I am feeling Nostalgic about DLA

[smeighan]

When I started in this hobby it was December 2011. I Think i put in "DIY Christmas Lights" in google. It brought me to the DLA forum. I ran my show in 2012 with all DLA equipment. The equipment worked great. I started using equipment from the other forums in 2013 . Last year I was still about 50/50.



It has felt like there has been way less activity in the last year.

This forum software has a stats button that shows posts per month, new users per month and stuff like that.
I made a graph out of the stats. It does not feel the same as when I was posting in 2012.
I miss the old days.

Thanks to RJ for the many years of lights that I have been able to run. I am moving to newer technology stacks now but I will never forget the thrill of the first lights that turned on in 2012 using an Etherdongle and active hub and some SSC's.

sean

[UncleBuck]

I started in 2011. 100% LE's and a dongle. Still 100% LE's and a dongle. I haven't made the jump to RGB and I still get plenty of visitors and thank you notes. People just love to watch the lights dance. 

[loveroflife96]

I started out with DLA too a few years back.  First year was a D-Light 16 channel controller, then I found this site and the rest is history.  DLA allowed me to gain confidence in my skills, learn new stuff, overcome challenges, and all in all develop some great friendships.  I use a mixture of many controllers now, but my heart still beats with DLA.  Sean and the Nutcracker team have done an amazing job of making an easy to use yet fully functional software program that can do amazing things with RJs creations.  I still believe DLA is the go to spot for "first timers" in the hobby that like to it all themselves.  Still puts smiles on childrens faces year after year no matter if my show was incans or RGBs.  Gotta love it!

[tomwb301]

I started this hobby in 2006 with animated lighting equipment. Then like Sean I found DLA and joined on 4/14/2011. I still have a ton of DLA equipment. It is rock solid. I plan to get my older son involved in the hobby and set him up with 10 LE units and a dongle but the software will be Xlights.

Agreed, thanks RJ for what you have done.

[jnealand]

I too miss the good old days when the best new stuff was found on DLA.  Everything still works great but I too have moved to more pixel oriented stuff but I still am using my original active hub and SSCv3s to do all the lights attached to the front of the house.  But the raspberry Pi with matrix adapter and the Pi with a "Pi Hat" to run other yard elements will be making big inroads in my yard this year.

[chrisatpsu]

I started in 2011 also (Jan 3rd) i started playing with a couple ssr4's and some LE's but hit the pixelnet stuff as it came out that year. (was even one of the first regular guys on here to purchase the original 128 node smart strings.)

As far as the control equipment, I'm still 99% DLA stuff. (not sure if the pixelnet splitter was Lynx)
just checked wiki: it's Bobcat

Took a couple years off, but I'm back. Also finding out that you have less free time when one of your kids start going to school!  lol

[meman]

In 2009 I was running Vixen with some old 4 channel Chauvet DMX lighting controllers used in my band. Had to keep them dry in the garage and use long extension cords. I went searching for a better solution and joined DLA on Christmas day 2009. Over the next couple of years, I watched this forum literally explode with excitement over the functionality, quality & price of controller kits RJ was releasing. Even though the cutting edge of RGB control seems to have shifted away from this forum, I think there will still be a need for LEs and Aethers to fill out my show for years to come.

As always, many thanks to RJ & the entire DLA family....

Mike E.

[taybrynn]

My first show was in 2008 and all LOR.  I joined DLA in Jan 2009.  Started building LE(s) and loved them and found soldering kits to be quite fun and easier than I thought.  RJ is to be credited with so much ... not only amazing designs and consistency ... but the friendly culture he instilled and demanded .. was just right for me.   At the time I was turned off from places like planetchristmas and LOR forums ... which seemed to have too many personal mud slinging battles going on ... and this place with a huge breath of fresh air and RJ and his moderators made sure this place was civil, polite and no question was ever too stupid.  The support was (and still is) wonderful.  This place gave me the confidence to leave LOR and venture into DIY because it was so approachable and relatively easy to understand.   As with anything, things change and new leaders take over and life goes on ... and new things to look forward to.

[caretaker]

Saw a video of animated light display in 2005 and in 2006 had 10 eight channel D-Light controllers I put together myself and had my first show. Found DLA in 2010 and slowly changed all my controllers to LE's and then added Pixelnet. Last show I did was 2012 before we moved to a smaller home in 2014. Just starting to put together a new show albeit on a smaller scale. Like many other have said have very enjoyed the positive community here where you can always get your questions answered. I also want to give a big thank you to RJ for not only creating the wonderful equipment he has but given so much of his time in support of it. Also a big thank you to all the moderators, coop leaders, and users who have contributed to making this site such a nice place to visit. Looking forward to visiting here for many years to come.

[kidcole]

Some great thoughts Sean .. and nice posts from others.  I am curious if all the sites have fallen off or if it's just a sign of the times.  Sites like DoItYourselfChristmas.com and FalconChristmas.com might be the benefactors of the shift in technologies. 

I joined DLA in 2009 but at the time I was very involved with LOR after getting a lot of attention for being the first in my town with a sync lights and music display.  I liked watching the progression of offerings here, but I didn't see a good blend with LOR.  But now that I am leaving LOR and moving to Falcon Pi Players, I want to move my entire display to DMX, instead of the mix of LOR and DMX I've had for several years.  It's quite exciting to be able to run multiple computers sync'd wirelessly, all running the same sequence !

