Since I aquired an Losmandy G11 mount without any goto provision I decided to create my own solution. I was a bit reluctant to use a Gemini, mainly because of the cost, but also due to the reliability since the servo motors are somewhat prone to failure. I also like to have complete control over the software/firmware so that no "show stopper" issues will ever be a problem for me. Looking around the 'net I saw other goto systems that seemed capable, but either they had needlessly complex hardware or were commercial systems that cost about twice what they should.
OnStep is a computerized goto system, usually for stepper motor equipped mounts though any step/dir interface motor driver (including servo) should work. It was designed, from the beginning, as a more or less general purpose system and provisions were made in the firmware to allow for use on a variety of mounts including Equatorial and Alt/Az (GEM, Fork, Dobsonian, etc.) It uses an LX200 like computer command set with a few extensions to suit hand controller-less operation.
There's a telescope hand controller App for Android (free in the Google Play Store,) an option to control through a website (Smart Web Server,) and a dedicated physical hand controller (Smart Hand Controller.) Or, on a PC there's ASCOM and INDI drivers for control. These options allow you to setup and control OnStep using a wide range of software including my Sky Planetarium, Cartes du Ciel, Stellarium, SkySafari, KStars, PHD2, etc. You can see most of the control possibilities in the diagram below:
Also, please visit my StellarJourney.com site for updates, links to OnStep resources, my other astronomy software, or to see some Images taken with the assistance of my OnStep operated mounts.
If you find OnStep useful and would like to show your appreciation and support please consider making a small monetary donation. This keeps me motivated and helps cover expenses associated with my projects.
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Re: New SHC Board design
Jerry
I like to have something a little thicker since it also protects the display. I also have a co2 laser cutter so I can make them very easily with a nice finish.
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-Jerry
On Nov 28, 2021, at 12:20 PM, Ken Hunter <kb7hunter@...> wrote:
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Re: OnStep Commercial ??
On Sun, Nov 28, 2021 at 11:14 AM, Dave Schwartz wrote:
I think we must treat this like Instein and say that, in general, the group is not Sharpstar's firmware support arm. If a vendor wants to package OnStep, that is fine and legal but this group is not able to support them except for some kind souls that may take pity on them. A vendor must have the resources to support the product they sell otherwise they're just stealing people's money.I agree with this. We have not seen any Sharpstar employees engaging in the community. So we may end up with a significant number of people seeing the SHC logo, searching Google and ending up here, where they should have contacted the vendor. On the first instance of this happening, we should add a FAQ entry to that effect. Back to trademarks: just because Marlin is doing it differently, does not mean Howard should follow that model. I have worked extensively with open source projects that did trademark (Drupal, the content management system that used to run the White House, and is now on the NIH, IRS, Home Depot, DocuSign, The Economist, several large universities, and so on ...). They trademarked for the reasons I mentioned, and mentioning now. If Howard registers the trademark, he has a chance of not letting the name of the project be soiled by subpar vendors and service. And him licensing the usage of the trademark to vendors (e.g. "Powered by Drupal") will be a cherry on top for some vendors, and a (modest?) revenue stream for Howard after years of putting in the work (and continuing to do so). Though trademarks need to actively asserted to continue being valid. So it is not a "one and done" thing.
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Re: New SHC Board design
On Thu, Jan 30, 2020 at 08:36 AM, Jerry wrote:
Seems like a lot of trouble. I use red film from Amazon and cut with Paper cutter for my SHCs https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B01M1HIER8/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o07_s00?ie=UTF8&th=1
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Re: Sky Safari GOTO limits
Robert Benward
Vladimir,
The line I posted from config.h are Axis 1 limits, not the horizon and overhead limits. Axis limits are based on HA. I don't agree with your last sentence. If you use only positive HAs, your scope will never cross the meridian. Switching zeros only works if the software agrees with your interpretation, but I guess that is what we are discussing here. The HA of the scope (not an object) does not change. 6HA points at the West horizon and -6HA points at the East Horizon. If you look at +/-1HA, the the scope must transit the meridian to get from one to the other. If you insist the scope never goes lower that the DEC weights, then you must perform a meridian flip when moving from the "plus" HA quadrant to the "negative" HA quadrant. I just got my mount back outside and on the tripod. I need to diligently perform these measurements, but it's been really cold the past few days. What I have programmed in right now is +/-90deg. That means my scope should never point below my celestial horizon. It gets more complicated when you add in the horizon/overhead limits. Those seem to be only on the SWS, I could not find horizon limits in config.h But unlike your scope where you plugged in +/-90, my scope goes over most of the sky. I have not tried pointing below the NCP. Bob
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Re: Anyone able to get STM32F303CCT6 256 stm32KB Flash STM32 ARM Cortex(R) M4
George Cushing
Not exactly ... 
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Re: OnStep Commercial ??
