Arduino as a DCC Programmer
I know some readers have been waiting for me to actually start on PrgmrArduino, my library for DCC programming with Arduino. Those readers will be pleased to know that I’ve made the first steps in that direction, and the initial code is available on GitHub. Right now, the library is only capable of Direct Mode writes, and is completely untested, but perhaps even that much is useful? For complete details on PrgmrArduino, including the hardware requirements (which are non-trivial), please see the reference page on this...
read moreMaking Trains Move
I’ve hidden myself in a closet for the last month or so working on putting together a demo showing how OpenLCB can be used to control trains. The demo consists of two parts: A device to talk to humans, which I call a throttle, and a device to talk to trains, which I call (following common nomenclature) a command station. The two devices talk to each other via OpenLCB. The command station talks to trains using DCC. Both the command station and the throttle are my own OpenLCB Dev Boards running Arduino sketches. You can see the demo in person—perhaps a little more exciting than...
read moreCmdrArduino At Work
This made my day. BeigeMatchbox has built his own DCC cab/command station from an Arduino and my CmdrArduino library. It’s always exciting, and gratifying, to see something you’ve made put to use by someone else! BeigeMatchbox writes of the video: A quick video of my DCC controller in action, using Railstars DCC library to generate the DCC packets, and my own code for user interface. It’s still far from complete, but it’s getting there! If you have been using Railstars software or hardware in a project, I’d love to hear about...
read moreIntroducing the OpenLCB Development Board (AT90CAN ver.)
I’ve cast my lot with OpenLCB. Having designed a booster, the next logical step is to design a command station (which generates the DCC signal) and a cab (which provides the human interface to the layout). The command station and cab have to talk to each other, and there are a number of possibilities. These include (but are not limited to): Digitrax LocoNet Lenz XpressNet NCE Cab Bus MERG CBUS OpenLCB …&c. LocoNet is particularly popular in North America, being the product of industry giant Digitrax. They even offer a royalty-free license for a usable subset of the protocol....
read moreLOLbooster: One User’s Experiences
Ken, author of the tremendously useful site has been helping me test a pre-production LOLbooster unit. He has, in his usual careful way, written up his experiences assembling, testing, and using LOLbooster.
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