DCC control from iTouch \ iPhone

[nik_n_dad]

Hello.

The other night I stumbled across an app for the iPhone \ iTouch that basically turns your device into DCC throttle.  It requires that you have a pc (in my case, an old macbook) connected to your DCC system, that you be running the latest version of JMRI and that you have a WiFi network (it's easier than it sounds).  They have a "lite" trial version and the fully-loaded $9.99 (USD) version.

Of course I decided to download this and get it running at midnight, then ran into firewall problems, etc etc.  They responded the next day with some suggestions (but I managed to get it up and running before).

But it works pretty well.  They even recognize some people are left- vs right-handed and the "thumb control" throttle can be on either side of the screen.  Lots of function buttons and even allows you to easily switch between yard and mainline speed ranges.

I'm not associated with them at all, but thought it was something fun to play with (we already use JMRI for lots of other things).   For more info, check out http://withrottle.com/WiThrottle/Home.html

[Martijn Meerts]

9.99 is a bit steep, especially for something so ugly =)

I'm working one something myself, got quite a bit up and running already. Problem is, I only use Mac these days, and there's just no decent program for OS X to control trains (I don't count JMRI as decent apart from the Decoder Pro bit), so I need to make an OS X app as well ;)

[Shashinka]

ten bucks is steep for an app. And I will note, man, I have a lot of app on my 3G iPod Touch

[nik_n_dad]

Agree that $9.99 is steep, but I'm a sucker for technology and gadgetry, and I needed an additional throttle for the holidays. 

I'm a mac person too, so between design tools and playing-with-trains-tools, we're pretty limited in what we can get.  I'm certainly going to be waiting to see something from Martijn!  (But until then, it's something that works.)

[Shashinka]

The reviews for it seemed a bit rough so I passed on it. Especially since I don't have DCC :) I wouldn't mind turning my netbook in to a DCC controller, but I'd have to write it from scratch as it runs Ubuntu (my fav OS)

[cteno4]

ten bucks is steep for an app. And I will note, man, I have a lot of app on my 3G iPod Touch

thats really cheap for custom software like this. its a really niche market so the guy is not going to sell a many thousands of copies so cant afford to sell it for the usually buck or two. the other big killer with software like this is that it will most likely require some customer support (ie nik had some) and that right there will kill software profits. rule of thumb was one cs contact was min of $5 cost to the company and usually that was what we were seeing on backend profits on a $20-30 piece of software!

thats the only good thing about the buck software is that folks just will toss the app if it doesnt work rather than trying to get some cs for it and i expect most folks doing dollar apps will not do any direct cs if they have any numbers other than aggregate problems and work on those for updates.

may have to look into this for the club layout, we were thinking of maybe doing the dcc to the tracks thing to run our 4 lines non dcc but with dcc controllers. would be cool to walk around with itouches for controllers! wireless dcc cabs are not cheap and wired ones are not great with a bunch of us walking around the layout!

cheers

jeff

[Martijn Meerts]

The iPhone app itself takes a couple of days to code, the problem is the connection between the app and JMRI, however, there might be an API included with JMRI. As I don't like (and therefor don't use) JMRI, I never bothered to check for an API when I started experimenting with my app.

9.99 for the functionality the app has is steep though, there's a better one for less, but that one requires a Märklín CS or ESU ECoS.

[Shashinka]

I agree Martjin 9.99 is steep that app after having looked at it.

[cteno4]

I seriously think this guy is not going to make more than $5/hr at most for his troubles on something like this. just smacks of something that will require a cs response for a big majority of his customers and lots of fiddling to try and figure out odd permutation problems of customers. at $9.99 for the app i expect he will be expected to try and solve problems. i expect a lot of it will be solving the customer's network and dcc issues that where there to begin with!

cheers

jeff

[inobu]

While waiting for my LED's (DCC install thread) to come in, I thought I would take time to get the app going. I must say, it will be pretty hard press to deny this setup when you factor everything in including the $10 app fee.

Here's what I did (a few week ago) . I got 2 I-pod's from Best buy for $470 or so, One package with a $15 app card, wall charger and 2 covers. As I got my receipt marked I thought..... well you know buyers remorse (before I got out the door  ). Started to do the math in the car and reasoned that a wireless Procab is $199.00 as well as a Super Dup (Digitrax). So, thought that was enough justification and thought nothing of it and put it in the To Do box.

Well, I pulled everything out and got it up and running. This is most likely the future. There is no way you can compete with the programming ability that the I-Pod presents. Although the screen is somewhat smaller the ability to change the format makes it so flexible that whatever the issue is, a screen layout change can most likely solve it.

I think there are a few issues with how the screen is laid out on this version but it is a matter of time for it to get ironed out. Jumping from screen to screen make it faster no doubt.

I also set up the Android and it works but it is still far behind on the programming in comparison.   

Over I think it is a good setup and I will stick with it. After it is said and done, you can still use the I-pod for other things. I would like to see you take your wireless ProCab to Starbucks and hit the local wifi and pull a news site or surf the web.

Here is the cost break down for my setup. 

Zephyr -  200.00
PR3 -        70.00
I-Pod-     480.00
App-         10.00
JMRI-        00.00
------------------------
              $680.00                wireless Prodigy sys with 2 throttles and PC interface is 580.00 


Taking your throttle to the movies................... Priceless.


Inobu
 
 

   

[inobu]

Definitely the Android app is not ready. It errors out and the server starts an error run (log after log). I think a guy is still working on the Android so you just have to wait tell it gets better.

little by little the pieces are falling into place.

Inobu 

[CaptOblivious]

There's a DCC app for Android? I'm interested...linkage?

[inobu]

Here it is ,

The main page is on JMRI

http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/package/jmri/jmrit/withrottle/EngineDriverAndroidThrottle.shtml



Inobu

[Martijn Meerts]

A touchscreen controller is definitely a good option. There's a lot of possibilities with a device with no hardware buttons. Having experimented with the SDK and building a controller app, it's definitely an interesting solution.

Unfortunately, the current options are very limited. One requires you to have an Marklin CS/CS2 or ESU ECoS, the other requires you to have JMRI, neither of which is on option for me ;)

[CaptOblivious]

Why isn't JMRI an option?

[Martijn Meerts]

Why isn't JMRI an option?

I don't understand much of it, it's all too weird for me ;) It also forces me to set Java to 32bits, which isn't all that bad, but it's annoying.

I prefer stuff like TrainController or Railware. Of course, the main issue with those is that they're insanely expensive, and more importantly, windows only =)

[inobu]

JMRI only looks convoluted but after you get it set up you won't know its there.

Inobu