I looked further into the code, although I do not really understand, how it does work. I made a local clone of the indi core and want to change the skywatcherAPI.cpp so it will return the "IsDCMotor" variable as "false" (without even checking; so just plain setting of the variable). I also noticed that in the code of the skywatcherAPI.h the MountType for the Az-Eq 6 is missing. From looking into the code of the eqmod driver I understand the MountType for the AZEQ6 should be "0x05". So could I just enter a line under enum MountType (eg 271) reading "AZEQ6 = 0x05," ?
Any help is very much appreciated !

@JonCarleton: meanwhile I did follow up to this topic: indilib.org/forum/wish-list/7524-alt-az-...-eqmod.html?start=48
Jean-Luc back then provided some modified code of the skywatcherAPI, which is supposed to solve the problem of the error response:
}
// AZEQ5 replies error code '!1', AZEQ6 replies error code '!0'
if ((TTY_TIME_OUT == rc) || ((2 == nbytes) && ('!' == input[0]) && (('0' == input[1]) || ('1' == input[1]))))
{
IsDCMotor = false;
return true;
}

He also added some lines to take care of the MountCode of the AZEQ6 (0x06 is the code for the AZEQ5, I believe)
bool SkywatcherAPI::IsAZEQMount() const
{
return MountCode == 0x05 || MountCode == 0x06;
}

Still, even with this version of the driver, the response of my mount remains:
[2021-01-28T15:25:21.474 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Toggle Debug Level -- Scope Verbose "
[2021-01-28T15:25:23.594 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 115200 "
[2021-01-28T15:25:23.640 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2021-01-28T15:25:23.651 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2021-01-28T15:25:23.662 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake "
[2021-01-28T15:25:23.674 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] InitMount "
[2021-01-28T15:25:23.685 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] CheckIfDCMotor "
[2021-01-28T15:25:25.608 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake - Result: 0 "
[2021-01-28T15:25:25.658 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Handshake failed. "
[2021-01-28T15:25:25.719 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "Skywatcher Alt-Az" is disconnected.

As far as I understand the internal workings (i.e. MC unit) of the AZEQ6 and AZEQ5 are quite similar. Since Jean-Luc got his AZEQ5 working with the skywatcher_AltAz, I assume there remain only minor issues to be resolved. I am quite eager to test anything, but I came as far as I can with my own abilities. Hope, someone can help !

This driver is often buggy.

There was a bug in this update as well, but I was able to work around it by following the steps on the blog.

There are two points.

1. Do not connect automatically (set without connecting to the device)

2. In the driver control panel, delete only the setting name part and set. (Enter the aperture and focal length.)

The operation of the purge button → default button explained in the blog is also performed without connecting to the device.

thanks T-Studio ! Tried all this, but still same response. There must be some other issue(s) in connection with the AzEq6.

Anybody willing to help out, here ? I assume the problems are due to my AzEq-6 having the latest revision of the MC board (the one with the built in USB port). But since eqmod runs flawlessly, I would think it is something minor, which needs to be changed.
I have set up a test rig and can compile and test any new version of the skywatcherAltAz. I guess, there should be more interest to this than my own, as the AzEq-6 is fairly popluar and what´s the point of having such a mount if you can´t use it in Alt-Az-mode, anyhow ?
Thanks & kind regards
Dirk

For reference, once more the part of the log, where the problems become apparent (driver used is the most recent Skywatcher Alt-Az (vers. 1.2, freshly compiled for githlub):

[2021-01-30T17:20:55.263 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 115200 "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.267 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.269 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.270 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.271 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] InitMount "
[2021-01-30T17:20:55.271 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] CheckIfDCMotor "
[2021-01-30T17:20:57.274 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake - Result: 0 "
[2021-01-30T17:20:57.275 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Handshake failed. "
[2021-01-30T17:20:57.383 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "Skywatcher Alt-Az" is disconnected.
[2021-01-30T17:20:57.384 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.ekos] - "Skywatcher Alt-Az is disconnected."

and here with the eqmod driver:

[2021-01-30T17:18:47.122 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 115200 "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.124 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.124 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.125 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[COMM] dispatch_command: \":e1\", 4 bytes written "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.127 CET DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[COMM] read_eqmod: \"=030722\", 8 bytes read "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.130 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] Successfully connected to EQMod Mount. "
[2021-01-30T17:18:47.132 CET INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - EQMod Mount : "[INFO] EQMod Mount is online. "

Just noticed that with the eqmod driver my MC board reports Mount Code 0x22 (not 0x05 as noted at various other places). May this be related to the connection problems I have with the Skywatcher Alt-Az ?

