What operating system do you use?

I'm using Vista Ultimate on the new laptop - works fine so far... but then I haven't exactly taxed it yet with anything too difficult.

try copying 1500+ files at one time. vista will fall over!! I like vista, but one piece of core functionality, copy doesnt work very well. it tries to read the info of all files so it can decide how long the copy will take, and if you have many many files to copy at once, it falls over and throws an error. i use robocopy to overcome this, but really, copy function not working in an OS??? i guess though OSX has only recently fully added cut functionality so it lags behind in places also.

I'm with Seanie. XP Pro SP2 is pretty darned solid & runs most of the astro stuff.

I'm looking as TheSky6 Pro as it can integrate telescope and dome control with ease. Are there any other serious contenders out there?

Phil take a look at ACP from dc3dreams.com It will completely integrate all your observatory components and equipment. It also includes plate solving capabilities for arc-second precision in your goto pointing. It is not a planetarium but does integrate seamlessly with Starry Night Pro.

BTW I love Starry Night Pro.

Phil - I think you were looking at ACP. I'm not sure of the price differential between ACP and TheSky professional but I can't say enough about ACP. The software is superb and a total solution for automatically controlling all ASCOM compliant astro hardware.

You also get PinPoint free - that ensures pointing accuracy on the fly.

Whilst the software is superb, the support is absolutely five star. I had some issues with ACP in my early days - Bob Denny (the developer) rang me here in Ireland and remotely connected to my PC from Arizona to get it sorted. And he did. How many software vendors would do that? Top drawer and worth every penny.

Phil - I think you were looking at ACP. I'm not sure of the price differential between ACP and TheSky professional but I can't say enough about ACP. The software is superb and a total solution for automatically controlling all ASCOM compliant astro hardware.

You also get PinPoint free - that ensures pointing accuracy on the fly.

Whilst the software is superb, the support is absolutely five star. I had some issues with ACP in my early days - Bob Denny (the developer) rang me here in Ireland and remotely connected to my PC from Arizona to get it sorted. And he did. How many software vendors would do that? Top drawer and worth every penny.

Wow - that certainly sounds like a level of support you probably wouldn't get from Software Bisque... and PinPoint is free? TPoint is another $249 on top of TheSky. For hardware control purposes there's something to be said for sticking to tried and tested (by you!) software. I think Eamon A. uses ACP also. I'll investigate ACP in detail - with hardware control taken care of I should have a wider choice of planetarium software for point-and-click front end.

Phil.

PS - Wonders will never cease - I have finished gluing all my hexagons and pentagons and have just started assembling them into descrete (and managable) groups prior to raising the dome proper!!! The individual hex/pents are big enough on their own, but things get really big awfully quickly when you join them together! I'll shoot some pics tomorrow if the rain stays away.

and PinPoint is free?

Full version (5.1) included. Bob Denny wrote PinPoint too.

As for point and click, most deep sky objects (M, NGC etc), planets and major stars are in the included catalogues. All you do is type in hte name.

DC3 Dreams offer a 30 day trial - Bob will extend it too if you're clouded out.

ACP also semi-integrates with TheSky (you don't need professional). You start a little utility (plan capture) which starts TheSky. You then pick your objects in TheSKy and the utilty creates a plan for you to run in ACP.

You can type your own plans too.

Dave