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I'm deforking my old? 12" SCT tube and mounting on a G11T I have on order. I'm planning on autoguiding with a new Dell XPS 15 using PHD2 and a ZWO camera on a guidescope. (I've gone through the pleasure and pain of doing this and getting it to work on the old LX-200 mount -- but after a decade I give up on trying to get good AP images with that mount.)

I'm seeing conflicting info on the basic connection to the mount from the laptop for autoguiding. It *seems* like I should just be able to connect the USB from the Gemini unit on the mount with this ( sort of cable to USB on the laptop using the Gemini ASCOM drivers. (The XPS comes with a "7-in-1 USB C hub.")

Online videos and Losmandy tutorials seem to imply (to me) that Ethernet is the way to communicate from a computer to the mount, with other protocols being limited, including access to the web interface.

I'm ok with working through the ASCOM / COM port etc. setups for USB (seem like the Windows 11 OS should just work if the ASCOM is installed and I connect USB to the mount, but . . .) , but looking to inquire if I need to actually do the Ethernet route or not and make that the basic connection configuration.

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Regards

Steve

Steve, Michael is correct.?

Ethernet has the advantages of a slightly higher level of control/mount awareness but the USB connection will be fine for imaging.?

My 2?; if you are traveling to dark sky locations with your setup, your setup will be simpler with USB as it will be plug and play.?
Direct Ethernet connections, while very possible, take a bare modicum of networking understanding to implement. Using a switch or router is much easier (one step above plug-and-play) but that is one more thing you have to transport/power in the field.?

If this is a backyard setup, in my mind the Ethernet connection is worth working out in the long run, but in the meantime the USB connection will get the job done.?

Personally I have a lockable LAN port under the eaves of my home in my backyard. I wire that via CAT6 to a Ethernet switch in a Rubbermaid crate under my tripod. From the switch I have a wired connection to both my mount PC and my Gemini 2.?

I Remote Desktop into the mount PC from my MacBook on my local network. If I’m away from home I can VPN into my home network and control my mount-PC and Gemini2 from wherever.?

In the field I use a travel router with two LAN ports, keep the Gemini2 and Mount-PC with a wired connection to the travel router. When I connect to the travel router’s WiFi with my MacBook I can still remote into the PC and access the Gemini2 web interface.?

Many options.?
But the point is you don’t lose a super big amount of control on a daily basis by using USB. If you decide to stick to that, you can always unbolt the Gemini2 from the mount and take it inside to plug into your home network if you want to check something on the web interface?

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Thank you all. I found Brian's tutorial on YouTube and it basically says the same thing you folks have here. I'm not planning on taking it into the field; it will be a permanent setup. Sounds like I'm going the USB route to get everything up and running, alignments, models and pec training and guiding and all , and then eventually migrate to Ethernet when I have the time.

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Thanks again for all the quick and friendly responses.

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Regards

Steve