to control my CEM120EC2. It simply doesn't move at all when I press them. I have to use the jog (slew) functions when I need fine control.  

 

Rgrds-Ross

[ranjin]

Let's go back a bit. Can you home the mount, park it and the unpark it and slew to (say) Capella in the SKYX? 

 

If that works then can you do the same using NINA to control the mount? 

 

If so, then there's a problem in NINA. If not then it's something about the connection. 

 

The X2 driver has not been changed in years and years. The one I have installed was placed in the comptuer about 3 years ago. 

 

I'm embarassed to say that I can't find the polar alignment wizard in NINA. I have an older version installed that may not have it. So, I can't test that but everything works just fine with the version that I have. Do I need to download a plug in? 

 

Rgrds-Ross

I'll keep testing nina to see where the problem is. I used skyx's tpoint last night and I found it to be pretty good too, another great option for me after nina three point Polar Alignment. Solved my polar alignment issue.

[ranjin]

The Three Point Polar alignment (TPPA) is in a plugin, and is in the Beta version of NINA only, installed from the plugin option.

 

TPPA is not the same as using NINA to slew to an object; slew uses a slewto operation with ASCOM, whereas TPPA (in order to be sure it does not move in DEC) uses the MoveAxis ASCOM command, which for some years TSX did not support.  I THINK they added it in a more recent version, but I cannot tell from their release notes.

 

The 64 bit version was released in April 2021, and has had 3 updates since.  I cannot find anything about the 32 bit version being updated, and no mention of MoveAxis so you may be right.

 

I also found that APCC (Astro physics) did an update last fall for MoveAxis, and I think that is what I was remembering (I was changing mounts about then), so I have no idea if TSX/X2 made a change or not, or if it works with TPPA.  I do see searching the support forums on Bisque other people complaining that MoveAxis is not supported.  I did not find (but maybe it's there) any resolution to those requests. 

 

So I have no idea if MoveAxis is supported, and if TPPA can be used with TSX because of that.  You might ask on NINA's discord for TSX users and whether it works.

 

While I love TPPA, and I generally did not like TSX, tPoint worked well and the accurate polar alignment there also worked well and fast, not quite as fast as TPPA (since it needed more points in the small recalibrate model) but fast enough.  

 

Sorry for the confusion on versions.

Thanks for your help, I'll keep testing my nina and skyx to see where the problem is.

[scottdevine]

Thanks. The software engineer in my cannot bring himself to ever download the beta version of anything unless if was truly life saving. I can certainly move my Paramount in all directions with the arrow keys, though, so I would have thought that the MoveAxis method must be supported by the mount. It may or may not be supported in the SKYX ASCOM driver.

 

As an aside, I've had trouble with those arrow keys using the SKYX to control my CEM120EC2. It simply doesn't move at all when I press them. I have to use the jog (slew) functions when I need fine control.  

 

Rgrds-Ross

Hi, The first picture indicates that you are actually still using the 1.11 NIGHTLY version, which as I understand it is not even being updated.  The Beta 2.0xxx is regularly being updated and in my experience has been very stable since going Beta.  I highly recommend you move to Beta and those updates. 

 

Also, I had some similar issues several months back that were resolved on the NINA discord server: https://discord.com/...146554736427008

 

"dgent" is and active contributor and plugin maker and "buzz" appears to be "Chris Woodhouse" who has lots of Youtube videos on The SKYX and paramount mounts.  They are VERY knowledgeable. 

 

Good Luck!

Edited by scottdevine, 18 January 2022 - 09:10 AM.