xLights 2011b

[dowdybrown]

xLights 2011b for Windows is now available for download from SourceForge:

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It fixes several bugs and adds support for Open DMX, so that you can now use an LOR or D-Light dongle, or a Holiday Coro programming cable to connect your DMX controllers to your computer. The new version also gives you 2 ways to map channels in your LOR sequences.

This version has been tested on Linux and is fully functional, though you will have to compile it yourself.

I have not gotten this version to work properly on Mac OS/X. There are problems with Pixelnet and Open DMX. Unfortunately, I need to concentrate on my Halloween and Christmas displays and will not be able to spend any more time on the Mac version this year. If you have C++ programming skills, are familiar with XCode, and would like to take on this challenge, please contact me.

Matt

PS. I forgot to mention that this version also supports playback in random order.

[hbomb341]

Updated -

Matt can you explain the IP address for e1.31 ... what should it be fore the ether dongle? 

Harrison

[dowdybrown]

Updated -

Matt can you explain the IP address for e1.31 ... what should it be fore the ether dongle? 

Harrison

I don't have an ether dongle, however, I assume that from an E1.31 perspective, it looks like 32 DMX universes. So to support all 16K channels you would need 32 entries in the xLights network setup screen.

IP Addr        Universe  LastChannel
239.255.0.1   1            512
239.255.0.2   2            512
239.255.0.3   3            512
etc.

I'm multi-casting from xLights to a DR4 as I write this with no issues

Matt

[RJ]

This is correct.

RJ

[JonB256]

Assuming that LOR does get version S3 released soon, and

Assuming that they have done something making their XML formatted sequence files incompatible, then

can I assume your time schedule may make another update unlikely? 

[PJNMCT]

I don't have xlights...yet but I want to THANK YOU Matt for your support of this community.

This is what makes DIYLA ***THE*** place to be.

-Paul

[dowdybrown]

Assuming that LOR does get version S3 released soon, and
Assuming that they have done something making their XML formatted sequence files incompatible, then
can I assume your time schedule may make another update unlikely?

I suppose that is possible if something changes in the final release, however, I believe there have been posts here from S3 beta testers saying the beta version works fine with xLights.

Matt

[hbomb341]

Updated -

Matt can you explain the IP address for e1.31 ... what should it be fore the ether dongle? 

Harrison

I don't have an ether dongle, however, I assume that from an E1.31 perspective, it looks like 32 DMX universes. So to support all 16K channels you would need 32 entries in the xLights network setup screen.

IP Addr        Universe  LastChannel
239.255.0.1   1            512
239.255.0.2   2            512
239.255.0.3   3            512
etc.

I'm multi-casting from xLights to a DR4 as I write this with no issues

Matt

That was the same way I understood it - Just wanted to make sure.

Harrison

[hbomb341]

Might as well dork out for a second to make sure I got this right (also help laymen) – so for xLights and Smart String I will need to setup 32 universes / networks like below – also how to MAX out a E1.31 universe (to make sure I understand E131):

[pk]

Thanks Matt.

[RJ]

Awesome work Matt!!!!   

RJ

[dowdybrown]

Might as well dork out for a second to make sure I got this right (also help laymen) – so for xLights and Smart String I will need to setup 32 universes / networks like below – also how to MAX out a E1.31 universe (to make sure I understand E131):

In your spreadsheet, Last Channel should 512 (or less) for each universe - it is the last channel used on THAT specific network.

Not sure what you mean by "MAX out a E1.31 universe". Could you elaborate?

Matt

[hbomb341]

In your spreadsheet, Last Channel should 512 (or less) for each universe - it is the last channel used on THAT specific network.

On So that make since ... each is treat as competently unknown.

Not sure what you mean by "MAX out a E1.31 universe". Could you elaborate?

Just want to make sure I got the IP scheme going to the max of 64,000 ... I think I got it.

Harrison

[sirwesley]

XLights xScheduler keeps closing after one song in the playlist has played.  What should I do to remedy this?  I'm not using any scripts. It says that it will repeat until 11:45pm. 

Also tried with the script.  Keeps dying after first song runs.  I've tried switching up the order and that doesn't seem to make a difference. 

Any ideas?  would a screen shots or video capture be helpful?

[Timon]

Matt,

First I want to say that you've done a great job on xLights. Keep up the good work.

Sad to here that you won't have time to get the Mac version out for a bit but I'll just run the PC version using Parallels for now.

I've been looking at how xLights maps LOR sequences and I have a suggestion that I think will give xLights much for flexibility in mapping LOR to DMX. What I suggest is to add an additional mode which would be "Table Driven". This allows one to use xLights on an existing sequence and remap it to a totally different environment without having to modify the original sequence.

Here is an example of what I'm thinking.

LOR Network	LOR Unit	Start Circuits	Number of Circuits	>	xLights Network	LOR Unit	Start Circuits/Channel	Comment
R	2	1	512		2	DMX	1	Map 512 channels on the Regular network unit 2 to the entire universe on xLights network 2. i.e. an iDMX controller
R	3	1	16		3	DMX	32	Map 16 channels on the Regular network unit 3 to DMX channels 32 to 47 on xLights network 3
R	4	1	16		3	DMX	48	Map 16 channels on the Regular network unit 4 to DMX channels 48 to 63 on xLights network 3
A	4	1	16		3	DMX	48	Map 16 channels on network A unit 4 to DMX channels 48 to 63 on xLights network 3
R	9	1	8		1	9	9	Remap LOR controller 9 on the regular network circuits 1 through 8 to LOR controller unit 9 circuits 9 to 16 on the xLights network 1
R	*	*	*		1	*	*	Catch all entry

The translating the table is scanned from top to bottom and translation stops when the first match is reached thus anything that you want to default should be last in the table.
The last entry in the table will map any LOR device on the Regular network to the first xLights network with the unit and channel number unchanged.
The text "DMX" on the LOR Unit number entry on the left really is not needed since the xlights network type is DMX but was included for readability.
This should also allow mapping LOR to Renard as well.

OMT, I'd like to see the ability to save xLights's configuration in a file which you can select rather than the fixed on it now uses.

Anyway just a suggestion.