Stupid question:

Isn't it an option to have Guide use a different COM-port from The Sky? If
TheSky insists on using COM1, the Guide ought to be able to get along fine
on COM2 or COM 6 or something?

In Guide8, when selecting LX-200 you could chose which COM-port to use. I
must admit I haven't gotten around to install my copy of Guide9 yet, so I
can't say it this has been removed.

Arild :)

On Sun, Jan 29, 2012 at 12:24 AM, Bill J Gray <pluto@...>wrote:

> **
>
>
> Hi Pete,
>
> That sounds basically like what I'd expect to happen, unfortunately.
>
> WARNING: I dunno much about how TheSky handles telescope control. I'm
> a little surprised that ASCOM isn't an option. You might ask Software
> Bisque about that (or maybe someone here who knows more about TheSky can
> reply?); maybe the option is just "hidden" somewhere.
>
> However, it sounds as if when run TheSky directly controls the telescope,
> it grabs the COM (serial) port. And as you say, this means it "does not
> play
> well with others". Inexplicably (to me), ASCOM suffers the same fault. I've
> asked about this issue, but have never gotten an answer that I understood.
> The impression I gather is that it's just not a priority for ASCOM folk.
>
> Were ASCOM's shortcoming in this area to be fixed, it would help a lot of
> people... but you would not be among them, because you can't get ASCOM to
> work
> within TheSky anyway. The only fixes I can see would be:
>
> -- Persuade Software Bisque to support ASCOM (in which case you can set
> up Guide to use ASCOM as well; ASCOM will continue to hog the COM port, but
> that won't be a problem anymore, because both Guide and TheSky will be able
> to access the scope through ASCOM.)
>
> -- Persuade Software Bisque to release the COM port when not in use. After
> which, Guide and TheSky will play well with one another. You might run into
> some issues if you had Guide's 'telescope indicator' function running --
> the one
> that shows a little symbol on the chart indicating the current telescope
> location. I think there would be some chance that Guide would attempt to
> access the COM port at just the same moment that TheSky did, and it's
> conceivable that some sort of uncensored heck would break loose. But maybe
> not.
>
> -- Bill
>
>


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