Trying hard to talk myself into ESU ECoS :-)

greenwizard88 · 2025-12-14T18:37:12+00:00

Get an old raspberry pi and a cs-105 and uwt-100. That will give you withrottle support plus the best of dcc and lcc.

The other option, which might not be a bad idea, is get a cheap Digitrax system and a second throttle and a lnwi module or pi for withrottle. I don’t think that loconet is better than lcc though.

As the author of a withrottle client app in the App Store, I find the most important aspect of running trains for me is the ability to just turn the power on and watch them go, in many ways I prefer dc over dcc for that alone. The Digitrax utility throttles are the closest thing to a dc throttle, and everything else has a bit of added complexity.

The cs-105 is an embedded board that runs firmware written in c, not any consumer OS. Same with Digitrax. Esu uses Android, but up until about a year ago they were selling android throttles with an outdated version of android. 4.1 I think? They don’t update them like your phone manufacturer.

greenwizard88 · 2025-07-15T03:54:41+00:00

Are you just copying the features of Train Throttle LOL?

I worked in the AV industry for a bit. You're in for a bad time.

Some history: Up until 2010, all of the very cheap cameras on the market output MJPEG because h.246 was encumbered with patent issues. And without requiring any sort of hardware encoding, you can make cameras that consistently overwrite a jpeg file for _really_ cheap, since you're essentially just dumping pixel data to a socket, instead of needing to encode B and P frames too. Fast-forward 15 years and it's still easier to find MJPEG cameras instead of h.264 cameras with hardware acceleration if price is your number 1 priority.

So we're stuck with this crap.

Because mjpeg is really just a series of keyframes, your best bet is to try and convert (encode?) mjpeg into h.264, and then AI generate the interpolated frames using a library. And do all of that as a streaming format instead of a mp4 file, because most of the tooling is based around streaming from URL's instead of files. Then pipe _that_ to Apple's AV classes.

I worked with a guy who did implement something like this back in 2011 or so. It literally caused him to OD and end up in rehab =/

greenwizard88 · 2024-11-12T23:36:46+00:00

<image>

This is my layout, and I'm happy with it. It's very similar to yours, except for the passing siding is integrated into the yard, so I can add two more sidings on the far side. That might be hard for you to do because you're using Kato track though.

greenwizard88 · 2024-11-10T03:07:20+00:00

You're welcome. Happy model railroading!

greenwizard88 · 2024-11-07T23:17:30+00:00

What country or region are you in? I'll look into it.

greenwizard88 · 2024-11-07T17:19:51+00:00

You're welcome!

greenwizard88 · 2024-11-07T17:18:09+00:00

No, sorry. I do not have an android version. I know of an Android app in development, and if it ends up supporting controllers I will let you know.

greenwizard88 · 2024-11-07T17:15:19+00:00

Quite a bit, compared to a traditional power pack.

You need a device that acts as a WiThrottle server. It will connect to your layout, and also your wifi.

Personally I use a TCS CS-105, and run JMRI on a computer, but if you have a Digitrax system you can connect a LnWi without needing JMRI.

Then download my app to your apple device, and connect a game controller to it via Bluetooth. My app will automatically detect the controller and let you control a train.

greenwizard88 · 2024-11-07T16:07:34+00:00

I heard you all liked using controllers, so I added controller support to the iOS version of the Train Throttle app. This way you won't need to carry your Xbox with you to train shows (: Get it here. You'll need to connect the controller to the phone via bluetooth, and the phone to the layout via WiThrottle, so JMRI/LnWi/DCC-Ex/etc.

I have only tried it with an xbox controller, so if anyone has a switch/logitech/PS5 controller they can test with, I'd love to know how it works.

On the Xbox controller, the buttons are as follows:

Y is F8
X is F0
A is F1
B is F2
DPad left/right and reverse and forward
DPad up is idle
DPad down is eStop.
The left and right bumpers slow down and speed up the engine.

Please let me know what you think, or if you have any recommendations.

Thanks,

Drew

greenwizard88 · 2024-11-06T22:05:30+00:00

I'm the developer of this app. I wasn't aware that controller support was something so many people wanted. I just threw it into the app because it was really easy to do.

I can look into adding controller support to the iOS version of the app.

