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MRH thread

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G8B4Life:

--- Quote ---For perspective I think you have to consider what the masses had before DCC. Block switches and the accompanying hundreds of miles of wire was like pointy sticks and bearskins. DCC must have seemed like magic at the time. Additionally, the protocol not being a proprietary secret gave the DCC ecosystem a big advantage over RP in that small manufacturers can join the fray. Protothrottle being a prime example.

--- End quote ---

I well and truly remember before DCC, well, before it really came to this country anyway. Back then it had big promises and not many features. Nothing has really changed on that front in the intervening years except some smart people made JMRI to make working with it easier and manufacturers added propriety stuff on top of the basic NMRA DCC decoder. If it was not for JMRI I don't believe that DCC would be as popular today as it is.

As for the openness of DCC, that's only the communication with the decoder and boosters, everything else is propriety to the manufacturer and they've used that to their commercial advantage (but I'm not telling anyone here anything new and DCC users won't hear any of it). ProtoThrottle isn't a command station so can't control decoders by itself, it requires a third party command station in which they have to beg or license the protocol to talk to the command station, that's why they sell separate expensive interfaces for their expensive throttles.


--- Quote ---The world today has become cell phone-centric. It is not surprising model railroaders gravitate that direction. They have a powerful computer in their hands, if only the train had the other half of the equation. You can't blame them for seeking such.

--- End quote ---

I don't blame them from seeking as such (though there is just as much push against using "phones" as for using them), what has me shaking my head is that they push for something without knowing anything about it, or any potential consequences of it (though one person in that thread seemed to have a clue). They think it's the be all and end all when it could be the opposite if not done properly.

I liken DCC/RailPro to the first PC compatible computer we had (an 80286) and any one of the Raspberry PI 4's I have. The 286 was huge, had a whopping 1 megabyte of ram and a 16 bit processor and would have cost a fortune (for the original owner) whereas the RPi4 outstrips it 20 fold in a package the size of a credit card and cost just over $100.00.

- Tim

trainman605:
Like I said in a previous post today, I use both systems and I'm happy with both as far as they work. For myself I'm a modeler first and a runner second, so I have no want to improve, or add to what the manufactures offers, building a detailed model is all that interest me, being a runner of models just brings life to what I model. For those who want to improve on what they have, I say go for it, it's just another part of the hobby for me, that I have no interest in.

trainman

G8B4Life:
Trainman,

I don't think you'll get any arguments from users here (I even have an NCE ProCab, though I haven't used it in many, many years), I'd say everyone here is very accommodating of DCC users in that they use the system of their choice (DCC as opposed to a different control system). The problem is that accommodation is not reciprocal, which is what the first part of Kevin's post was about.

Every thread on every forum out there where RP is mentioned gets trashed by DCC fanboys and other uninformed people spouting all sorts of misinformation and mistruths to protect in their mind what they have invested in (DCC vs other competing) is the best, and no I'm not saying RP is the best. The referenced MRH thread has now gone exactly down that path with one vocal user outright calling RailPro a bad system and a bad choice. I'd bet they've never even held it in their hands once.

The second part of Kevin's post, well that's just the feeling after having been liberated of many of DCC's hold-backs and I feel the same way. You could be in more of a unique position than many of us in that you use one system for one thing and another system for another but I wonder how much of the more-difficult-than-it-needs-to-be parts of DCC (consisting, consist lighting, consist addressing, speed matching) you use in H0n3 steam.

- Tim

nortoneye:
If you buy a new car and it's a lemon-generally you defend it so your choice doesn't look bad.  No amount of convincing will change the mind of a dedicated Digitrax or NCE modeler.  The RP decoders are a bit large for some applications-but it's so intuitive to use and that more than makes up for the issues with some small locos.  Our club layout is Digitrax for power-I enjoy making up a consist without having to ask someone how to do it.....To each his own... :)

ON28:
The RP-DCC discussion is like VHS-Beta or Windows-OS. WE know what's better but Digitrax and NCE have a decades' headstart. I'd sure like Ring to speed up product development, establish relationships with loco makers, market more effectively, expand its reach and be more than a fringe brand. That's not too much to ask, right?   

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