Guest tony graham Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Have been looking and trying to understand all about SPRG II without and luck. I don't have it, but was wondering about its programming abilities. Does anyone have any experience with this or have had any dealings with it? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Scottish Modeller Posted April 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2011 Have been looking and trying to understand all about SPRG II without and luck. I don't have it, but was wondering about its programming abilities. Does anyone have any experience with this or have had any dealings with it? Hi Tony, Yes on both counts.... DEMU Scotland Area Group take one out as part of the Roadshow stand... We usually have a lot of itnterest! If you have/are going to have a SPROG I suggest the first step is to join the Yahoo Group. http://uk.groups.yahoo.com/group/sprog-dcc There is a vast amount of knowledge in the group and problem solving is second nature! Thanks Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Pannier Tank Posted April 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2011 Once you have a SprogII you will wonder how you managed without it! Used with Decoderpro http://jmri.sourceforge.net/help/en/html/apps/DecoderPro/index.shtml it's a very usful tool. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Steven B Posted April 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2011 I've got a Sprog2 and when combined with DecoderPro on my Netbook PC it's a perfect set-up for programming decoders. There's no need to remember what CV does what - the user interface of DecoderPro does all the hard work for you. Together with the JMRI software it can also be used as a DCC controller. What it won't do is program sounds into sound decoders (you'll need the manufacturer specific programmer for that), but you'll still be able to change the standard settings on sound decoders. Recommended. Happy modelling. Steven B. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium melmerby Posted April 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2011 Have been looking and trying to understand all about SPRG II without and luck. I don't have it, but was wondering about its programming abilities. Does anyone have any experience with this or have had any dealings with it? I have a Sprog II and think it is a very useful piece of kit. Go to the JMRI pages http://jmri.sourceforge.net/ and see for yourself about Decoder Pro which is the essential driver software. Decoder Pro is free and versions are currently available for Windows, Mac & Linux. (and I wouldn't be surprised if a version came for hand helds.) P.S. I think it would have been more appropriate to post this question in the DCC section Keith Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
MacRat Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Me too. I recently received the SPROG II and have no problems to use it with JMRI DecoderPro on a MacBook. Very useful device. Mac Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Tim Hale Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Just a word of caution amongst the froth, the only problem encountered with the Sprog was the installation on the laptop. I had to visit the UK distributor of Sprog II in order to resolve the software's inability to nominate the correct port and it almost defeated the distributor but having solved the problem, it has proved to be useful. Except the JMRI software is always behind the curve on updates and does not recognise some of the most common decoders on the current market e.g Bachmann 36-553 but you can work around most problems using generic selections of decoders. It is certainly a worthwhile purchase but nowadays I tend to use the DCC system to programme my decoders rather unpack the Sprog and flash up the laptop. Ask Dave Smith about programming with the Sprog, we were using it during our last expose at Dortmund. Tim Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Tony_S Posted April 10, 2011 RMweb Gold Share Posted April 10, 2011 I have one and it is the most useful DCC accessory I have ever purchased. I use it with JMRI on a Windows XP netbook. I've installed it on various other PCs and fortunately I've never had any problem with port allocation. When I can't have any layouts out I can also use the throttle option with JMRI to drive a train up and down the few feet of track on the computer desk. definitely preferable to going out to the layout to do a bit of programming1 Tony Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Etched Pixels Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 I've got a sprogII and I'm a big fan of it as a programmer. As a layout controller you need reasonably up to date firmware and its really only up to driving either a booster or a small N layout. I run it with JMRI on a PC with no problems (Linux in this case but SprogII seems to work well with most systems although Windoze 7 people seem to have endless USB serial driver problems). Vendor support seems excellent. (and you can add updated Decoder definitions to your install btw..) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium nick_bastable Posted April 10, 2011 RMweb Premium Share Posted April 10, 2011 I must agree, I use one as my only controller and may buy a android phone to give me wireless control. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wizard of the Moor Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 The latest issue of the MERG journal has an article on adapting a Microsoft Bluetooth numeric keypad and a SPROG to give ultra cheap wireless control. I would agree that the DecoderPro software is always behind the curve on keeping up with the latest decoders. However, it is an open source application so it is straightforward to add your own decoder description files. James - another satisfied SPROG user Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JZ Posted April 10, 2011 Share Posted April 10, 2011 Bought one last week and I must say I am impressed with it. Did have a minor problem with the ports, but this was easily solved. If you have a lot of loco's to do, it makes life easy. My son and I did around 80 over the weekend. We are changing our fleets from 2 digit to 4 digit addresses and it is much easier than working away on the controller. 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
kevindickerson Posted April 18, 2011 Share Posted April 18, 2011 Except the JMRI software is always behind the curve on updates and does not recognise some of the most common decoders on the current market e.g Bachmann 36-553 but you can work around most problems using generic selections of decoders. Tim, The issue around this is that decoders such as the Bachmann 36-553 isn't manufactured by Bachmann and as such still has its original manufacturers identification configured into it. The definition for the 36-553 is in Decoder Pro, however it is under the original manufacture ESU. What you have to remember is that JMRI is open source with "no paid programmers or support" it is all done by people willing to give up their time freely to help others. So at times it can take a little while for some decoder definitions to appear into the software, plus given that there is quite a majority of users in the US that provide support help and decoder definitions, some of the European decoder definitions can take a little while to appear. Regards Kevin Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bilbo Posted May 17, 2019 Share Posted May 17, 2019 Anyone know if there is definition available for a Dapol Imperium ? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Premium Ian Morgan Posted May 17, 2019 RMweb Premium Share Posted May 17, 2019 That is more a question about Decoder Pro than Sprog. For the best support for JMRI/Decoder Pro queries, the place to go is the jmriuser groups.io email group. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
RMweb Gold Kaput Posted May 17, 2019 RMweb Gold Share Posted May 17, 2019 1 hour ago, Bilbo said: Anyone know if there is definition available for a Dapol Imperium ? The Imperiums are LaisDCC chips so use the LaisDCC 860019 for the 21pin Imperium1 and the LaisDCC 860015 for the Next18 Imperium2 1 Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now