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| | [ Credit: Dan Azari] CCDSoft does not inherently support ASCOM focusers and thus is not directly compatible with the TCC. Fortunately, Tim Long as written a driver that allows any ASCOM focuser to work with CCDSoft by following these simple instructions: The latest version of the ASCOM->CCDSoft wrapper driver can be obtained by downloading and installing the ASCOM Platform from http://www.ascom-standards.org/downloads.html Once the ASCOM platform is installed follow the instructions outlined in ReleaseNotes.htm located in the folder: " C:\Program Files\Common Files\ASCOM\Focuser\CCDSoft Focuser Plugin".
Briefly, copy and replace file FocusAPI.dll from the above folder to folder "\Program Files\Common Files\System"
Now that the most recent version of FocuserAPI.dll is installed, configure CCDSoft to use the RCOS TCC focuser:
- In the CCDSoft Camera Control dialog choose the Setup tab.
- From the Focuser drop down list choose 'FocusAPI' and click the 'Settings' button.
- On the Ascom Focuser Settings dialog click the 'Choose' button.
- From the ASCOM Focuser Chooser dialog choose 'RCOS TCC' from the drop down list.
- Click the 'Properties' button to set the TCC properties as described in the help file.
If during step (5) you experience the error "Unable to create object", the following changes need to be made to DCOM configuration:
- Open the DCOM control panel using the command DCOMCNFG. You can use a command prompt or Start | Run and just type it in. Once the Component Services console opens, you should see a tree view with three items listed, the top one being Component Services.
- Click once on the icon, then expand that branch by clicking on the little + sign. Continue expanding the branches for My Computer and DCOM Config. At this point you will see lots of entries listed, which correspond to things that are installed on your computer. There are several entries for various ASCOM drivers, for example.
- Locate "ASCOM driver for RCOS TCC focuser". Right-click on the item and select Properties. A dialog with 5 tabbed pages appears. The pages we are interested in are General and Identity.
- First go to the General tab. Locate the drop-down titled Authentication Level. If it is set to Default, this is the problem. Set it to None and click Apply.
- Now go to the Identity tab. Ensure that The launching user is selected, and click OK.
- Finally, you must reboot the computer for the changes to take effect.
Upon rebooting, provided you found the right item, you should now be able to use the driver with @Focus. | ASCOM FocusAPI plugin |
| | The ASCOM FocusAPI plug-in is not installed by default. There is a simple manual procedure needed to remove the 'dummy' FocusAPI plug-in that ships with CCDSoft and replace it with the ASCOM version. One this is done, ASCOM focusers are selected by setting the focuser to 'FocusAPI' in CCDSoft. Click the Settings... button will then show the ASCOM Focuser chooser.
Details of the installation procedure can be found in the ReleaseNotes.htm file that is supplied with the plug-in. This file will normally be in the following location:C:\Program Files\Common Files\ASCOM\Focuser\CCDSoft Focuser Plugin\ReleaseNotes.htm
| ASCOM FocusAPI plugin |
| | Yes! FocusMax has a built-in 'hub' so that it can allow multiple simultaneous connections to your ASCOM-supported focuser. First, you must install the ASCOM FocusAPI plug-in for CCDSoft. The ASCOM FocusAPI plug-in is not installed by default. There is a simple manual procedure needed to remove the 'dummy' FocusAPI plug-in that ships with CCDSoft and replace it with the ASCOM version. One this is done, ASCOM focusers are selected by setting the focuser to 'FocusAPI' in CCDSoft. Click the Settings... button will then show the ASCOM Focuser chooser.
Details of the installation procedure can be found in the following location: C:\Program Files\Common Files\ASCOM\Focuser\CCDSoft Focuser Plugin\ReleaseNotes.htm
Then in CCDSoft, select 'FocusMax Focuser Hub' as your focuser. You will then be able to use CCDSoft and FocusMax interchangeably. | ASCOM FocusAPI plugin |
| | Currently, no. This is a planned enhancement for the next version. This will only happen if sufficient people register the software. | ASCOM Temma Driver |
| | The Temma hardware does not have any notion of "parking", therefore the current version does not support the ASCOM Park() method. A future version will have limited support for park, in that it will be possible to define a horizon-relative coordinate to slew the mount to when the Park command is issued. The user must then make the mount safe by turning off the power (etc).
