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Hardware => Lynx Express => Topic started by: Chris on January 19, 2015,

Title: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: Chris on January 19, 2015,
Hi Guys,

Hopefully i'm in the right thread. I've been using LOR for a while and have been advised to get the Lynx Express.

Where can i find them to buy in the UK? I believe they are in kits?

Thanks
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: tbone321 on January 19, 2015,
All of the "kits" are sold in what we call coops.  There is currently a poll running to determine the desire for the different devices that we use.  Keep an eye on the coop forum to see when on starts up.  Remember that the LE is a DMX device and will not understand the native LOR commands.  You will have to configure your output device to send DMX which depending on your wiring structure, you will also have to configure your LOR controllers to also run on DMX as well.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: mangoat on January 21, 2015,
so, with a raspberry pi, running fpp, to run the express, do i need any other sort of dongles or what do i need to get it happening when we can get this COOP under way????

any help would be greatly appreciated.

cheers
mangoat
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: tbone321 on January 21, 2015,
The LE is a DMX device so you will either need to connect a USB dongle to the USB port and load the Linux FTDI driver for it or you will need to have the RP sending the DMX signal to its GPIO port driving a RS-485 which will send the signal to the LE.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: mangoat on January 26, 2015,
so what sort of usb dongle exactly????
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: lburnham on January 26, 2015,
What and when is the first coop?
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: tbone321 on January 26, 2015,
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so what sort of usb dongle exactly????

That depends....  What sequencer are you using and what OS is the RP running?

Looking at it again, does FPP mean Falcon Player?  If so, I believe that the Falcon player only outputs E1.31 and for that, you would use the Etherdongle (ETD). 
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: tbone321 on January 26, 2015,
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What and when is the first coop?

What is the question.  What coop or device are you asking about.  The COOP managers are working out a schedule depending both on need of the different devices and the availability of the components required to build them.  I really hope that this year they actually post a tentative schedule so that we can make plans and setup budgets to buy what we need.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: mangoat on January 26, 2015,
Id just like to know when i can order stuff, just pcb/heatsinks and ill source the rest of components from the local guys here..
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: mangoat on January 26, 2015,
Yes, falcon player, and the etherdongle plugs into what port? Ethernet? If so, i could plug it into a switch right?
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: tbone321 on January 26, 2015,
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Id just like to know when i can order stuff, just pcb/heatsinks and ill source the rest of components from the local guys here..

If you are talking about the Express, you will need to wait for a coop to get the board and heat sink, and that's if there is a board only option.  I really hope that the coop managers put the board only option back into many of the coops.  As for when this will happen, they are working on the schedule now so we should know soon.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: tbone321 on January 26, 2015,
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Yes, falcon player, and the etherdongle plugs into what port? Ethernet? If so, i could plug it into a switch right?

Yes, the ETD plugs into the Ethernet port.  While you can plug it into a switch, remember that there will be a lot of data being sent to the ETD from the Pi.  I would look into directly connecting the PI to the ETD on the PI's Ethernet port and use WIFI on the Pi to monitor and control it.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: mangoat on January 26, 2015,
Hmm, but what about the ethernet i need for my e131 controllers
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: twooly on January 26, 2015,
Like tbone said plug your etd and other e131 controllers into a switch and same with the pi and then get a wireless usb and use the wireless to manage the pi
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: tbone321 on January 26, 2015,
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Hmm, but what about the ethernet i need for my e131 controllers

By all means, connect the Pi, ETD, and e131 controllers together with a switch, just don't connect that switch to your network.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: CaptainMurdoch on January 26, 2015,
FPP does support the DLA Lynx USB dongle for one DMX or PixelNet universe as well as the DLA Lynx EtherDongle for four universes of DMX or PixelNet.

If you go the EtherDongle route, then you can also use another home router instead of the switch and plug the WAN port of this second router into hour home network.  This will allow your Pi to get to the internet for time updates but keep the multicast E1.31 traffic off of your home network.  You can also open a hole up through that router to allow port 80 HTTP access through to the Pi so you can get to the admin web page.

If you want more FPP info you should go over to the Falcon site and they can answer any questions you have.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: mangoat on January 27, 2015,
ok, so my network for my xmas lights looks like this


pi --->  wipi usb dongle for wireless internet from home network
pi --->  switch  ---> p12s controller

and i would like to add

pi---->  switch  --->  lynx express (via ethernet dongle if i need to???)

not feasible?  i dont understand fully how the lynx stuff works.

cheers.
mangoat
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: twooly on January 27, 2015,
It would be

pi ----> switch ------> ETD (flashed with DMX) ------> Express
or
pi ----> switch ------> ETD (flashed with pixelnet) -------> Active Hub ------> Express
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: mangoat on January 27, 2015,
Ok, so the etd with etherdongle from here right???
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: twooly on January 27, 2015,
Yes and I would probably take the rest of your pi questions over to the correct forums, you'll get more detail about it over there.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: mangoat on January 28, 2015,
the pi questions i am ok with, its trying to understand the products from this site.
sorry.
Title: Re: Lynx Express Newbie UK
Post by: tbone321 on January 28, 2015,
I believe that he was referring to FPP, not the Pi itself.  The ETD IS the Etherdongle.  The ETD (EtherDongle) is what we use to convert e131 to PixelNet which is the protocol that our smart string equipment runs on.