Thanks for the document.
Our plans here for some time now have been to build a roll off for 'his and hers' telescopes later this spring. But, plans may be changing, I've found a relatively inexpensive dome option, such that we may well go with twin domes instead. The controller for that dome will be arduino based, so I'm contemplating various options for working with it. I've mucked up a quick and dirty prototype of an arduino firmware that can deal with rotation, shutter control yet to come, communication link between the two hasn't been figured out yet.
My original thought is, if i implement the MaxDome protocol in the arduino, then I dont have to write a new dome driver, just use this one. But, over time I'll probably expand it some, I already see one major difference between the two. MaxDome seems to treat shutter as an 'opened' or 'closed' device, I dont see the ability to partially open in there. The one we are looking at will have the ability to not only control opening of the shutter, but, also control just how far it's opened. Ie, if not pointing up to zenith, dont open the shutter all the way. That's a very helpful bit for managing dew control, because if the telescope is not exposed to the sky strait up, then dew will form on the outside of the roof, instead of on the scope under that roof. If aiming at anything under about 60 degrees in elevation, the shutter can be left partially closed to help mitigate dew buildup.
I think in the long run, if we do go down this route, which isn't firmly decided yet, then I'll start with the maxdome driver to get all the sync math, and expand on it to add more capability for better shutter control.
I'm going to go see the domes in question in mid January, and will make up my mind about them then. But for now, I'm seriously contemplating scrapping the roll off plan, and moving to twinned domes instead. With this new option we've found, it will be no more espensive than building a roll off.