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New ASCOM driver for legacy DDM mounts

photon

By photon
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photon Member

photon

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No, there is no new driver from ASA for us.

Instead I wrote an ASCOM telescope driver with connects to the existing AutoSlew ASCOM driver as "man in the middle" translator.

This driver adds some missing features from the original driver. I was able to connect to NINA without issues and to do an automatic 3 point polar alignment :-)

It's not yet super polished, but works for me.

If anybody is interested please visit https://github.com/photon1503/ASCOMProxyHub and also open discussions and issues directly on GitHub.

--

Gerald

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AnakChan Member

AnakChan

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@photon #1 thank you so very much for this. I believe this will make many N.I.N.A. <-> AutoSlew users very happy. #2, small issue but when trying to download this on my Windows PC, Windows Defender blocked with a virus threat warning. I created and left an issue in your project. Not certain if it's a header/signture/crc issue.

Pls ignore! Looks liked you've fixed it. I'm able to download and am testing it now (running Conformance on it).

Edited by AnakChan
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Rsanalb Member

Rsanalb

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Hace 2 horas, el fotón dijo:

Me alegro de saber que funciona para ti 😀

@AnakChanTambién puedes encontrar el resultado de mis pruebas de conformidad aquí: https://github.com/photon1503/ASCOMProxyHub/tree/main/Conform

Avísame si encuentras algún problema. No estoy usando PulseGuide, así que no puedo probar este.

Of course, I send you the practice, but now it’s raining, ajjajaj

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photon Member

photon

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FYI, the connection issues in NINA nightly build #63 has now gone. So for most users this should be fine.

But for 3PPA, we still cannot switch tracking on/off due to missing implementations in the ASA ASCOM driver.

Only when using the ASCOM Proxy we have control over this feature.

image.png

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AnakChan Member

AnakChan

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Will you be updating your driver to skip the UTCDate part now that Stefan's addressed it? But will still need your ASCOMProxyHub for the TrackingRate property?

FYI can't remember if it's 1.01 or 1.02, I did have issues in syncing the location from N.I.N.A. to the mount - in my case it's just the elevation on my site.

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photon Member

photon

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Hi, yes I'll keep UTCDate calcluation in the driver in order to pass the conformance test. Basicall it doesn't matter at which level the UTCdate is being calculcated.
And for TrackingRate you need the driver anyway.

Regarding syncing the location - this doesn't also work for me. Did this work with direct connection to AutoSlew?

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Rsanalb Member

Rsanalb

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On 10/16/2023 at 8:00 PM, photon said:

Hi, yes I'll keep UTCDate calcluation in the driver in order to pass the conformance test. Basicall it doesn't matter at which level the UTCdate is being calculcated.
And for TrackingRate you need the driver anyway.

Regarding syncing the location - this doesn't also work for me. Did this work with direct connection to AutoSlew?

Nina take my location from auto slew. In my case

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photon Member

photon

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On 10/21/2023 at 5:36 PM, Rsanalb said:

Nina take my location from auto slew. In my case

It will work from AutoSlew to NINA. But if you want to sync the other way - from NINA to AutoSlew - the new location will not be persistent in AutoSlew unfortunately.

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  • 4 weeks later...
Joha Member

Joha

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Thank you very much for your interesting implementation. I would prefer to use the ASA DDM 60 with NINA for long time exposures of ~ 20 min and would need good pointing files. For short time exposures of ~ 2min I use an existing pointing file via ASCOM Device Hub. Unfortunately I get a severe error when I try to connect the ASA DDM 60 mount in NINA.

The ASCOM.photonProxyHub.Hardware log says:

...

