Control/Dimming Eos V2.0 Software

[llburg]

Hi everybody, our high school is the proud new owner of a brand new ETC Element console, still on a older version of the software. I was wondering if someone could point me in the direction of instructions on installing the new 2.0 onto the console? 2nd question, after seeing the intro video, and playing around in the OLE, it appears to me that while fully functional with a mouse/keyboard, the new Magic Sheet feature would be much more intuitive and faster/easier to use with a multitouch display. I was curious if anybody sold such an external monitor with multitouch capabilities that was compatible with ETC consoles. Thanks for your help!

 

[DuckJordan]

Rtfm or use the search its available just for this.

 

[llburg]

Hiding in appendix B. Thanks. Still curious as to the second question, though.

 

[Brandofhawk]

Updating is a little bit of a process. Read the manual and it will give you step by step instructions. If you still need help give ETC customer support a call and they will help you out pretty quickly.

Also as far as your touch screen question goes, they do make them (Not sure if they work with the Element or not) look for ELO touch screens. They run pretty pricey but you might be able to get a cheaper one used (still will be costly).

 

[Brandofhawk]

Here, this page may be of some help. I didn't quite read all of it but, it should help you figure things out. Touchscreen Monitors - Electronic Theatre Controls

 

[llburg]

Thanks again for the help, I will look into the ELO solutions.

 

[jglodeklights]

The plan for Magic Sheets for the week was going to be:
1. Set up a single sheet view (it's a small plot so it fits).
2. Set up Mirroring on the LD's laptop.
3. He can now see the magic sheet as an active display, rather than just his paper or as tombstones that he doesn't really try to make sense of (I've been doing the plots so the channel numbering hasn't been of concern to him, he just looks at his magic sheet).

With this system it hopefully would have been significantly easier to communicate and for him to find channels he wants to eliminate or bring up. Also, would have, even sans touchscreen, made my life easier as the programmer in being able to see what my moves are. Finally, would make my AME's job setting up for children's shows much easier since he wouldn't need paperwork or to make sense of the LD's magic sheets. However, I can not at this time give you feedback as to how this works out as I was also not planning on switching companies in a period of 48 hours :shock:

 

[sk8rsdad]

Multitouch is only available on Gio and Eos Ti. The other consoles are based on Windows XP which lacks support. There might be an upgrade path for those consoles eventually but not today. One option is acquiring the PC client dongle and running the software on a computer with multitouch capabilities.

 

[llburg]

Hmm that's an interesting fact. Well I suppose single point touch is better than no touch! Are all of these modern consoles based on windows embedded or similar?

 

[sk8rsdad]

Are all of these modern consoles based on windows embedded or similar?

That would be a hasty generalization. Because one modern console is based on Windows XP embedded, it is not given that all consoles are based on Windows XP embedded. I suspect some use Linux, or Windows 7 embedded or possibly VxWorks, or... It is fair to say that modern console developers are likely to license an operating system rather than develop their own from scratch.

 

[SteveB]

I believe that Element, Ion and older Eos are Win XP, with Gio and Eos Ti as Win7, thus the ability to use multi-touch.

I don't have multi-touch capability on my Ion but do have ELO touch screens and find that manouvreing around with a mouse perfectly acceptable, especially as I do most of the creating of the magic sheets in the OLE.

As to updating a console. It's pretty easy.

- Navigate to the downloads section on the ETC website, type in your name and e-mail when prompted, find the appropriate file and start the download.

- On a Windows machine and having saved somewhere (I find a folder named "ETC Downloads" helpful), un-zip the file. Then find the Console .exe file and save that on a USB drive.

- In the Shell of the console and having inserted the USB drive to a port, navigate to the Sotfware Update section. It'll find the .exe file on the USB drive.

- Do not forget to do the same with the off-line editor, so both versions are the same. Also get the 2.0 manual in Adobe, as well as the release notes (which detail the process in any event).

 

[llburg]

Very interesting to see what goes on "backstage" of a console. Is it likely that the control surface, DMX/MIDI/contact closure interfaces are all just connected to a USB bus?

 

[jglodeklights]

MagicQ is based on Linux architecture. No, it isn't likely they are connected to a USB bus.

 

[DuckJordan]

More likely they are connected directly to a PCI slot on the MoBo. No need to convert if your software can handle direct interfacing right? also reduces the time lag as well as saves on processor resources.

 

[cpf]

Maybe with some boards, but I know that the Strand Palette is entirely USB based - each section of the control surface - including the one that drives the DMX - plugs in to a port on the motherboard.