Thanks to Christmas I’m now the proud owner of a Celestron SkyScout. It’s pretty wonderful.
The software to update it is lousy, though!
Here’s what I’ve found, Internet, because Google was just not helpful at all.
The software updater won’t work with any 64 bit version of Windows. Hugely inconvenient! Luckily I had an old XP netbook I was able to use.
The software updater is incapable of grabbing a proper firmware file from the server. Instead it downloads a web server error message and saves it as a text file with the same filename name as the proper firmware. This results in an ‘invalid firmware’ message if you try to update.
You’ll need to manually download the CEL file appropriate for your current hardware version (1.x, 2.x, or 3.x) from http://software.celestron.com/updates/SkyScout/EN/ and put it in the installer’s directory, then run the update.
When you run the updater the SkyScout’s display will give no indication at all that anything is happening. It is.
The latest firmware version for 2.x units is 2.2.9. There is a 2.2.10 up on their website, but as far as I can tell that’s actually a mislabeled 2.2.9. It took three successful flashes and one failed one before that dawned on me.
The SkyScout’s pretty cool though. I’d recommend it as a cheap alternative to a telescope to anyone.
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. The package hincludes all four NES-era Mario games on a single disc, a soundtrack CD, and a small history book which contains original artwork and interviews with the original designers.