Alpaca and PHD

[Ross Salinger]

I have an odd use case which gives me fits when using PHD. I have two computers in my observatory. The observatory has a Paramount MX+ Series 6 upgraded mount installed. For various reasons (and I can't change this) I have to use a computer atop the OTA but connect the Paramount to a different computer. To make this work I'm using ALPACA to expose the mount to the computer atop the OTA. Works perfectly for NINA. 

However, for some reason PHD won't use the same ALPACA driver. It connects but then doesn't guide. To get around this I'm using the JustAHub feature in ASCOM. I connect PHD to the hub and then the JustAHub telescope to that same ALPACA driver. That works but there must be a better way. 

I'm also concerned about doing it this way as the guiding doesn't seem up to the same standard as it was before I was forced to go to a two computer solution. When the OTA computer was directly connected to the mount, guiding seemed to be much better. I am wondering if the network delay in moving images might be contributing. 

I know that this is niche question but if there's an easy way to fix this by having PHD use the same ALPACA driver that would be a start.

Rgrds-Ross Salinger

[Brian Valente]

Hi Ross

it would help to see your logs using the log uploader: https://openphdguiding.org/getting-help/ 

Which alpaca driver are you using and how is it configured? is PHD throwing errors or is the mount just not responding, or something else?

PHD doesn't really know much about the mount, so it may be something within the driver. the logs will help

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Brian 

Brian Valente

astronomy portfolio https://www.astrobin.com/users/bvalente/ 

[Bruce Waddington]

Hi Ross.  I don't really grasp what your configuration looks like in terms of what apps are running where, whether the mount driver is Alpaca or ASCOM,  whether you're using ASCOM Remote, etc.  But if you want to connect PHD2 to an Alpaca driver, you need to do follow a one-time procedure to create a dynamic ASCOM interface to that driver.  The reason you can't do this yet in PHD2 is that all of that dynamic device creation machinery is embedded in the ASCOM Chooser, something PHD2 doesn't use.  Hence the need for a one-time procedure.  Here's a link that talks about how to create a dynamic, ASCOM-compatible interface to an Alpaca driver:

https://ascom-standards.org/help/html/e3870a2f-582a-4ab4-b37f-e9b1c37a2030.htm

The section that is most relevant here is titled "Discovering Alpaca Devices".

Regards,

Bruce

[Ross Salinger]

First, thank you for the link and the explanation. I do wonder why you guys don't use the chooser, but I get the message.. 

So, I'm going to go back and see why PHD cannot use the same driver that I've got running which is used by NINA and the SKYX. I didn't realize that it's, in theory, just a matter of building a dynamic driver using the chooser. Just to be clear, this driver could be built on either of the computers I have running. Is that correct? I have the feeling, somehow, that it needs to be built locally and that's why only using the hub am I getting guiding. I'll do some more experimenting. 

There's no point in putting up the logs. I have one driver that's used by all three of the installed planetarium programs - the SKYX, Stellarium, and Cartes du Ciel. Works fine. It also works with NINA. It does not work with PHD or would not until I resorted to the ASCOM device hub. I just have the feeling that I'm running so indirectly that the guiding corrections are not getting out crisply as they pass through so much software. 

Rgrds-Ross 

[Bruce Waddington]

We don't use the ASCOM Chooser because PHD2 - the entire application - is cross-platform.  The Chooser UI and the ASCOM platform itself are still Windows-based despite the new ability to write and deploy device drivers on non-Windows systems.  Once we add native Alpaca support to PHD2, there will be no further need for the procedure described in the link I sent you.

Bruce