Документ взят из кэша поисковой машины. Адрес оригинального документа : http://www.astro.louisville.edu/software/xmtel/archive/xmtel-5.1/README Дата изменения: Fri Dec 4 08:24:46 2009 Дата индексирования: Mon Oct 1 20:55:06 2012 Кодировка: Поисковые слова: earth's atmosphere

XmTel
=====

Copyright 2009 John Kielkopf
Email: kielkopf@louisville.edu
Last update: December 2, 2009

Distributed under the terms of the General Public License (GPL, see LICENSE).

XmTel is a telescope control interface designed to to communicate with a
telescope server, and Elwood Downey's XEphem, through the INDI protocol.
It will also operate as a free-standing program for control of telescopes
that use the NexStar and LX200 command sets (but see below).

XmTel utilizes the "Instrument Neutral Distributed Interface" (INDI),
Copyright Elwood Charles Downey. General Public Licensed software for this
interface is included in this package.

XmTel is accompanied by routines which support the necessary communication and
commands for running Celestron NexStar and Meade Instruments LX200 telescopes.
We also support hardware from RCOS, but the software for that is not GPL and is
available only on request. We are developing software to use Galil motion
controllers for telescope servo control, and to run the Software Bisque
Paramount. We will make both available in later versions with the understanding
that they require libraries or additional software that cannot be distributed
under GPL and that are only available from third parties.

The functions in protocol.c for the LX200 controllers were developed from a
version of lx200.c written by Ken Shouse (ken@econtrols.com) with
modifications by Carlos Guirao (guirao@eso.org). However, several changes to
that source been made in this application. The LX200 protocol is provided as a
legacy use from the first versions of xmtel. It has been tested and continues
to be used with a Meade 16-inch fork-mounted SCT. If you need other features for
the LX200 that are compatible with the INDI and user interfaces of XmTel, please
let us know.


VERY IMPORTANT NOTICES
----------------------

While this software is useful for us in operating our telescopes, it is supplied
without warranty of any kind. Our intention is to offer a framework and
examples that may be tailored to your own applications. Please test the
provided routines with caution and use them at your own risk.

In alt-az operation the mounting may acquire a target with an expected sense of
rotation leading to undesirable cord wrap. Allow slack in cabling, and watch
for the possibility that cables may be under stress.

For German equatorials (e.g. the Celestron CGE) it is possible that a request
to slew may generate a flip of the telescope from one side of the pier to
the other. Be aware of this possibility, and watch for cable wrap.

With the NexStar controller you should set slew limits in the hand controller if
this feature is available. Slew limits are not a guarantee, and also have
no utility in the "AUX" version of the driver provided here. The addition of
mechanically actuated cutoff switches is recommended if this software is to be
used on a telescope remote from the operator.


Credits
-------

Many thanks to Elwood Downey for maintaining XEphem, a program of
extraordinary quality, and for his help to make the XmTel
controller responsive to XEphem and INDI.

Carlos Guirao, Ken Shouse, and Peter McCoullough contributed to the routines
that implement the Meade LX200 command set.

Andre Paquette provided documentation and assistance with the auxiliary command
set for NexStar, and Joe Haberman offered insights into the many features of the
Celestron control system.

Rhodes Hart and Ian Waite of Mt. Kent Observatory at the University of Southern
Queensland have patiently have helped with debugging the software for use with
the NexStar command set.

Dan Azari's remarkable programming skills made an interface to RC Optical
Systems Professional Series mounting possible.



References
----------

"Motif Programming: The Essentials and More", Marshall Brain, (Digital Press,
Burlington, MA, 1992). The book was also re-released by HP Technologies
and may still be available in paper. ISBN 1-55558-089-0.

"Motif Programming Manual", Dan Heller and Paula M. Ferguson, (O'Reilly and
Associates, 1994). This volume (6A of the series) and its companion (6B) are
also available on-line at http://www.oreilly.com/openbook/motif/.

"Astronomical Algorithms", Jean Meeus, (Willman-Bell, Richmond, VA, 1991).
Indispensable!