Hi Pete,

As Steve Barkes mentioned, this really _should_ work... _if_ both
Guide and TheSky are using ASCOM. I think you must still have Guide
set up to control the scope directly, since you got a "Can't access
COM Port" message from Guide. If you've set Guide up to use
ASCOM (i.e., clicked on the "ASCOM" button in Settings... Scope
Control), but still get a message about COM ports... well, something
is _very_ wrong there, and I'll need to fix something.

Another possible fix, which I should have thought of before: I
dunno if TheSky retains the ability to control Meade scopes directly,
as an alternative to ASCOM control. I am reasonably sure that they
supported scope control long before ASCOM came onto the scene, as
did I. I've found it best to use "direct", not-through-ASCOM
control where possible, since it removes a layer that (for Meade
and Celestron scopes and some others) is not needed by Guide. And
it's likely that Software Bisque has found this to be true as well.

ASCOM will always grab the COM port and not let go of it; there's
no concept of "working well with others". But I'd not be surprised
if the folks at Software Bisque thought, as I do, that grabbing a
COM port and hogging it is really bad manners (and poor software
design).

If so, you should be able to set up both Guide and TheSky to use
their built-in scope control, and ASCOM will vanish from the picture.

-- Bill