17:57:15.675 Connected                 Set True
17:57:15.688 Connected Set             Connecting to proxy AstrooptikServer.Telescope
17:57:15.700 Connected Set             Threw an exception:
System.Runtime.InteropServices.COMException (0x80040154): Die COM-Klassenfactory f[FC]r die Komponente mit CLSID {99352175-9A79-4457-BFE5-05BBBB61FB5C} konnte aufgrund des folgenden Fehlers nicht abgerufen werden: 80040154 Klasse nicht registriert (Ausnahme von HRESULT: 0x80040154 (REGDB_E_CLASSNOTREG)).
   bei System.RuntimeTypeHandle.CreateInstance(RuntimeType type, Boolean publicOnly, Boolean noCheck, Boolean& canBeCached, RuntimeMethodHandleInternal& ctor, Boolean& bNeedSecurityCheck)
   bei System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceSlow(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
   bei System.RuntimeType.CreateInstanceDefaultCtor(Boolean publicOnly, Boolean skipCheckThis, Boolean fillCache, StackCrawlMark& stackMark)
   bei System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type, Boolean nonPublic)
   bei System.Activator.CreateInstance(Type type)
   bei ASCOM.photonProxyHub.Telescope.TelescopeHardware.set_Connected(Boolean value)
   bei ASCOM.photonProxyHub.Telescope.Telescope.set_Connected(Boolean value)

When I check the registry CLSID {99352175-9A79-4457-BFE5-05BBBB61FB5C} is not available. Looks like a component is not found / registered.

Any idea how to overcome this issue - thanks.

 

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Joha Member

Joha

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Hello photon, last night I had the chance to verify the issue on the Windows 10 telescope computer. I used ASCOMProxyHub-1.0.0.3 and slightly older versions of the ASCOM and NINA software, e.g. ASCOM 6.6SP1. After updating to the versions you mention, the behavior is the same. On my Windows notebook I tested ASCOMProxyHub-1.0.0.3, NINA  and ASCOM Simulator Telescope without any problems. I will try further options on the telescope computer.

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  • 2 months later...
robertp Member

robertp

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Posted (edited)

Hi Gerald,

when I try to connect Nina to my DDM60 via your proxy hub, I get the same error message as Joha. Updating to Ascom 6.6SP2 did not help. I tried to test the proxy from within MaximDL and when I try to connect via the proxy, a window pops up asking for the type of mount:

grafik.png

 

When I select e.g. German Equatorial, MaximDL disconnects from the proxy (without a visible error message).

Here's what the ASCOM Diagnosis shows when trying to connect:

grafik.png

Is there anything that I can do to help you track the problem down?

Thanks and best regards,

Robert

 

 

Edited by robertp
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robertp Member

robertp

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Hello Gerald,

I just realized that there is a newer version (1.0.0.5) of your proxy. I uninstalled my older version (1.0.0.3) and now everything works as intended!

Thanks again for your great support of the community,

Robert

 

Edited by robertp
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  • 1 month later...
astrobry Member

astrobry

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On 10/14/2023 at 8:13 AM, photon said:

Instead I wrote an ASCOM telescope driver with connects to the existing AutoSlew ASCOM driver as "man in the middle" translator.

This driver adds some missing features from the original driver. I was able to connect to NINA without issues and to do an automatic 3 point polar alignment :-)

It's not yet super polished, but works for me.

If anybody is interested please visit https://github.com/photon1503/ASCOMProxyHub and also open discussions and issues directly on GitHub.

Hi Gerald,

Due to a faulty PC in the observatory, I had to fit a new PC and had problems with the ascom driver of my DDM85 mount. Thanks to your solution, it works fine now with the Sky 6.22 and Maxim DL 5 !

Thanks for the great support !! greatly appreciated ! 

 

Erik

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  • 3 weeks later...
Wojtek Gdańsk Member

Wojtek Gdańsk

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Hello, I would like to ask for help.

My computer is Windows 10 Pro.
NINA plugin for creating ASA models. It doesn't work for me.
The file is saved as grd and is not saved in the ASA >Sequence>PonitingPics folder, therefore I cannot open this file for conversion.
Maybe you know what I'm doing wrong.
Thank you for your help .
Regards.
Wojtek.

Zrzut ekranu 2024-04-21 143428.png

Zrzut ekranu 2024-04-21 144921.png

Edited by Wojtek Gdańsk
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photon Member

photon

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Hi Wojtek,

The Model Builder Plugin automatically saves a .pox files in Sequence/PointingPics after a successful run. There is also a notification in NINA which will appear after the last position has been solved.

The .grd Files are just for Grids (Positions). They also can be imported/exported but are not used for calculating the model.

You can also check the NINA log file if something went wrong. I made a new model yesterday and it should look like this:

Bild 25.04.24 um 17.59.jpeg

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