cheekychops Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) I have briefly played with JMRI and found an issue already with the unintuitive use of the mouse to move a selected group of items in the 'Layout Editor'. I joined the users group and was dismayed with the steady stream of problems thrown up. Two questions: 1) Is JMRI a worthwhile investment of time for someone like myself undertaking a complete modestly sized layout build with one train in motion and 7 turnouts to control? 2) Is there a recommended alternative to achieve PC/Tablet layout control? Cheers Edited March 9, 2021 by cheekychops Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 What is it that you are trying to achieve? Is it automation of this one train or is it simply a mimic screen that will enable you to control the layout from a tablet? The possible solutions for both are rather different. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheekychops Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) Hi - a mimic screen that will enable you to control the layout from a tablet. Looking at iTrain intro rightnow... Edited March 9, 2021 by cheekychops Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
KingEdwardII Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 I've been using JMRI successfully for controlling my layout and I have 31 turnouts. There is a brief description here: I've not encountered the problems you describe. I can control trains and turnouts from a handheld smartphone, although my preferred way of controlling the turnouts is via a large touchscreen attached to a Raspberry Pi 400. I've also tried RocRail although that has limitations unless you pay a subscription and it does not seem to have many advatages compared with JMRI. iTrain looks like a fine piece of software, but I am not at a stage where I'm prepared to lay out €200 or so for a licence. I am currently working on signalling - but there, the first task is to have some semphore signals controlled via DCC. That includes building the signals, attaching servos and installing a decoder to drive them...it's turning out to be a steady laborious process. Yours, Mike. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 JMRI is open source software, configurable to do what you want. Written by people in their spare time as a hobby activity, and supports more hardware than any other package. You either buy into that approach, or it doesn't work for you. Its a box of parts (like a random box of meccano ) you assemble to work your way. Problems do get fixed, and usually quickly once they're understood. I don't recall reading your bug report around the layout editor mouse jumping around (it doesn't happen on my machines, but may be a bug on your hardware/operating system combination). Yes, it could be made to control the points/turnouts/signals on a modest layout. And you have full control of how it looks at the end. ( 7 turnouts, I'd have a set of panels working for that within an hour, including any signals around the turnouts ). The commercially available packages may be quicker to get things working. You then live with the constraints, limitations and responsiveness of the software developer who wrote it. If the developer decides they aren't interested in your problem or don't like the country you live in, then you're stuffed. ITrain seems responsive to dealing with issues at present. 1 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
jpendle Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 7 hours ago, cheekychops said: 2) Is there a recommended alternative to achieve PC/Tablet layout control? Cheers A Roco Z21 and an iPad/Android tablet? Regards, John P 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
cheekychops Posted March 9, 2021 Author Share Posted March 9, 2021 (edited) Thanks, apparently the issue with the mouse is known, if you select several objects in Layout Editor and then use Shift + Mouse 2 to move behavior is erratic. I have no issue with software and am indeed very proficient with IT, the question is whether I want to invest the time for a small layout. The mouse problem, the overall sprawling construction, poor documentation (or rather lots of it) and the number of people having issues has suggested it might not be worth the time. Edited March 9, 2021 by cheekychops Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
WIMorrison Posted March 9, 2021 Share Posted March 9, 2021 9 hours ago, cheekychops said: Hi - a mimic screen that will enable you to control the layout from a tablet. Looking at iTrain intro rightnow... Your answer is why I asked the question :) You could perhaps look at the Z21 app from Roco depending on which command station you have. It is free and does exactly what you want. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Neil P Posted March 11, 2021 RMweb Gold Share Posted March 11, 2021 (edited) I have recently changed from JMRI to iTrain, in part due to the frustration of using the Layout editor, and partly due to bugs that looked like they would never get fixed. I didn't want to pay £180 for software, but having used the trial version of iTrain for two weeks, I think of the time and effort I could have saved by doing it earlier. You can get a 2 month free trial of iTrain and I'd strongly suggest at least giving it a go. Edited March 15, 2021 by Neil P 2 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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