Operating system on ION

[iDan]

Hi,

Is it possible to update the OS on an ION classic from Windows XPe to Windows 10 or later? We are at the most recent software update possible on XP (v2.9.2 I think) and increasingly companies are coming in with show files for more recent versions, which will not run on our antique. Currently we're just advising companies to program on v2.9.2 if they can, but obviously it's not a good look for a 'professional venue' to be running a 15 yr old OS. 

[alistermorton]

The upgrade involved a motherboard swap, and ETC have stopped doing them, so unfortunately, you're stuck with what you have.

[iDan]

6 minutes ago, alistermorton said:

The upgrade involved a motherboard swap, and ETC have stopped doing them, so unfortunately, you're stuck with what you have.

As I suspected, thanks for confirming. 

[gareth]

You should put 2.9.3 on there - only a minor update, just a few bug fixes, but never hurts to be as recent as you possibly can. As Alister says, though, that's where your progress with you Ion Classic stops - as you've missed the program which ETC ran for hardware upgrades (by quite some margin - almost 4 years!), if you want to progress to the v3.x branch you'll need to look at a new console.

[Robin D]

One possible way of dealing with the file issue is if the ION is on a network. If it is (I have no idea if it has a networking facility)  then from a later laptop on the same network you  can map the ION drive as drive I: or whatever letter you want. 

https://support.microsoft.com/en-gb/windows/map-a-network-drive-in-windows-29ce55d1-34e3-a7e2-4801-131475f9557d shows how to do it with a mouse or use the following commands. 

To map a network drive from the later windows device: 

1. Click Start, and then click Run as Administrator
2. In the Open box, type 'cmd' to open  a black command line window.
3. Type the following: net use I: \\Ion network name\showfile_location /PERSISTENT:YES

 Reconnect at sign in is the same as /PERSISTENT:YES. It just means it will always be a available from that laptop/PC. Your choice whether to set it or not. 

You may need to change the directory location on the 

Either way, copy the incoming showfile to your hard disk then copy it to the ION and all should be well.  

I can't guarantee it works, but it does from my Win10 laptop to my XP machine that I have to keep for one specific application. 

 

[alistermorton]

The problem comes that EOS 3.x can read and process an older .esf format files, but 2.9.x can't properly process esf3 format files. You can save a 3.x show in .esf format, but then you lose any new functionality, so the workarounds may lose some of the show's functionality. 

One thing you can do off line like that is import fixtures from a 3.x show into a 2.9 show by resaving in the old format. The fixtures work, but you lose new facilities like Augment3d, for example.