Guys,

Recently got back into astronomy and purchased a computerised goto 8" Newtonian Reflector, and was amazed at all the electronic gismos and software that's on the market, both retail and DIY for controlling the scope and camera's etc. However most seem to be based around RS232, and work by making the RTS and DTR lines go high and as most of the new netbooks and notebooks only have USB ports, have to resort to using clunky serial to usb converters.

Is there any simple way of using a PIC (say an 18F2550) with USB port(s) to work in the same way... or would it require some form of driver to work ? There is a standard called ASCOM which a lot of these devices use, which is also open source, but is way above my level of understanding.

One project I would like to get off the ground is the ability of controlling a DC motor used as a focuser. The idea being that you can set the rate at which the motor would run by pressing 0 to 9 on the keyboard and then use the left / right or forward /back arrow keys to make the motor run. Again via USB if possible

Any pointers or ideas would help

Malcolm