Dave Schwartz
The real problem with commercial adoption of OnStep is that Howard's OnStep (and SWS and SHC) is still under such heavy churn that no matter how they've managed to nail jello to the wall and capture a stable version, their customers are going to want to upgrade their firmware at some point. So its inevitable that the vendor is going to have to provide instructions on upgrading the firmware and most of them will come here.
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I think we must treat this like Instein and say that, in general, the group is not Sharpstar's firmware support arm. If a vendor wants to package OnStep, that is fine and legal but this group is not able to support them except for some kind souls that may take pity on them. A vendor must have the resources to support the product they sell otherwise they're just stealing people's money.
On 2021-11-28 11:01 a.m., Drew 🔭📷🚴 ♂ wrote:
Marlin firmware is used all across the 3D printing community. It has countless commercial companies using it for their 3D printers just like this company is using OnStep. This use of the Marlin open sourced software has been going on for some time now. If there was a big time issue it would be well known.
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Re: ESP32 wireless SHC (wSHC)
George Cushing
May want to study ESP32 Power Supply, Electrical Characteristics and Module/Peripheral Schematics. There may be a need for more filtering. The NCP1117 caps may need attention. "The output ripple will increase linearly for fixed and
adjustable devices as the ratio of output voltage to the
reference voltage increases. For example, with a 12 V
regulator, the output ripple will increase by 12 V/1.25 V or
9.6 and the ripple rejection will decrease by 20 log of this
ratio or 19.6 dB. The loss of ripple rejection can be restored
to the values shown with the addition of bypass capacitor
Cadj, shown in Figure 24. The reactance of Cadj at the ripple
frequency must be less than the resistance of R1. The value
of R1 can be selected to provide the minimum required load
current to maintain regulation and is usually in the range of
100 to 200 .
C " Have fun.
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Re: Looking update my BluePill to BlackPill STM32F303CCT6 256 stm32KB Flash STM32 ARM Cortex® M4
Dave Schwartz
That one is not pin compatible either (the 6 pins in the bottom right corner). I'm not sure who the manufacturer 'GD' is (we know CKS who made licensed F103 clones that worked). Maybe this is licensed too and might actually work but it is still not pin compatible. The RobotDyn one is the only one we know of that is pin compatible (and hope it remains compatible after they resume production).
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On 2021-11-28 4:05 a.m., Kokoro San wrote:
Hello guys I tot I can upgrade bluegill to blackpill, to slove the issue of uploading code or wrong resister thing...I was unable to find anyplace sale BlackPill on Robotdyn website for STM32F303CCT6, but I saw 2 type same model but not sure is same as onstep recommend for replace the old bluepill, bellow I found sale in China taobao website. Are they the same ?
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Re: OnStep Commercial ??
Marlin firmware is used all across the 3D printing community. It has countless commercial companies using it for their 3D printers just like this company is using OnStep. This use of the Marlin open sourced software has been going on for some time now. If there was a big time issue it would be well known.
The Marlin name is not trade marked. This use of OnStep was inevitable. I am actually quite surprised it took so long. This was the only comment on commercial vendors I found on their website. I think it applies to OnStep, especially after the Instein fiasco. Some companies do a very poor job of deploying Marlin on their hardware. And a dark side of open source is that some vendors fail to honor the terms of our license which requires them to give you the exact Marlin source code for the firmware on your machine. We understand that companies want to be protective of their trade secrets, but our license terms are clear, and the years of work we have put into Marlin is a major foundation of these businesses. If your vendor is misbehaving, send them a polite message to remind them of your rights under the GPL and their obligation as beneficiaries of Open Source software.
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Re: OnStep Commercial ??
Jerry
The cost to file a trademark isnt terribly high but im not sure it would be worth it. The manual for the mount is here: http://www.sharpstar-optics.com/Upload/1635312011.pdf If nothing else it is a manual on how to use onstep.
On Sun, Nov 28, 2021 at 7:20 AM Richard Shagam <rnshagam@...> wrote: I hate to admit it, but that is one heck of a sexy-looking mount. And the price is phenomenal, considering other harmonic drive mounts on the market are ~$8K. How well it actually works may be another matter. But more to the point, it certainly is quite a tutorial on how to use OnStep. Yes, Howard, please trademark the name before it's too late!
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Re: Anyone able to get STM32F303CCT6 256 stm32KB Flash STM32 ARM Cortex® M4
Dave Schwartz
No, that one is not pin compatible. At first I thought it was just the one with the 3.3V beside the GND in the top left corner (the PCB is set up for the original F103 with two consecutive GNDs there) and that you could work around it but there are other differences if you compare closely.
