hi! Beginner with questions here

[gregl]

Also, I find my best alignment is when I use the two star align with Polaris and something about 45 degrees up in the east. And I've also had some frustrations when I've forgotten to enter the correct time and date, and location in the handset. (Duh!)

I have heard that Polaris is the worst star to use as an alignment star. Highly not recommended. If you are getting good results using Polaris and another star you are basically doing a 1-star alignment.

This is curious and so as to not hijack this thread I'll start another. I'm curious as to the reason, so if you can help me with this question, please visit that thread here: https://theskysearchers.com/viewtopic.php?t=31842. THANKS!

[majorclanger]

Going to be blunt now, and if that results in the post being deleted or me being thrown from the site, no regrets.
Rather than making a newcomer to the forum welcome, it feels like you're heaping insult onto injury (is that an expression where you're from?) by ignoring the basic question I asked about installing the firmware and are instead criticising what I may or may not do with my own money, for reasons I've not shared. I may be wheelchair bound within a year or two, so heavy telescopes aren't a good long term investment unless I'm able to control them remotely. Also I have a younger relative with physical issues who wants to observe with me but has to remain indoors whilst undergoing chemo. So yes, an autoalign/guide and camera are things which would greatly improve our ability to use the telescope.
The repeated mantras of learn to align the scope and read the manual are very condescending and make a rather massive assumption that I have not been doing that. I read the documentation which came with the telescope, both the glossy quickstart and the full length booklet, several times since I got the telescope. As I said, I've been happily observing by manually targetting objects, something I learned to do many, many years ago during my astrophysics degree.

There are other forums where people have said they've never gotten the three star alignment to work but bimble on quite happily with the two star process; something which has worked more reliably for me over the last few nights when the cloud cover's cleared.
With regards to the driver, regardless of whichever version I use, no serial port is being created. I think I may know what the issue may be but it's going to take a few hours over the weekend to test.

So for the next newcomer to your site, try being kinder and more helpful rather than treating them like a wayward child.

[AstroBee]

It's obvious you are very frustrated at this point because your questions haven't been answered to your satisfaction. But please look at this from our (the entire forum) point of view. We are working on limited and incomplete information. It wasn't until post #17 that you mentioned you had a physical limitation and not until post #22 that you mentioned trying to get an image indoors for someone who is homebound.

Your comment about the Auto Guider is what lead me to say "Whoa Nelly" because I didn't want you to spend money on something I knew would not work on an AltAz mount.

I realize that still doesn't negate your desire to update the firmware but the reason you haven't got direct answers to the problem may be because nobody knows the answer to the problem considering the troubleshooting you have already done. It's going to require someone with the exact same scope and firmware issue to read the post and say, hey, this is what I did to solve this problem. Which may not happen ever on this group.
I am curious though, was the telescope purchased new or used? What version software/firmware are you currently running?

As for your last statement about trying to be kinder and more helpful, I feel like you are way outta line with that comment. Everybody who has replied to this post has been nothing but kind and has tried to or at least thought they were being helpful in their comments. I'm just going to chalk that bit up to your frustration over the firmware situation. We try really hard around here to make sure every newcomer is welcome.

[SkyHiker]

Going to be blunt now, and if that results in the post being deleted or me being thrown from the site, no regrets.
Rather than making a newcomer to the forum welcome, it feels like you're heaping insult onto injury (is that an expression where you're from?) by ignoring the basic question I asked about installing the firmware and are instead criticising what I may or may not do with my own money, for reasons I've not shared.
......

So for the next newcomer to your site, try being kinder and more helpful rather than treating them like a wayward child.

Did you miss my reply? It was to the point.

I totally agree with your point though, the amount of off-topic response was embarrassing and condescending.

[Bigzmey]

I totally agree with your point though, the amount of off-topic response was embarrassing and condescending.

Not really. People are honestly trying to help based on the info provided. It is really hard to judge the level of experience based on the first post, so to help with troubleshooting people start with basic stuff. Get the scope to complete alignment with the handset and confirm that it can perform goto with handset was solid advice as far as troubleshooting goes.

I still feel that the scope is wrong for the job. It is too heavy for people with physical limitations and was not specifically designed for remote control. I expect it to be buggy for anything beyond handset operation.

[Gordon]

It’s very difficult to remotely determine a problem. I’m truly sorry you feel we have failed you in our responses. Hopefully you will be able to resolve the problem.

Topic closed.