X Connect & OLE

[b1nuzz]

Hi

 

tried re starting an old topic but nobody responded.

Can anyone tell me if you can control moving lights with the OLE or x connect. I have versions of both. I know you can control tem on the wheel keys, being HOME and END.

 

Can you basically recreate the trackball and smaler wheels?

 

Also, is there a way to transfer saved shows between the OLE and x-connect to allow me to drop a pre saved show onto the desk?

 

Thanks

[gareth]

Can anyone tell me if you can control moving lights with the OLE or x connect. I have versions of both. I know you can control tem on the wheel keys, being HOME and END.

 

Can you basically recreate the trackball and smaler wheels?

The OL in OLE stands for Off Line - in other words, just the OS running on a computer. You can't actually control anything with it, just manipulate the cue/group/sub/whatever information.

 

As for xConnect - as long as it's talking to a console, you can use it to log in as a user and control anything that the console itself can control. As for duplicating the encoders and trackball - well, maybe you could use an external mouse/trackball on the PC running xConnect to duplicate the trackball (don't know, never tried it!), but you won't be able to replicate the encoder wheels.

 

Also, is there a way to transfer saved shows between the OLE and x-connect to allow me to drop a pre saved show onto the desk?

The only way to get a show from OLE into the console is to save it onto a floppy and load it into the desk. You can't use xConnect to transfer files from a drive on the local PC (on which xConnect is running) to the console into which you're logged in.

[b1nuzz]

ok cool. Can anyone confirm that using a external mouse on my laptop would work. I was told tat the trackpad on the laptop would work, but it doesn't.

 

Thanks

[Andi_Davis]

Hello chaps!

 

The issue of moving a showfile between a laptop and a console has come up in several posts recently...

 

One way to do this is using the IOFTP32 utility, which is included in the 220os directory when the GeniusPro software is installed on a PC.

 

If you haven't come across it, IOFTP32 is a command line application (i.e. it launches in a 'DOS'-style command window) and allows the computer to communicate with other devices on the Strand ShowNet. The user can log-in to these devices, and transfer files between the computer and other machines on the network.

 

IOFTP32 is particularly useful for Windows XP/2000 users - although GeniusPro OLE will not run natively under either of these operating systems :) , IOFTP32 will run happily under both! :)

 

We use IOFTP32 to back-up showfiles to laptop hard-drives at the end of a day's tech'-ing - it eliminates the need to make painfully slow floppy copies (more time in the pub!) and provides an alternative to using a parallel port ZIP-drive on the console when working with larger showfiles. It's an extremely handy, very under-rated utility!

 

The only possible hitch is that some of the functionality of IOFTP may be limited if the console does not have the Server application installed (unfortunately I can't double check this as all of our consoles have Server...) However, I've personally never encountered any problems when using other people's consoles - although this may be because hire consoles often have Server installed.

[b1nuzz]

Thanks for the help. I have searched everywhere in every folder for that file, but cannot find it anywhere. The 220OS folder on my pc has nothing called that in it. I have installed the 500 series software, backup pc, and the OLE and File server all from the CI.zip folder from strand.

 

Cannot find it anywhere at all. Anybody able to hed some light on this one?

 

Thanks

[gareth]

Have you installed the Networker software (CN.EXE)?

[b1nuzz]

Ah ha! I have now, and ive found the file.

 

Yay! So does it do it automatically as it just said the same command line about 20 times then stopped. Where does it save them to?

 

Cheers Guys

 

Ben

[Rob Halliday]

Hello....

 

Going to try to answer several questions that are wrapped up in this thread all at once:

 

- Controlling moving lights using xConnect

Sadly, xConnect won't recognise the trackball/trackpad/mouse/other pointing device on a computer it is running on. You can't therefore use your laptops trackpad to control moving lights when using xConnect connected to a console. There are plans to fix this, but that's the way it is at the moment.

