General > General Discussion
Model Railroad Hobbyist RailPro Contributor Needed
KPack:
Great advice Alan, and similar to what I was thinking. Simple is best, and I'd like to avoid antagonizing DCC users.
As far as potential topics to cover in the first article:
-What is Railpro (how it came about, length of time Ring Engineering has been in business, etc). Mention here the main objection as Alan stated.
-Basics of Railpro operating system (Direct Radio). Be careful not to come across as condescending.
-How to install Railpro (simple plug and play, full hardwire). Photo examples of each.
-How to use Railpro (simple examples showing locomotive acquisition, locomotive settings, function mapping, MU capability, etc). This section I would couple with video shorts or a single video showing it all. MU videos especially, including DPU operations.
Next articles could include the following:
-Railpro Assistant Software and how to use
-Custom sound creation and loading
-Custom lighting effect creation
-Accessory modules and accessory program creation
-Keep Alive and Railpro/Battery and Railpro
Additional thoughts?
-Kevin
nodcc4me:
As I was writing this, Kevin was also typing, so there is some redundancy here.
Kevin and Jacob, I’m sure you will both make a great RP presentation. Here are some topics you may want to cover:
What is RP and who is Ring Engineering?
What are its components, and how much does it cost to get started?
Where can you buy RP equipment?
How does it connect to the layout?
How does it connect to the locomotives?
Which features can it control?
What free software is required to download files?
How do you get the files onto the HC and into the locomotive?
Will the software work with a pc and is there any additional hardware required?
How do you set up the lights and sounds?
Can you operate switches, accessories and lights around the layout?. What hardware and software is required to do that?
Can you mix RP and DCC equipment and run them together?
Those are some ideas. You guys can probably think of more.
If you need editing, I am willing to pitch in.
G8B4Life:
--- Quote from: Alan on September 07, 2018, 08:29:41 AM ---Take great care in not making it feel like us versus them.
--- End quote ---
There's another one of them on MRH forums right now. Sigh! Same against arguments again (propriety, size etc) from the DCC crowd. I don't know if they just don't get it or they don't want to get it :(
Kevin (an Al) , that's a good list. I'll keep thinking of potential topics but I think you've pretty well got the main ones covered. DCC operation of the modules will probably need to be an article in it's own right, it'll probably be lengthy.
Once we have a final ideas list we should get onto Joe and ask him what he want's to see and present to him the ideas list before writing anything. As Joe say's, not much point writing anything before pitching him the idea. I imagine he'll modify the list to what he wants to see covered at which time.
- Tim
Alan:
--- Quote from: G8B4Life on September 07, 2018, 11:29:57 AM ---
There's another one of them on MRH forums right now. Sigh! Same against arguments again (propriety, size etc) from the DCC crowd. I don't know if they just don't get it or they don't want to get it :(
--- End quote ---
It is human nature to defend personal decisions, in this case DCC purchase. To admit a better choice could have been made is to admit one is a poor decision maker. People rarely do that.
The DCC protocol is not bad, it is just dated. In fact, it revolutionized the hobby. For that is deserves much credit. As I see it the root deficiency that doomed it to eventual obsolescence is the dependence on communication through the rails. Just the raw physics of two long parallel rails places an upper limit on transmission frequency i.e. data speed. At some point it becomes an antenna. Add to this the necessity of signal packet redundancy because of rolling dirty wheels in the signal path and you have an additional restriction on data capacity. Much like the dial up modem, the DCC protocol is eventually doomed not because it doesn't work but because user expectations rise beyond what the physics will allow. RP is the cable modem of model railroading. Someday a manufacturer will introduce the equivalent of fiber and RP will be outclassed too.
If there is fault to be found it is with the DCC equipment manufacturers for not focusing on the user experience side of the equation. There is no technical reason why they couldn't. They simply chose not to. Had the DCC suppliers focused on the user experience there would be many fewer potential RP customers. Jacob being a prime example.
TwinStar:
--- Quote from: Alan on September 07, 2018, 12:52:05 PM ---
The DCC protocol is not bad, it is just dated. In fact, it revolutionized the hobby. For that is deserves much credit.
--- End quote ---
I think the same thing about the Kadee coupler. It was a phenomenal leap forward from the XCF but it has been supplanted by the Sergent coupler. However, it is so entrenched in the hobby that I don't know if it'll ever be replaced. The Sergent is cheaper, easier to operate, and is a scale replica yet guys are still reluctant to make the move. One can hope that with Frank Sergent putting the patent public that manufactures will begin offering such.
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