Railstars

RAILbooster Now Shipping!

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 20:55:43 +0000

Railstars is proud to announce that RAILbooster is now ready to ship! Those with pre-orders can expect to get a tracking number for their order within the next day or two.

Introducing Io:duino for the DIY Model Railroader

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 21:51:42 +0000

Railstars is proud to announce the latest product in the Io Layout Control System, the Io:duino. Io:duino is a fully Arduino-compatible hardware platform for DIY model railroaders. Sporting the Atmel AT90CAN128 microprocessor, the Io:duino offers built-in OpenLCB / NMRAnet support, as well as full shield compatibility giving you access to hundreds of hardware modules, and the Arduino IDE for writing and uploading your own programs for infinite extendability. The only limit is your imagination!

Taking Orders: Io Developer’s Board

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:15:50 +0000

Railstars is proud to announce that we are now taking orders on Io Developer’s Board, a multipurpose board meant for getting your layout accessories onto the OpenLCB / NMRAnet network, or for developers interested in developing new OpenLCB / NMRAnet devices.

OpenLCB / NMRAnet on DC Layouts

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Thu, 09 Feb 2012 15:00:30 +0000

StevenH has offered a nice write-up on OpenLCB / NMRAnet. StevenH uses good old DC on his layout (well, PWM), and is beginning to explore how he can use OpenLCB / NMRAnet for DC locomotive control.

Video Demo of Io and NMRAnet

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 04:25:21 +0000

Making progress on Io!

David Harris was kind enough to put together this video demonstration of Railstars Io at work. In the video, two Io boards are communicating to each other: One receives inputs from button presses, and transmits these events over NMRAnet to a second Io, which turns on indicators in response to those events.

March Conventions

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Thu, 26 Jan 2012 21:05:03 +0000

Headed to the Rocky Mountain Toy Train Show? Come by the Railstars table, and watch a demo of RAILbooster and Io. We’d love to meet you!

First Railstars Io board assembled

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 23:37:22 +0000

The first of a new breed of layout control hardware. Very excited. Read more about Railstars Io, and how it will change model railroad control, here.

Want to be a Railstars Dealer?

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Fri, 13 Jan 2012 23:18:06 +0000

Interested in becoming a Railstars dealer? You can now find dealer applications here!.

Railstars Io Being Fabricated

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Sat, 07 Jan 2012 01:49:47 +0000

The Io OpenLCB / NMRAnet demonstration boards are off to the fab house! Hoping they made it out in time before the Chinese New Year.

Introducing Io, the World’s First OpenLCB / NMRAnet Compatible Hardware Platform

D.E. Goodman-Wilson — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 20:38:49 +0000

Railstars is proud to announce Io, the world’s first OpenLCB/NMRAnet (S-9.7) compatible hardware designed for the general public. Railstars has been working very closely with the OpenLCB team to ensure maximum compatibility with the OpenLCB standards, and with anticipated future NMRAnet standards.

Io prototype hardware

Io—named after one of Jupiter’s moons and pronounced “ee-oh”—implements the OpenLCB/NMRAnet standards, which specify a set of networking protocols permitting various layout elements—fascia buttons, indicators, signals, turnouts, occupancy detectors, etc.—to talk to each other in a way that provides maximum flexibility for you to design a layout control scheme that works for you.

To accomplish this, Io provides three sets of connections. First, Io provides a set of 8 inputs, which are used to detect so-called “layout events” such as fascia button presses or occupancy detection. Second, Io also provides a set of 8 outputs, which are used to perform actions in response to layout events, such as toggling turnouts, or lighting signals or fascia indicators. Finally, Io communicates events to other Io boards (or other OpenLCB/NMRAnet compliant devices) via the OpenLCB/NMRAnet network interface, which permits you to combine event detection and action generation in any way you like, giving you absolute control over your layout.

The Io hardware is currently undergoing testing, and we expect that hardware will be ready by mid-February. Details on using Io and how it can help you do what you want with your layout, and on purchasing Io will follow in the next several days.

Of course, the Io platform is open source hardware; technical details can be had at the OpenLCB repository.