Control a Moonlite Focuser

dt6

I have a Moonlite Electronic Focuser that I would like to control with the ASIAir Pro. Can I do that? I do not want to use the ZWO EAF.

PMTeam@ZWO

Hello, it's better to use zwo EAF

dt6

NOT IF YOU HAVE ALREADY INVESTED $$$ IN MOONLITE AND DON'T WANT TO LOSE MONEY. I HAVE ONE ZWO EAF, BUT SINCE YOU ARE BEING SO ARROGANT AND ASSUMING I CAN AFFORD TO JUST LOOSE $$$ ON GREAT EQUIPMENT I HAVE ALREADY INVESTED IN - FORGET IT! I'M GOING TO RETURN THE ZWO AND FOCUS ON OTHER SOLUTIONS. YOU GUYS REALLY NEED TO UNDERSTAND THAT WHILE MOST MAY LIKE YOUR PRODUCTS, WE ALSO OWN PRODUCTS FROM OTHER MANUFACTURERS THAT WE ALSO WANT TO USE AND KEEP. IF ZWO CONTINUES WITH THAT KIND OF ATTITUDE, I'LL START BUYING CAMERAS, FILTER WHEELS, ETC. FROM SOMEWHERE ELSE.

wd4dx

Honestly, this sounds like a very exclusive, closed environment. I just got an ASIAIR Pro and have invested thousands in Moonlite focusers over the years - they're one of the best in the industry. While I can understand support for ZWO cameras and DSLR's only, you should seriously consider opening your solution up to supporting 3rd party focusers. Yours may work for most cases, but is far from the top of the heap in the industry.

Astrophotog

Some of us embrace the closed ecosystem. That is why I gravitated to the ASI air. This eliminates a bunch of buggy equipment. When you bought your ASIAIR you knew that it was a close system. Griping about it is not going to change it. For every one person that wants to open up the ecosystem I’m sure there’s 3 to 4 that want it closed. This system was designed to be simple. If you want to use a bunch of different components from different manufacturers there are plenty of other solutions to use, you do not need to use the ASI air in those circumstances. I don’t understand why this is so hard to comprehend.

johncdavis200

I would contend that it is NOT a totally closed ecosystem... I understand that they are using some derivation of PHD2 for the guiding portion of the ASIAir software. And ZWO has already recognized that they need to offer support for DSLR cameras in addition to ZWO cameras. So the "closed" barrier has already been broken.

The ASIAir Pro is a great product. It's physical package as well as most of its features make it one of the best values on the market. All dt6 and wd4dx - and I am saying is that expanding the scope of what the software supports will greatly improve the market for the device.

Kring

ASIair is still new and developing- I really would prefer the spent valuable development effort on making the ecosystem support stronger, hardening current features and improving compatibility with the currently supported devices before adding more 3rd party support.

PMTeam@ZWO

Yes, when asiair is more perfect, we will consider supporting third parties.

dcroe

Seem pretty perfect to me. Any timeline on getting 3rd party products like a Moonlite focuser working?

WalterT

I think they will probably never add support for other products. Literally everything out there is ASCOM compatible so they could’ve already easily added at least support for things that they don’t have a direct replacement for like rotators, flat panels, iPolar/Polemaster etc. I mean they added mounts that are not made ZWO so it must be at least a little perfect already 🤫

It could be that they want to maintain a “walled garden” like so many other companies out there or could be they don’t want to get bombarded by support requests for other products, or perhaps they want to create an ecosystem in which people have to purchase company-approved accessories only. All valid reasons I suppose.

wvreeven

ASIAIR runs Linux, not Windows, so ASCOM doesn’t work. It uses INDI drivers for non-ZWO products.

WalterT

I see. Point is they are open source so they COULD add support IF they wanted to.

wvreeven

Who are “they”? ZWO is not open source because the driver source code is not open. Are Moonlite? There is an INDI driver for Moonlite focusers so ZWO could add it to ASIAIR if they wanted to.

FMichon

Good afternoon (in Holland),
I read teh obov discussion, It is now 2023, is there any change?
Hope to hear from you.

Frederic Michon

Hara

Fellows, you can any time buy a small bare-bone PC and install N.I.N.A into it. Then you can control practically what ever astrophotographers equipment you can imagine. But, big but, it needs some skills and much time from you, how to connect and get system working is up to your making. It is possible but perhaps not easy. Some equipments you get working very easily, others not so. It is not plug-and-play as ASIAIR is. Keep this in mind when ranting about ASIAIR restrictions. Keeping the compatibility of ASIAIR mostly only within their own components, they can assure better the plug-and-play. Badly working p&p is worse than N.I.N.A complexity, with N.I.N.A you can get things eventually working with your own actions, with bad p&p never.