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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

Hi Robert, I also turn on all devices including the mount before starting the computer. Has always worked for me. Ian

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Watching from far away Australia it seems to me there has been such a negative reaction to the reality of what has been done that I began to wonder whether the Brexit will end up happening at all. Especially with the potential loss of Scotland from the UK. Also watching from here the European political discussions seem relatively mature to the childish nonsense we put up with in Australia. Ian

Well after trying everything I could think of I have given up on driving the OK3 from Autoslew. I have taken Christian's advice and tried ACC. This seems to work fine with normal position readouts during slews. I have to say I find these software "mysteries" rather concerning, especially as no one seems to have any idea about them. Autoslew gives crazy position readings and reports errors. ACC gives normal position readings. By the way just out of interest, what does ACC mean or stand for? Ian

Hello everyone, Since upgrading to Win 10 Pro and Autoslew 5.2.1.9 on my observatory laptop I seem to have only one issue. The OK3 focuser or its software is behaving strangely. Of course this might be a coincidence and nothing to do with Win 10 or Autoslew. I open the focuser control box by clicking on "Slew". Usual focus is 11.3 mm. Then I click on the "Home" button and the focuser begins a fast slew towards zero. During this slew the reported position numbers jump up and down and the position indicator slider also jumps backwards and forwards. The focuser itself appears to move normally and smoothly. The focuser reaches zero and then reverses away 2.0 mm as normal. During the slew the Autoslew message box shows "Focus error during talking to SM2A Controller" several times. I have tried both the 2016 FTDI driver and the 2014 version. Makes no difference. I did not see this problem with Win 7 and the last Autoslew version. Any ideas? Ian

Well I have got it all going again. Win10 had already updated the FTDI drivers. I updated to the Autoslew version on the ASA website and the mount appears to be working normally with the new FTDI driver but only daytime testing as yet. However the OK3 focuser is behaving strangely with crazy position numbers showing while it is moving. When I have worked out what is happening I will start a thread in the focuser section. Others have mentioned the "latest" Sequence version. Is that the one on the website or does it come from elsewhere? As far as I can tell the one on the ASA site is not new. Ian

The USB win 10 install went OK. Should have done them all that way in first place. Now to find out if all the astro gear still works. Ian

Yes Waldemar, when I upgraded my wife's laptop the download stopped and had to be resumed several times without a problem. I guess something different has happened in this case. I live in a remote area of Australia where internet is mostly delivered via satellite. I get 20 GB per month. Because the satellite is overloaded with customers you are only permitted to buy I GB extra per month should you run out. The Australian government has paid billions of dollars for two new satellites to fix the situation, The first was launched a couple of months ago and is now going through testing and should be working soon. However this will mean all satellite customers will have to have new dishes and modems installed, fortunately paid for by the government. The new system will have 400 times the capacity of the old one and should deliver speeds of 25 Mb/s down and 5 Mb/s up so we are really waiting to finally have decent reliable internet. Now I am trying a USB install of WIN 10 someone gave me. I am hoping this will go OK. Ian

Thanks Waldemar and Christian. Unfortunately I now have an additional problem to solve because the update failed and now win update will not work! A quick look on the web showed that this seems to be a fairly common problem. Also I have used so much of my monthly download allowance doing win10 upgrades on several computers that I can't really afford to download it again this month. I was hoping to be able to resume the download somehow as it had already got to 60% but I have no idea yet if that will be possible. Ian

Hi everyone, I am currently very nervously upgrading my observatory laptop to WIN 10 Pro from WIN 7 Pro. I have noticed various reports of some users having no problems and others reporting issues with the latest Autoslew version and also with FTDI drivers being upgraded by Win 10. Some time has passed so I am wondering what the current opinions are? Should I stick with my current Autoslew version (5.1.1.6 I think) or try the new one? Has the FTDI driver issue been solved? If not then what should I do with this? To me it is unwise to turn off updates completely. Any other tips? Thank you. Ian

Likewise Nigel. I have found myself a bit encouraged by our shared stories/experiences. I have not been able to access this forum for a while because of some weird fault with my ISP but now I can I will email you so you have my address. Ian

I noticed this offer in the Australian astronomy forum Iceinspace. Go to this link:- https://www.astronomytechnologytoday.com/?l=/sub_store/subscribe.asp In the discount code field enter "club". It must be lower case and be done first. In the Select Subscription field choose "Online access subscription $12". Then you will be taken to the Subscription page. Check that "discount for club-$12" is shown at the top of the page. Enter the other necessary details...you should not need to enter any credit card details. I have subscribed but have not read an issue thoroughly yet. Quite a few Iceinspace members have said it is very good. You can read online or download pdf's and past issues are available. Ian