Hi Tim
I will be attending the SPSP this weekend. There will be a number of telescopes
there using the ServoCat system on their SDM telescopes. These all use the Argo
Navis setting circles.
Also attending will be Gary from Wildcard-Innovations who makes the Argo Navis
and I will be talking to him.
Is there any specific information that I can ask for.
Barry Gerdes
Beaumont Hills Observatory
S 33' 41' 44" E 150' 56' 32"
Date: Mon, 28 Mar 2011 19:31:35 -0400
From: [email protected]
To: [email protected]
Subject: [Stellarium-pubdevel] Fwd: Stellarium Telescope Support
I'm forwarding this to the stellrium list; one of the members there is the one
who wrote the code, so lets see if we can get him involved.
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: StellarCAT <[email protected]>
Date: Mon, Mar 28, 2011 at 6:02 PM
Subject: Re: Stellarium Telescope Support
To: "Reaves, Timothy" <[email protected]>
Ok...
looks very close!
first off I see no indication of where the scope is pointing - this is probably
my lack of understanding how to use it - but I would think wherever the CAT is
saying its pointed at - your program should immediately go there with that
point at the center of the screen (I do have the item to show the marker turned
on)... I do see you are correctly sending out a CR and the CAT/AN is correctly
sending back the actual position. But the program is not responding. [Just for
verification I am pulling up Megastar to confirm all is correct - and it is ...
and of course it is not up when Stellarium is up).
As for the GOTO... the string is correct - the checksum is incorrect.
I set the "move" to 01 00 00 and 20 00 00... this is what you sent:
g01.000_+20.000 and the check sum is a 1C... it should be a 08.
g.
----- Original Message -----
From: StellarCAT
To: Reaves, Timothy
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 2:37 PM
Subject: Re: Stellarium Telescope Support
ok - managed to get the mouse cursor working - i had to go to "less than" full
screen to see it.
will let you know.
g.
----- Original Message -----
From: StellarCAT
To: Reaves, Timothy
Sent: Monday, March 28, 2011 2:35 PM
Subject: Re: Stellarium Telescope Support
Hi Tim,
Sorry for the length of time between then and now - I've had several requests
for support for Stellarium - more of late so obviously its picking up speed
fast... I tried to run it again today but I can't even get the mouse cursor to
show to get it going! I move the mouse around and if it happens to get to the
bottom corner it pops up the little icons - but other than that I can't
configure it. I can't even hit the "WINDOWS" key to get the desktop back - it
ignores that AND, I've got dual monitors here, if I double click on your email
(to write this) normally the email would appear on the same monitor as the
program runs on (Monitor 1 vs. Monitor 2 where the email app runs)... nothing
shows!
SO I've got it all set up but can't go any further to see what is being sent
through the serial link. Can you help me out here please? Why can I not see the
mouse at all?!
g.
----- Original Message -----
From: Reaves, Timothy
To: StellarCAT
Sent: Wednesday, December 08, 2010 6:21 AM
Subject: Re: Stellarium Telescope Support
There is a Windows build for this now located at
https://launchpad.net/stellarium/+download named
stellarium-bzr4848+servocat1-win32.exe . The source is at the same site. It
will be part of the next release, and available then on Linux & Mac too (it
will run there now, but someone would have to build it is all).
It really needs to be tested.
On Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 7:39 PM, StellarCAT <[email protected]> wrote:
Here's the protocol... as you can see very simple! The one thing that got a few
guys implementing it to fall down was the check sum with the g command. It's
pretty straight forward and when I told them it was incorrect they all fixed it
on the first try... so I don't think you'd need equipment to test it - if you
want to give it a shot I have a beta tester lined up to test it out. Let me
know what you think.
My most sincere gratitude for doing this!
Gary Myers
StellarCAT
Position Read-back to the Planetarium program from the system:
Master: External Program (external to DSC/CAT system)
Direction: command from master to slave
Command: "0x0D"
Interpretation: Current Position command
Characters: 16 all inclusive
Checksum: NONE (this is a legacy command from the Sky Commander - if you have
it already, Sky Commander support, then you have it!)
:: Return response: the response string
Whenever the program needs updated coordinates it sends a [CR] character ($0D)
to the ServoCAT. The program should immediately prepare to receive a
16 character ASCII string. Polling should be limited in frequency to twice per
second maximum.
The format is as follows:
[1] space
[2,3] integer part of RA hours
[4] fixed decimal point
[5-7] fractional part of hours
[8] space
[9] + or - for declination
[10,11] integer part of declination
[12] fixed decimal point
[13-15] fractional part of declination
[16] NULL character to terminate string
Example: _12.345_+67.890 (underscore represents a space character).
