Author Topic: What is the EtherDongle  (Read 7849 times)

Offline RJ

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What is the EtherDongle
« on: August 29, 2011, »
The EtherDongle is not really one thing.

In it's most basic form it is a device that with the correct firmware loaded takes  information in the form of E1.31DMX over Ethernet protocol and provide either 2048 channels of DMX ( 4 Universes ) out, Or 16384 Channels of PixelNet ( 4 Universes ).

But in this form it can also be a development device to design other systems from with just the use of new firmware.

It accepts daughter boards that plug in that anyone can design using the information that will be provided. This allows you to add new capabilities to it.

Currently there exist two different such board, The Conductor and the Slave. The Conductor added to the EtherDongle makes it a complete standalone show player that can handle up to 16,384 Channels and handles the music for you also. It can store hours of shows and it handles all scheduling so you need no computer to run the show and do not have to worry that the system will lock up ect.

The Slave gets added to an EtherDongle to allow you to expand your show to beyond the 16,384 channels or to put remotely to control the show in another yard for example. This can be done wired or wirelessly. It uses a system that sends Sync data every second so you can add as many Slaves as you like to the show and therefore make your show as large as you wish without channel limits. Add additional channels does not add any additional load to the system so one slave or 50 it still only uses one small packet per second to operate. This allows low bandwidth and it is designed to use less than perfect wireless or cabled networks with no issues. You can lose contact with the units for about 6 seconds with no effect on the show.

Some of the cool features of the system in the works currently is a set of phone apps for Iphone and Android to control the system remotely from your Phone, Laptop, Netbook, Ipad, or any computer with internet access.

I hope you like what I have done with it and can't wait to see where we take it.

RJ
« Last Edit: February 01, 2012, by rrowan »
Innovation beats imitation - and it's more satisfying