Slashdot Mirror
Internet-Controlled Train Set
Eric Barch writes "Using a servo connected to a Mini SSC II and wired into a dedicated server through the serial port, the Control Our Junk team has created a working train set controlled from any computer on the Internet with a few ports open and Java installed. The trains speed can be modified on the control page, which uses a PHP script to send commands to a .NET application sitting on the server. When the .NET application recieves the PHP command it sends the data to a serial port, and in turn, changes the speed of the train. The train set is running 24 hours a day, 7 days a week and is quite fun to operate from the dual webcams mounted on a top down and side view of the train set. If you would like more information, or to control the train set visit controlourjunk.com/ and take the train for a spin."
Well...went and visited the site...took a whack at controlling the train...
Q: What's more boring than controlling an electric train from a website.
A: NOT controlling an electric train from a website.
Yup...doesn't seem to be working. I went to check this out expecting to be unimpressed, but now I'm unimpressed and disappointed.
I need a beer.
____
~ |rip/\/\aster /\/\onkey
Remember the guy who posted a website where you could control christmas lights from it? Turned out it was a hoax.
Call me skeptic, but I think this one's a hoax, too.
not millions of regular users, either.
hell, not even a million all time users. UIDs are up in the 800,000's.
slashdot isn't as big as everyone seems to think it is. the fact that we can take down a web server running on a home dsl line proves nothing.
There has been for several years now a digital standard http://www.dcc.info/ for controlling trains: it would have been far more impressive had they implemented this instead of a servo turning a crank. They could have even done this with off the shelf hardware. http://www.digitrax.com/menu_computercontrol.php
It's still going, and there will be a lot more lights soon. I ended up buying an OLD house and I've spent all my time rennovating it, so the site has been somewhat neglected of late. Landlords and roomies are evil btw. Just saying. I'll hopefully get things going strong again in a few months.
Thanks for the plug.
-Restil
Play with my webcams and lights here
I've driven real trains (dad's an engineer, I worked on the docks pushing cars into the dumper), and it's pretty easy to crash a train in the right area... run it full speed around a curve.
:)
dunno how good this would work on train sets tho
If I can't smoke and swear I'm fucked.
Model railroading has gotten quite a bit of tech to it.
Used to be that you plonked the engine on the track, pushed some DC, and off you went.
That was then, this is now.
Digital Command Control (DCC) by Digitrax, EasyDCC, some pretty cool electronics interfacing stuff by Dr. Chubb (over at JLC Enterprises, or you can go with Protrak's system, Grapevine, and WOOT! WOOT! Some Open Source stuff from JMRI (and see the quote about controlling someone's layout from 600 miles away...)
You want sound with that? No Problem!
Yeah, model railroading has gotten high tech alright. No, you can't run my stuff over the internet, yes, I could if I wanted to let you. No, you'll have to come to an open house sometime. If you think you might like to get involved with it, check out The NMRA and find a club local to your area... but the hobby shop might be a better bet.
Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
Our own layout is fully computer controlled, and can be operated over the internet (though for practical reasons, we don't let people run it through our web page, and probably never will). That includes over 600 feet of track divided into 120 independent blocks and 151 electrically operated turnouts. This control system was installed in January 2002, replacing an earlier system built in 1966 from surplus telephone relays.
Speaking from firsthand experience, there are a couple of problems with allowing general remote operation of trains (as opposed to running in small loop of track). The first is that it is hard to tell where the ends of the train really are relative to turnouts, block gaps, the ends of sidings and other things you don't want to run into. While we have block occupancy detection, it isn't good enough to park a train somewhere and be sure that you aren't fouling another track.
The other big problem is that you still need to have somebody there to deal with derailments. This isn't a big issue for a small loop of track but is for a larger layout like ours. Video from an onboard camera isn't much help either since it only shows one end of the train and may not be clear enough to spot gaps and turnout positions.
We've tried to let people run our layout remotely at recruiting events, with streaming video from an onboard camera (and someone back at the club room to deal with derailments and the like), but it never quite works right. One problem is that most streaming video systems (we've used Real) have a lot of lag. Even with video conferencing software (iChat) we had trouble with the available bandwidth at the location we were in. There were problems with bandwidth for the control software too, so mostly we could only let people run in a loop of track that they had to themselves which isn't much fun.
You can find information about our control system at http://tmrc.mit.edu/sys3/
Thomas O'Reilly
TMRC Governor