Weasner's Meade Autostar Suite User Feedback

AUTOSTAR SUITE USER FEEDBACK

Last updated: 31 October 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
Sent:	Sunday, October 30, 2005 15:23:57
From:	max2206 (max2206@skynet.be)
I have a problem.
My original CD of Autostar Suite is broken. It is unreadable. Now I had
a harddisc crash on my notebook and need to reinstall autostar suite. So
I can command my lx90 and use my lpi. Is there somewhere a place where I
can download the software.

Thanks in advance for your help
Marnix Verschraegen
Belgium

Mike here: Don't believe so. All Meade posts for the Autostar Suite software is updaters. You will need to contact Meade for a replacement CD-ROM.

Subject:	Re: Autostar Suite and LPI-Imager
Sent:	Tuesday, October 25, 2005 09:10:53
From:	Cenneth Andersson (cenneth.andersson@telia.com)
Oh yes definitely, Doug Grebe and I have the same problem. I wonder if
Doug found any solution.

I hope he has and posts it here because I haven't.

/Cenneth

Mike here: As noted previously, there is a solution in the 12 October email.

And:

Oh I'm embarrassed. I must be blind.
Sorry to have bothered you.

Best regards
Cenneth

Mike here: No problem! Happens to all of us!

Subject:	Autostar Suite and LPI-Imager
Sent:	Sunday, October 23, 2005 08:50:20
From:	Cenneth Andersson (cenneth.andersson@telia.com)
I updated my AstroStar Suite version 3.08 to the latest version - 3.18,
but, recognized the following oddity.

When starting LPI-imaging (Envisage) in my laptop the program window is
not fully displayed. There is nothing right of the Textbox for Object
Name and there is no horizontal scrolling list that can reveal a hidden
part.

I installed an updated the same software in my desktop and there I could
see that the buttons for Save Proc... and Start is situated in the upper
right corner.

There is no sign in my laptop window that there should be anything to
the right of what is displayed - it means right of the Textbox for
Object Name. The pages for LPI and Image Files is ended within the right
border of the program window and the small left/right arrowheads and the
X to the right and above the LPI and Image Files pages are displayed.

Is this a bug reported or is it something in my laptop - running Windows
XP Pro? As it is I can't use the program in my laptop. Is there a cure?

Best regards
Cenneth Andersson

Mike here: I'm not certain if this is the same problem but see the message "Re: Problems with AutoStar Envisage" from 12 October 2005 further down this Autostar Suite feedback page. There is a solution there.

Subject:	DSI Question
Sent:	Wednesday, October 19, 2005 14:45:19
From:	Thomas Korzeniowski (tmkwdi@yahoo.com)
I'm Tom Korzeniowski, and I'm an astroimager near Chicago. I have an
LX90 and recently purchased a DSI with the intent of using it as a
guider, because the ToUCam and LPI lacked the sensitivity for deep sky
targets.

Thanks to your instructions, which I downloaded from the DSI Users
Group, I was able to link my Autostar Suite to the scope through the
network connection. But here's the problem. While the Autostar Suite
recognizes the scope, the Envisage program, which is started through
Autostar Suite, does not. With the network up and running, as
demonstrated by the warning on the Autostar Suite screen and the
functionality of the Autostar Telescope Control, pressing the DSI
Telescope>Connect results in the following message: "Make sure that
NetScope is running on the computer that is connected to the telescope.
The requested address is not valid in its context."

What has me most curious is that it did work properly two-days ago, and
no settings have been altered. I've even disabled my Norton Security
Firewall, just in case the problem was there, but DSI is not being
cooperative.

Any advice you can offer, or any referral, would be most appreciated.

Thank you.

Tom

Mike here: Did you re-enable the Network Protocol in the Autostar Suite software? Sounds like it might have gotten turned off. There are several articles on the "network" capability on the Helpful Information: Autostar Info page including my article on using the Autostar Suite with a Macintosh; you might want to look through those.

And:

Thank you, Mike. I'll check it out. I'm using an HP, but I assume the
protocol will be the same.
 
