Weasner's Meade Autostar Suite User Feedback

AUTOSTAR SUITE USER FEEDBACK

Last updated: 30 June 2005

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, is covered in the Helpful Information - Astrophotography area.)

Subject:	Autostar Suite Astronomer Edition
Sent:	Thursday, June 30, 2005 09:58:09
From:	Robert B. White (rbwhite@compusmart.ab.ca)
Is the Autostar Suite Astronomer Edition, that came with my ETX, the
full edition or a stripped down version? If the latter, please help this
newbie know how to get the full edition. Thank you in advance. And thank
you for the site.

Regards,

RBW

Mike here: The full edition includes support for the LPI, DSI, and DSI Pro and comes with those imagers.

Subject:	Autostar Suite
Sent:	Monday, June 6, 2005 09:01:00
From:	William Ellis (wcbabybee@yahoo.com)
Thanks for getting so many of us learning the new PE stuff up and
running. It's been a real experience!

My laptop has Autostar Suite 3.81. Does not show the ETX series on the
telescope menu, just the LX90-same 497 Autostar. Is that my selection or
do I need some other update? I just got the new Pro DSI and wanted to
learn to use it initially with the ETX. Have the camera working but
can't seem to be able configure for telescope using the computer
options.

Bill Ellis

Mike here: The Autostar is the same so try it. Is that 3.18 or 3.81? All the latest updaters are on Meade's site. Does the Meade Autostar Updater application see the ETX?

And:

Thanks again for the reply!
 
Version I have is 3.81. Not easy getting old. Sometimes you really have
to work at it. Most of my early flying fun was in an A4, sometimes known
as Scooter or Tinker Toy, around some obscure Gulf- think it began with
a "T".

Still confused as to why the suite dosen't acknowledge the ETX series.
Think my other problem is trying to adapt to my USB port, but found
something on the Meade Web to upgrade the driver. May have a chance
tonight to catch Jupiter from the deck and capture a few images before
it goes behind the trees and I have to haul everything out to the back
of the corral for a good view.
Bill

Mike here: I'm not certain why the Suite is not recognizing it either.

Subject:	LPI / Autostar Suite -- Problems with USB and Windows XP
Sent:	Wednesday, June 1, 2005 13:03:09
From:	Dave Wallace (d_wallace@ecrm.com)
this may be voodoo or it may not, but I've observed that with the LPI
and with at least one brand of USB-to-Serial converter that it matters
which USB port you plug the device into.  (I use a Dell Inspiron 1100
laptop -- with a different XP box, your mileage may vary.)

It *seems* that when you install either the LPI driver *or* the
USB-to-Serial driver, the software gets the idea that the particular USB
port on which the device was first connected is now dedicated to that
device, rather than recognizing the device irrespective of the port it's
plugged into.  So if you have two USB ports and you first connect your
LPI to port A and your serial adapter to port B, that's the way you
always must hook them up.  Otherwise (if you interchange the devices'
port assignments), you get a "I don't understand your hardware" failure
and wind up having to re-install the drivers to regain communication.

Just thought I'd pass this observation along -- it may help debug some
of the LPI configuration problems that seem to be frequently reported.

Mike here: Thanks for the tip. I didn't have that problem on my Mac loptop. And I'm sure I changed ports at various times since I've installed the Keyspan driver.

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