Aaahh, to my own disbelieve, I got it working now. Even though I did not exactly know, what I was doing, I made the following changes to the skywatcherAPI.cpp:

added:

bool SkywatcherAPI::IsAZEQMount() const
{
return MountCode == 0x22;
}

this inquiry was completely missing, even though in the skywatcherAPI.h there is an entry "bool IsAZEQMount() const;"; I also used "0x22" as mount code, because this is what my AzEq-6 does respond. Probably because of different MC board version ? Could this be changed in the next revision of the driver, please ?


change to the "Disable EQ mount" lines:

// Disable EQ mounts but AZEQ
if ((MountCode < 0x80) && !IsAZEQMount())
return false;

This code I borrowed from Jean-Lucs modification to make the AZEQs work.

I also added one line in the skywatcherAPI.h:

enum MountType
{
AZEQ6 = 0x22,

Not sure, whether this entry is really required or not, but I just made it, anyhow.

So, after compiling the changed version my mount does connect now:

[2021-01-31T18:00:42.287 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Toggle Debug Level -- Scope Verbose "
[2021-01-31T18:00:50.790 W. Europe Standard Time INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[INFO] Scan complete. Found 1 port(s). "
[2021-01-31T18:00:56.955 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connecting to /dev/ttyUSB0 @ 115200 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.093 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Port FD 3 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.104 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[DEBUG] Connection successful, attempting handshake... "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.115 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.126 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] InitMount "
[2021-01-31T18:00:57.135 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] CheckIfDCMotor "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.038 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetMicrostepsPerRevolution "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.050 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] Axis 0: 25600.000000 microsteps/degree, 7.111111 microsteps/arcsec "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.061 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetMicrostepsPerRevolution "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.072 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] Axis 1: 25600.000000 microsteps/degree, 7.111111 microsteps/arcsec "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.082 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetStepperClockFrequency "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.088 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetStepperClockFrequency "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.094 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetHighSpeedRatio "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.101 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetHighSpeedRatio "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.107 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetMicrostepsPerWormRevolution "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.113 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] GetMicrostepsPerWormRevolution "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.118 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] Encoders before init Axis1 8388608 Axis2 8388608 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.123 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] InitializeMC "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.129 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] Encoders after init Axis1 8388608 Axis2 8388608 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.135 W. Europe Standard Time DEBG ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[SCOPE] SkywatcherAPIMount::Handshake - Result: 1 "
[2021-01-31T18:00:59.141 W. Europe Standard Time INFO ][ org.kde.kstars.indi] - Skywatcher Alt-Az : "[INFO] Skywatcher Alt-Az is online. "

Quite eager to test it in the field now. Unfortunately, no clear skies right now.

@JonCarlton: thanks for pointing out to uncomment the lines regarding guiding in the skywatcherAPIMount.cpp. I would not have found this on my own !

Will report back, once I could live test.

just to follow up on my testing: had one night of clear skys last week. The Alt-Az driver did work with my Az-Eq 6 with the limitations described earlier by geehalel:
- solve & slew to target works great
- no syncing
- tracking somewhat choppy
- guiding of no use

regarding the two last points: tracking probably ok for visual observation. While taking pictures it would coarsely change position (couple of arcminutes) every 40 secs or so. Tried to enable guiding: calibration successful, but RMS around 4 arcsecs, which is probably of no good use. My perception was the bad guiding is connected to these coarse changes of position while tracking (guiding in same seeing conditions with eqmod around 0.6 - 0.8 arcsecs). Another issue I noticed is my mount is somewhat backtracking manual slewing (like a very strong backlash compensation). Had no backlash enabled, though (have no options to do so).

It seems that the code supporting the AZEQ5 mount that's described in the above post didn't make it to the current stable release of the Skywatcher drivers (v1.9.0)? I tried the alt-az driver v1.3 with my new AZEQ5 in ALT-AZ configuration and get the error message "Mount type not supported. 6"). Looking at skywatcherAPI.h from the master branch, I see there's no enumerated MountType for AZEQ5. skywatcherAPI.cpp from the master branch doesn't have the IsAZEQMount() code. 

Was this an oversight since the AZEQ6 fixes suggested in this thread are in the master branch?

Thanks!

What's the code for AZEQ5?

@KD6AWA: easiest way to find the code of your mount may be to connect via EQmod. Go to the "Firmware" tab within the EQmod - indi control panel and look-up the value under "Mount Code".