I'm posting this here because The synscan INDI driver says its co-author is Jasem.

This driver is not working. It does not point correctly. I know people say to use the EQMOD driver, which does work and I use it, but in the field when you have to setup and takedown each night, the hand controller is NECESSARY for alignment if you don't have plate-solving - because of an unsupported imaging camera for example! NO EQMOD FAN BOYS PLEASE!

Maybe there is something about the synscan driver use that is not explained. I know it has a default park position and this is working. But I'm finding that the driver is screwing up the time settings in the hand controller - after disconnecting and checking the time, its no longer correct. This occurs whether I'm connecting directly via USB from my Mac laptop or remotely to a StellarMate.

You cannot plate solve in the field? I love the offline plate solver, it solves usually within a few seconds and you don't have to center a star and sync. You can also do that almost anywhere in the sky. Is it a hard disk space issue?

GPhoto is not working for my camera so having an unsupported camera means I can't do plate solving. So I need the synscan driver to work for proper alignment and framing.

EQMod also allows you to align and guide. There are controls to slew the scope east, west, north and south which should allow you to point telescope at a bright star and make KStars align. But since you’re asking for a synscan solution I’ll leave it at that.

What camera is not supported by GPhoto? I'm surprised because it supports A LOT of cameras due to all of the folks who are into photography.

The Pentax K-3Ii closes its shutter immediately. I’ve tried everything. But I’d still want to use the SynScan driver.

I'm not sure if this would help you with the shutter issue, but I found this via a google search:

www.pentaxforums.com/forums/16-pentax-ne...ability-gphoto2.html

It sounds like a similar problem and involves Pentax as well.

Regarding the GPhoto. I was also surprised that e.g. the Canon M-series cameras were not supported at all a few years ago and I could just dig some discussions when some preliminary support was added a year ago. The GPhoto-compatibility must be checked always for the camera.

I also point people to EQMod driver if it is feasible, but there are use cases when synscan driver is needed, I admit. Did you check this page?

indilib.org/devices/telescopes/synscan-telescope.html

I updated the description since you left the negative review.

I think the most important to update the firmware of the handset. When I refactored the Synscan driver some months ago, it was completely broken in some aspects. Handset firmware V3.37/V4.37 and up should be okay, but earlier versions can have missing support in the communication protocol, I don't support them at all. On the other hand, please check your setting in "KStars Configure/INDI/Time & Location". If "KStars Updates All Devices" is selected, your Mac will sync its time and the location in KStars to the handset. If this setting is not selected, KStars gets the location from the handset. Please report your progress, there can be some nuances on Mac what we can look into if macOS works specially in this matter compared to Linux.

"But I'm finding that the driver is screwing up the time settings in the hand controller - after disconnecting and checking the time, its no longer correct."

Can you a bit more specific? Do I understand correctly?
1. You connect the handset to Mac.
2. The time is updated correctly to the handset.
3. You disconnect from the Mac and the time is reset to a wrong value.

If this is the case, I would need more information about this situation with an example.
- What was the time before connecting?
- What was synced?
- What was the wrong time after disconnecting?
- How did you disconnect from the Mac? Did you stop INDI before removing the cable?
- Was the handset powered during the whole process or was it temporary disconnected from DC power at any point?

Thanks @rlancaste. I'm one of the main respondents on that thread and provided some information for the GPhoto2 developer so that the K-5II is now supported. I've raised an issue on Github and hope Marcus Meissner will respond.

Thanks @kecsap, I'll try some more testing tomorrow to give you some answers.

(PS: I was out last night and used Kstars mount control (since no hand controller) and it worked pretty nicely so I was able to align my scope but again its not preferred - It awkward and risky for the laptop in -15c temperatures.)

I had my equipment set up outside the last two nights. It was definitely cold here too. But I was inside and the Raspberry Pi was outside serving up the devices to my laptop which was inside. Have you tried this kind of setup? It is much more comfortable for both you and the laptop. I was watching a movie and sitting in front of the fire and my laptop was next to me on a table running the sequences. The raspberry PI was outside in the freezing cold, but it is much cheaper than the laptop.

Yes, this is exactly what I do except I have my car since I have to drive to darker skies. Unfortunately this doesn't work so well when your camera is not supported! I hope to have my modified K5ii back soon, then I won't have this problem but still, I would like the synscan driver working as its the manufacturer's supported method.