I have been reading about Ascom Alpaca and would be interested to hear views of others.
If this new distributed Ascom works especially the initial "Remote Ascom" ( the ability to split Ascom applications and Hardware devices across numerous devices - initially Windows) then I would have thought Ascom is taking the "lead" over other Astro Computing in that the existing tried and tested Windows applications can now run on a laptop while Mount ,Focuser , camera's(?) etc on "Mini Windows PC" mounted on the Telescope or pier. Sounds a lot like Indi doesn't it !!!!!!
The biggest advantage it has , IMHO, is that 2 parts (application and drivers) of the 3 part system are already in existence and have been heavily tried and tested. The 3 part the "Remote Interface" - the bit that acts as the transparent gateway that allows the Applications to reside on another PC to talk to the Hardware on another PC - is the new and untried item . BUT having ried and tested Applications and hardware drivers is / could be a very big advantage.
The longer term Alpaca Ascom claims to give the ability to run on any OS (heard that before somewhere) but of course does not exist - YET! And needs vendor participation to succeed IMO
Of course anything new will not show up problems until it starts to be used in earnest - so time will tell.
Comments ?
If this new distributed Ascom works especially the initial "Remote Ascom" ( the ability to split Ascom applications and Hardware devices across numerous devices - initially Windows) then I would have thought Ascom is taking the "lead" over other Astro Computing in that the existing tried and tested Windows applications can now run on a laptop while Mount ,Focuser , camera's(?) etc on "Mini Windows PC" mounted on the Telescope or pier. Sounds a lot like Indi doesn't it !!!!!!
The biggest advantage it has , IMHO, is that 2 parts (application and drivers) of the 3 part system are already in existence and have been heavily tried and tested. The 3 part the "Remote Interface" - the bit that acts as the transparent gateway that allows the Applications to reside on another PC to talk to the Hardware on another PC - is the new and untried item . BUT having ried and tested Applications and hardware drivers is / could be a very big advantage.
The longer term Alpaca Ascom claims to give the ability to run on any OS (heard that before somewhere) but of course does not exist - YET! And needs vendor participation to succeed IMO
Of course anything new will not show up problems until it starts to be used in earnest - so time will tell.
Comments ?