So many displays have moved entirely to pixels and that's just too much downtown Las Vegas for me.  I don't want my display to lose all of its classical edge.  So I plan to keep at least a few hundred channels of AC lights.  Therefore I see a very good fit for the incredibly stable Lynx Express AC controllers to replace my LOR.  Of course I could keep LOR and just run them as DMX controllers, but there is just too much baggage with having to translate the LOR Unit/Channel to DMX, and creating adapter cables.  Also if any new flash is required, I would still have to fire up my LOR software just to flash them.  YUK.  The only reason I would consider doing this is if I decide to run some higher power light strings.  Rectified Warm White LEDs have all but erased that need, and with much higher long term reliability.

For 2016 I plan to make DLA my ongoing home for AC DMX controllers, and I'll probably stick with Sandevices controllers for pixels since I know them and already own a handful of them.  For anyone trying to grow their display on a tight budget, Lynx and Sandevices are a solid choice for anyone !

[smeighan]

Here are the other forums
ACL  You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
xLights You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login
Falcon You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

These and DLA are all SMF forums so you can get the monthly stats. Most everyone else are vbulletin. I dont know how to see monthly stats on those.



Here are the actual stat files. 2nd column is number of new posts in that month
FALCON:
# FALCON.dat
2013-03 33
2013-04 71
2013-05 167
2013-06 73
2013-07 324
2013-08 443
2013-09 518
2013-10 915
2013-11 1117
2013-12 1445
2014-01 1082
2014-02 410
2014-03 542
2014-04 603
2014-05 674
2014-06 1014
2014-07 1218
2014-08 1160
2014-09 1244
2014-10 2211
2014-11 2351
2014-12 2935
2015-01 1958
2015-02 1091
2015-03 1123
2015-04 562
2015-05 584
2015-06 579
2015-07 1111
2015-08 2338
2015-09 2121
2015-10 2955
2015-11 2906
2015-12 3434
2016-01 3411
2016-02 1965
2016-03 1554
2016-04 483



ACL:
# ACL.dat
2013-01 1717
2013-02 1163
2013-03 1309
2013-04 988
2013-12 391
2014-01 2474
2014-02 764
2014-03 705
2014-04 885
2014-05 1126
2014-06 1402
2014-07 1243
2014-08 1257
2014-09 1425
2014-10 1875
2014-11 2042
2014-12 2705
2015-01 2082
2015-02 792
2015-03 583
2015-04 609
2015-05 945
2015-06 787
2015-07 800
2015-08 813
2015-09 860
2015-10 909
2015-11 1270
2015-12 2059
2016-01 1358
2016-02 684
2016-03 665


XLIGHTS
# XLIGHTS.dat
2014-01 489
2014-02 97
2014-03 83
2014-04 112
2014-05 119
2014-06 139
2014-07 162
2014-08 283
2014-09 351
2014-10 498
2014-11 1026
2014-12 836
2015-01 529
2015-02 261
2015-03 284
2015-04 718
2015-05 767
2015-06 885
2015-07 1036
2015-08 1035
2015-09 948
2015-10 960
2015-11 1503
2015-12 1590
2016-01 999
2016-02 671
2016-03 664



Finally, DLA
# DLA.dat
2008-02 777
2008-03 903
2008-04 561
2008-05 488
2008-06 622
2008-07 630
2008-08 508
2008-09 813
2008-10 919
2008-11 864
2008-12 1126
2009-01 1442
2009-02 1003
2009-03 1164
2009-04 1247
2009-05 1636
2009-06 1116
2009-07 663
2009-08 1034
2009-09 1319
2009-10 1021
2009-11 1374
2009-12 2548
2010-01 2262
2010-02 1526
2010-03 1404
2010-04 1085
2010-05 773
2010-06 517
2010-07 1135
2010-08 1131
2010-09 1261
2010-10 1059
2010-11 2799
2010-12 4324
2011-01 4613
2011-02 2017
2011-03 3025
2011-04 2122
2011-05 1771
2011-06 1749
2011-07 1502
2011-08 1845
2011-09 2041
2011-10 2847
2011-11 4541
2011-12 5665
2012-01 6196
2012-02 3178
2012-03 2940
2012-04 2498
2012-05 1459
2012-06 1428
2012-07 2224
2012-08 2289
2012-09 2694
2012-10 3462
2012-11 4799
2012-12 5401
2013-01 3458
2013-02 1486
2013-03 1729
2013-04 2040
2013-05 1149
2013-06 856
2013-07 1909
2013-08 1653
2013-09 1400
2013-10 2192
2013-11 3272
2013-12 3275
2014-01 1636
2014-02 800
2014-03 430
2014-04 395
2014-05 333
2014-06 508
2014-07 349
2014-08 626
2014-09 661
2014-10 583
2014-11 923
2014-12 1427
2015-01 975
2015-02 586
2015-03 405
2015-04 306
2015-05 182
2015-06 158
2015-07 155
2015-08 206
2015-09 166
2015-10 252
2015-11 328
2015-12 403
2016-01 336
2016-02 149
2016-03 156
2016-04 57

[WWNF911]

I started in 2011. 100% LE's and a dongle. Still 100% LE's and a dongle. I haven't made the jump to RGB and I still get plenty of visitors and thank you notes. People just love to watch the lights dance. 

Started in 2007 and found DLA later through a friend. Thank you Bill. I'm in the same boat as UncleBuck. Just like the old stuff and will probably just run that until the last one dies.  (Mostly V3 LE's with and Old version of Vixen)

I've always been resistant to the LEDs although I must admit. I've seen some now that look pretty close to the incans. Exciting.

Thanks to all of DLA for the support and light throughout the years. As long as I can run em, I will!   

Thanks RJ.  Hope to meet you some day.

Leon