AUTOSTAR SUITE USER FEEDBACK Last updated: 27 July 2008

This page is for user comments and information specific to the Meade AutoStar Suite. If you have any comments, suggestions, questions or answers to questions posed here, e-mail them to me and I'll post them. Please use an appropriate Subject Line on your message. Thanks. (The Lunar Planetary Imager, LPI, and Deep Sky Imager, DSI, are covered in the Helpful Information - Astrophotography area.)

Subject:	lxd75 mount question
Sent:	Friday, July 25, 2008 11:21:17
From:	Todd Pazol (tpazol@primelending.com)
first, I think you site is great and very informative.

but I have a question that no on seems to be able to answer, so I
thought you may have a suggestion.

here is the problem.

I bought the DSI III and the LXD75 to do astrophotography mainly because
the DSI software from what I understand only works with the lxd75 mount
to drizzle and get better photos.

well you would think that Meade would make two products that could talk
to each other, but they have not. the DSI III works with windows VISTA.

the lxd75 does not, at least it does not seem to work with VISTA and
there in-lies the problem.

I have two Meade products that can't communicate and there for are
worthless to me.

the reason I tell you my problems is that all of my research on the
internet and it all comes back to you seem to be the LXD guy. so, I ask
you; do you have any thoughts or suggestions about what I should do or
if there is a trick to make these two Meade products talk to each other.
also I do have the usb to serial for the mount and can get the mount to
move on RA but that's it.

I thank you in advance for any help and I thank you for listening to me
vent about Meade.

sincerely

And:

I put the software in my laptop and when I plug in the DSI III it
recognizes in the usb and works in the auto suite program, I have taken
a few really bad pictures so I know it works lol.

I plug in the RS 232 usb to serial cable and the computer sees the plug
but does not see that the mount is plugged in. and when I try and click
in the autosuite program to connect to mount, it says can't find
telescope even though I know it's plugged in. I have gone to device
manager and made sure the correct port is being used and reinstalled the
software and reset the mount and still nothing seems to work.

It drives me crazy because the dsi only works with a Meade mount and I
just happen to have a Meade mount but vista only works with one of the
two products I have.

Sorry to vent  lol

Any thoughts, should I light the mount on fire to see what the melting
temp is   lol

Thank you for the help

And:

I have a regular rs232, I am going to order there 505 cord and see if
that works.
It can't hurt  lol

And:

Thought I would give you an update,
The 505 actually made a difference. I can now control the scope through
the computer, one thing that is not working is in the hand box control
window on the laptop computer in the black box that show text; it does
not show text, it's just blank. Have you ever seen that happen before.

Thanks for the advice

Todd

And:

I have not been using the network protocol, I have been using the hand
box control. I will choose the protocol and see what happens

Thanks

I spend more time trying to figure the equipment out than I do looking
at the sky   lol

And:

I agree about just having fun and I a crazy way its also fun to figure
out how stuff works.

The main reason for the laptop working is so the envisage program dsi
III will work with the mount.

One last question on the DEC part of the mount its home position is
supposed to be at 90 degrees....is that the same as the 2 arrows on the
side lining up??

Again; thank you very much for you advice

Todd

And:

Thank you again.

Just curious.
If you had 1000 dollars and wanted to upgrade from a 5inch schmit cass

And the main goal was astrophotography.

What scope would you get??

Lol that's my last question,
It's just all my searches on the internet point to u for telescopes

If you ever have any banking questions or stock market stuff, you can
ask me. I owe you big time
Thanks

Todd

And:

10inch newton it is then.
Meade or celestron?

I will look at a few charts and tell u about apple stock

And:

Cool

Thx

Subject:	Updat DSI
Sent:	Wednesday, July 23, 2008 01:21:06
From:	Pollux sterrenwacht (Pollux@sterrenwacht.eu)
I can't find the right place for the update of the DSI (1).
On the site http://www.meade.com/support/auto.html I see many possibilities.
Please, can you help me by giving the whole URL for the update.
 
 
 
Clear skies
Gerard van den Braak   The Netherlands
www.sterrenwacht.eu

Subject:	AutoStar Suite Version 5 Network Problem
Sent:	Monday, July 14, 2008 12:02:22
From:	mhogansr@comcast.net (mhogansr@comcast.net)
I updated to AS Suite v5 from the Meade site and could no longer get the
Network Server to work. The program started OK but when I check the
'Listen' box, I get the error "Address is in use". Clicking OK shuts the
program down. I went back to the previous version and every thing works
normally with exactly the same settings as I used in v5.

I'm using a Serial-to-USB adapter, configured for COM 2 and XP Home.
Have you or anyone else tried the new version and gotten this function
to work?
 
Regards,
Mike Hogan

Subject:	495 test with Autostar Suite...
Sent:	Thursday, July 10, 2008 09:41:49
From:	stange (stange34@sbcglobal.net)
Without updating the 495 to 497, and without an Autostar update,
Autostar Suite appears to operate Partially. It also disables the
controller from controlling the mount.

This is a high risk area.... I wont do any updates since I will be using
Winstars alot. I think it will mess up the Winstars control of my
Autostar mount. Apparently no-one has carried it far enough to say for
sure what limitations a 497 update will have on Winstars and the mount
accuracy and safety regardless the program used. -Larry

And:

Beside the disabling of the 495 controller by Autostar Suite which
required shutting down Autostar Suite program first and a NEW cold boot
set up with the 495 contoller to regain controller control..... The only
noticeable defect so far using the Suite was if you first started at
East for example, and used the suite to find objects it would work
well...but when you wanted to change to another quadrant such as
Northern sky with the North button, it would momenatarily show a
Northern sky field but after a few seconds or so, it would revert BACK
to the Eastern sky. I could not obtain any lock on any object except in
the East. It did seem to work well there going to any star object in
that Eastern quadrant. Losing all control of the hand controller is a
warning I think of possible future damage if a person persisted in using
the Suite. There was no problem getting a software connection to the 495
controller. The warning screen about damaging the LX200 was un-nerving
tho'.

The ONLY reason I wanted the Suite was because it gave cursor position
in Alt & Az with RA & Dec. which aids me in finding DSO's if my
alignment is off and is a constant verification of my Alt. setting
circle modification accuracy. Which BTW is still "very" good with
Winstars. -Larry

Subject:	Magic eye Focus
Sent:	Sunday, July 6, 2008 12:37:39
From:	Jan Henrik Kolst (koja@tele2.no)
When I reinstalled Autostar suite the Magic eye in Envisage is missing.
I have udated both the Autostar suite (5)and Envisage(7.05).Any
suggestions?

I hope you have better luck with your next shipping from Meade (OPT)!
 
Jan
Norway

And:

Thanks for responding. I solved the problem.

Jan

And:

It didn't work when I took terrestrial images, but when I tracked 2
stars it was ok.
Jan

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