Tom

Subject:	Autostar
Sent:	Sunday, October 16, 2005 12:17:28
From:	Jan H Kolst (jan.kolsto@online.no)
I need some advise concerning the latest update 40EB.When I have
centered the star ,it sometimes starts moving upwards in the
eyepiece.This is of course  a problem when taking pics.Az/alt are both
set to 10%.Has this anything to do with the movement of the star?

One more thing:Is there a manual for the latest update ,Envisage? I find
it difficult to use it.The picture is "moving".

My telescope is ETX 90 with autostar 497. I use LPI.
Regards
Jan H Kolst
Norway

Mike here: I haven't yet installed the latest version myself. But did you TRAIN DRIVES following the update? Have you done a CALIBRATE MOTORS recently? As to an updated manual, all there is in on Meade's page with the software update.

And:

Yes, calibrated and trained both axes.
Thanks for a quick reply
Jan H Kolst

Mike here: OK. Try a RESET, CALIBRATE MOTORS, and then TRAIN DRIVES.

And an update:

It was the contact in the handbox which was bad.I bent them back and it
all worked fine after reset-calibrate-train drives. I've had that
problem before.What is the best: withdraw Autostar from the handbox
contact after observing or let it stay in the handbox?
Thanks a lot for your advice!!!
Regards
Jan H Kolst
Norway

Mike here: I tend to keep mine connected. Saves wearing down the metal. However, it does keep the pins depressed, which could result in some deformity over time.

And:

Is there any easy way of bending the contacts , located at the upper
back,forwards?

I use an insulated wire threading it behind the contacts at the back and
carefully bending the 8 contacts forwards.The problem is that I don't
manage to bend all the 8 contacts equally.Those at the ends are mostly
bended.Any clever solutions?

Regards
Jan H Kolst
Norway

Mike here: It does require dexterity and caution (don't want to break them off!). Although I've not needed to try it, a small wire loop should work. Just slide it over the pin and then pull it slowly and carefully towards to you to raise the pin.

Subject:	Re: Problems with AutoStar Envisage
Sent:	Wednesday, October 12, 2005 17:55:46
From:	Doug Grebe
I just downloaded the newest version and it did not change the problem. 
It is very frustrating as when I first tried it out it seemed to be much
easier to focus with this version rather than the old version.

Doug Grebe

And an update:

I figured out the problem, you have to switch to small icons in the
control panel display section.

Doug Grebe

Subject:	Problems with AutoStar Envisage
Sent:	Tuesday, October 11, 2005 19:52:13
From:	Doug Grebe
I am having trouble with Autostar Envisage the new LPI software for
imaging. When I open it on my notebook running Windows 2000. It doesn't
show the whole window horizontally.  I can't see the Save Proc... the
Start button or the Image quality .  I have attempted to change the
resolution of the screen but that did not help.  I try maximizing the
window and that does not work.  I move the screen all the way to the
left and try to make the window larger and it won't work either.  Do you
know any solution to this problem or have you heard of it before.
Thanks

Doug Grebe

Mike here: I seem to recall someone reporting that some months back. Have you updated to the current version on Meade's site?

Subject:	AutoStarSuite Envisage and the ETX autoguiding option.
Sent:	Monday, October 10, 2005 17:25:31
From:	John Haunton (jhaunton@au1.ibm.com)
I tried out the Envisage software with my ETX90 last night - in
particular I wanted to test autoguiding my setup to enable me to do some
long(ish) exposure piggyback photography but the autoguide option
appears to have vanished from this version of the software.

I used the old version ok, the new release only offers align and combine
and no tracking that I could see.  I recall I read somewhere that the
guide option is not displayed by Envisage if the scope does not report a
GPS capability (which of course my scope does not have)...do you know if
this is true or if I simply need to update my AutoStar firmaware
(currently on 4.3Ec)?

While on the subject of autoguiding I had great difficulty in getting a
suitable guide star in the fov of the LPI (test target was the SMC) - is
there a way to determine the limiting magnitude for reasonable guiding
result (ie I need a clearly defined star at a reasonable exposure time
(ie guide rate) with the LPI at prime of the 90mm ETX).  I want to plan
this better before I go under the stars again...

Best Regards,

John Haunton

Mike here: Don't know if 4.3Ec is what you need. But it can't hurt (you can always go back to a previous version). As to a guidestar, I'm not certain what the LPI requires but the brighter the better I would suspect.

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