RailPro > RailPro Specific Help & Discussion
Improvements to the Hand Held Throttles
G8B4Life:
--- Quote from: William Brillinger on August 12, 2021, 11:01:50 AM ---For diesels at least, there is a little F on the actual locomotive to denote the front in North America.
--- End quote ---
No little F down here ;), and double enders both ends are technically forward and reverse depending on which cab your driving from, but we won't get into that!
I was thinking about this as I lay going to sleep last night and it got me wondering, the two prevalent issues are too much clutter and wanting an operations screen with more buttons on it, 4 rows having been suggested. To me that cancels each other out. I'm all for removing things that you shouldn't do while driving from being easily accessed from the control screen (like MU'ing for example) but, and this is just my opinion, having every function available on the one screen is probably counter productive.
That said, I suggest that we come up with mockups of what we want so we can all decide and give TR what we want.
- Tim
faithie999:
I think mockups are far better than a verbal description. Great idea!!
Ken
William Brillinger:
--- Quote ---too much clutter and wanting an operations screen with more buttons on it, 4 rows having been suggested. To me that cancels each other out. I'm all for removing things that you shouldn't do while driving from being easily accessed from the control screen (like MU'ing for example) but, and this is just my opinion, having every function available on the one screen is probably counter productive.
--- End quote ---
As with the existing rows of customizable buttons, any position unused would be blank, so you can have it as cluttered or uncluttered as you want.
Some people have a lot of small sound effects that they want easy access to while operating.
For me (and someone like Kevin) these would be on the first page, anything that is configured once would be on the second page. Ie the prime mover start button is on the second page along with the step lights and main light on/off's. Horn, Bell, The Notch up, Notch down, Front Dim, Rear Dim, Ditch Dim, dynamic brake, a few coupler clunks, fans button sound, brake sound, flange squeal, etc would be on the first page.
IDEA::: I Guess the setup buttons could be moved to only be on PAGE TWO, with a lock/unlock toggle button to enable them so there really is no possibility of an accidental press and they would always be out of the way.
William Brillinger:
What do you think about this layout?
It keeps the image, but adds a lot of flexibility and include the config button on only one of the 2 screens.
With this setup, on a layout like Lee's I would put all the single use items on PAGE one, and all the regular operations buttons on page 2, so when you access the loco for the first time, you configure it on page one, lock the buttons, switch to page 2 and had it to the operator. Then the operator can switch between page one and two but not get lost.
Page 1 has the config so it makes sense to have it as the first screen you are presented with, and is also functional as the default "basic" control screen.
Page 2 is less cluttered so it makes sense to have this as the "main screen" when running for a more advanced setup.
G8B4Life:
I gotta say, and it's no reflection on you Bill but that much blue and white is hurting my eyes :( Oh how I wish for my dark theme!
I'll have to make a proper reply after sleep (it's half past three in the morning) but one thing that is missing Bill is the fault indicator, that is probably a too important thing to leave out. Not sure about locking the exit button, I'll have to think about that one.
Also folks remember every new screen, function etc that we want takes up room on the HC. Probably not a major issue for the -2b but if we also want to carry these upgrades over to the older -2 (which we should) then it's something to keep in mind.
Bill, I may send you an email... later.
- Tim
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