OK so last night one of my diesels with a tsumani went wacko, and I had to reset the decoder. Well, I recently got a new laptop, and my old laptop had JRMI on it, with all my saved Decdoer Pro files for all my engines. (old laptop is gone).
So now my new laptop has Win 7 64bit, and my usb-serial cable that connects to my NCE PHP, it doesn’t have drivers for 64bit.
So anyways, basically I don’t have JRMI working right now. I had to try to program the CVs manually. Wow, thats crazy. Unbelievable how hard compared to the easy use of JMRI.
So now I’m trying to find a new cable that will support 64bit.
This thread is about people who don’t use JRMI for programming decoders, it’s way too difficult, and I figured out I just can’t live without it.
When installing your USB device right click on the icon and select troubleshoot compatibility. The program will install it in windows XP SP2 mode. Works with most things.
Check the manufacturer’s web site for drivers. Vista drivers work with WIndows 7. Or you might need a different USB serial cable. I needed one to use my old serial Locobuffer with my newer computer and just picked up whatever Radio SHack had - it had drivers for Windows 7 64b.
You shouldn;t have had to do any funky things for a PR3, I have my PR3 isntalled on 2 different computers with Windows 7 64-bit, plus another one with Linux. Vista 64 bit drivers are downloaded from the Digitrax site and work with Win 7.
I can feel your pain-- I just went to do some work on my inventory and the PC I use for all my railroad work (JMRI inventory ) would not turn on-- flashing red light- Changed power supply- that did not help
So I guess it time for a new one. Any body know who to trust a recovery of a hard drive to ?
JMRI will be one of the first things that will be loaded on a new coumpter. That is for sure.
Actually I did some research (google) last night, and Targus who makes the cable, they only support Win 7 32bit. And others have complained about proper driver support for 64bit.
You can’t use this device using compatibility mode, that’s for applications. Not hardware devices.
No biggie, since I can pick up a new cable for like $15. I found one from TrendNet that has Win 7 64bit drivers. LINK
I adopted JMRI about 2 months after converting to DCC. I maintain back-ups in JMRI for the configurations for my entire locomotive roster. Nothing could be easier than downloading the configuration again from JMRI to reprogram a decoder. It has saved me hours of time and much frustration.
Michael, you make a good point. I don’t own JRMI and my decoders are just programmed with the basics, so I guess that I don’t know what I am missing. Maybe it is time that I take advantage of some of the more sophisticated features available on my decoders.
My day-to-day laptop just experienced a rather nasty virus last weekend that resulted in me having to re-image the hard-drive with a fresh Windows install. I was really fortunate in that I back most everything up, and besides, I was still able to access my file structure. BUT…I failed to backup my JMRI data file and have proceeded to loose my entire roster files for Decoder Pro[banghead][B)] Given that the entire problem is my own fault, including picking up the Trojan in the first place, this is a tad frustrating.
So one of my projects today will be to place each loco back on my desktop programming track and let JMRI read all their decoder definitions and rebuild the data base.
Very simply put, I can’t imagine programming decoders without Decoder Pro. I’ll use the throttle for a quick address change, and maybe a start voltage tweak, but anything else, speed matching, lighting functions, sound volume adjustments all get done via the PC,
See, while I like JMRI, the only thing I usually program with it are soudn decoders because there are simply too many CVs to remember. My non sound locos, for my railroad and era, are very simple - address set to cab number, simple headlight. There are no effects, no strobes, no Mars lights - just basic headlights. So the settings for those are super simple and it’s just easier to set the address with the throttle and go. Adding the fact that I use ONLY TCS decoders for the non-sound locos, the CVs for each and every loco are exactly the same except for the address. It’s the sound decoders that need help, selecting the proper prime mover and horn sound, adjusting the equalizer, setting reverb - there, JMRI is invaluable. Beats picking through 100+ pages of manual trying various CV combos to see what works.
@motley: Do you still have a 32 bit os lying around, like xp? You could always dual boot the machine until the manufacturer gets off their butts and learns how to make 64 bit drivers
You have the NCE PHP right? With the serial connection? Just go buy a USB to Serial cable. Install JMRI on a laptop. It’s very easy to program the decoders, there is a TON of features I didn’t even know about, until I saw all the options in the interface of the application.
Once you figure it out, you will never program a decoder using your throttle again! LOL
It all depends on how much programming you actually do with your decoder installations. If you do little more than set the address, tweak the start voltage and adjust some basic light effects, then this can all be achieved easily with your throttle. But as soon as you start to delve deeper then Decoder pro comes to the fore.
Setting up complex lighting functions like ditch lights, re-mapping functions, speed curves, sound adjustments (individual volumes for different sounds) all can be accomplished very simply with Decoder pro. As decoders have become more sophisticated the number of CV;s has increased significantly. CV’s now interact with each other where you have to be very careful how some CV’s effect others.
But then the real beauty reveals itself. You save all the settings you have made into a roster file for that locomotive. In the future, if it plays up, you can reset it, and reload all your settings in a snap by just downloading them again. Trust me this is a God-send when needed.
Also, if you have more than one loco that you want the same settings for, it is really easy to copy settings over without having to re-program the whole thing.
Also, you can create a throttle on the PC, customize it and use it to run some trains. This is kind of fun.
If you are a Digitrax user there are a bunch of really useful Loconet tools as well,
Pardon me for party-pooping, but I am actually quite worried how much we depend on it. It isn’t good. How many third world people rely on JMRI, or anything remotely like it? And if our world goes belly up, who will have all the angst, adjustment, and costs?
