Look for the big ASCOM Alpaca Announcement!

[Bob Denny]

Finally! My other astronomy software passion, ASCOM, is about to make a big announcement. I have been working hard behind the scenes on this. Starting last November I've been pushing for ASCOM Remote to take the last steps and become a true cross-platform internet standard. My work has included starting discussions, reviews, demo videos, finalization of the standards, testing, and updating the ASCOM Initiative web site. Peter Simpson has done all of the heavy lifting on the ASCOM Remote tools and the documentation of the standards themselves, along with also participating in the reviews and discussions.

This will not impact you on Windows at all, nor will the ASCOM Platform change.

See the Alpaca FAQ on the Ascom web site

Here's the intro video, one of two on the Alpaca page at the ASCOM-Initiative web site:

[Bob Denny]

Eric -- You deleted the post, and actually your questions are great! I have the deleted post and I'm going to use it as a guide for some FAQ on the ASCOM site, and also add a "Developers Only" alert to the Alpaca detail page. Thanks for this!!

[Bob Denny]

OK, the front page now guides end users to the FAQ page. A new notice block at the top of the Alpaca developers page also guides end users to the FAQ page.

Thanks so much! I know you saved us from a flurry of questions!!! We were so close to it all, and were a bit review-weary on top of that, we missed this totally obvious thing!!

[Colin Haig]

Bob, I can't seem to find an installer for the ASCOM Alpaca remote client and server components on the github.
eg I find the source for everything here:
https://github.com/ASCOMInitiative/ASCOMRemote
I'm looking for a ready-to-run installer.

[Colin Haig]

I had another look, and see a 1.4 installer further down this page, but no 1.5 installer.
https://github.com/ASCOMInitiative/ASCOMRemote/releases

[Bob Denny]

I see the problem. The words "ASCOM Remote" in the "download" lead to the GitHub project. I will fix this in a minute. Have a look at the Alpaca page on ASCOM-Standards.org (all roads lead there ha ha). The Download button will lead directly to the V5 (or whatever is the latest):

Snap1.png

However, if you land on the Project page, the "nn releases" link will lead you to the latest release. If you showed V1.4 then refresh your browser, V1.5 only got released yesterday.

Snap2.png

Snap3.png

[Bob Denny]

OK go back and check, now the "ASCOM Remote link in the Download box also leads directly to the release/installer. Thanks Colin, these inputs are a big help!!

Snap4.png

[Bob Denny]

AHHHHH I see the Other problem. There no 1.5 Installer in the 1.5 Release! I will contact Peter now.

[Bob Denny]

Fixed, the installer has appeared now. Thank you again Colin!!!

[Brian Sheets]

Already writing code for a raspberry pi to shore up my scope park safety switch.

The plan is to use an IR sensor on the RP, check the ascom telescope and roof status and if it's not safe AND the scope trips the sensor on the RP, power everything down and wake people (me) up.

Should have it completed by tomorrow.


I'll post code if anyone is interested.