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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EasyEDA OnStep PCB
This Topic is to keep users up to date on the MiniPCB and MaxPCB designs which are available on EasyEDA. |
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Re: EasyEDA OnStep PCB
koal01
Hi Howard,
Congratulations for this new group and thanks for this very nice job on EasyEda Pcb's. Can i ask you if you plan to design a case for the max pcb ? Koal01 |
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Re: EasyEDA OnStep PCB
Howard Dutton
Yes, it's my intention to design a 3D printed case for the MaxPCB. It'll be a while though. Especially since I'm reworking my Observatory Control System with a EasyEDA PCB also and that will be built first...
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BCB
Bodo Götze
Hallo
Alles Gute Zum Umzug! Hatte in China mir die max pcb bestehlt (alte Ausführung) Bin gerade beim bestücken der Platine, bis jetzt keine Grossen Probleme, Problematisch ist nur das bestellen der Bauteile Die PCB Haben 5st. = 25,67 USD Qualität ist gut Ca 14 Tage Gewartet. Mfg.Bodo |
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Re: BCB
Debalme Stephane
Hallo
toggle quoted message
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Bei welchen webverkaufer hast du es bestellt ? Sonnst sieht es gut aus. Hast du vor ein Rj45 stecke einzubauen? Mfg Stephane
Le 25 nov. 2017 à 14:59, bodoundute@... a écrit :
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Re: BCB
Howard Dutton
On Sat, Nov 25, 2017 at 05:59 am, <bodoundute@...> wrote:
HelloI don't like to complain about a free service, but I finally reached my breaking point with Yahoo's non-sense. I can now paste images into messages! File upload works! GitHub integration! There's a Wiki. Hopefully it won't stop working for days on end. Etc. etc. etc. I know of no reason why that older MaxPCB shouldn't work, but it does have it's issues (which can be worked through/around from what I know.) |
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Re: BCB
Bodo Götze
Hallo
Die teile habe Ich bei Digi_Key bestelt. B. |
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ESP8266
alain_stpierre@...
Hi,
I want to add WIFI to my Onstep project and i want to know if the ESP8266 ESP-12 is supported with OnStepESPServer. Thanks Alain |
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Re: ESP8266
Howard Dutton
While no one that I know of has used the ESP-12 (e,f,s?) I would be very surprised if my OnStepESPServer didn't run properly on it.
My experience has been with the ESP-01 and the nice WeMos D1 Mini. |
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Re: BCB
Bodo Götze
Hallo
Howart Binn jetzt beim testen der älteren MaxPCB ist das die Alternative Pin Map ?Bin mir nicht sicher. Die alpha oder beta benutzen? Danke für deine Mühe Grüße Bodo |
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Re: BCB
Howard Dutton
Yes, use the Alternate pin-map for the MiniPCB and MaxPCB.
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Re: BCB
Howard Dutton
Both beta and alpha OnStep's will work, the alpha is recommended at the moment.
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the move to groups.io
Hi Howard,
This is an excellent groups/discussion platform! With all the Yahoo accounts getting hacked, up time issues and platform limitations LAAS has with Yahoo I got all excited and put up a demo site for the LAAS to test on. It's weird, I don't understand why people are not flocking here to the new OnStep site? Anyway, as usual your project is an inspiration, all the best. -- Chip Louie, Chief Daydreamer and Blue Sky Project Manager - Imagination Hardware |
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Re: the move to groups.io
Howard Dutton
This group has 11% of the Yahoo Group member count... in 5 days. Not too bad. OnStep has a large body of information over there at Yahoo but yea the switch really had to be done. One up-side is the timing is good since I feel OnStep has reached a milestone in terms of stability and features while at the same time the hardware has evolved and this should keep the forum contents more relevant.
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Re: the move to groups.io
Hi Howard, Oh, I see there are 42 members now! So you didn't import the user data from Yahoo to groups.io? I guess it will take a few days to get the ball rolling over here on the new groups. Anyway I really admire this group, their tenacity and cohesiveness. This is what all of these things should be like. Now if only I could get our 850 members to behave civilly when we change platforms. Thanks again for this great group. Chip On Tue, Nov 28, 2017 at 11:44 AM, Howard Dutton <hjd1964@...> wrote: This group has 11% of the Yahoo Group member count... in 5 days. Not too bad. OnStep has a large body of information over there at Yahoo but yea the switch really had to be done. One up-side is the timing is good since I feel OnStep has reached a milestone in terms of stability and features while at the same time the hardware has evolved and this should keep the forum contents more relevant.
