16 replies to this topic

[clupus]

I'm an early-bird kind of guy so astronomy probably isn't the best hobby choice for me. However, I'm doing it in astrophotography but I need a good night's sleep. 

 

Before asking for help, here is my equipment set-up: ROR observatory/SB MtY mount/Starlight Express SX 694 camera and filter wheel and Focus Cube focuser.

 

I've tried and liked N.I.N.A. but camera problems could not be resolved. Voyager showed promise but its software reversed my ROR resulting in the roof going off the track. This also could not be fixed.

 

I'm now trying Prism! It looks promising but my high school French isn't worth a ****. I'm going through the videos trying to absorb as much information as possible but searching for individual answers is difficult so I'm hoping that those of you who use this program can help me out.

 

1. Prism is advertised as a stand alone program but when I load it, it also loads TSX. Why?

 

2. In between the two top tool bars there's a line of information. It lists the Sky Chart/Date and Time/My Observatory name/ and then (no telescope moves allowed). What have I not set up to prevent moves? This is probably related to Question 3 below.

 

3. On the sky chart, if I right click on an object, the option to slew the telescope is greyed out.

 

Some additional information. My TSX version is 64 bit. I got a warning when trying to use the 64 bit version of Prism telling me that my camera will only work with the 32 bit version of Prism.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hank

 

 

 

 

[team forsyth]

Did you contact Leonardo from Voyager about your issues? He can be hard to understand with a language barrier and can be a bit blunt but usually can fix anything..

[G-2 Astro]

Yes I did and his response was that nothing was wrong with Voyager and to contact the roof manufacturer. Since I built the Observatory I contacted the person who wrote the ROR program (RRCI). Chuck responded immediately saying that it was quite a simple program and couldn’t suggest why it wouldn’t work. Also, the ROR works well with N.I.N.A. Without the ability to use ROR feature, I can’t automate an all night session.

[DS INC]

TSX is required to run the MyT, Prism would not be able to connect to the MyT stand alone.  Prism also is probably not set up to use TSX64 from the error message you report, I would contact Leo via support email about your roof, he should be able to get a fix for you (it is not as simple as reversing wires is it) 

 

Voyager is a very robust automation application.

 

Do not use Voyagers forum for support questions as that always ends poorly, use the support email.

[Iver]

        I've never used any of the software you tried. I have been using Astroart since version 2 it's at 9 now. Because it has always worked very well I never felt the need to try other software. Image processing and acquisition, script-able sequencing and observatory control,

excellent support.

 

https://www.msb-astroart.com/

[DeanS]

I have Sky Roof, Sky Alert, and CCD AutoPilot and they work together flawlessly.  

 

AutoPilot is rather old but works great with the other CCDWare products and SkyX.

[clupus]

DS INC - I believe you are correct regarding Prism being unable to run TSX 64. When setting up the MtY mount, the "Direct Drive" option is greyed out. I tried reversing the wires and that was a disaster as the roof went off the track. In both N.I.N.A. and Prism, the roof opens and closes correctly. As for Voyager, there is a reported problem with TSX dome not working properly with that software.

 

Iver and Dean - Thanks for the suggestions. I'll check them out.

 

I think I'll go back to Starlight Xpress and see if they can solve the camera problem and then I could go back to N.I.N.A.

[michael8554]

If the RoR motor is DC, reverse the plus and minus connections.

 

Michael

[gordtulloch]

I use Stellarmate (Linux) on a MiniPC that runs KStars/EKOS controlling my ROR observatory with a setup similar to RRCI named indi-rolloffino (ie controls a relay to close the manual open/close switch input on the gate opener I use.)  Your setup seems to be supported under INDI drivers.  A hell of a lot more people use KStars/EKOS than Prism, so support is pretty easy to get. Buy Stellarmate and it's fully supported by the current maintainer of the INDI/KStars/EKOS code.

 

I'm finishing off an observatory management application that will automate all aspects of the environment including providing easy to use target selection and scheduling as well as functions to import the resulting FITS data into a database for easy retrieval and analysis. See here for info. 

 

The KStars/EKOS/INDI ecosystem is bar none the easiest way to create a fully custom observatory environment for basically $0 for software.  See here for examples on how you can script things in Python to control the observatory. 

 

This is obviously a DIY approach, if you're looking for a comprehensive solution that requires no technical expertise on your part this is definitely not the solution.

