Making an Autostar Cable
Something that I think should be included by default with every Autostar-equipped Meade telescope is the cable that allows you to connect the Autostar to a PC. I've typically seen them priced in the $20-$30 range, which is pretty ridiculous for a simple serial cable.
A visit to Weasner's Mighty ETX Site paid off, as he had links to several articles related to home-built cables, the most useful to me being Autostar & Your Computer and Homemade #505 Cable, the latter being a much simplified version of information contained in the former (both are worth a careful reading). I went to the nearest Wal*Mart and purchased a replacement handset cable for about five dollars, then rummaged around my basement until I found an old 9-pin female crimp connector kit, complete with hood. After a brief session with wire cutters and needlenosed pliers, I was ready to go.
I downloaded the latest Meade firmware update, plugged one end of the cable into my computer and the other end into the Autostar 497, and was ready to go. After a couple of failed attempts (the wire in handset cables is pretty fine, and probably not appropriate for crimping, so I had to redo the connections a couple of times), I was happily updating my Autostar from version 26Ec to version 32Ea. Meade does not appear to have a comprehensive list of what changes between updates, so I downloaded every update between 26Ec and 32Ea from here, Then concatenated all the "readme" files into this list (updated on February 9, 2005 to include modifications through release 33Ef).
After updating the Autostar, I wanted to try remote-controlling the telescope. My astronomy package of choice, Distant Suns, does not have Meade drivers yet, but I found an impressive, free sky chart/planetarium package named Cartes du Ciel that did the trick. As it was cloudy out, all I could do was slew the telescope around in my living room, but I am excited about trying this out the next clear night we get.
It was fun doing something electronic again, saving a few bucks in the process, and I think this will be a useful addition to the telescope. In retrospect, I should have tinned the ends of the wires prior to crimping them, but I was impatient and wanted to get it working. If it proves to be brittle, I'll take it back apart and do that.
Finally, I just purchased a USB-to-serial adapter so I can use my laptop with the Autostar; they are about $30-$40 retail, but I found one here for $17.95. It works like a charm; the driver loaded without any hassles, and the USB port with the cable can be addressed as Serial port 5 from any communications software (the number can be changed in the driver, by the way).
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