 

 

- Controlling moving lights using the OLE

The answer someone gave about the OLE being just an OLE is sadly innacurate. The OLE is the console software, and can therefore do anything the console can do (with the sole exception of actually outputting 'real' DMX or Strand's ShowNet network DMX; effectively Strand are charging you money for the ability to actually send data to lights). This means that you can configure the OLE as a 'remote console' and use it to connect to a real console. When configured in this way, you CAN use your laptops mouse/trackpad/whatever to control the position of moving lights, provided you've turned on the 'external mouse' option in the user setup screen on the OLE running on your laptop.

 

The limitation to this approach is that it requires an operating system that will run the OLE. I use VirtualPC running on a Mac and it all works very well. After some discussions about this in another thread recently (see "Saving a showfile to a laptop), Mac Calder is investigating whether he can make his 'OLE under XP' system support networking.

 

As to controlling the rotary encoders: good question. I'd imagine there are keyboard equivalents for these, but I can't find them at the moment....

 

 

- Getting a showfile from a computer to a console

Sadly, you can't just drag-and-drop a showfile from the OLE onto xConnect and have it transfer to the console.

 

However, if you have your OLE configured as a remote console and connected to a main console, you CAN do this, though not quite as elegantly. In the OLE-remote, go to the Archive screen (ctrl-f8 is the keyboard equivalent). As well as the usual console a: and c: drives, you'll also see your laptop's hard drive. You can browse this and select a showfile to load as usual (note: you will only see this on the Archive screen on your laptop, NOT on the archive screen on the console). You can also save showfiles from a console to your laptop's hard drive in this way.

 

(NOTE: though this works fine for most shows, there have been reported problems with transferring very big showfiles in this way. If you transfer a showfile in this way make sure it's transferred properly (ie. by loading it in to the off-line editor) before deleting the only other copy of the show you have or clearing it from the console!)

 

- IOFTPDOS/IOFTP32

As Andi mentions, you can also use Strand's IOFTP utility to transfer files between console or from a laptop to a console. There are two versions of this, IOFTPDOS for running under DOS (ie. on pre-XP machines or Macs or PCs running DOS under VirtualPC) and IOFTP32 for use with modern versions of Windows.

 

Haven't done this on an XP laptop recently, but I'd imagine that you'd need to:

- give your laptop a fixed IP address that isn't used anywhere else on the Strand network

- connect your laptop to the Strand network

- run IOFTP32

- type 'who'; this will list the other devices on the network. You should see the name of your console

- type 'login consolename'; this will log you in to the console

- type 'cd ..\shows'; this will move you to the shows directory on the console (from the default 220os directory)

 

then either transfer the showfile from laptop to console:

- 'put showname.ssf showname.ssf'

 

or get the showfile from console to laptop:

- 'get showname.ssf showname.ssf'

 

This will just transfer the file in either direction. You'll then have to go into the console's archive screen and load the show as normal (if moving laptop->console), or save the showfile from the archive screen before transferring (if moving console->laptop).

 

In both cases, the showname is the eigh character 'dos-style' filename that you see on the right-hand side of the archive screen, rather than the 'long' filename that you give to your show in the archive screen.

 

When you've finished, type:

- 'logout', to log out of the console

- 'exit', to quit IOFTPDOS/IOFTP32

 

 

 

Both the 'saving the showfile to an OLE-remote' and 'IOFTP' techniques without the console having to have the Server software installed. However, both need you to install the 'networker' software (the 'cn' files) alongisde the off-line editor on your PC, both because that contains the network drivers that the software needs and because that's where the IOFTP programs live.

 

There's more discussion about this in the 'Saving a showfile to a laptop' thread elsewhere in the lighting forum.

 

Also, if you go to the 'Manuals' section of the Strand website at www.strandlighting.com you'll find a PDF file called 'Strand+Macintosh' that I wrote to describe how to set up Macs to connect remotely to Strand consoles in the days before xConnect. Though aimed at Mac users the bits about setting up the Strand OLE software as a remote console and then saving files directly to the PC should apply equally to PC users, though you'll have to figure out the network set-up part on your own! (this document also contains a bit about configuring WYSIWYG to listen to Strand Shownet data that will also be relevant to PC users).

