Regarding the GPhoto. I was also surprised that e.g. the Canon M-series cameras were not supported at all a few years ago and I could just dig some discussions when some preliminary support was added a year ago. The GPhoto-compatibility must be checked always for the camera.
I also point people to EQMod driver if it is feasible, but there are use cases when synscan driver is needed, I admit. Did you check this page?
indilib.org/devices/telescopes/synscan-telescope.html
I updated the description since you left the negative review.
I think the most important to update the firmware of the handset. When I refactored the Synscan driver some months ago, it was completely broken in some aspects. Handset firmware V3.37/V4.37 and up should be okay, but earlier versions can have missing support in the communication protocol, I don't support them at all. On the other hand, please check your setting in "KStars Configure/INDI/Time & Location". If "KStars Updates All Devices" is selected, your Mac will sync its time and the location in KStars to the handset. If this setting is not selected, KStars gets the location from the handset. Please report your progress, there can be some nuances on Mac what we can look into if macOS works specially in this matter compared to Linux.
"But I'm finding that the driver is screwing up the time settings in the hand controller - after disconnecting and checking the time, its no longer correct."
Can you a bit more specific? Do I understand correctly?
1. You connect the handset to Mac.
2. The time is updated correctly to the handset.
3. You disconnect from the Mac and the time is reset to a wrong value.
If this is the case, I would need more information about this situation with an example.
- What was the time before connecting?
- What was synced?
- What was the wrong time after disconnecting?
- How did you disconnect from the Mac? Did you stop INDI before removing the cable?
- Was the handset powered during the whole process or was it temporary disconnected from DC power at any point?