Andrew,
I can relate completely to the dome slit alignment issue. Unfortunately I have no answer to it. So, like you, I hope someone else can explain why it is not working in SGP.
I also have an 8’ ED and I have been using MaxIm DL and LesveDomeNet. The dome slaves perfectly using those systems. I just spent a couple of hours using SGP to operate the scope (a Meade LX200) and the observatory with simulators for everything else. The slaving simply does not work in SGP. It misreports the dome azimuth and sets the azimuth incorrectly in LDN.
I disconnect the observatory in SGP, use the LDN UI to reset the home azimuth position by rotating the dome past the home sensor and start over with a different target. Same result – not synced with the scope and misreporting the azimuth. In fact, the misreported azimuth would align with the scope, but that is not where the dome is. The dome is not at the reported azimuth, hence the alignment failure.
The differences between your system and mine may offer clues to someone who knows the SGP software about what is going wrong.
Our mounts are different so the problem is not specific to the mount.
Our dome automation software is different so the problem is not specific to the dome automation software.
When I disconnected in SGP and connected in MaxIm DL and did a GoTo to the same target as I had done with SGP, the scope slewed and the dome rotated to align perfectly with the scope.
It is as though SGP correctly calculates the azimuth to rotate the dome to and then issues commands to rotate it to a different point. It then reports that the dome is now at x degrees, except that it isn’t. Unfortunately, unless this can be resolved, you are correct it means SGP cannot be used.
Obviously others are using SGP. Hopefully, either someone else has encountered the same problem as you and I and they have found how to correct it. Or, the developers can dig deeper and find out why the error is occurring. I am using SGP 2.6.0.25.
The only option I have left to try is turning on tracing in LesveDomeNet. I do not know if MaxDome II has tracing that could be turned on. I do not believe the answer is to fiddle with the slaving parameters unless they are not what the names and tool tips say they are because on their face they seem to be exactly the same as the slaving parameters in MaxIm DL which work perfectly. And, yes, I have switched the Dome “Diameter” between the radius and the diameter values. Neither worked correctly. The SGP descriptive text says units are irrelevant as long as they are consistent. I don’t know if that is true or not. I have only tried inches.
I hope we both can learn the answer because SGP has so much promise and would fit extremely well with the rest of my system.
Manning