Serge NOEL
175 lines
9.1 KiB
Plaintext
175 lines
9.1 KiB
Plaintext
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<title>Basic Programming</title><!--#include virtual="/help/en/parts/Style.shtml" -->
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<div id="mainContent">
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<h1 id="Top">The Basic Programmer</h1>
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<h2>Basic Pane</h2>
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<div class="dp-right">
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<p><a href="Basic_Start.shtml">Previous |</a>
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</p>
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<p><a href="index.shtml#Basic%20Programmer">Back to Index</a>
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</p>
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</div>
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<hr>
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<p>You may have noticed that at the top of the window are Two tabs: <strong>Roster
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Entry</strong> and <strong>Basic</strong>. We have completed the <strong>Roster
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Entry</strong> pane of the Program window, now, click on the <strong>Basic</strong> tab to
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change panes to continue with programming your decoder. The <strong>Basic</strong> pane will
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be displayed and look similar to the following illustration: Many panes in the programmer
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contain decoder dependent features, as a result what you see may not exactly agree with what
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you see here. Only those variables that your decoder can implement will be shown.</p>
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<p>Below is a screen for OEM decoder that is used in the <strong>Athearn FP-45</strong>
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locomotive.shown in factory settings, which is normally address 3<br>
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.<img src="images/Basic_Program.png" alt="basic pane" height="557" width="642"></p>
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<div class="dp-center">
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</div>
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<p>You will see three options you can change, highlighted in yellow:</p>
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<ol>
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<li>The decoder address (should be unique among your locomotives, unless you are operating
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several as a set) often the locomotive number is used.</li>
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<li>Two radio buttons that let you toggle between 2 digit (one byte, "Normal") or 4
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digit<br>
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(two byte, "Extended") addressing</li>
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<li>Analog operation (enables the decoder to run under regular DC voltage/analog<br>
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control) Enable Analog Operation with caution, as some decoders will jump to full speed
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resulting in a "Runaway locomotive" if they are enabled for Analog Operation and encounter
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power spikes on a DCC digital signal. They seem to get confused, and revert to Analog
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operation and use the full track voltage DCC power to take off and GO! There is no stopping
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them without removing layout power. Very disturbing to your operating mates, but better
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than running into them at full tilt.</li>
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</ol>
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<div style="margin-left: 2em">
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<p>To enable Analog (old style DC, some vendors refer to this as dual mode) Operation
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select the appropriate entry from the drop-down list.</p>
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</div>
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<p>The yellow highlighting indicates these options are "probable" settings and have not been
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confirmed from the decoder. Settings that have been changed by the user and have not been
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written back to the decoder appear in a orange color. You will see examples of<br>
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this throughout the manual.</p>
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<a id="ReadData"></a> To read the actual settings for these options (and IF your system and
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installed decoder will allow readback of decoder values), click on the <span
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class="textbutton">Read full sheet</span> button. The individual
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settings will turn red while they are in the process of being read (clever, eh?), and will
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turn white once the values have been read successfully from the decoder. Once again,
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DecoderPro must play "Twenty Questions" to get this information, and sometimes even has to
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ask a couple of times.
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<p>Be patient, especially with older computers. At the very bottom of the pane (where it says
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"idle") you will see a running account of exactly what DecoderPro is doing, for example, the
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specific CV being read.</p>
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<p>Again, the <span class="textbutton">Read full sheet</span> and
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<strong><span class="textbutton">Read all sheets</span>
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functions are dependent on your command station. If your system does not have the capability
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to read CVs, then these buttons will not be available.</p>
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<p><a id="EnterEditData"></a>If you wish to change the address of the locomotive, type in the
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new address. To turn on or off 4 digit addressing, select the desired radio button. . Be sure
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that the address type agrees with the number of characters in the address.</p>
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<p>When you are finished, click on <span class="textbutton">Write full sheet</span>
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to write the new values in the decoder.</p>
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<p><a id="WriteData"></a>Writing usually takes much less time than reading, because the value
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can be sent directly. As the write operation proceeds, the data will change from yellow to
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white. If there is difficulty writing to the decoder, the data will change to red. The
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software will automatically keep trying until the write operation is successful. In some
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instances the system will "time-out" after a certain number of tries without an
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acknowledgement from the decoder. This does not necessarily mean that the values have not
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been written, just that the program has not received an acknowledgement. This can be due to
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the locomotive moving and getting on dirty track so that it can't pulse back, or possibly
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because the command station or decoder cannot read back. Try moving the loco and try again.
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If it is a command station or decoder read-back issue, try the loco on the mainline and see
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if the programming was successful.</p>
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<p><a id="SaveData"></a> To finish this "basic" programming of a decoder, click once more on
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the <strong>Roster Entry</strong> tab, You will see that the address field has now been
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filled in, so you can now click on the <span class="textbutton">Save to roster</span> button.
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Your new decoder settings have now been written not only to the decoder, but also saved to
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a computer file where they may be recalled in the future.</p>
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<p>I have programmed the address for this locomotive and clicked on the Write full sheet
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button to send the address to the command station to program the decoder. Note that the
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status line keeps you updated as to what is writing and should finish with OK, which is good
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or an error message which usually meant the write was not completed. All the entries are now
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in white color as they match the decoder.</p>
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<p class="dp-center"><img src="images/Basic_Address.png" alt="basic address" height="556"
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width="636"><br>
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</p>
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<p>Now that we have entered the Roster data and set the desired address, lets return to
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DecoderPro Main window by closing the Programming window.</p>
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<p>Notice that we now have a list of all the locomotives programmed so far that are in our
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roster.</p>
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<p><img style="width: 900px; height: 425px;" alt="main" src="images/Main_01b_main.png"><br>
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</p>
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<p><a id="DoMore"></a>What we've done so far is what is available in the Basic mode of
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programming in DecoderPro. Which is basically put Locomotive in the roster and assign an
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address. A good place to start for new folks or at a club. It's hard to go wrong, but you can
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change the loco address and add it the roster, which are the two most often needed actions
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with programming.<br>
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<br>
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The classic DecoderPro offered a number of modes, most of which were often redundant and
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confusing showing how the user could edit the underlying file to make special application
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programming modes. The Comprehensive Programmer was the most popular for a long time until
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Advanced came along with added features. So now they've been combined in DecoderPro. Thus the
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Comprehensive Programmer with added Advanced features is the only other programmer that
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DecoderPro offers.<br>
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Since we've already covered <strong>Basic</strong>, let's explore the DecoderPro <a href=
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"Comp_Setup_Roster.shtml">Comprehensive Programmer</a>!</p>
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<p>Select the Locomotive that you want to program in Comprehensive Programmer, then double
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click on selection to open Programmer.</p>
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<p>At the bottom of the window is the <a href="RosterMedia.shtml">Labels & Media</a>
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and<a href="dp3_Main_Throttle.shtml">Throttle</a> buttons. Use these buttons to set up the
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Icon photos for your roster entries and to set up the Function Labels on the software
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throttle included in JMRI. Click the links that we've included and take a look.</p>
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<div class="dp-right">
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<p><a href="Basic_Start.shtml">Previous |</a>
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</p>
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<p><a href="index.shtml#Basic%20Programmer">Back to Index</a>
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</p>
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