Author Topic: New dongle manual in the wiki  (Read 3979 times)

Offline rrowan

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New dongle manual in the wiki
« on: April 05, 2011, »
Hi Folks

I just want everyone to know that NavyGator has been working on a improved version for the v2 dongle and I think he did a great job. This morning I made it the default dongle manual for everyone to use. I also would like to thank him for spending the time doing this.

Please take a look at You are not allowed to view links. Register or Login

Cheers

Rick R.
Light Animation Hobby - Having fun and Learning at the same time. (21st member of DLA)
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Warning SOME assembly required

Offline urthegman

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #1 on: April 05, 2011, »
I would like to second your thanks!!!! He did a GREAT job putting the manual together for all of us.   <res.

Offline bisquit476

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #2 on: April 05, 2011, »
Yep, that looks great! Thank you,

Bill

Offline mmciver

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #3 on: April 05, 2011, »
Nicely Done!  Thank you!
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Offline taybrynn

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #4 on: April 05, 2011, »
Superb !!  8)
Scott - Castle Rock, Colorado   [ 2 homes, 100% RGB in 2016; since 2008; over 32k channels of E1.31 ]
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Offline Freebird

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #5 on: April 05, 2011, »
Awesome job Navygator. 
One day I will fly out of the fog and all of this will be seen clearly!

Offline Dennis Cherry

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #6 on: April 05, 2011, »
Excellent instructions for the a dongle.   :)



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Offline dmaccole

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #7 on: April 05, 2011, »
Very good work.

\dmc
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Offline SteveMaris

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #8 on: April 06, 2011, »
Right on time. Thank you, Nice work.  8)
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Offline NavyGator

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #9 on: April 06, 2011, »
Thanks for the accolades everyone. I hope it helps future builders out.

Rich

Offline wildwillie

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #10 on: April 07, 2011, »
Should be a piece of cake to assemble this. Thanks for the excellent instruction manual!

Offline cubbieco

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #11 on: April 11, 2011, »
The manual is great, don't get me wrong.  There is a bit of incorrect information in the "Initial Setup" section.  I don't seem to have access to edit so I'll spell it out here.

#1 - You can just plug in the Dongle to your Windows 7 (and presumably older versions) and windows update will find and install the drivers for you.  Not only have I tested this, if you follow the instructions step by step you are actually doing this and not installing the drivers manually.

#2 - When you extract the driver files to D:\Christmas Lights\LYNX Equipment\DMX Dongle v2.0\Drivers this doesn't actually install the drivers.  The next step is plugging in the dongle to a USB port and at this point Windows will do one of two things - #1 - find the drivers via windows up date or #2 - ask for the drivers disk.  If it asks for the drivers disk then point it to the D:\Christmas Lights\LYNX Equipment\DMX Dongle v2.0\Drivers location and it will install the drivers.

#3 - if you want to set up the drivers manually then you extract the zip file anywhere, then you need to right click on the "ftdibus.inf" file and select install.  Then right click the "ftdiport.inf" file and install.  This step will actually install the drivers.  Without this step all you have done by downloading and extracting the driver file is added some files to your hard drive.  Unzipping the driver file does not actually install any drivers.

So If I were rewriting the instructions I would say first plug in the dongle to the USB port while the computer is connected to the Internet.  Wait and see if the drivers get installed automatically.  If they do you will receive a note stating the comm port you are using.

If this doesn't work then disconnect the dongle, download the drivers, extract the files, and right click on both .inf files and select "install" from the contectual menu.  After they install the drivers reconnect the dongle and try again.

If this fails you can open the hardware manager from the system menu in the control panel and you will get an option there to install the drivers.  Let windows update do it's thing or point it to the driver download file.

Thanks.

Offline NavyGator

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #12 on: April 16, 2011, »
Thanks for the info. I made some updates to the manual to clarify parts of the initial setup section.

Rich

Offline rm357

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #13 on: April 16, 2011, »
Windows update may have improved, but in the past, just plugging the dongle or any other ftdi based device in would pick up the generic windows serial driver - which did not work.

If you do just plug it in and it does not work, the first thing to check is the driver.

RM
Robert
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Offline NavyGator

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Re: New dongle manual in the wiki
« Reply #14 on: April 16, 2011, »
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Windows update may have improved, but in the past, just plugging the dongle or any other ftdi based device in would pick up the generic windows serial driver - which did not work.

If you do just plug it in and it does not work, the first thing to check is the driver.

RM

I had used the word install when I should have said unzip or unpack the downloaded file. I basically kept everything the same to where you still need to download the driver from the website before plugging in the dongle.