Was thinking of upgrading my mount to the EQ6-R pro, I use a MacBook Pro right now, and was wondering if PHD2 will recognize the mount through USB and be able to guide the mount. I have a ZWO120mm mini guide camera which is recognized in PHD2 so I was hoping it was a simple matter to connect the mount through USB and guide this way. Otherwise I guess I could use the ST-4 port but I’ve heard that’s not the greatest way to guide your mount. I know that MacOS doesn’t support ASCOM drivers. Any help before I make the purchase would be greatly appreciated.
EQ6-R Pro with PHD2 on a Mac Computer
Is it got Apple Silicon chip or is it still Intel?
andrea tasselli:
Is it got Apple Silicon chip or is it still Intel?
Oh yeah that might help huh, Intel I7 16gigs. It’s a 2012, still a workhorse.
Then yes, you should have no issue with PHD2. At least I didn't. Not sure there is an INDI driver that needs installing as I don't use SW mounts but you can check with Ekos (KStars - Desktop Planetarium (kde.org)), which I would highly recommend to install if you are using OSX (if you can bootcamp on Win 10 then maybe NINA is a better option).
I have M1 MacBook and motorised EQ3-2 mount (this should not make much difference in terms of hardware connection and drivers, my mount shows up as "HEQ5/EQ6" in the interface), and I am actually using Windows 11 running on a virtual machine in Parallels. Everything works fine.
I found Ekos/Kstars not as user friendly as NINA, there are less materials about Ekos/Kstars, and NINA has much better polar alignment functionality which is very important to me. Parallels is a paid software, and probably Windows will be for you as well, so you can consider this option if you are willing to pay for that.
One more thing to be aware of – I had some troubles with ASI camera drivers for M1 specifically (now resolved), so make sure they will work for your Windows setup beforehand.
I found Ekos/Kstars not as user friendly as NINA, there are less materials about Ekos/Kstars, and NINA has much better polar alignment functionality which is very important to me. Parallels is a paid software, and probably Windows will be for you as well, so you can consider this option if you are willing to pay for that.
One more thing to be aware of – I had some troubles with ASI camera drivers for M1 specifically (now resolved), so make sure they will work for your Windows setup beforehand.
Helpful
Yeah I run windows 10 on boot camp. Got parallels too. I just fine the MacOS much more user friendly. I was just hoping like my ZWO guide camera the sky watcher mount would just be in the drop down list to select. In other word easy. I’ve tried the other apps and found them with a high learning curve or just plain clunky. Would rather just stay on the Mac side of things if I can. Why I put the query out to the community. Thanks for you input though.