You're probably right Arild. But I have always assumed that each COM requires a separate connector. Although the Meade has a 2nd RS232 port I'm not at all sure why this is so. And with the growth if USB I'm lucky to have the one serial connector on the back of the comuter.

The problem may well be in the Bisque software, and that's the venue that I'm going to address next.

Pete

--- In guide-user@yahoogroups.com, Arild Moland <astralscooter@...> wrote:
>
> 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
> >
> >
>
>
> [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
>