Ummm, that doesn't sound promising. Did you ever try the ASCOM LittleFoot Driver, it seem specifically for our MCU's (based on the name anyway)?
Do you know if the v6.18 is a compatible upgrade for the v4.17D MCU? Mind you I'd still need to find a version of it if it was

Thanks for the thoughts Markku.
By hacking the firmware, I'd decompile it completely down to the C it was written in and change it there, then recompile it, so that would avoid the addressing issue. Though the checksum check could be an issue, or maybe not as the installer uses the version number in the filename to check against, but I don't think I'd risk it, too much of a pain to remove the MPU to reprogram it .
I'm thinking of setting up a serial man-in-the-middle Arduino to pass all the serial comms with the exception of the problem causing characters? Never done it or sure if it's possible, but it would probably be the easiest option as I've never written a driver before and reverse engineering a MPU's code is no easy task.

Yes I did try that driver, and it worked very well.
That one worked for both versions of the hardware, the LitteFoot and the MCU as of version 4.17D.

I have a faint memory the 6.18 was specific for the new version of the Littlefoot and it wasn't compatible with the MCU hardware.
I maybe wrong but I remember trying to upgrade mine and I couldn't do it.

Ummm, that's a worry then. It's the ASCOM LittleFoot driver that is giving me the issue with not handling the "ß".
Any thoughts as to why it's giving me that issue and worked fine for yourself or how to got around the issue?
I'm using the MCU upgrade, were you using the same or the Lightfoot (I assume they are different?)?

It worked find on Windows with that ASCOM Driver.
On INDI it only worked with and very old version of the driver and INDILib, < 1.4, I guess .

The most recent ones never worked. In your case you get that "ß" char. In my case I could never get anything.
DEC coordinate always gave me a null value. I could only read RA coordinate.

oh... wait I misread, you're getting the "ß" on Windows with Littlefoot Ascom Driver?
I must connect and try mine to see what is giving out. I do have the CDC debug files, would this help to see if it's the same?

I found a file with a result from a query I was getting this:

:GD# : -?00\0xdf00#
_GR# : 0?0:36.7#

"df" is the HEX for "ß"
Looks like you are getting the same.
I believe this is why it's failing in windows, because the ASCOM Driver then produces and unrealistic value for the longitude and latitude, then failing to proceed.
I've attached a screen shot of the error that comes up when I click "connect" in the ASCOM L ittlefoot driver".

Have you tried CDC to control the mount using direct LX200 instead of ASCOM?
That's what I was using lately! That's why it worked for me I remember now!

I originally used MCU Control and V4 Control which were made specifically for the MCU Update. They still connect and I gather work fine.
I am trying to get EQMOD to work through ASCOM, but I believe I need to get ASCOM to connect successfully with a driver (I assume the Lightfoot driver) before I can start controlling with the EQMOD software.
I'm not familiar with CDC and I don't know where or which LX200 is Direct LX200 to use?
I assume CDC is an acronym for something so I'll look into it, if it's as capable as EQMOD appears to be (with good PEC, CCD tracking, etc) I'll certainly give it a go.
Thanks for the quick replies and continual chat this time, it's been great and helpful. I unfortunately need to get to bed now. I will be back, but not for about another 18 hours or so after work tomorrow .
Thanks again, chat soon.

Oh sorry! CDC = Cartes du Ciel
EQMOD? That's not LX200 compatible!
That's not going to work with the MCU as EQMOD uses another protocol!

Good night and thanks for the chat too

I thought EQMODs ability to interface with ASCOM meant it would work fine as long as the correct driver was used in ASCOM?
Shouldn't the ASCOM drivers convert the mount protocol to work with any ASCOM compatible interface?
If that's not the case, I'm certainly confused and my attempts to use EQMOD are pointless .

EQMOD aside, I'm still stuck on the issue of not being able to get the ASCOM Littlefoot driver to correctly communicate with my MCU Upgraded mount, with what appears to be because of a random value in the Declination.
Do you have one of the MCU Upgrade firmware v3 versions? I could try that and see if pre v4 works?
If you have any ideas or suggestions of how to fix that one, that'd be great .

On a side note, is "Sky Chart" and CdC the same thing? I click the link to download CdC and it gives me the "Sky Chart" download?

Hi. That is really not the case.
The EQMOD driver provides an interface and protocol specific for Synta/Skywatcher compatible mounts.
There's no translation made between protocols. The MCU uses LX200 protocol as provided by LittleFoot driver.
There is an EQMODLX ASCOM LX200 emulator, this interfaces between EQMOD and LX200 but it was specifically made for statellite tracker.

I only have the v4 version of the firmware, maybe someone here has it? Can't find anywhere. I have just found v3.40 firmware on my files, it's attached.
Carefull, if you revert to 3.40 and it goes wrong you have to find the v4.17D upgrade, I don't have it!!!

You are have exactly the same problem I had with Declination values. At the time I modded the OnStep driver
I found it had something to do with the Precision (High/Low) the values are returned from the controller.

And, yes, Skychart and Cartes do Ciel, are the same software.