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Model Train Control Using Your PDA

Posted by michael on from the obsessive-compulsive dept.

VP writes "Forget that crap about PDAs making you more productive by keeping useless contact lists and appointment reminders. Here is the real reason PDAs exist: locopalm.com. You might want to check out the TechTV spot as well."

8 of 127 comments (clear)

  1. 0 posts and already slashdotted... by overbored · · Score: 5, Informative

    Here's a mirror.

  2. direct links by shird · · Score: 5, Informative
    The direct links which seem to work better than the main page: (couldnt post anon for some reason, excuse the karma whoring)

    LocoPalm

    LocoMon

    LocoConfig

    LocoProg

    Adapter

    --
    I.O.U One Sig.
  3. Sad... by c0dedude · · Score: 2, Informative

    Yeah, here's the google cache Jeez, were they hosting the server on the Palm?

    --
    Since when has this country used intellectual elite as a pejorative term?
  4. Re:Choo Choo Choo by edhall · · Score: 3, Informative

    You don't know your hacker's lore. This article is about as on-topic as Slashdot gets.

    -Ed
  5. Can't read the article, but ... by siliconwafer · · Score: 2, Informative

    Computer controlled model trains have been around for awhile now. It's known as direct command control (DCC) and it's a well known standard among serious model railroaders. I believe its specification is also defined by the National Model Railroading Association (NMRA).

    Basically, the flaws of regular DC model railroading are as follows: Each locomotive picks up DC power from the rails, and therefore, it is not possible to have two trains moving in different directions or different speeds unless the sections of rail are insulated. DCC was brought about, which allows each locomotive to be addressable, and "command controlled". A "decoder" is installed in each locomotive, which receives the command. The decoder is really just a PIC.

    I wonder if this the technology discussed in the article (which I can't get to right now) is a DCC derivative of some sort?

  6. Re:Why?... by Alien54 · · Score: 3, Informative
    Applying technology to running trains goes far back in the geek tradition.

    MIT is famous for their train club, which goes way back

    Tech Model Railroad Club of MIT

    Note that Steve Russel's development of the first video game is tied in with his time at TMRC. Note also many geek terms originated here (As seen in a dictionary derived from one originally written in 1959 by Pete Samson)

    The real world engineering problems in running trains are also a good education

    --
    "It is a greater offense to steal men's labor, than their clothes"
  7. A real train simulator by zutroy · · Score: 4, Informative

    Reading this story got me interested in what kinds of railroad simulators are available online. BVE is a cab-view simulator that has a decent collection of real-world trains and tracks for you to try out (sorry, it's windows only). If you've ever wanted to drive a train on the London Underground, here's your chance.

  8. Re:Why?... by UserGoogol · · Score: 2, Informative
    I suppose you haven't heard of TMRC. Doing neat stuff with a trainset is our common geek tradition.

    Observe the Jargon File's view of it:

    TMRC: /tmerk'/ n. The Tech Model Railroad Club at MIT, one of the wellsprings of hacker culture. The 1959 "Dictionary of the TMRC Language" compiled by Peter Samson included several terms that became basics of the hackish vocabulary (see esp. foo, mung, and frob).

    By 1962, TMRC's legendary layout was already a marvel of complexity and has grown in the years since. All the features described here were still present when the old layout was decomissioned in 1998 just before the demolition of MIT Building 20, and will almost certainly be retained when the old layout is rebuilt (expected in 2003). The control system alone featured about 1200 relays. There were scram switches located at numerous places around the room that could be thwacked if something undesirable was about to occur, such as a train going full-bore at an obstruction. Another feature of the system was a digital clock on the dispatch board, which was itself something of a wonder in those bygone days before cheap LEDs and seven-segment displays. When someone hit a scram switch the clock stopped and the display was replaced with the word `FOO'; at TMRC the scram switches are therefore called `foo switches'.

    Steven Levy, in his book "Hackers" (see the Bibliography in Appendix C), gives a stimulating account of those early years. TMRC's Signals and Power Committee included many of the early PDP-1 hackers and the people who later became the core of the MIT AI Lab staff. Thirty years later that connection is still very much alive, and this lexicon accordingly includes a number of entries from a recent revision of the TMRC dictionary.

    TMRC has a web page at http://web.mit.edu/tmrc/www/.
    --
    "Never attribute to malice that which can be adequately explained by stupidity." -- Hanlon's Razor