The fractional part of the number is treated as a fractional part of an hour,
e.g. 4.25 is 4 hours 15
minutes. The same applies to declination.
Most programming languages provide an easy means to convert the string to
floating point
variables.
GOTO Command from the Planetarium program to the system:
Master: External Program (external to DSC/CAT system)
Direction: command from master to slave
Command: "g"
Interpretation: Goto command
Characters: 16 all inclusive
Checksum: XOR of all characters except the command (14 characters)
:: Return response: "g" sent back from slave to master when move is complete
(can be ignored by Master) - I'm not sure if this is actually in there...
Structure:
gRR.RRR_SDD.DDDx
R = ASCII representation of the requested RA position in hours and decimal
hours
S = Sign of the Declination, - or +
D = ASCII representation of the requested DEC position in degrees and decimal
degrees
x = checksum
"_" = space character (0x020)
if value sent is g99.999_+99.999x
then this will represent a controlled (decel'ed) abort of the move
example: planetarium program (master) user clicks on M81 and asks for a
GOTO from the planetarium program: planetarium sends to the ServoCAT -
g09.927 +69.061&
[check sum for this example not calculated here - it would have to be correct
however for the command to be accepted]
-note these are J2000 RA/DEC values (do NOT precess) and no other corrections
applied (no refraction etc) as both will be handled by the Argo Navis.]
Note further: this is a ServoCAT command! The CAT interprets it and sends it
along to the Argo. Thus the protocol that you want to have listed in your
selection box would be "ServoCAT". This protocol would be an exact duplication
of the usual Sky Commander command set (CR gets position) PLUS the "g" command.
----- Original Message -----
From: Reaves, Timothy
To: ServoCAT TechSupport
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2010 9:58 AM
Subject: Re: Stellarium Telescope Support
ASCOM is basically just a Windows things; INDI
http://www.indilib.org/index.php?title=Main_Page is much better, and is fully
cross-platform.
Go ahead and send the protocol.
On Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 11:54 AM, ServoCAT TechSupport
<[email protected]> wrote:
Super! Thanks for getting back to me... I've not even heard of INDI! Is that a
replacement for ASCOM? We have an ASCOM driver already.
I can send the protocol whenever you're ready - note it is VERY basic and no
one has required having eqmt to implement it... the only problem has been
getting a simple checksum correct which was by one vendor... all the rest had
it first try. Note there are 3 commands only - 2 of which are the Sky Commander
command which you might already support... the third is of my creation here - a
GOTO protocol that is structured the same as the others.
Please keep me informed - I look forward to hearing from you. Have a great
weekend!
g.
----- Original Message -----
From: Reaves, Timothy
To: ServoCAT TechSupport
Sent: Saturday, December 04, 2010 9:46 AM
Subject: Re: Stellarium Telescope Support
Yes, I'm familiar with your product; I've considered getting it for my sons
'scope.
As it happens, telescope control is something that is being worked on. We are
currently looking at several options, but INDI is looking to be the winner. So
at that point, an INDI driver for your product would allow it to be used with
any software supporting the INDI protocol.
We are getting ready to release our next big version, and then will be making
plans for our rollout of some major upgrades. I'll let you know when we have
more details, in the next week or so. As an aside, even when following well
documented protocols, it can be very difficult to write a driver without a
product. I've written interfaces for everything from Celestron scopes, to
Davis weather stations, to Bantam LiPo battery chargers; I can't imagine doing
so without the product there to test it on.
Thanks for the note.
On Sat, Dec 4, 2010 at 9:59 AM, ServoCAT TechSupport <[email protected]>
wrote:
Hello... hopefully you can help me... or refer me to some one that can. My name
is Gary Myers, of StellarCAT - we are the designers and manufacturers of the
ServoCAT GOTO system for amateur (and professional) telescopes. This system
normally includes the Argo Navis DTC as part of it. We have support from all
the major programs and would love to have it included in Stellarium. I can
supply the protocol information to you for inclusion and would be happy to test
it on at least a Windows platform and possibly others (through our large
customer base). There are few commands, all ASCII based and not time sensitive
so it should be quite easy to implement.
Please let me know if you can help me or, again, if not maybe you can refer me
to the right person to get this done!
[Note: this was generated after several requests by our customers to get
support in Stellarium]
have a great weekend...
Gary Myers
StellarCAT
www.ServoCAT.com
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