--
Chip Louie, Chief Daydreamer and Blue Sky Project Manager - Imagination Hardware |
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error messages in Sky Planetarium
tomofreno2000
I can't get off square one in Sky Planetarium. I get error message1 below when I enter the coordinates of my location in connections/telescope/Onstep/properties in Sky Planetarium. The format shown is sDD*MM. I entered +39*30 for latitude (39.5 deg), which is rejected for a length error. Also get the same error when I enter +7 for UTC offset. When I select IP address for Port I get the second error message below. If I click continue, it does, but when I re-open the window the fields are blank. Tried several permutations such as space, hyphen, etc in place of * and get the same error. Seems it is not seeing the entries?
Error message1: "Unhandled exception has occurred in a component in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. Length cannot be less than zero. Parameter name: length." Error message2: "Unhandled exception has occurred in a component in your application. If you click Continue, the application will ignore this error and attempt to continue. Object reference not set to an instance of an object." |
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Re: error messages in Sky Planetarium
You're not the first user to run into this, and it has nothing to do with Sky Planetarium, this is an OnStep ASCOM driver dialog issue...
The immediate solution is to make sure valid data exists in all fields. There is code to check and handle this but it obviously isn't getting the job done and needs improvement. If you could provide a screen shot of the dialog so I can see exactly what's tripping it up that would be helpful. |
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Re: ESP8266
alain_stpierre@...
Hi Howard,
Everything is working fine with 'ONSTEP', I really like it and I want to add WIFI. I bought a Wemos D1 Miini and i'm not able to use it. I don't have any experience in Wifi and I don't know what to modify in the OnStepESPServer. Maybe you can help me? I'm using a Teensy 3.2. I connect RX to TX and TX to RX. (It's working when I'm using a bluetooth HC-06). Without any modifications in OnStepESPServer, the upload on my Wemos works fine. - When I open a serial monitor on my COM port at 9600, I can see commands like: :#:#:SB1# ... - When I look on my phone, I don't see 'ONSTEP' in the list. When I change DEBUG_OFF to DEBUG_ON in the CONFIG.H of OnStepESPServer, The 'ONSTEP' choice appear on my phone and I can enter the password. In OnStepESPServer, I don't know what to change. Specially for thoses: - wifi_sta_ip - wifi_sta_gw, - wifi_sta_sn - wifi_ap_ip, - wifi_ap_gm, - wifi_ap_sn Do I need 'OnStepEthernetServer' to be able to use WIFI? I tried running other sketches like 'Blink' and 'WIFIScan' on the WeMos and they work fine. I also tried with a bluetooth HC-06 with the Teensy and it works. Thanks Alain |
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Re: error messages in Sky Planetarium
Here's a link to a slightly experimental OnStep ASCOM driver (version 1.39) that should address many of the issues you're having (and others.) Hopefully without breaking anything. :)
I still wonder if you're actually connected... the error messages make me think you're not. Another tricky aspect is that the IP address, if changed, requires changing the Port away from IP and back to it again to initiate another connect attempt. That should also be fixed in this version in that simply leaving the IP address field causes a connection attempt now. |
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Re: ESP8266
Howard Dutton
Alain,
- Without any modifications in OnStepESPServer, the upload on my Wemos works fine. Good - When I open a serial monitor on my COM port at 9600, I can see commands like: :#:#:SB1# ... This is correct, Good . - When I look on my phone, I don't see 'ONSTEP' in the list. Normal, until the ESP gets a valid reply from OnStep the SSID isn't reprogrammed. When I change DEBUG_OFF to DEBUG_ON in the CONFIG.H of OnStepESPServer, The 'ONSTEP' choice appear on my phone and I can enter the password. Normal, don't change anything yet. In OnStepESPServer, I don't know what to change. Specially for thoses: You shouldn't ever need to touch any of that, leave it alone. Config.h is the only place for settings. OnStepEthernetServer Nothing to do with this! The ESP needs to be attached to an OnStep to function correctly. Read the OnStepESPServer Config.h file! A WeMos has on-board USB to serial and that makes the default serial port unavailable for OnStep. You need to swap the port to other pins and wire OnStep's Serial1 RX/TX into those, have you done this? Have you enabled the option to swap serial? |
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