upgrade ETC software

[zac850]

My school bought our ETC Express 125 light board about 7 months ago used. I finally today decided to figure out all the OS of the board and the serial number of the board. The OS is 1.02. I logged into the ETC sight and saw that the current OS is 3.1

My question is, should I upgrade the OS?
I don't have a show running now, just the basic set-up, which is backed up on a floppy. Why should I upgrade the OS? What will it accomplish?

Also, I see the .bin file to download. Is there a special way to put this on a floppy, or do I just copy the file on it? I'm on a mac, and I just want to make sure I don't crash the board while trying to do this.

Thanks!

EDIT: Also, I'm on a mac. My computer creates invisible files (.ds store and .trashes) on the floppy drive when mounted. Will the board know to ignore these files/folders, or should I go and delete them?

[digitaltec]

Upgrading the OS on your console has it's advatages. First, you will get the new features and updates that for the most past on an ETC, you wont really use anyways, it will also fix any bugs in previous versions of the software.

For an ETC console usually there are no problems with loading a show built in a previous version. Usually if there is a problem, you can re-name the show and it will fix the problem. But, some OS upgrades does not comply with previous shows. I learned this from experience a few momths back.

I suggest to update the software but not if you are in the middle of a show or have stuff programmed that you might have to re-program.

In terms of how to do the update... ALWAYS follow what the manual says. I have never updated a console using a disk that was from a MAC so I cant answer that question but my guess would be to delete all the files that dont relate to the update.

[Radman]

I would definitely upgrade; we upgraded from 2.0 and the difference is amazing! One thing, for example, is that if you have one button in the corner of the keypad that is blank and does nothing, it now is Focus Points for intels. That doesn't really apply to either of us, but it's really cool.

The extrta files should be fine. The board doesn't just run the disk; it searches for the correct file extension. There is some trick however when naming shows in EOL to get it to load right. I think it is all caps or something.

[zac850]

I just upgraded the board earlier today. I haven't had a chance to look around in it, see what has changed in the upgrade, but I will tomorrow and Friday when I have a talent show.