>Now they want to use area CCDs (which we technical types wanted in the >first place), so the whole exercise was a bit of a waste of time. The CCD >needs a hard disk to save piles of data and has a huge field of view >(compared to a PMT) so a commercial controller, CCD and PC probably would >have done the job. >Aarghh ! Bloody astronomers. :-) I suggest using two PCs... the one you have (if it aint broke, don't fix it!) and another to handle the CCD... a PC will have its hands full with the CCD alone. As I have posted elswhere... I think I'll use a encoder controller/counter chip (HCTL2016) directly interfaced to my PC... that way I don't have to learn how to use PICs.... I want to keep the system a s simple as possible. I'm a software engineer by trade, but only a hobbyist electronics tech. Phil