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w0mbat

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About w0mbat

  • Birthday 10/11/1951

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    W Tree, Victoria, Australia

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  1. Hi Waldemar. It was my understanding that the USB3 wires and the USB2 wires within the cable are completely separate using different contacts within the connectors. So, yes the USB3 wires are higher specification but I don't think that has any significance for the USB2 wires. My practice has been to buy certified USB2 cables from a reputable source. Ian
  2. Hi Robert, I also turn on all devices including the mount before starting the computer. Has always worked for me. Ian
  3. Hi, Can someone please explain what this is about? I have an ASA GPS stick which works just fine under WIN 10 and with Autoslew. I have never heard of the software mentioned above. Why is it needed? Why don't I seem to need it? What am I missing? Ian
  4. Hi Nigel, As I have a DSLR on my ASA N10 I am able to direct a laser into the viewfinder of the camera. This projects a nice image of the main mirror onto the dome. It works very well even during he day. However I still have not discovered the explanation for my inaccurate slit positioning in some sky areas. Its one of those problems I have spent many many hours on without finding the answer and then moved on to other issues due to frustration! Ian
  5. I agree with Nigel. It is extraordinary that they are surprised at the need for proper comprehensive documentation. It seems that in being so familiar with their products they have forgotten that new users know nothing about them at all. Having worked in the technical side of science for much of my life, I have never seen such an attitude from any company before. They really need to take a good look at themselves. Ian
  6. I have received a reply from Bob Denny at DC3 Dreams which I quote below:- "Pinpoint is compatible with Windows 10. However the anniversary update has done strange things to many software packages, pinpoint included. Rerun the pinpoint installer for repair after the anniversary update and it should run just fine. It might look like it's gone but it's still really there." So it appears that it is not really a serious issue at all but simply annoying. Frankly, despite all the concern which seems to be around, I have not had any serious issues with either Win 10 or it's updates. One big advantage with the anniversary update is that it introduces the ability to tell Win 10 which hours of the day that you do not want it to install updates. There seem to be quite a few other improvements as well including a built in Linux shell. I don't understand this but I am told by Linux users that it will be useful. Ian
  7. Hi all, After letting the major Anniversary update for Win 10 run on my office laptop (which is identical to my observatory laptop) without any problems I then ran it on the observatory laptop. On completion of the update Win 10 informed me that it had removed Pinpoint Astrometric Engine as it was incompatible with Win 10. I thought this was a bit unexpected as there were no problems when I did the upgrade from Win 7 to Win 10. Nevertheless that is what happened. I have emailed DC3 Dreams about this and I will update you when I get a reply. Ian
  8. Thanks for that Mike. Somewhere I have seen a condensed version of this information. I think it was revealed by holding the mouse pointer over the hand symbol itself. It takes a moment to appear. I think you will find this works on some other Autoslew buttons as well. Ian
  9. I am not a lawyer either but surely wording something like I have written below would be adequate for now. If there is a lawyer amongst us then I am sure he/she could do better. This wiki is prepared and written on a voluntary basis by the community of amateur ASA equipment users based entirely on their experience as users of the equipment. It is NOT official documentation prepared by the manufacturers of the ASA equipment and in no manner should it be read or interpreted as originating from or being approved by ASA. Users of this Wiki and the information contained within it do so entirely at their own risk. No guarantees of accuracy or usefulness of the information contained in this Wiki are given or implied. Ian
  10. Interesting that the creation date on the incremental version is 6 days after this thread was started! Perhaps we have embarrased ASA into action?!? I would like to thank those who have already put so much effort into the wiki idea. I agree that it should remain independent of ASA. Ian
  11. I use the logitech 710. It works exactly as Mark describes. When I first moved to Win10 Pro from Win 7 Pro it stopped working for a while but that has now sorted itself out. I believe it was a Logitech driver issue. Ian
  12. This really looks like it might get somewhere! The most positive thing I have seen on this forum for a long time. My thanks to those who are offering practical assistance. I am only a learner with ASA equipment but I do have good English skills and experience with technical writing so I would really like to contribute where I can. I agree with Waldemar that clear simple unambiguous English is essential to this type of documentation, especially as non-native English speakers will be reading the text. I have commented in the past about ASA's inappropriate wording in the existing "manuals". Ian
  13. As Nigel says this has been suggested before. It is an excellent idea, particularly as ASA clearly has no intention of ever providing proper documentation. I just wish they had admitted this long ago rather than repeatedly promising improvements that never eventuate! I am really quite angry about this as I feel they have acted no better than conmen! Nevertheless we have already spent the money and being angry will get me nowhere. So I strongly support Max's suggestion. Ian
  14. Hi Thomas, I have asked the same question but I never got an answer. My reason for believing it does work each time Autoslew starts is that if the GPS is not working or has not found sufficient satellites then an error appears in the Autoslew dialogue saying something like "unable to get accurate time because GPS cannot see enough satellites". The wording may be quite different to what I have written as I am going from fairly long memory but it is something like that. Yet another example of something that should be in the documentation but is not. Maybe what Waldemar says above is the explanation as I got the ASA GPS with my mount. However I was unaware that there was anything special about it but maybe there is or maybe different GPS sticks need to be read in a different way by software???? Who knows...I certainly don't. As for using the internet time synchronisation protocol, I reckon there is an element of risk. The risk is that you never know if there has been a momentary variation in the transmission time across the net from the time server to your computer. I know that the service attempts to correct for transmission delay but that can only be totally accurate if transmission times are constant which, because of the way the internet works, they cannot be. Maybe I am being pedantic but I have seen this effect when I have time synched two computers one after the other and then found their clocks to be different by a number of seconds. This is probably more of a problem for me than others as I rely on satellite internet. Nevertheless it will be true of all internet connections to some extent. So my question is why rely on the internet method if you can get the time from a GPS as the GPS time MUST be very accurate or the GPS positions will be way out. Ian
  15. Hi Mike, There is a function in the Autoslew menus called "Get time from GPS" or similar wording. I believe that function will give you the most accurate time synchronisation. Once you have selected that then each time you start Autoslew the PC time will automatically be synched to the GPS time. I believe that the GPS method will give better accuracy than any form of internet synchronisation. In order to work properly a GPS receiver must have very accurate time. Regards Ian
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