Was playing with SP a little bit without the scope but with my onstep connected by usb. Since I had read that in order for multiple devices to connect to the telescope, I needed to use a device hub, I selected the ASCOM device hub. I noticed some of the functionality was grayed out in the telescope, like the alignment settings. When I connected directly to the ASCOM driver all of the functionality was enabled.

is there a way to use sky planetarium with other software, mostly thinking of PHD2 

Mike

I use SP for alignment & control connected to OnStep via USB port (using ASCOM Poth HUB) .  I am also able to use Sequence Generator Pro (also with ASCOM POTH hub connection) to plate solve and sync as well as control telescope.
Phd2 is also connected to OnStep for Guiding via ASCOM Poth HUB. I currently run Phd2 separately but I have the option using SGPro to guide via ASCOM POTH HUB.
I have a local Windows 10 PC use Teamviewer to remote into that runs SP, SGPro, & Phd2  with the shared ASCOM POTH HUB connection to OnStep \.
Works really well.

Brent

Maybe I will try POTH then. I had read it was a little older so I thought the device hub might be a little better.

does POTH let you align, etc through SP? 

Mike

On Wed, Sep 9, 2020 at 06:36 PM, Mikes Gmail wrote:

Maybe I will try POTH then. I had read it was a little older so I thought the device hub might be a little better.

does POTH let you align, etc through SP? 

Yes.  There is the "Generic Hub" which also works for me.  For whatever reason the powers that be decided to not expose certain standard driver features in the new "Device Hub Telescope."

Also if it's a Teensy running the latest OnStep you can compile to allow 3x serial ports which allows you to side step this issue too.

Howard,
I thought the extra serial ports were to support the focusers and rotator by giving them individual serial ports? Are you saying I can use the three serial ports just for telescope control?


Same on the device hub though. POTH has been around forever though, if it works I guess I will use it.

Thanks again!
Mike

On Thu, Sep 10, 2020 at 05:35 AM, Mikes Gmail wrote:

I thought the extra serial ports were to support the focusers and rotator by giving them individual serial ports? Are you saying I can use the three serial ports just for telescope control?

Yes, or a mix two for the Telescope one for focuser.  AFAIK that all works fine.  Again this is the Teensy based controllers I'm talking about.

Thats cool, I did not know that, thanks!

Mike

I did some testing around this last night

I found that POTH would sometimes drop the connection when i had SGP running connected to the scope - sgp would still show it connected but onstep was no longer communicating with POTH or POTH was not communicating with SGP.

I used the generic hub and that worked for a couple hours. So thats prolly what i will use going forward.

FYI i just connected it, connected PHD2 and SGP, and then used the "slew to" in SGP to slew a couple times, then let it track for a while. POTH would drop, Generic hub worked fine.

I'll also check my usb cable as its possible that was part of the problem - for part of the test i had my laptop on my lap. not a fan f those micro usb connectors :(

Mike

Mike,

I use POTH with OnStep, SP ,SGP, and Phd2. I do not use Phd2 through SGP yet. But I have not seen it drop out before.
I have a dedicated PC at the scope site and remotely connect to the local PC.
I use the SP to align and monitor through the OnStep USB port (POTH). SGP and Phd2 run on the local PC and connect
to OnStep through the POTH connection.  I use SGP to plate solve, sync to OnStep, control focuser/filter wheel/camera, and make minor Telescope adjustments.
I use Phd2 running on the local PC and connect to OnStep via POTH connection.
I have not tried the Generic Hub.

Brent