lighting on a computer

[nez]

hey i was wonderin i have a laptop and is there away to make and run cues off of it if so wat do i need to get and wat do the computer specs have to be for the things to work

[Radman]

Do a search, this is a fairly popular topic here.

[hogMA]

To run a show from a laptop, you usually need to have a dedicated laptop beacuse other programs can interfere and cause problems mid show. The new Hog III PC software is available for free from http://www.flyingpig.com but in order to actually run a show from it you must by the widget which converts DMX to USB and plugs into your computer

[jfitzpat]

Originally Posted by hogMA

To run a show from a laptop, you usually need to have a dedicated laptop beacuse other programs can interfere and cause problems mid show. The new Hog III PC software is available for free from http://www.flyingpig.com but in order to actually run a show from it you must by the widget which converts DMX to USB and plugs into your computer

It's not a bad idea to dedicate a laptop, since adware, etc. can bring a system to a crawl. However, rather or not it is an absolute necessity probably depends largely on what hardware and software you use. For example, I've cue'ed up and run quite a few shows on my every-day laptop (email, web surfing, office apps, and, of course, development tools).

Similiarly, I personally know a fair number of users who take the same laptop they run us on back to the hotel at night for checking email, hitting the web etc. and they don't seem to have any trouble running a big show on it the next day.

Granted, desktop OS's are not RTOS's, but DMX is not exactly a demanding real time activity. How sensitive something is to other applications depends a lot of arch. and implementation. Consider the first Windows iPod player version. Based on that one could argue that Windows can not run an MP3 player well because it will stutter when apps are switched, the explorer bar animates, and so on. But we know from WMP and WinAmp (as well as the more recent iPod versions) that this simply is not true. It actually takes quite an effort to get WinAmp to stutter on a relatively new machine, and that can easily be more data in 'reasonable time' than many DMX universes - and it still does not saturate most modern machines.

In fact, I've run an 9 universe show from my laptop (an older 1G Sony) and used Windows Media Player and a playlist for the audio track for most the rehearsals. Toggling back and forth, using Word for show notes, checking email via the Venue's wireless net, and even some coding and compiling on something new, all without missing a beat. Of course, for showtime I left lighting control front and center, but crashing or slowing down never occured to me as a legitimate worry during rehearsals. So, if you can't afford a turnkey machine (or in my case, only do shows occassionally), my advice would be:

1. Keep your machine clean from spyware, adware, and viruses
2. Stay away from crappy device drivers (probably second only to insidious BHOs for making a Windows system unstable)
3. And, of course, use a well written, good quality, control product...

-jjf

[hogMA]

I agree with all of that, it think it is necessary to run a dedicated laptop if you are regularly running shows from it as it reduces the risk of it crashing dramatically because all you have to worry about is Bill Gates and the software you are running. If your running a show every now and then it is not essential because then its a waste of money

[nez]

now were do i get the widget which converts DMX to USB and plugs into my computer

[soundlight]

It depends on what program you're gonna use. Each program has a widget that it works with.

[eamon]

hi

one or two choices spring to mind

there is lanbox
www.lanbox.com
This is mac orientated program ustilising a usb-dmx convertor. They do accommodate the PC user too. But the main program is mac original

www.freestyler(dmx?).com
not sure if that is the proper site but google will tell. not used it but have read good reports

http://www.enttec.com/
This another site. Have heard good reports but nothing personal



Theses should be enough for you to get working with it.

eamon

[jfitzpat]

Originally Posted by nez

now were do i get the widget which converts DMX to USB and plugs into my computer

Pick the software first. The better packages all use their own adapters. Partly as a 'key' of sorts, but largely because the low end adapters are really, really, crappy. If a search here does not turn up a lot of options to look at, you could check some other forums.

For example, www.blue-room.org.uk keeps a FAQ that now includes a bunch of PC based products. www.ukslc.org does reviews. The subject comes up a lot on prosoundweb's forums, and so on.

The reason I say pick software first is two fold. First, there is an every growing number of packages that are, believe it or not, even crappier than the low end dongles. If something is hard to install, hard to use, and crashes without a dongle, there is no reason to expect a seperate computer, dongle, or whatever to make things better. Second, even among the handful of products that I would trust to run a show, there are differences in approach. Some packages are easier for some users to understand, some features are better suited for certain types of shows, and etc.

Lanbox is probably a good example of this. It is quite a different approach from most higher end consoles. Like Jands Vista, users tend to either really like it or downright hate it. I work for a vendor (not LanBox or Jands), so my opinion is biased - but I do know that I'm not the only person who thinks that much (most?) of the free stuff is worth less than you pay for it (unless you like grief, chronic showtime failure, and frustration).

-jjf

[nez]

have any of you ever heard of Enttec Open DMX USB Interface + Software "Starter Pack" because that is wat i m lookin to get here it is on ebay http://cgi.ebay.com/Enttec-Open-DMX-...QQcmdZViewItem