I have a parallel ST-8. If I can get a modern computer with a parallel port, will the legacy drivers available to download work on Windows 7 or 8? Thank you.
This is problematic. It definitely won't work on a 64-bit Windows 7/8/10 machine. It may be possible in a 32-bit machine, but... The camera isn't a printer, so the SBIG camera drivers required direct access to the ISA bus port address, which isn't supported. There may be third party plug-in solutions available that emulate the ports, but I'm not aware of any that I can recommend.
Just being an amateur astronomer and not a computer geek, and having no idea what an "ISA bus port address" is, would it work if the OS was Windows XP. I believe it worked on this before. Thank you.
Late reply but in case anyone else is looking for an answer... I have a parallel ST-8 working on a Windows 7 laptop. It has to be 32 bit Windows 7 and you have to use the legacy software from the SBIG Archives and the 32bit version of the driver checker. The Parallel port is through a port replicator I paid $12 for on Ebay. Image acquisition works through CCDOps, CCDSoft and even the camera control add-on in TheSkyX. Downloads after exposure are slow and take some getting used to but everything works just fine.
I believe it's the HP Docking Station KP080AA but will have to double check when I get back to my observatory. I use it with an HP Probook 6530b. The docking station works with several other models of HP Probooks as well. I have a Dell Precision M4500 and it's docking station I've been meaning to test with too.
I have an old ST-7/CFW8 that works on a Windows 10 PC of my making. It's connected to a PCI Express Parallel port adapter made by SYBA (I suspect it's Chinese) that I got at CanadaComputers here in London. Model of the card if that helps is SD-PEX1005. I have the card set to LPT1 in the port settings under the Device Manager. I will also confirm that the parallel port support from the SBIG drivers only works with the 32 bit version of Windows 10.
