1. Simulation Curriculum Corp.
  2. Community
  3. SkySafari | Meade Telescopes
New post
0

SkySafari 5 Pro | Using LX200 GPS All Now Motion Stops If App Is Closed

I have a custom scope controller which uses the LX200 GPS protocol and have used Sky Safari on both IOS and Android to control it for over a year.  Sky Safari has worked very well for me.  Recently I noticed a change in behavior with the IOS app where all motion stops if the app is closed (home button pressed, screen times out, or screen turned off).  I traced the communication link and found that the app sends the Stop All Slewing command ":Q#" when the screen closes.  This does not happen in Android version 5.4.0.0 and I'm certain that it did not happen in previous versions of the IOS app.  I cannot say with certainty whether the change occurred in 5.4.0 or the previous release but I am certain that it was not sending that message in the version from Jan/Feb of 2017.

I don't know that this would cause a problem with a real Meade scope and I am not asking you to make any changes.  I would just like to know if the change was intentional, what the reasoning is for it, and why the Android app does not do it. 

 

Thanks,

John

 

Date Votes

2 comments

  • 0
    Avatar
    Bill Tschumy

    John,

    This change was on purpose.  We had a customer complain that when using the onscreen slew arrows it was easy to accidentally enable the split screen multitasking or start a swipe to another app.  This puts SkySafari in the background.  If they were slewing using the buttons this resulted in a runaway slew and you had to put SkySafari back in the foreground and tap a button to stop it.

    To eliminate this problem we have started cancelling all scope motion when the app is ut into the background.

  • 0
    Avatar
    J Carter

    That all makes sense.  Thanks for the quick response.

Please sign in to leave a comment.