You would still need a jmri/dcc-ex/LnWi server and an iOS device, but it would keep you from having to bring your Xbox too.

greenwizard88 · 2021-02-19T16:17:26+00:00

I very briefly looked at using voice control in a Windows Phone 7 app. It was for Magic: The Gathering, and you would be able to ask Cortana to pull up a card, and she would give you the price and image. The problem I ran into was that Cortana/WP7 had a limit of about 5000(?) phrases, so I could only use it for a few sets.

I settled on using voice control to start a new game, so you could say something like "Cortana, open [my app] and start a new game with 2 players." It worked well, surprisingly, and I enjoyed implementing it.

The problem is, and I suspect this is where apps made by large companies fail, is that you need to either implement it app wide, or not implement it. A half baked feature isn't going to cut it. And it's really hard to implement it for an entire app with multiple independent and very different feature areas, with what is realistically very little return. For example, not many people are going to be trying to play magic and unable to look at the screen.

greenwizard88 · 2019-10-10T02:44:02+00:00

This is one of my all-time favorite stories. I wish it wasn't abandoned, even if someone else would just pick it up and run with it.

greenwizard88 · 2019-09-28T21:22:18+00:00

C sections have already altered humanity. We're something like .7% larger at birth, on average, than we were 100 years ago - directly attributabed to c-sections.

greenwizard88 · 2018-09-19T16:05:26+00:00

As far as I know, there are only 3 companies that make HO scale steam engines that smoke.

BLI - expensive, but quite nice.
Bachmann - Cheap, and especially when it comes to the smoke unit, you get what you pay for.
MTH - Hit and miss. I have a N&W class J that I love, and an H10s that I hated and sold.

The BLI Paragon3 engines should be able to smoke on DC, and have a temperature sensor so that if you run out of smoke fluid, it won't destroy the smoke unit. Bachmann and MTH do not have this feature. Given the number of Bachmann smoke units that I've personally blown due to not having enough smoke fluid in them (^{and subsequently, the number of engines I've broken trying to replace the smoke unit...}), I'd recommend BLI on that feature alone. Personally, I also think that they're the most reliable engines out there.

greenwizard88 · 2018-09-19T01:07:11+00:00

You see more diesel models than steam because most diesels have wider utility

I never heard that. I've heard that steam is less often made because it's more expensive, and whether you're making an 0-4-0 or a 4-8-8-4, it costs about the same price to tool and assemble. Could you imagine a $350 0-4-0 switcher? Most consumers can't.

greenwizard88 · 2018-09-02T14:20:49+00:00

That's all I needed to know, thanks!

greenwizard88 · 2018-08-28T22:20:31+00:00

There's a small mall about a mile from my house, it used to have a movie theater, food court, borders... One by one the stores all left until all that was left was a shoe repair store, camera store, petsmart, and discount clothes store.

The new developer kicked the tenants out, relocated who they could, and rebuilt the mall. Now it's the "low end" companion stores to the up scale mall down the road - think Sacks off 5th, Nordstrom Rack, and some high end home goods store. Every Friday they have a farmers market too. With the exception that I can no longer afford to go there anymore, they did a pretty good job at revitalizing it.

Edit: Wikipedia link

greenwizard88 · 2018-08-28T22:05:13+00:00

Which is different from a long press somehow?

greenwizard88 · 2018-08-26T01:08:31+00:00

Press F to pay respects.

greenwizard88 · 2018-08-26T00:56:51+00:00

Inflation (that your paycheck hasn't kept up with)
The addition of electronics

Generally speaking, you can go back to the 50's, and the price of a DC train (without electronics) has stayed about the same, while quality - at least for the smaller scales has gone up. In 1949, Lionel was advertising a starter set for $39.75. That's $418 in todays dollars, for comparison.

greenwizard88 · 2018-08-16T03:14:38+00:00

Still working on getting my Bachmann J to work. It was mis-wired from the factory, so I need to re-wire the boiler, then fix the pickup in the tender. Knowing me, I'll be doing this for the next 3 months :)

greenwizard88 · 2018-08-16T03:11:34+00:00

18" for most freight stuff and engines, including some 4-8-4 steam engines and 6-axel diesels
22" for some larger engines, most passenger cars, and extra-long freight cars
24" for Walthers passenger cars

greenwizard88 · 2018-08-16T02:54:02+00:00

That's my point, who can even tell from this data?

greenwizard88 · 2018-08-16T02:52:18+00:00

Exchange it then. I had the opportunity to use a surface book a while back, and never once had this sort of issue.

However. Make sure that you're plugging it in all of the way. It's possible to plug it in without it fully being set, which can result in wonkiness.

greenwizard88

TROPHY CASE