RECENT PROGRESS JMRI & CONTROL PANELS ON TABLETS!

I've been dreading building traditional control panels for the Bakersfield yard.  I would need two of them and that would entail more wiring (ARGH!), switches, LED's, etc.  I just hate doing that.  So, a couple months ago I discovered WiThrottle and my wifi worked well together and that was just by accident, as reported on 9/15/13.  Well, I thought why don't I make those panels on the JMRI and put them on tablets at the yard so the two throats could be operated easily.  Currently we are using old DT100 throttles to throw the turnouts, a bit challenging especially for those non-Digitrax types.

So I started playing with the JMRI Control Panel Editor and after a few hours had my first panel done.  This one for the south end of Bakersfield.  I tested it on my iPad and my iPhone and all worked great.  So I dove in and bought two HP 7" Slate tablets.  When they arrived I turned it on, logged into JMRI and to my surprise the Bakersfield panel was right there on the tablet!  If I had a prototype train horn or whistle, I'd be layin' on that thing right now celebrating!

I had some challenges with the north end panel but thanks to the help of Ken Cameron, we got it all worked out.  Now I can retire the DT100 & 300's!

There are a few differences between the panels.  Just testing to see what works best for operators before I make changes.  The question marks on the panels are simply because I the system was just on and the turnouts have not been recognized yet.  I'll change the photos later.

Below are a couple photos...

Bakersfield South End Tower Panel

Bakersfield North End Panel

The panels above will be displayed on 7" tablets, one on each end of Bakersfield.  They sit in a holder, which I made from a business card holder.

That's it for today...enjoy, Frank Kenny, CPRX.

Traffic Center Control Panel

If you know me you know I HATE wiring!  Welcome to model railroading!  LOL  And perhaps you have read some of my other posts about connecting JMRI and the wifi and building panels in JMRI.  Well, I am well on my way to creating the Traffic Center panel that will be displayed on my iPad at the Traffic Center area.  Now operators won't have to fiddle with their throttle and view a chart to select a route into the Traffic Center.  They just read their manifest to see which track they are to go into and push the icon and the route lines up for them.  Too easy!

The panel is not complete yet.  I'd like to change the icon to be a button that can be pushed, and the will light up green when the route is selected.  Still working on that.  Once I have that done, then I will adjust the placement of all the icons and clean up the panel a bit.  But for now, this works!

Posted by Frank Kenny, CPRX.