Ad Astra Observatory

Since I’m sure that someday my random musings will help someone out in Google-land fix their problem, I’m posting a reminder to myself and others about the snag I ran into while trying to get my Orion StarShoot Autoguider and Celestron NexImage cameras up and running in a 32-bit Windows 7 VirtualBox VM.

First, the SSAG.

I had to turn on USB 2.0 in the VirtualBox settings for the VM; there are 2 checkboxes and they both need to be checked. Once I did that, the SSAG plugged right in and came up. There’s a weird little two-pass plug n play thing, but other than that, it went pretty smoothly once I had the right VM settings.

The SSAG worked in PHD Guide and MaxIM, and was able to capture a file in MaxIM, as ordered by PoleAlignMax.

Second, the NexImage.

So it turns out that the NexImage is just a repackaged Philips Toucam. So I used the Philips drivers as suggested on Celestron’s site. This install is a little strange — you install the drivers, reboot, then plug in the camera, let it fail to install the driver, then go install it manually from device manager (as in “go choose the type, company, and driver from the list manually”). At that point, it, too, works fine.

The NexImage worked in PHD Guide, Craterlets, and MaxIM.

Now that I have the webcams working, I can guide, polar align, and take planetary photos. Before the next clear night, I am going to work on getting the DSLR (and DSUSB) and focuser working again. At that point, I’ll be able to run a full-up imaging rig, at least from software.