Regrettably this is a limitation of the Temma hardware. Some users have modified their mounts so that the drive motor power can be turned off remotely (keeping the computer in standby mode). SyD would like to explore ways to automate this, but currently there is no standard way to access this feature. We experimented with using the differential tracking capability (comet tracking rates) of the mount to make it track at a speed equal and opposite to sidereal rate. Unfortunately the range of tracking rates available is insufficient to make this work. | ASCOM Temma Driver |
| | TheSky needs a little bit of help to recognise ASCOM drivers, as the Bisques have chosen not to support ASCOM drivers directly. Fortunately, they provide their own proprietary interface known as TelescopeAPI. A plug-in is needed that works with TheSky's TelescopeAPI interface. The good news is that the plug-in is free and comes with the ASCOM platform, the bad news (well, not that bad) is that you have to do a little bit of file copying to get it installed.
First, ensure you have downloaded and installed the latest ASCOM platform.
look in a folder (typically) C:\Program Files\Common Files\ASCOM\Telescope\Planetarium Plug-Ins\TheSky where you will find the plug-in (called TeleAPI.dll) and installation instructions.
Once the plug-in is installed, select TelescopeAPI as the telescope type in TheSky, then you will be able to use any ASCOM telescope driver.
To choose your ASCOM driver, simply go into the telescope setup dialog in TheSky. This will bring up the ASCOM Chooser, where you will be able to choose the model of telescope that you wish to connect to. | ASCOM Temma Driver |
| | Although SBIG cameras claim a temperature regulation accuracy of 0.1 degrees C, they can actually only report it to about the nearest half degree. So, for some set points, the camera never seems to reach the desired temperature. For example, if set to -10C, the temperature might drop to -10.2C then back to -9.8C then alternate between the two temperatures.
DarkManager was designed based on the claimed 0.1C accuracy so it has a default tolerance of 0.2C. This can cause a problem that means it takes a very long time before DarkManager considers the camera temperature to be within the acceptable limits and in some cases, this will never happen.
The easiest workaround is to go into File | Preferences, click on the Temperature Regulation tab and move the Temperature Tolerance slider up a little bit, to give a tolerance of about +/- 0.3C. This gives a tolerance range of 0.6C, which is wider than the resolution of 0.5C that the camera can report. Therefore, using these settings, DarkManager should always be able to get to an acceptable temperature (though it may still take some time to do so). Increasing the tolerance will mean that DarkManager starts exposing more quickly, at the expense of accuracy of the temperature in the final reduction frame.
Do not confuse this setting with the tolerance parameter on the main screen. The setting on the main screen affects how DarkManager scans FITS files on disk and divides them up into the temperature groups in the tree view. It does not affect camera temperature regulation. | DarkManager Application |
| | The easiest way to do it is to use the ASCOM Dome Control Panel (part of the ASCOM platform). This works like a hub. It looks like a telescope to the application but behind the scenes it controls both the telescope and the dome. Presumably ACP3 is currently the application that controls the telescope. What we need to do is to insert the Dome Control Panel between ACP and the telescope. Here's how to set it up.
Start with the ASCOM Dome Control Panel on its own (close all other applications). Go into the setup screen then select and configure your telescope. Then select and configure the dome (using the DDW ASCOM driver). Click OK. In the main screen, turn on the 'Slave Dome to Scope' checkbox. Now, when you move the scope using the hand control, the dome should follow.
Next step is to set up ACP3. Instead of selecting your telescope in ACP3, look for a driver called "Dome Control Panel". This should now control your telescope in addition to the dome. Whenever ACP slews the telescope, the dome will follow it.
| Digital DomeWorks Drivers |
| | It is possible to use Software Bisque's AutomaDome to control Digital Domeworks, using the Software-y-Ddraig DomeAPI plug-in, which allows AutomaDome to use any ASCOM-compatible dome driver. However, setting up AutomaDome in this configuration is non-intuitive and must be done with care and in exact sequence.
A web page containing setup instructions is available here:
Please follow the instructions to the letter, without deviation or skipping any steps. | ASCOM DomeAPI plug-in |