AUTOSTAR SUITE USER FEEDBACK Last updated: 19 December 2006

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:	Meade LP1
Sent:	Sunday, December 17, 2006 10:59:40
From:	jim.battersby@btinternet.com
I have bought a s/h LP1 imager but no software, and Meade do not list
the software separately. Is anyone wiling to sell me a copy so I can use
the darned thing?
 
Many thanks,
James :-)

And:

I have done this and it will not open in the computer as there is no
previous version of the Autostar. This seems to be an upgrade only.

Could you possibly advise me further?

Many thanks,
James

And:

I doubt it somehow, but I'll try. Probably best to throw away the LPI
and start again.

James

I have cheated and asked F1 Cameras to see if he can get me one from
Meade - he's good that way!

I am a complete novice and have had bad experiences with Telescope
companies.

I'll gladly let you know how we go on.

I bought the first Celestron C6 Refractor with GoTo - in fact I was the
first person to order one in advance in the UK. I remember it was a
nightmare to use and Celestron didn't want to know. It was  supposedly
GPS compatible - but wasn't, and it took six months for them to admit
that it needed an extra attachment that wasn't available for a further
six months after that - by which time I sold the damned thing for half
of what I'd paid.

Now, a few years later, I have finally bought another telescope, a nice
simple W/O 90mm refractor - with no electronics!!

Many thanks for your kind help.
James

Meade seem a little better, but I have so little faith in these
suppliers I'm afraid.

Subject:	How do i use autostar and autostar suite with a mac?
Sent:	Thursday, December 7, 2006 07:37:05
From:	anthony8720@aol.com (anthony8720@aol.com)
Great site! I saw that you have used autostar suite with your mac, but
on meades page it lists it as a windows program. Just wondering if you
used a mod of some sort, or if the program actually runs natively in
osx. Thanks a lot!
 
Anthony 

Subject:	small town -- no local help
Sent:	Thursday, December 7, 2006 06:00:36
From:	Will Armstrong (will@armstrongmovers.com)
I'm using AutoStar Env. and can take DARKS but when I go to DEEP SKY I
get a message box that reads ----- An unhandled exception has occured i
your application. If you click Continue the application will ignore this
error and attempt to continue. If you click Quit the application will
shut down immediatelyy.
 
Nothing works from this point on.
 
I hope you can help --- thanks for looking at this.
 
Will

And:

Thanks again --- I found everything I needed on the site you suggested.

Will

Subject:	Using ETX-125 AT via Envisage (Telescope controls)
Sent:	Monday, December 4, 2006 23:25:57
From:	Tom and Lori (lortom7@earthlink.net)
This may be an easy question for Mr. Autostar:
 
I can set up my ETX 125 AT to work with my HP dv6040 laptop via Remote
Handbox, but when I try to connect to the telescope via the Com port, I
get an error message like it could not connect.  If I can connect and
operate it through Remote Handbox, why would this not work?

I would like to use the Telescope functions on the Meade Envisage
program while my DSI II is attached.
 
If you need more info, just let me know.
 
Thanks, and as always . . . Clear Skies!
 
Tom

From:	richard seymour (rseymour@wolfenet.com)
As long as Remote Handbox "owns" the COM port,
Envisage cannot use it.

Disconnect RemHbx, and try again.

If you wish to funnel two command streams to the telescope
simultaneously, you'll need to use the "Netscope" application
(Available under StarMap's Telescope/Communications/Start Network Server).
Then you tell Envisage -and- Remote Control to both talk to an IP Address
( 127.0.0.1 ), and you tell the NetworkServer to talk to the COM port.

A note about it is at:
http://www.weasner.com/etx/autostar/autostar_suite/networking.html

have fun
--dick

Subject:	Envisage guiding in Alt/Az mode
Sent:	Saturday, December 2, 2006 14:18:49
From:	Donald Davies (donald.davies@gmail.com)
I am set up to do high precision (planetary transits) photometry with my
LX200 Classic and DSI pro II.I have the telescope set up in Alt/Az mode
(equatorial mounting is not an option because of the telescope's
location). When I set up and calibrate the tracking function, say near
the eastern horizon, the tracking performance is very good.  When the
target passes near the zenith and I get a lot of field rotation in the
image, the tracking performance completely collapses.  I assume that
this is because even though I am in Alt-Az mode, and the camera is
measuring errors directly as Alt/Az, the commands are being sent over as
RA/Dec and the guiding commands are not being corrected for the changing
RA/Dec vs Alt-Az relationship.

The net result is that I cannot leave the system unattended to get  long
stretches of photometry.

Is there a setting somewhere in Envisage or in the LX200 that will fix
this problem?  If not, is there a way for Envisage to send correction
commands to the Autoguider port (the one that controls the motors
directly) on the LX200?

-Don Davies

And:

Actually, it does work and recognizes that it is an LX 200 classic.
However, the guide commands are sent over as RA/Dec commands, even
though the guiding is being done with a camera and Telescope that are
both "Alt/az".  The calibration step at the beginning calibrates out the
relationship between the two coordinate systems at the time of
calibration, but as the night goes on and the coordinate systems rotate
relative to one another, the guide commands start to go in the wrong
direction.  Ultimately the sign becomes wrong and the guiding drives the
star off of the edge of the field. This is also likely to happen with
the ETX machines mounted in Alt-Az mode, hence the question to your
website.  Has anyone reported this problem with the ETX?

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