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My scope (or its controller) only has a USB connector, like the iOptron GOTONova or Meade ETX-LS. Can I use a USB-to-serial adapter to make it work with SkyFi?

April 26, 2017adapter connector controller etx-ls meade SCOPE USB usb-to-serial

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My scope (or its controller) only has a USB connector, like the iOptron GOTONova or Meade ETX-LS. Can I use a USB-to-serial adapter to make it work with SkyFi?

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No. Two reasons: first, the thin USB “A”-style connector found on the USB end of all USB-to-serial adapters won’t physically fit into the smaller square USB “B”-style jack on the telescope (or its controller). Second, the driver software required to communicate with these telescopes is only available for Mac or PC operating systems. To work with SkyFi, these drivers would have to be ported to SkyFi’s embedded processor (which is not running a full-blown operating system like Mac OS X, Windows, or Linux.) A USB-enabled version of SkyFi is currently under development. As of June, 2010, the SkyFi USB hardware, with the required “A”-style jack, is currently working in the lab. The bottleneck is the firmware. Obtaining the information from the scope manufacturers that is required to port their drivers to SkyFi’s embedded environment has been challenging.