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On 2021-11-28 4:17 a.m., Kokoro San wrote:
Hi guys anyone able to get STM32F303CCT6? BlackPill
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Re: TMC2130 question
George Cushing
If you wire the M0, M1, M2 and M3 driver pins for SPI control per the pinmap;
// Axis1 RA/Azm step/dir driver
#define Axis1_EN 12 // Enable [must be low at boot 12]
#define Axis1_M0 32 // Microstep Mode 0 or SPI MOSI
#define Axis1_M1 33 // Microstep Mode 1 or SPI SCK
#define Axis1_M2 15 // Microstep Mode 2 or SPI CS
#define Axis1_M3 Aux2 // SPI MISO/Fault
#define Axis1_STEP 26 // Step
#define Axis1_DIR 16 // Dir
#define Axis1_DECAY Axis1_M2 // Decay mode
#define Axis1_HOME Aux3 // Sense home position
// Axis2 Dec/Alt step/dir driver
#define Axis2_EN SHARED // Enable pin control shared with Axis1
#define Axis2_M0 32 // Microstep Mode 0 or SPI MOSI
#define Axis2_M1 33 // Microstep Mode 1 or SPI SCK
#define Axis2_M2 0 // Microstep Mode 2 or SPI CS
#define Axis2_M3 Aux2 // SPI MISO/Fault
#define Axis2_STEP 25 // Step
#define Axis2_DIR 27 // Dir
#define Axis2_DECAY Axis2_M2 // Decay mode
#define Axis2_HOME Aux4 // Sense home position
Then you should address these options in Config.h #define AXIS1_DRIVER_IHOLD OFF // OFF, n, (mA.) Current during standstill. OFF uses IRUN/2.0 Option
#define AXIS1_DRIVER_IRUN OFF // OFF, n, (mA.) Current during tracking, appropriate for stepper/driver/etc. Option
#define AXIS1_DRIVER_IGOTO OFF // OFF, n, (mA.) Current during slews. OFF uses same as IRUN. Option
#define AXIS1_DRIVER_REVERSE OFF // OFF, ON Reverses movement direction, or reverse wiring instead to correct. <-Often
#define AXIS1_DRIVER_STATUS OFF // OFF, TMC_SPI, HIGH, or LOW. Polling for driver status info/fault detection. Option
Roman Hujer wired them in this manner for his D1 R32 shield (using different pin assignments to accommodate the driver's location). 
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Re: OnStep Commercial ??
I hate to admit it, but that is one heck of a sexy-looking mount. And the price is phenomenal, considering other harmonic drive mounts on the market are ~$8K. How well it actually works may be another matter. But more to the point, it certainly is quite a tutorial on how to use OnStep. Yes, Howard, please trademark the name before it's too late!
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Re: SWS Tracking rate adjustment
Robert Benward
Howard,
I used PHD2 guiding assistant and it indicated I had a large drift in RA. I thought this was the place to adjust it. I will go back and repeat the test run again, confirm my polar alignment, etc.. If it is still off, can I adjust the steps/deg? Thanks, Bob
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Re: SWS Tracking rate adjustment
Howard Dutton
On Sat, Nov 27, 2021 at 06:33 PM, Robert Benward wrote:
Has anyone tried the tracking rate adjustment in the SWS. I can click either the fast or slower on the settings page but the status pages does not reflect any changes. Is there a switch for this some in software.This is normal, it doesn't do what you seem to think it does. And for 99% of users you don't need to adjust it, so press the rate reset button near the T+ and T- buttons and don't worry about it. Unless you have an Arduino Mega2560 with ceramic resonator in which case you should make sure you have a PPS source then don't worry about it.
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Re: Sky Safari GOTO limits
Horizon/overhead limit and axis limits are two independent things. First one is automatically calculated based on time and location, it's adjusted on runtime, and the later is constant. I was refering only to second one and only to RA axis. DEC has nothing to do with it.
On Sun, Nov 28, 2021 at 12:58 AM, Robert Benward wrote: Config.h: May I ask you what happen when you set these values? Because when I do so, my RA axis won't go anywhere and it's in the limit at the very moment when it's only pointing to celestial pole. If you imagine this constant is an imaginary limit switch, you may look at it in two different ways. One way to look at it is range when switch is on (limit reached) and the other way is to look at it like the range when switch is off (limit not reached). I don't think we are looking at it the same way, although for some cases (like default -180 +180) it is essentialy the same thing. I imagined this "two zeros" model because it helps a lot when using negative longitude, and when RA is rotating CW. For example, if you have different + and - (say 10-17h), only switching zeros will preserve limits, otherwise they would be also reversed and then you would have 7-14h instead 10-17h.
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Re: New SHC Board design
Thanks, a lot of good beginner info. Which I can tell I definitely am. This is quite different from filament printing.
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Anyone able to get STM32F303CCT6 256 stm32KB Flash STM32 ARM Cortex® M4
Hi guys anyone able to get STM32F303CCT6? BlackPill
Or manufacturer currently is updating the bug on this board....i saw one seller sale on china, izzit same? And how much is one pics? 
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SWS Tracking rate adjustment
Robert Benward
Has anyone tried the tracking rate adjustment in the SWS. I can click either the fast or slower on the settings page but the status pages does not reflect any changes. Is there a switch for this some in software.
Thanks, Bob
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Re: My Dobson project
Tomas de Mora
I'll test the engines when they arrive, with the current configuration.
I will inform you of the result.
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