Well, this is sad news that it's come to this for someone.
Always late to the discussion from the time difference I'll still respond.
From the research I've done, the radios use UDP to transfer the files.
UDP is most definitely used to transfer the files from Rings server to RailPro Assistant. This was discovered ages ago. I don't know what protocol is used between the transmitters in the products, I haven't the tools to find that out. I don't know what's used to transfer files between RPA and the HC / CI-1, that's still on the todo list.
In Tim Rings mind UDP was probably the best choice, less over head etc as you mentioned. That choice has caused a few issues for some but for different reasons. I've studied and am still studying the Ring file transfer and going back on what I've said previously from recent study the data transfer seems pretty robust, just very slow. I haven't seen a dropped packet yet but I'll still studying.
The transfer speed from Rings server to RPA could probably be a lot higher (the files are not actually that big in computing terms), heck have you ever streamed anything on your computer or skyped etc, that's going to be almost 100% of the time UDP. It's without the checking that RE performs but it's still UDP and it's usually fast. There's probably a couple of things at play here:
Rings file server is not a webserver in some datacentre with a huge backbone but from what can be identified right now it's a server sitting in an office on a residential/business DSL connection. Uploads (what's happening when you get sent a file) are notoriously slow due to "plan shaping" for want of a better word.
In the old days files were downloaded directly to the HC from the file server. I imagine the speed was made slow to begin with due to the speed at which the HC could accept input through it's serial connection. We may just be still using this speed even though now files are downloaded to RPA first before being copied to the HC.
You should be able to quickly download the files from the server to Assistant using the full stack of TCP available on the computer.
Agree. This would require Ring moving the file server to a proper webhosting scenario.
You should be able to store those in Assistant
It does.
you should also be able to preview the sound files and preview pictures through Assistant. Then you should be able to pick from those and COPY them to the controller, keeping them in Assistant so you don't have to go back to the server every time you need that file or files.
It does and you can. You cannot preview sounds (it should not be hard for him to add the code to do so) but you can preview pictures. All files that you download are stored in RailPro Assistant. If you delete a file from the HC then you can just copy it to the HC again without having to download it again from the file server. The RailPro Assistant manual and the guides available here would have covered this.
I wonder if it is possible for Ring to provide a flash drive solution. Can't get it working on the web - request a flash drive be sent.
This raises a good question. How does Ring get the programs and files on in the first place. It won't be by RF from a HC I'll bet. If he doesn't have them preloaded by the chip manufacturers then there must be a direct wired way. While I built my testing board to make loading things to modules easier a USB device with a 9 pin plug and the required software for loading files to a module would be great.
It is about as user friendly as a .gov website... Our current interface reminds me of the green screen Mac I had back in third grade.
No argument on that one. Ring really needs to drop the current UI for RailPro Assistant, to heck with making it look like the HC screen, just make it a functional piece of software using standard forms (Winforms, GTK etc) and be done with it. You can make the UI attractive using those form systems.
The UI for the HC and CI-1, that I feel could be made much better too, but that's going to be a subjective argument, what looks really good to me might look bad to someone else..
- Tim (not the RE one)