Don't do it. Keep on truckin uhh-err I mean railroading. I will find a use for both of them so there's not real lose here. Catchy you all later. That is if I can climb out from under the train table.
LOL! To quote my mother; "Just because you could, doesn't mean you should!" OTOH, checking out switch machines, etc. under the layout (obviously not Unitrack!) with a laptop running JMRI certainly has it's advantages.
JMRI Decoder Pro makes DCC decoder programming/maintaining SO much easier! Unless you like doing binary logic/arithmetic in your head? I actually do, but then, I think we'd be better off if we taught our children how to count on their fingers in binary/hexadecimal!
I couldn't agree more. DCC is tough enough. Unless you are a doctorate of electronics. Never mind, there isn't any diagnostic tools or ways to fix decoders. If you know what I mean. News. Although awkward wearing the optimizer under the train table. It works the way it was designed to. I can see!! You did hear me I CAN SEE !! Well, I was set to go outside and get my work area cleaned up and organized. That heat spell I was talking about earlier. You know the one that usually hits us in the middle of September. Well it hasn't failed me yet and guess what it hasn't changed. Global...you just know this is coming, my @$$. We've been warming up since the last Ice Age. Go figure!!!!!! I kicked the air on. That will make things comfortable inside. I will be headed under the train table to get some wires hooked up. Talked to an electrician friend of mine. He helped me cut the wires and take the layout down. He knows what I'm up against. He made some suggestions. I'll see how it goes. Wish me well. Incidentally the friend, the electrician, we both donated time to put a sound system in, in one of the local churches in Big Bear Country. Now! No one knows how to run it so it isn't getting used to it's maximum potential. Again, Go Figure! Sigh!! As far as volunteering my time, again. I won't do that, again!! It was a fight to the finish with the local pastor and members of the church. I don't think they ever respected the work we put into it. Did I already say Go Figure? Off to work on something that won't fight me or throw me out the window. The window, the window, the seventh story window. You might remember that camp song. With a mighty heave and a mighty hoo. You should be able to finish that. Later!!
DCC was a fairly steep learning curve for a while, but I got familiar with it. At least familiar enough that I can use it. I have begun stringing some LED rope lighting under the layout, it helps a lot. Sound systems are fun! IF you spend some time to learn the system. I ran the system setup in my old church many moons ago, and adjusted the sound to be way more balanced. People were amazed that it was easier to understand the pastor and the singers. It went over super well at the Christmas show. But, people aren't always willing to learn a new system and how it works. And that leads back to JMRI, don't it. Huh! Well, here's where I pull the "curmudgeon card" out, and just say no.
Here it is Friday the 13th, oop's my bad the 15th. Must have undershot with my fingers on the key board. Things are coming along and you already know how slowly. I needed to change things up in my work area on the back slab of concrete. The one I refer to loosely as the back yard veranda. It would be nice if there was a awning but I'm not going to put it in. No sir!! The shelf in the wood shed is up. The wood has been cut down to varying sizes. Most of the 1X3's have been cut to 37"s in length. Perfect for making table legs. They've been arranged in a way that will make it easy to find them. The work bench is finally getting it's bottom shelf. With a back board so things don't fall off the back. I don't like moving things once they are in place. My vision has been good enough to read the measuring tape. That's good news. This week I received an optimzesr as a gift from George and Jean. Thanks to both of you. I can once again see the fine details on the layout. The switch I've been trying to look at I can see perfectly. Exciting, Yes!! I need to move doors out of the tool shed and into the wood shed. I may get that done over the weekend. Then I will move my table saw into the tool shed. So it's out of the weather. Pictures? Yes I will get to some but later.f I'm busy. You all have fun this weekend. Fall is on it's way.
Rick ?????????????? We haven't heard from you in awhile ! You still under there working on rewiring your layout ?????? .
How dare you interrupt my working on my wiring? Actually someone else already did. Great phone conversation. Talked trains the whole time. That picture does what I'm doing justice. I kind of look like that. I feel about as overwhelmed with all the wires. The picture portrays it all. The optimizer is doing the job nicely. Breaking it in without breaking it. Can't believe how much easier things are. I was using my camera as a visual aide. You can see some things clearly but you can't always see what you need to see. If you know what I mean. Someone asked me why am I sticking with BarstowRick as my handle. Suggesting NampaRick would be better. If I had as much history with Nampa as I do Barstow, I would consider it. However, I'm not near as welcomed here in Idaho Country as I was in Barstow. My family name was well known there. Everyone that worked for the railroads was in essence family. Never knew which uncle or aunt was really my uncle or aunt. Time to get back to todays project. Let's see eat lunch, nap time, computer time, nap time, then under the railroad to add on one foot of wire to each wire. These wires don't stretch out on their own. Later@!
Keep "BarstowRick". It is who you are. And I, for one, am still looking forward to the day when you post a video of your trains running again. Doug
Well Rick I think you went over the edge a little bit my friend. JRMI bloated itself out so much that it is not as simple as it used to be. And it is a shame because they do not know how to fix issues with their code when it will not install even following their explicit instructions. They should have put out separate products instead of everything including the kitchen sink into one product. Fixing a bad decoder is not a user capability unless you have a flow solder system in the garage or basement. Fixing bad settings in the decoder, will a working version of JRMI can do that....
Having different subsets of JMRI, with different collections of functions available in each, greatly complicates the SW build & test efforts. There are too many use cases where different combinations of functionality are necessary. PCB rework requires more than just reflow capability; specific hot air systems with specialized nozzles for removing/replacing different size/type component packages are necessary for all but the simple resistors and caps (which rarely fail anyway). And of course the skill to use that equipment is also required. Never mind the skill or automated test equipment needed to detect and isolate failures to the component level. In electronics production, there is an extra-sweet-spot of having enough volume demand to drive production quantities high enough to make replace, rather than repair, the most cost-effective maintenance method (which drives production quantities even higher, making the replacements too.) Think of it this way: hardly anybody repairs ICs, they are cheap enough to replace, and very hard (expensive) to repair. Very high volume circuit cards are the same way. Unfortunately, model railroading is not a big enough market to create that kind of product volume demand.
I hope you will not change your User Name. "BarstowRick" is who we all know you are, changed location not withstanding.
BigJake I was trying to keep it as simple as possible. I am well familiar with the equipment needed........ And the skills needed
Peace... I was simply trying to help those people not as experienced as we are understand why it is not at all simple, unless you already have the skills and equipment. When I think back to the tube-based ham radio gear my dad and grandfather built themselves, we've come a long way, but we've also moved so much electronics beyond the realm of repairability for the vast majority of users. And that's fine, because it has also gotten so much less expensive that more of us are able to use it too. And it is more reliable too.
