OnStep group 1. I, Howard Dutton, established this group to share information about OnStep Telescope Controller and its use. These rules are here to keep things courteous and on-topic - and to keep scammers and spammers out... 2. Discussion of any topic not related to OnStep and its subsystems and/or use such as data/images generated with the help of OnStep, is prohibited. 3. Registering to use this group under a false name or for false pretenses is prohibited. Please include a first name when setting up your account, not just your email. It helps to identify who we are addressing and promotes a friendlier atmosphere. 4. Before asking a question, read the relevant *Wiki ( https://groups.io/g/onstep/wiki/home )* sections (aka read the manual.) 5. When asking a question, first provide background on the hardware and software including version info. and configuration/settings, be methodical. Describe what you are trying to do, the steps you took, what you expected, and what happened instead. 6. Excessively vague posts are more likely to go unanswered for fear of the time/effort required to obtain the above information and figure out the problem. 7. More experienced users are encouraged to help beginners. 8. When uploading images, please try to minimize their size as they end up in the e-mail boxes of many people. If you can, upload the images somewhere (e.g. imgur, Google Photos, Flickr) and post a link to it - especially for large images. 9. Try to avoid repeatedly editing messages, since each edit sends the new message to all members. * * 10. Moderators will not allow posts that are rude, uncivil, belittling, derogatory, or discourteous. Members who post such messages are subject to being banned from the group. 11. Advertisements for commercial products or services must first be approved by the group owner, these requests may be approved or denied for any reason the group owner sees fit. Members who choose to make mention of products or services when approval is denied are subject to being banned from the group. Note that this provision should not be taken as an endorsement of any product or service mentioned in this group. 12. The moderators reserve the right to edit, modify or delete any post they deem a violation of these rules. 13. If you have a question or complaint about a specific post, notify a moderator. 14. The group owner (Howard Dutton) may modify these terms of service without notice.

Just a reminder that OnStep sub groups exist relating to Developer Talk and the Observatory Control System (OCS.)

Version 4.46 of SP is now available. This was mostly a rework of the sub-window display properties to enable correct scaling of dialogs on Windows 10. It makes the UI significantly more pleasant to work in on certain modern systems with high resolution displays. I made numerous little dialog design improvements for consistency, etc. too. Corrected a bug where a 9-star align in OnStep would trigger error messages (bad range check.) Plate solving now automatically selects between "None" and "Telescope" coordinates depending on their availability. Also, a setting of 0 for scaling now omits sending scaling information with the plate solve request. *http://www.stellarjourney.com/index.php?r=site/software_sky*

The *OnStep Configuration Generator* is now updated to work with 3.16 (stable) and 4.x (latest master). This update was done because some people still struggle with the syntax of the configuration file, despite the format of the configuration file from version 3.x onwards was vastly improved to make it more friendly. The users who struggle with the format have no programming experience, and it is difficult to explain that it is case sensitive, it is one argument per #define line, and so on ... The OCG does the following: * Asks for the version of OnStep that you are using. * Asks for the two gear ratios, motor steps per rotation, microsteps, ...etc. (same values from the spreadsheet) * Calculates the most important parameters to get you going, and validates them as per the spreadsheet formulas. * Sets some useful parameters to enabled. * Leaves a lot of the remaining parameters unconfigured, as they are in the original Config.h file. There is no point in supporting version 2.2 or earlier, because it no longer the stable version, and new users will be using the stable or latest master. The Configuration Generator ( http://o.baheyeldin.com:1111/ ) is now online, and instructions are at the top of the page. This is a video demonstrating the generator ( https://youtu.be/2oASeJlPFI0 ) step by step, although for the older versions. The principles are still the same. Your feedback is welcome.

I buy from Einstein.eu and after about 1 month and no response i receive all ( SHC and onstep). I had no response for 2 week on my question but after i had reply from Roberto that help me for connection to the stepper and to change the stepper driver from TMC2130 to TMC 5160. Roberto send me even the source code and instruction to compile all even for SHC and resolve some problem of compilation. I use this email instein.eu@... <mailto:instein.eu@...> and the last was 15 may 2020.

Over the past several months, some people on this mailing list have experienced issues with the Blue Pill. These issues include: * Blue Pill module with only 64K of flash, rather than the 128K required for running OnStep. * Wrong resistor on Boot0, making flashing impossible. So, finally, we have a solution to these issues, as well as upgrade path for those who already have a Blue Pill PCB. Michael Ahner brought to my attention the *RobotDyn STM32F303CCT6 ( https://robotdyn.com/stm32f303cct6-256-kb-flash-stm32-arm-cortexr-m4-mini-system-dev-board-3326a9dd-3c19-11e9-910a-901b0ebb3621.html )*. George Cushing also did the same a few days afterwards. and we found that it has several advantages: * Pin compatible with the Blue Pill (so will fit the PCB designed for the Blue Pill, without any hardware changes) * It has an Floating Point Unit (FPU), being an ARM Cortex M4, not M3 like the original Blue Pill * It has 256K of flash, so it is future proof * It can run OnStep with a Max Rate of 16 with the STM32Duino, so faster slewing So it is fast and future proof, and offers a painless upgrade path for existing users. Mike purchased a couple of units, and I added support for it in my fork, which he patiently tested out. It is available directly from RobotDyn (link above) or AliExpress ( https://www.aliexpress.com/item/33016045350.html ). In both cases, shipping is slower than usual, but that may be a temporary situation. When ordering, both the Arduino and ST versions work the same for OnStep, since we do not use the built-in USB port. It is up to you whether you choose the pins soldered or solder them yourself. Today, Howard merged in my changes for this board, so OnStep master (version 4.20a and later) have all the changes needed for the RobotDyn F303CC. If you want to try out this board, you need to install STM32Duino (search for "STM32" in the board manager). Select *Generic F3 Series* then *RobotDyn BlackPill F303CC*. You must select *Optimize Fastest -O3* for optimal performance. More information on STM32Duino is on the Wiki page for the Blue Pill ( https://onstep.groups.io/g/main/wiki/6408 ) (under OnStep 4), and FYSETC S6 ( https://onstep.groups.io/g/main/wiki/21159 ). Also see the video linked below. Thanks to Michael Ahner who identified this module, bought a few, and patiently tested out the changes needed. For flashing, the Boot0 pins are different from the Blue Pill. This diagram represents how they should be, relative to the USB connector. A + sign denotes the pins that should be connected: Run Mode USB 1 1+1 Boot0 1 1+1 Boot1 Flash Mode USB 1+1 1 Boot0 1 1+1 Boot1 You should reverse the wires in the cable that goes from the Flash-Run switch to the Boot0 header, and it will work as documented in the Blue Pill Wiki. If you don't reverse the cable, then the Flash and Run are opposite to what is documented (i.e. Flash is towards the USB connector, and Run in away from the USB connector. Here is an overview video ( https://youtu.be/wQCT6ukKtL0 ) showing the Blue Pill PCB with the RobotDyn F303 able to slew at a blazing fast 8.2 degrees per second! Note: RobotDyn now makes two modules both named "Black Pill". One is the above, and the other is an STM32F411CE, which is used on the MaxSTM PCB designed by Howard. So, don't use just "Black Pill" referring to either board: instead, make sure you qualify by using *F303* or *F411*.