ETX Remote Question

I have a two part question regarding an ETX-90 (which I'm waiting to arrive
from the dealer)

1. What is the preferred control software to use with this telescope? I
currently have Starry Night 4.5.2 and think it looks pretty easy to use.
However, is it acurate and the best control software to use?

2. I want to use a cheap laptop outside to act as a controller for the
telescope. From inside the house I would like to link to the laptop via
wireless LAN using my desktop. From the desktop I want to run the control
software and display the images back from the Meade LPI (which is coming
with the telescope). That was the stretch, now here is the pitch
(question). How should I configure the laptop in order to use it as a
controller in the manner I described? Do I need to have Starry Night loaded
on the laptop and use PC Anywhere (or similar program) in order to do what I
want? What I really want is to run everything from my desktop and have the
laptop used only as a wireless extention of this so I can port commands from
the desktop to the telescope and port images back from the telescope to the
desktop. Whew! That was a long winded question!

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!

On Sat, 22 Jan 2005 19:32:55 +0000 (UTC), "Sox-n-Eagles Fan"
wrote:

I have a two part question regarding an ETX-90 (which I'm waiting to arrive
from the dealer)

1. What is the preferred control software to use with this telescope? I
currently have Starry Night 4.5.2 and think it looks pretty easy to use.
However, is it acurate and the best control software to use?

2. I want to use a cheap laptop outside to act as a controller for the
telescope. From inside the house I would like to link to the laptop via
wireless LAN using my desktop. From the desktop I want to run the control
software and display the images back from the Meade LPI (which is coming
with the telescope). That was the stretch, now here is the pitch
(question). How should I configure the laptop in order to use it as a
controller in the manner I described? Do I need to have Starry Night loaded
on the laptop and use PC Anywhere (or similar program) in order to do what I
want? What I really want is to run everything from my desktop and have the
laptop used only as a wireless extention of this so I can port commands from
the desktop to the telescope and port images back from the telescope to the
desktop. Whew! That was a long winded question!

Thanks for any help you guys can provide!



I have not used Starry Night s/w so I can't say how good it is. I use
TheSky. In any case if the laptop can run WinXP-Pro I would install it.
WinXP Pro has a server called Remote Desktop. It allows you to control your
desktop or laptop as if you were sitting in front of it. It is a lot faster
the PC-Anywhere. The remote desktop server is not available in WinXP Home
addition. If you don't have XP or your laptop won't run it I would next
consider using a program called TightVNC. Its free (use Google to find).

Install and setup the VNC (or Remote Desktop or PC-Anywhere) s/w on your
laptop as a host. Load and run the Starry Night s/w and the LPI s/w on your
laptop. From inside load and configure the VNC code as the client. You will
now be able to log into and run the software from your house. This all
assumes your wireless link is functioning correctly and you can see you
laptop on the local network.

I also assume you ordered or will make a 505 type cable to make the RS-232
connection between your laptop and the ETX Autostar 497 controller.

-JATO
http://jatobservatory.org