Richard Thornton replied to the topic 'Newbie with EQ6' in the forum. 3 years ago

Thanks everyone!

I just had a rummage around, I have an EQTooth (Bluetooth EQMOD - EQDIR adapter for EQ6 and NEQ6) should I get started with that, or is BT too unreliable?

FYI I just ordered an EQMOD USB cable from overseas but that will take a month or so to get here, also I'm pretty sure I have the correct (I think it's 5v) FTDI cable somewhere, I would need to solder on a DB9.

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Richard Thornton replied to the topic 'Newbie with EQ6' in the forum. 3 years ago

Thanks, I would like to use ARM Linux to replace and exceed the functionality of a SynScan, super basic stuff, can I use the QHY PoleMaster with Linux to do a Polar Alignment, the link in my first post seems to suggest I can, what Linux software should I use to allow me to manually slew the scope and tell it to GOTO an astronomical object, as an Linux expert/astronomy newbie where would I start in your opinion, any gotchas?

Essentially it would be great to have a low power headless MCU/SBC connected to the EQ6 and a computer with a screen that runs the astro software (laptop/tablet) that connects to the MCU/SBC.

Put even more simply, if you were getting started in visual astronomy and wanted to use Linux with an EQ mount, where would you start?

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Richard Thornton created a new topic ' Newbie with EQ6' in the forum. 3 years ago

G'day from Oz!

Please be gentle, I'm very new to all this

I have an old EQ6 with the DB9 SynScan, it’s been such a long time that I’ve forgotten how to use it but I can recall it was clunky to use.

I'm thinking Linux would be the "2021" way to get rid of the SynScan and replace it with a computer for visual astronomy (to start with).

I know a lot more about computers (than I do about astronomy) and so I’m happy with PC hardware (x86, ARM) and OS’s (Android, Linux, Mac, Win), I have a lot of hardware lying around and (if it’s useful) I can solder. I have numerous ARM systems, all flavours of Pi and a RockPro64 (might be good because of the PCIe slot).

Really I would want the setup to make it easy for me to get setup and viewing an object quickly. Get in the car, park somewhere dark, unpack and assemble mount, align and goto an object.

Not sure if it can integrateintegrate but I just ordered a QHYCCD PoleMaster to help me with setup.

I can see AstroPi3 and Astroberry not sure if that makes sense, I'm super comfortable installing stuff from the Linux CLI and even compiling stuff.

Thanks.
Richard

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