Getting Started with JMRI Virtual Sound Decoders

[Ed Kapuscinski]

This stuff is really cool:
http://conrail1285.com/getting-started-with-jmri-virtual-sound-decoders/

[ryan_wilkerson]

Very cool Ed. I'll keep an eye on your work to see how I can implement it on our family railroad. My sons would love the sound!

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Very cool Ed. I'll keep an eye on your work to see how I can implement it on our family railroad. My sons would love the sound!

Oh yeah. It really adds another dimension, and if you have the equipment already, it's soooo simple to setup and use.

I'm working on getting permission to distribute the files too, which is the hardest part of making work in a particular case.

[ryan_wilkerson]

So what hardware is required?

Here's what I have:
A PC dedicated to the layout running JMRI connected to an NCE Power House Pro. The PC doesn't have external speakers but I do have a set somewhere that I can hook up.

[John]

If you can get this working on a cheap tablet, or an old iphone / android, you can take the sound with you ..  throttle, sound, all in one .  look at the web services in jmri .. might be a place to start

[Ed Kapuscinski]

So what hardware is required?

Here's what I have:
A PC dedicated to the layout running JMRI connected to an NCE Power House Pro. The PC doesn't have external speakers but I do have a set somewhere that I can hook up.

That's it. Plug the speakers in, load up a VSD, and rock out.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

If you can get this working on a cheap tablet, or an old iphone / android, you can take the sound with you ..  throttle, sound, all in one .  look at the web services in jmri .. might be a place to start

I actually think that's in the "product roadmap" for the thing, but the original maintainer seems pretty busy at the moment, so we haven't connected about it.

[Lemosteam]

If you can get this working on a cheap tablet, or an old iphone / android, you can take the sound with you ..  throttle, sound, all in one .  look at the web services in jmri .. might be a place to start

And with that , bluetooth headphones for to allow others to ignore the sound for those that do not care for the sound!

[eric220]

The biggest problem that I see with the headphone solution is that you can't hear each other's (literal) bells and whistles. Those are supposed to be warning devices for others, not for the engineer.

[ryan_wilkerson]

Wow, good deal. I'll give it a shot when I get home.
I'll be interested in getting some sound files for ES44AC, SD70ACE, PC42, SD40, SD45, etc. in the future.
-Ryan

That's it. Plug the speakers in, load up a VSD, and rock out.

[Ed Kapuscinski]

Well, the sample VSD has the basics for an SD40-2. Beyond that it's probably the land of rolling your own.

That said, if you can get your hands on sound files, it's pretty easy to do.

[davefoxx]

@Ed Kapuscinski,

This is going to sound like a stupid question, but where is the "debug" menu to get to VSDecoder?  I open up DecoderPro, and there is no "debug" in the DecoderPro menu.

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

It's odd. The menus change depending on which window you have selected.

This might help.

[davefoxx]

@Ed Kapuscinski,

Thanks for responding, but I clicked on everything I could find to try to find that different menu.  Unfortunately, the most recent version of JMRI (I downloaded the latest version) doesn't seem to have that pop-up that's shown behind your drag-down menu.  If I recall from an earlier version of JMRI, if I clicked on that box, I got a different menu and probably the one I'm looking for.  What version of JMRI are you using?

That said, JMRI pissed me the ***** off last night.  First, you need to know I replaced my Mac two years ago, and never bothered to reload JMRI and use WiThrottle since.  So, last night, I decided to try to install JMRI and connect my newer Mac to the layout through my PR3.  JMRI (DecoderPro) kept freezing or crashing, it shut down the layout at one point, and it would intermittently talk to my command station.  At one point, I was ready to throw the laptop out of the window, but, within an hour or so, I had a locomotive running with the JMRI throttle and then even successfully (although not on my first attempt) got WiThrottle to work through my smartphone.  But, then it all fell apart again, and I had to shut down and reboot JMRI.  I gave up after two or three hours.  I was just happy at the end of the night to have the layout operating again without JMRI hooked up.  And, as I pointed out, during this time, I never found the "Debug" option to get to the VSDecoder.  Grr!

DFF

[Ed Kapuscinski]

That's odd, but I have noticed that the newest version has been a little flaky.

Did you launch "Decoderpro" or "Decoderpro 3"? I don't think the 3 version has it (which is annoying).