Frequently Asked Questions
- The driver installer shows the message “The ASCOM Platform 5 is required for this driver”
- This is resolved for most drivers, see Platform 5.5 only installers
for information on how to fix this for your driver.
- Why Can't You Just Add Logic to Your Program to Compensate For My Device's Problem?
- See the Correcting for Problems (also in the menu on the left).
- Where can I learn about The ASCOM Initiative and its technology?
- See the About ASCOM section.
- How can I get support for my ASCOM driver?
- See the Support page for details.
- How can I use TheSky™ in the ASCOM Environment?
- See Working With TheSky (also in the menu on the left).
- Why don't my scripts work on a 64-bit system?
- Most ASCOM drivers and the ASCOM support components are 32-bit. If you run your script by double-clicking it or using cscript on the command line, it uses the 64-bit script engine. The 64-bit script engine cannot use 32-bit components. On a 64-bit system, you must use the 32-bit script engine for ASCOM scripts. The easiest way is to use a command shell like this:
c:\whatever\> %windir%\SYSWOW64\cscript.exe myscript.vbs (or myscript.js for JScript)
- What is a Hub?
- A hub is a program that allows multiple ASCOM astronomy programs to share a device. It looks like a driver, but it can allow more than one program to connect to it, and it in turn connects to the driver for the real device. Hubs can exist for any type of device. The diagram below shows a telescope hub only as an example.
The ASCOM Platform comes with two hubs, POTH and ASCOM Dome Control. In addition, the FocusMax program can act as both a focuser and a telescope hub.
- What is POTH? What Can I Use it For?
- See Using POTH (also in the menu on the left).
- How do I enable and disable serial tracing?
- Most drivers use the ASCOM "Helper" component to do serial port I/O. For those drivers that do, you can capture a trace of the serial traffic to and from the device by using serial tracing. Beginning with ASCOM Platform 5.5, the Chooser has a Trace menu. Use this to set the location of the serial trace log and to turn tracing on and off.