Edited by gordtulloch, 17 March 2025 - 01:16 PM.

[Bob Denny]

 

the ROR works well with N.I.N.A.

I'm assuming NINA speaks ASCOM. Since all ASCOM-compliant RORs appear identical to all ASCOM speaking apps, then the place to look is not to try all of the automation programs out there ... shooting in the dark. The problem is in the ROR system. Is the RRCI program acting as an ASCOM driver? If so then you can check Chuck's work by running the ASCOM Conform Universal test tool. It will exercise your roof and tell you of bugs. Be **** sure you follow the RRCI installation, wiring, and setup though!!!

 

Or maybe NINA does not use ASCOM to talk to the ROR? If not, then ignore what I said.

[han.k]

I'm an early-bird kind of guy so astronomy probably isn't the best hobby choice for me. However, I'm doing it in astrophotography but I need a good night's sleep. 

 

Before asking for help, here is my equipment set-up: ROR observatory/SB MtY mount/Starlight Express SX 694 camera and filter wheel and Focus Cube focuser.

 

I've tried and liked N.I.N.A. but camera problems could not be resolved. Voyager showed promise but its software reversed my ROR resulting in the roof going off the track. This also could not be fixed.

 

I'm now trying Prism! It looks promising but my high school French isn't worth a ****. I'm going through the videos trying to absorb as much information as possible but searching for individual answers is difficult so I'm hoping that those of you who use this program can help me out.

 

1. Prism is advertised as a stand alone program but when I load it, it also loads TSX. Why?

 

2. In between the two top tool bars there's a line of information. It lists the Sky Chart/Date and Time/My Observatory name/ and then (no telescope moves allowed). What have I not set up to prevent moves? This is probably related to Question 3 below.

 

3. On the sky chart, if I right click on an object, the option to slew the telescope is greyed out.

 

Some additional information. My TSX version is 64 bit. I got a warning when trying to use the 64 bit version of Prism telling me that my camera will only work with the 32 bit version of Prism.

 

Any help would be appreciated.

 

Hank

 

64 bit applications typically can not work with 32 bit camera drivers.You should get a warning when you select the camera in the ASCOM selector.  Difficult to understand why a modern "Starlight Express SX 694" would be 32 bit. What does happen if you try to select the camera and mount driver in the ASCOM selection menu? Worst case you could try to install 32 bit versions of CCDciel of APT programs since Nina and Prism are not distributing 32 bit versions.

 

Han

Edited by han.k, 18 March 2025 - 05:48 AM.

[archer1960]

Another automation package you can try is SharpCap. It's not free, but it's not expensive (~$30, IIRC).

[StargazerLuigi]

https://www.sharpcap.co.uk/

About $18/yr

[Bob Denny]

 

64 bit applications typically can not work with 32 bit camera drivers.

However ASCOM Platform 7 includes "just a hub" which will allow 32-bit camera drivers to be used by 64 bit programs. When selecting the camera in the Chooser, select Just a Hub, then do its Properties... setup in which you select the 32-bit camera. Now your 64 bit program can use the 32-bit camera driver. 

 

We should thank Peter Simpson of the ASCOM Core Team for this. 

Edited by Bob Denny, 18 March 2025 - 08:18 PM.

[han.k]

Thanks Bob, that is new to me.

 

I had a quick look and the camera driver is available as 32 and 64 bit version. Assuming the 32 bit is installled and I have found the correct webpage, I would suggest to @clupus the following:

 

1) Remove the 32 bit driver (Windows remove software) and install the 64 bit camera driver.

2) Install the ASCOM driver from the same webpage

 

Both the camera driver and Ascom driver are required before the camera will function as an ASCOM camera.   

 

See this webpage:

https://www.sxccd.co...port/resources/

 

Han

[clupus]

I'm going to stick with N.I.N.A. as everything works well except the camera. Thanks for the ASCOM information, Bob. I'll get the camera set up as suggested and wait for a clear night to try it out.

 

I'll let the group know how it goes.

 

Hank

[Bob Denny]

I'm going to stick with N.I.N.A. as everything works well except the camera. Thanks for the ASCOM information, Bob. I'll get the camera set up as suggested and wait for a clear night to try it out.

 

I'll let the group know how it goes.

 

Hank

You can test the camera in the daytime. It's either going to work or not, and if it does then if it takes bad images, different problem. :-)