Computer control

[Martijn Meerts]

So, I decided to start writing a little article about computer control (and therefor also blocks and train detection etc.). Not that I'm an expert at it, I'm still learning as well, but when I started with it, I found it very difficult to find the info I wanted. I had to go through many different books, magazines and web pages to get the basics of various things related to computer control. In the end, it was much more a trial and error situation than anything else.

Since computer control is a rather expensive adventure, I'd like to share what I know about it with those who might be interested in it, so that they don't need to invest as much time and money as my father and myself have already done. The article will of course have lots of images and schematics to illustrate everything, making it understandable for most people at least ;)

What I was wondering, are there any specifics you guys would want to know about computer control, which I might be able to add to the article?

No clue when it'll be done, I'm in The Netherlands right now, visiting my parents, working on my father's layout. But I usually write a few lines on the article for about half an hour before going to sleep ;)

[CaptOblivious]

Yes! Here's one I've been puzzling over: How do you decide where to break your layout into blocks?

[Bernard]

Would the blocks be the same as when you break a layout for DCC into blocks in the event of a short?

Also is there a specific program you use that interfaces with your computer and the decoders in the trains? I know nothing about this, a total novice so I'll be following your progress. Best of luck.

[Martijn Meerts]

Cap, that's one of the things I'll try to explain, but it's also the most difficult topic to explain, as it depends on so many different factors. Length of trains, type of trains, how do you want to do signalling, which direction(s) should trains travel in, how many trains do you want to run, etc. etc. etc.

Generally, I look at a track plan, and think a bit about where it would make sense to have signals. Any section of track between 2 signals will then be a block. Turnouts I leave out of a block, but I still like to monitor them with an occupancy detector. Another big problem is, if you run a full 16-car shinkansen, each and every section between signals (usually a block, but it can also be more than 1 block at times) that the shinkansen is allowed to travel on needs to be around 2.5 to 3 meters long at least.


Bernard, not sure, never broke up a layout for shorts. I only really worked on my father's layout, and we just used blocks there. As part of the article, I'll add an explanation of my father's layout, so that people can get an idea of how thing look on a working layout. However, it's really just for demonstration purposes, as I'm pretty sure we've done lots of things wrong ;)

As for the program I use, the article will be fairly general, rather than based on 1 program. There's various programs I tried, and I have to say that Traincontroller and Railware sound the most interesting, but Koploper (which we use for my father's layout) is also a very nice program and it's free. Unfortunately, it's also only available in Dutch.

Both Traincontroller and Railware have fully functioned demo versions online though. They're just limited to small test layouts with only 3 trains.

[Martijn Meerts]

I had a bit of a setback with this project. My laptop broke down, and while the stuff I'd already written is (probably) still intact, I can't easily access them. Seems the mainboard went bad, so it needs to be replaced. Not sure how long that takes.

On the other hand, I finally managed to sit down and encode a video I shot of my father's layout in action. I'll be posting that along with an introduction of automated computer control later today in a separate thread. The idea is then to occasionally add a new chapter. Hopefully there'll be lots of comments on the various bits of text so I can turn the en result into 1 big tutorial-like document.

[Mudkip Orange]

Did you ever get a chance to fix your laptop?

[Martijn Meerts]

Yeah, the laptop was fixed a LONG time ago. Had the main board and the battery controller electronics replaced. Didn't cost me anything either =)

Installed a new, faster hard drive in the thing as well, and it was like a brand new, much faster machine ;)

[Dani]

Hello,

I'm looking forward to read that article!!! As I'm not able to write a global user guide / manual / article for DCC and computer control, I'll try to write a "test case" about my layout control, and why I decided to put a detection "here" and not "there", why I choose that soft and not the other..... and all mistakes and wrong decisions I've made to prevent who is coming.

Let's see if summer gives me time enough.

Regards,
Dani.

[Martijn Meerts]

There's 3 posts on the forum about some automation. I haven't done 1 big post explaining things, but made 3 posts showing the basics. I didn't go into hardware or software, because that's mainly personal preference.

If you have any specific questions, feel free to ask though. I've probably made every imaginable mistake building the previous 2 computer controlled layouts :)