 

Hope this is of some help.

 

Rob.

[gareth]

- Controlling moving lights using the OLE

The answer someone gave about the OLE being just an OLE is sadly innacurate.

Hello Rob.

 

It was me, and I'd just like to take issue with your statement above. I've been using Strand consoles and OLEs for many years, and am quite aware of the fact that the OLE is in fact the console software installed on a PC. The point I was making was that when it's installed as an OLE, on a desktop or laptop PC without a network connection to a console or Shownet node (this lack of connection being, to my mind, the very thing that defines the installation as being 'off-line'), there is no mechanism for outputting data and therefore I was perfectly correct in stating that GeniusPro, when installed as an off-line editor, is unable to control any external equipment. As soon as you network it to a console or other network device that's capable of outputting DMX, then yes, it can be used to control any equipment that's connected to those outputs - but by definition, as soon as you connect it in this way it's no longer off-line.

[Rob Halliday]

Hi Gareth,

 

Sorry, no offence intended and, I hope, non taken.

 

I absolutely agree with you that something connected to a network is not 'off-line'. However, I was just trying to make the point that what many people think of as the 'off-line editor' is actually considerably more than that - and can become a remote console relatively easily (ie. just by changing one setting in its config file and adding the networker software). It's not an off-line editor any more, but it is the same software - and can be easily switched between being an OLE and being a remote console.

 

Rob.

[Andi_Davis]

- give your laptop a fixed IP address that isn't used anywhere else on the Strand network

- connect your laptop to the Strand network

 

It occurs to me that these statements cover a multitude of sins, so here's a quick explanation of assigning a manual IP address under Windows XP (apologies to those people who are already familiar with this!) I would imagine that the process would be broadly similar under Windows 2k, though I don't have a copy of this unfortunately...

 

First identify the relevant network adaptor icon in the Network Connections window (accessed via the Control Panel) - i.e. if connecting to the ShowNet wirelessly select the Wireless Network Connection, or the Local Area Network connection if accessing the ShowNet via cable. The adaptor is configured by right clicking the network adaptor's icon, and selecting Properties from the drop-down menu.

 

This will open up the chosen adaptor's properties window - on the (imaginatively named!) 'General' tab there will be a section with a scroll bar marked 'This connection uses the following items:' A list of network options follows - ensure that 'Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)' is checked, then (whilst highlighting the 'Internet Protocol(TCP/IP)' option) click the 'Properties' button immediately below.

 

This will open a further window with the catchy title 'Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) Properties' where the adaptor's IP address is configured. Click the radio button marked 'Use The Following IP Address:' and then type an appropriate IP address. On a typical ShowNet this would be something like 192.168.000.xxx - replacing 'xxx' with an IP that has not been assigned to any other device on the ShowNet. (This is not a good area for guess-work by the way, if in doubt double check the availability of the IP address in the 'Network Diagnostics' screen on the console!) The subnet mask should be set to 255.255.255.000.

 

Now click 'Ok' to close the 'Internet Protocol(TCP/IP) Properties' window, and then click 'Close' to close the connection's properties window. Before exiting the Network Connections window double-check that the adaptor is enabled! :) The adaptor should now be configured for use on the ShowNet.

 

Ok, here's the slightly whacky bit... Each device on a Strand network has a file called 220node.cfg which contains network configuration settings. A computer running IOFTP32, is no exception to this. The 220node.cfg file is installed in the 220os directory on the computer - the settings are configured by editing the file with a plain text editor (i.e. Notepad, NOT Word!)

 

The first entry in the file is 'nodeaddr = ' - type the chosen IP address here, leaving a space after the '=' sign. (Note: this IP address MUST match the IP address assigned to the network adaptor - if it doesn't, IOFTP32 will be able to see broadcast 'heartbeat' data on the network in reponse to a 'who' command, but will not be able to login to another console, preventing the transfer of showfiles.) Save 220node.cfg, launch IOFTP32, and follow Rob's instructions... :)