Hello all,
I am interested in the SkyX Pro, however, I have a homemade rotation system for my exploradome. It is pretty simple - an encoder, a home sensor, a directional switch for the motor, and a variable voltage for speed, all available via USB on my Mac OS X machine. I control it now via LabView, but it seems like the SkyX would be a much better end-to-end solution for my mount, camera, guider, focuser, and dome. If I were to get the SkyX (perhaps starting with camera, dome, and T-point add ons), it seems like I would need one of two solutions to communicate with my dome:
1) The simplest fastest solution: write an X2 plugin that just writes a temporary file with a dome azimuth. This assumes I enter all of the dome/scope parameters into SkyX, which is fine with me. I would then adapt my existing LabView code to just read this azimuth file and point the dome to that location. I would keep a LV GUI that allows me to manually control the dome during times when I didn't want it slaved to the SkyX.
2) I write a full X2 dome driver. I am familiar with a number of languages, including ANSI C, but nothing object oriented like C++ etc. I have looked at all of the online header files, etc. It seems rather opaque to me, including the X2 camera example, but if I had a good example to follow, I suspect I could make a working version. I have previously successfully written short C-codes to open my USB devices and control them, though doing this in LabView, with it's GUI and event engines, is much easier.
I am wondering if someone would be willing to help me get either of these solutions set up. I am also happy to share my Mac compatible, inexpensive dome rotation solution with anyone who is interested.
My sincere thanks,
Scott