Sharpcap 4 not working remote with Anydesk

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Dodi
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:25 am

Sharpcap 4 not working remote with Anydesk

#1

Post by Dodi »

Hi,

I bought Sharpcap yesterday, but had an unfortunate surprise. I am using it on a pc in the observatory, which I control from a distance with a second pc. Both run recent Windows 10. To take over the screen I use the very stable Anydesk software.
All went very well, until I did two tiny things:

- added my 10 micron mount (TCP/IP) in the hardware tab
- added my Takahashi mewlon 250CRS active focuser in the hardware tab

Both were visible on the main screen at right, after I added them.

But then came the surprise. Sharpcap started to behave weird. I restarted it, and get the splash screen, but after that just an outline frame of the window, nothing else. Rebooted the pc, restarted Sharpcap multiple times, but to no avail.
The funny thing is that it still works locally on the remote pc. But of course it is not very practical if I have to go to the remote to use Sharpcap.

Any ideas what is happening here? Obviously it must be a bug, but not an easy one. No other software I use remote ever showed this behaviour.

I also have Teamviewer, but rather unfortunately Teamviewer insists I am using it for commercial purposes (I am not), and it refuses to work. That's why I switched to Anydesk a few years ago.

Tx

Dodi
Dodi
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:25 am

Re: Sharpcap 4 not working remote with Anydesk

#2

Post by Dodi »

I may have solved the issue, to be confirmed at night, if skies are clear.
I removed both the 10 micron mount AND the Optique Unterlinden ASCOM driver for the Mewlon 250CRS focuser.

Added the mount again, without defining a focuser: Sharpcap works.
Added the focuser again: Sharpcap becomes unpredictable (surely hanging somewhere waiting for a response from the ASCOM driver of the Mewlon)

So I replaced the otherwise best driver for the Mewlon (made in France) and used the original (less ideal) Takahashi driver: Sharpcap works.

Still wonder why this only shows up when taking over the PC with Anydesk. Maybe it's a timing issue of some sort.

Most likely the problem comes from a non standard ASCOM response by the driver. I will test this more when skies are clear again.

All the best,

Dodi
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admin
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Re: Sharpcap 4 not working remote with Anydesk

#3

Post by admin »

Hi,

one thing that is worth trying is to turn off the option to use graphics card acceleration (first page of the settings on recent SharpCap versions). Using acceleration can cause issues sometimes with remote access applications (Microsoft Remote Desktop is usually fine, but with other software you may not be so lucky.

It is puzzling that it seems to be related to the ASCOM driver. Obviously if the ASCOM driver just stops responding properly then that can cause SharpCap to hang (although most of the passive interaction with the driver - ie periodically checking position of the focuser - happens in the background and should not hang SharpCap).

A random idea is to try connecting to the original ASCOM driver via the ASCOM device hub - that will move the actual communication with the hardware (and any UI shown by the ASCOM driver) out of SharpCap's process into the ASCOM device hub process, which might just help.

cheers,

Robin
Dodi
Posts: 5
Joined: Sun Aug 14, 2022 9:25 am

Re: Sharpcap 4 not working remote with Anydesk

#4

Post by Dodi »

Thanks Robin, will try this out the next clear skies! Graphics acceleration might be the issue, but it puzzles me too that changing an ASCOM driver seems to solve it too.

Dodi
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