jmri and prodigy

[scooter171103]

hi all

I trying to use jmri with a prodigy 2 but I keep getting strange things happening on start up it says com3 is in use on the layout editor it only shows internal turnout settings so I cant edit points to control them I bought a sprog 2 recently to program with decpder pro as the prodigy kept giving false reading when trying to  identify a loco on the programming track I'm wondering if the prodigy is not really compatible with jmri any advice would be helpful please

[AMJ]

I had to tweak some power settings on the laptop so that JMRI would work ok with the Prodigy.  

 

You might also need to right click onto my computer to manage ports so that the PC doesn't try to give a new port each time you start it us.  JMRI might need ports setting.

[NIK]

hi all

I trying to use jmri with a prodigy 2 but I keep getting strange things happening on start up it says com3 is in use on the layout editor it only shows internal turnout settings so I cant edit points to control them I bought a sprog 2 recently to program with decpder pro as the prodigy kept giving false reading when trying to  identify a loco on the programming track I'm wondering if the prodigy is not really compatible with jmri any advice would be helpful please

 

Hi,

 

Could you say what computer and operating system you are running JMRI on please.

Also when you mention layout editor do you mean JMRI Panel Pro?.

Could you please open JMRI/PanelPro/Edit/Preferences/Connections/'Prodigy or Gaugemaster or whatever you command station is called by JMRI'  menu and post on the forum topic a colour screen capture of the connection window.

 

Regards

 

Nick

[Nigelcliffe]

hi all

I trying to use jmri with a prodigy 2 but I keep getting strange things happening on start up it says com3 is in use on the layout editor it only shows internal turnout settings so I cant edit points to control them I bought a sprog 2 recently to program with decpder pro as the prodigy kept giving false reading when trying to  identify a loco on the programming track I'm wondering if the prodigy is not really compatible with jmri any advice would be helpful please

 

It should work, but there are a few bugs around.  Support for the Prodigy is weak compared to most other systems because the maker, MRC Corporation, is very reluctant to release details of how their interface works.  JMRI has the minimal information released in its code, but the JMRI developers struggle with it at times.  (No other software, save the little utility MRC produce, works with MRC products). 

 

 

I recommend you update JMRI to the current production version, 4.14, which was released in late December.  That fixes some of the connection issues which have been around in recent releases.

 

As to why Com3 is in use, that's down to your computer.  Are you always plugging the MRC/Gaugemaster adaptor into the same USB socket ?  Can you check on the "Device Manager" (a program in Windows) to see which COM port has been allocated to the computer adaptor ?  You should be able to see it appear in the Device Manager as you plug the USB into the computer.  

 

Settings going to "internal" is likely to be related, and this is where 4.14 fixes many of the issues, though you may have to do one manual fix to get it working.   What was happening was: if a connection fails (such as Com3), then in previous versions, JMRI would default to "internal", users would then "save settings" and find out they are stuck. 

The way out is in the "preferences" for JMRI, and find the "defaults" sub-section of preferences.  There you can allocate all the various factors from internal to the actual system connected. 

 

Adding a Sprog should be OK, you can in principle, even use both Prodigy and Sprog at same time (but DO NOT connect their track connections together under any circumstances, or one will go "pfff"), but its introduction might have messed up some of the preferences along the way. 

 

 

 

-  Nigel