I have put together a fully automated remote access observatory based on the
LX200, ST6, a computer activated 35mm SLR camera, Astrohaven Dome, Software
Bisque Orchestrate/the Sky/CCD Soft/Tpoint and Davis Instruments Weather
Station. The system is controlled by a PC under Windows 98 with a custom
program controlling all aspects of the observatory (dome tracking, weather
monitoring, failsafe shutdown/startup, initialization, etc.). One simply
phones the observatory computer, inputs a list of objects and exposure times
and some time later calls again and downloads the images (or pick up the
35mm film). The only problem I have is that if (or rather when) Windows
crashes and reboots it triggers the parallel port for about a minute
(presumably to see if its there) and triggers my dome controller which uses
the parallel port (LPT2). Since I'm not physically there to monitor the
situation this may result in inadvertantly opening the dome. Does anyone
know how to prevent the parallel port from being triggered during initial
startup of the computer or have any ideas re some kind of switch to turn the
dome control off during startup?

Thanks in advance.
Marc Castel
Wild Flower Ridge Observatory

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