The OnStep ASCOM unified driver (version 1.0.43 supporting Telescope, Focuser, Rotator, Switch and Observing Conditions interfaces) for OnStep release-3.16 and later, is available to download here.
The latest beta version 1.0.44 is available to download here. It adds the following capabilities…
- Six fixed focuser drivers: independent selections and profiles for focusers 1–6 on OnStepX; legacy OnStep 4.24 supports fixed focusers 1 and 2 only.
- Two independently registered driver suites: selectable “OnStep” and “OnStep 2” builds, each with its own telescope, focusers, rotator, switch, observing conditions, and saved profiles. Note: most users will install only “OnStep” and skip “OnStep 2”.
- Safer manual slew release: stop commands bypass preliminary status queries, and rate/start commands stay together.
- Uncertain movement starts aren’t replayed.
- Persistent port 9999: enabled for OnStepX 10.29a and later, which requires the matching SWS firmware 2.11b and later.
- Connection heartbeat: probes after about five seconds without a successful reply. Terminal failures disconnect all clients sharing that session and require explicit reconnection.
- More resilient TCP communication: handles split and longer replies, bounded retries, and per-device timeouts.
- Improved cleanup and recovery: failed initialization, disposal, and abandoned client connections release their resources. Stale clients cannot interfere with a replacement session.
The prior stable version 1.0.40 is available to download here.
These new drivers are the result of many many hours of work, please consider making a donation to help support the developer if you find them useful.
Notes:
The ASCOM Platform version 6.5 or later should be installed before this driver.
These drivers do not require using an ASCOM hub such as POTH for multiple connections. Any com (or IP) port (or ports) can be shared among all OnStep ASCOM drivers in this package.
The Telescope driver is functional with OnStep version 3.16 or later.
The Focuser driver is functional with OnStep version 3.16 but TCF support (and backlash/dead-band) requires version 4.17 or later. OnStep has the ability to “swap” focusers (Android App, SHC, etc. do this) so minimal controls can operate two focusers. This driver can detect the swapped condition and make sure commands go to the designated focuser (if set to do so, requires OnStep 4.17 or later.)
The Rotator driver is only functional with OnStep version 4.17 or later since the command protocol was enhanced in support of this driver.
The Switch driver fully supports both SWITCH and ANALOG_OUT Auxiliary Features with OnStep version 4.17 or later. It also supports switching the DEW_HEATER’s on/off. It does not support the INTERVALOMETER since that control doesn’t logically map to ASCOM Switch capabilities.
The Observing Conditions driver is functional with OnStep version 3.16 or later. This provides Temperature, Pressure, Humidity, and Dew-Point. These values are usually obtained from an attached BME280 device (otherwise it returns the default TPHD values.)
The ASCOM driver dialogs:
For versions of OnStep prior to release-3.16:
The current stable OnStep ASCOM driver, version 2.0.6, is available to download here.
The prior stable OnStep ASCOM driver, version 1.50, is available to download here.