64bit Camera plugin - it works!

[Dunmunro]

I have demonstrated AA8 SP3 64bit Camera control using ASCOM:

Orion SSPro camera
ASI 178MM guider camera
CEM120 mount control
Rigel Nfocus temperature compensation focus control.

[fabdev]

Thank you for the report!
Clear skies, Fabio.

[Dunmunro]

Thank you for the report!
Clear skies, Fabio.

I installed AA Ascom V2.7 after AA SP3 and that seems to have broken the 64bit and 32 bit ASCOM camera connections.

I uninstalled AA8, reinstalled it, reinstalled SP3 and I now have successful AA8 SP3 64 bit camera control on two separate installs. I was able to figure out what happened as my first install of AA8 SP3 was on a laptop that was controlling my CEM120, SSPro, ASI178MM and Nfocuser, and it went fine.

I then replaced the laptop with a minicomputer with exactly the same installation except I added AA Ascom 2.7 and it broke access to the cameras. I wonder if I somehow copied the compressed DLLs in Ascom 2.7 in the AA8 folder?

[fabdev]

Hi, I didn't understand "broke access", may you explain? what happened exactly? 32 bit or 64 bit?
By the way it's possible that the first time v2.70 is used it's required to select again the camera from the ASCOM Chooser.

The previous version is still available, you may switch between them without reinstalling:

v 2.60: https://www.msb-astroart.com/plugins/dascom260.zip (32 bit only)
v.2.70: (latest) https://www.msb-astroart.com/plugins/dascom.zip (32 and 64 bit)

[Dunmunro]

Hi, I didn't understand "broke access", may you explain? what happened exactly? 32 bit or 64 bit?
By the way it's possible that the first time v2.70 is used it's required to select again the camera from the ASCOM Chooser.

The previous version is still available, you may switch between them without reinstalling:

v 2.60: https://www.msb-astroart.com/plugins/dascom260.zip (32 bit only)
v.2.70: (latest) https://www.msb-astroart.com/plugins/dascom.zip (32 and 64 bit)

I get this error when I install Ascom 2.7. Installing Ascom 2.6 over 2.7 doesn't fix the problem.

I have to uninstall AA8 and then remove any remaining files in the AA8 install directory and then reinstall AA8 and AA8 SP3 and then I can get the SSpro working in AA8 64bit.

The SSpro driver is quite old. The ASI camera ascom chooser still works and the ASI camera works.

[Dunmunro]

I was able to get my CEM120 back in operation after being away for 6 months. I did 6 x 10min light frames and a whole set of darks and bias frames, all using AA8 SP3/64bit an a miniPC being run remotely via Chrome Remote Desktop. There was no really compelling reason to use the 64bit executable over the LAA version, but I wanted to test it out, as future cameras may need the extra memory space.

[fabdev]

It looks like that the StarShoot ASCOM driver is 32 bit only.

with an internet search: starshoot ascom 64 bit
it's possible to find the same issue on other software, for example:
https://aptforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2395

At the Orion web site the latest ASCOM driver is version "100209", maybe the upgrades solves.

About 2.70 and 2.60, the 2.60 does not have the 64 bit ASCOM plugin (d64_ASCOM.dll), so installing the 2.60 will overwrite only the 32 bit plugin.
To "uninstall" version 2.70, it's required to delete the files: d64_ASCOM.dll and g64_ASCOM.dll. Doing so, Astroart 64 bit will not find the 64 bit plugin and it will call the 32 bit plugin, which works with the StarShoot.
Thanks for the feedback!
Fabio.

[Dunmunro]

It looks like that the StarShoot ASCOM driver is 32 bit only.

with an internet search: starshoot ascom 64 bit
it's possible to find the same issue on other software, for example:
https://aptforum.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?t=2395

At the Orion web site the latest ASCOM driver is version "100209", maybe the upgrades solves.

About 2.70 and 2.60, the 2.60 does not have the 64 bit ASCOM plugin (d64_ASCOM.dll), so installing the 2.60 will overwrite only the 32 bit plugin.
To "uninstall" version 2.70, it's required to delete the files: d64_ASCOM.dll and g64_ASCOM.dll. Doing so, Astroart 64 bit will not find the 64 bit plugin and it will call the 32 bit plugin, which works with the StarShoot.
Thanks for the feedback!
Fabio.

Thanks, I'm using the 100209 driver. Does AA8 SP3 update the Ascom plugin to Ascom 2.60?

[fabdev]

No, it does not update camera plugins, use those two files to change between 2.60 and 2.70, but to uninstall 2.70 you also need to delete those two files "_64ASCOM.dll".

Looking at other forums it seems that a 64 bit ASCOM driver for the StarShot does not exist. So the only solution is to delete those two files, to force Astroart 64 in "32 bit mode", when this happens a proxy process is created (you will see another icon on the Windows taskbar).