Meade DSI software and controlling an Orion Atlas EQ-GT mount

I have an Orion Atlas 10" Eq-GT and a Meade DSI with the Autostar
suite. I would like to stick with the Meade AutoStar Suite but
apparently the Meade software will not talk with the Orion EQ-GT Atlas
mount, which the manual says has a Celestron 5 compatiable command set.


I would like to stick with one set of software and have autoguiding
active with the Meade DSI.

The Orion Atlas came with a student version of The Sky and a disk for
Starry Night Pro.

Any other Atlas 10" or Atlas Eq-GT mount owners with experience and
recommendations about -

1) a work-around of the Meade software, or,

2) which disk should I put in, The Sky or Starry Night?

Mostly I'm concerned about compatiability to computer control the
mount. I have been using Cartes du Ciel for some years.

- Canopus56

canopus56 wrote:
I have an Orion Atlas 10" Eq-GT and a Meade DSI with the Autostar
suite. I would like to stick with the Meade AutoStar Suite but
apparently the Meade software will not talk with the Orion EQ-GT Atlas
mount, which the manual says has a Celestron 5 compatiable command set.


I would like to stick with one set of software and have autoguiding
active with the Meade DSI.

The Orion Atlas came with a student version of The Sky and a disk for
Starry Night Pro.

Any other Atlas 10" or Atlas Eq-GT mount owners with experience and
recommendations about -

1) a work-around of the Meade software, or,

2) which disk should I put in, The Sky or Starry Night?


Hi:

You won't be able to use the goto feature of the Meade software with
your Atlas (Synta Skyscan). That's not so bad. The Meade planetarium
program that's part of Autostar Suite, a retread of their old "Epoch
2000," really ain't much. You may be able to autoguide with the DSI,
however. You will need a piece of hardware, however (which several
folks sell), called an "LX200 emulator." This will translate the Meade
guiding commands to switch closures that will move your mount via your
autoguide port.

I don't understand question number two. If you're using Cartes du Ciel,
why not continue with it? It will drive your mount goto wise just as
well as the other two, via the Celestron Nexstar 8 driver in ASCOM.

Peace,
Rod Mollise
Author of _Choosing and Using a Schmidt Cassegrain Telescope_
http://skywatch.brainiac.com/astroland/index.htm

Like SCTs and MCTs?
Check-out sct-user, the mailing list for CAT fanciers:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/sct-user

See: http://journals.aol.com/rmollise/UncleRodsAstroBlog/
For Uncle Rod's Astro Blog.

RMOLLISE wrote:

Thanks for the tips, Rod.

Rod wrote:
I don't understand question number two. If you're using Cartes du Ciel,
why not continue with it? It will drive your mount goto wise just as
well as the other two, via the Celestron Nexstar 8 driver in ASCOM.

After playing with it over the weekend, that is the solution I adopted.
It's great to see ASCOM out there - end-users creating a
non-proprietary standard for mount, camera and auto-focuser drivers. I
bought the Meade DSI sometime ago, and only recently understood that it
will only work with Meade scopes.

Canopus56 wrote:
The Orion Atlas came with a student version of The Sky and a disk for
Starry Night Pro.
I was suprised to learn that the Orion Atlas GT-EQ6 mount did not come
bundled with any pc software that would drive the GOTO capability of
the mount (outside the hand-controller's catalogue). You have to make
another upgrade software purchase. Oh well, live and learn. Buyer
beware. (I imagine all the major manufacturers use this marketing
technique, not just Orion).

Thank God for Cartes du Ciel. I don't know who Patrick Chevalley is,
but Partick thanks.

You may be able to autoguide with the DSI,
however. You will need a piece of hardware, however (which several
folks sell), called an "LX200 emulator." This will translate the Meade
guiding commands to switch closures that will move your mount via your
autoguide port.

Rather than the LX200 emulator, since I have modified the tube rings
to carry a separate 60mm refractor as a guide scope, what about
purchasing a Celestron LPI and using it's software as the auto-guider?

Would that work? If so, what other add on software to do the
auto-guiding should I consider?

Thanks - Canopus56

canopus56 wrote:
RMOLLISE wrote:
You may be able to autoguide with the DSI,
however. You will need a piece of hardware, however (which several
folks sell), called an "LX200 emulator." This will translate the Meade
guiding commands to switch closures that will move your mount via your
autoguide port.

P.S. to lurkers - A link to the LX200 emulator we are referencing:

http://www.technoplus.nl/astro/lx200.htm

- Canopus56