RMweb Premium Craig Watson Posted October 12, 2009 RMweb Premium Share Posted October 12, 2009 Hi all, Has anyone used the Gaugemaster DCC55 PC interface with their Prodigy Advance yet and if so what are your thoughts, I recieved one a few days ago and have downloaded the software but with Park Road TMD lying in bits in the garage I haven't had a chance for a "play" yet. Its basically a cable to connect the Prodigy system to a USB port on a computer with seperate downloadable software which provides two "cabs" on your desktop. I should get it going over the next few days, I'll let you all know how I get on! Cheers Craig Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest 009matt Posted October 12, 2009 Share Posted October 12, 2009 I will be interested to hear how you get on. Not sure whether to get one or not Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDMJ Posted October 13, 2009 Share Posted October 13, 2009 Yup! Works fine under windoze xp. (Don't forget to download the drivers for your operating system, unzip them and install them when requested - but, hey, you probably knew that!) Doesn't seem to want to play (yet) under a proper operating system like Linux, though, but after some Wine, I'll try again!:icon_thumbsup2: (For the uninitiated, Wine = Windoze Emulator for Linux!) Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDMJ Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 In addition, it looks like you can have two throttles per instance of the program. This suggests it might be possible to control as many locos as you want simply by opening more throttle screens! Have fun experimenting. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graham Kendall Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 John, Could you use the hardware and then get hold different software - like RailRoad & Co? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDMJ Posted October 15, 2009 Share Posted October 15, 2009 If RR&Co supports the hardware then yes. Personally, I prefer something like RailCom or JMRI, both of which are free! Railcom was running several layouts at Eurospoor last year, including several peripheral items (traverser fiddle yard, for example) on one of the layouts. HTH Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Nigelcliffe Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 John, Could you use the hardware and then get hold different software - like RailRoad & Co? Not for the Gaugemaster/MRC PC interface. So far MRC is adopting the "we sell everything you could possibly ever want" position and hasn't released details of how its interface works to third parties (MRC have been asked). Consequently JMRI doesn't have an interface to the MRC/Gaugemaster system. I think RR&Co will be in the same position. Of course, someone might reverse engineer the protocols to get round MRC's reluctance to release details, but, reading threads posted elsewhere I don't think anyone in the JMRI community is planning to take that route. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
JohnDMJ Posted October 20, 2009 Share Posted October 20, 2009 Not for the Gaugemaster/MRC PC interface. So far MRC is adopting the "we sell everything you could possibly ever want" position and hasn't released details of how its interface works to third parties (MRC have been asked). Consequently JMRI doesn't have an interface to the MRC/Gaugemaster system. I think RR&Co will be in the same position. Looks a similar story with Rocrail, too. However, the Prodigy and Lenz USB bricks use the same drivers, so that gets us a bit further up the ISO 7-layer network tree, but still not far enough! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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