The quality of modern electronics are in general quite low. That is why I have a + coverage on my home insurance that covers it. It´s not always that the warrantys are enough.....
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
My Railroad
My Youtube:
Graff´s channel
Walgreen's was selling one for $99. Someone on the JMRI forum tried one, but it fried its WiFi chip after only a day or so. Could have been just a lemon but it's a not insignificant amount to tempt fate with.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Well, Toys `R Us have announced that they will release a Tablet/Pad for around $150.....
WiiThrottle is a great thing. I use it a lot and don't understand the limitaions comment. Not sure how good it would be on the larger ipad.
You asked about conversion calculator.... Go Calc is a nice app that will allow you to build any form of calculator you like. Program in your formula, save it, and your done.
You could also consider an Ipod touch... would use the same apps as the iphone, could be a nice little throttle.
Kelly
www,finescale360.com
Not yet. I just don't know what I'd do with it. A coworker has one, I played around with it for a while, and it's quite impressive. But I think I'd end up with a very expensive toy. My iPhone was a no-brainer. I need a phone anyway, and it gets my email, and I read books on it - and it's super handy to carry around. The iPad isn;t powerful enough to replace my work laptop, and just can't do some of the things I need a laptop for, so I'd have to carry around 2, well 3 devices. The whole reason I got and have been using smartphones since not long after they came out was to reduce how much junk I have to tote along when I go places. I had been carrying a PDA< phone, and laptop. Now I'm down to two. I'm waiting to see what the next gen iPad can do - I skipped the first two iPhones and started with a 3G, now I have a 4, skipping the 3GS. Perhaps I'll experiment with one of those inexpensive ANdroid tablets coming out.
I'd be curious to know how many responders to this post actually have an iPad, and how many responses are based on idle speculation.
I do have an iPad, and it's a great device - arguably one of the best computing devices I've ever owned, based on it's convenience and capabilities. 10 hours of battery life, while playing video. I have had mine since May, and I have not once seen the device crash or not work. Every sync connects. From a user standpoint, it has been flawless. I would replace mine in 10 seconds if it was lost, stolen, or broken.
As was mentioned, it's not a replacement for a computer, although it is pretty darn close. When used in conjunction with a smart phone and laptop, it's simply fantastic. I use mine currently at work to take notes in meetings, calendering, etc.
I use mine all the time for model railroading - as a throttle sometimes, but more as a very handy reference tool. With web access, it's easy to call up pertinent forum posts or web sites or magazines when I'm working on an project - it's light profile makes it perfect to take with me where I go to the benchwork, instead of taking the work back to the bench.
As a quick aside, the whole mac/pc is a tired argument. All software should be cross platform compatible in my mind, to limit your product to a single platform is normally not a technology based decision, but an economic and marketing one. In the higher education institutions I've been with over the past decade, Macs (since the Intel processor), despite a higher initial cost. provide a greater ROI due to their ability to multi-system boot, and that the support needed for that platform is much less than the Windows variants. Folks may not want to hear that, but that's just the way it is.
I'm trying to model 1956, not live in it.
Two versions of JMRI? No there aren't. There might HAVE to be if the stop development of Java for MacOS like they've been threatening, and if JMRI wants to move forward then the Macs will be left behind - however since Bob Jacobsen is a Mac user I doubt that will happen.
What are the limitations of the WiThrottle? I find it works very well. They've even added turnout control but I don;t need that. I guess the only limitation vs a real throttle is that the F2 isn;t momentary - bet that could be fixed up REAL quick though if someoen asked for it. It's also on ANdroid now too, not just iPhone.
Look for ModelSpeed and FastClock.
ModelSpeed lets you time your train over a set distance and tells you how fast your train is travelling.
FastClock is just that.
Left Coast Rail It might be fun for you to bookmark this thread and go back and read it in a couple of years. I'm not trying to start a flame war but I predict your assumptions are quite off base.
No flames here. It is fun to see where technology goes to. One of the fun conversations I got to have with Dad. *Sigh*.
Left Coast Rail The Windows vs Mac "problem" is bascically a moot point nowdays.
My problem with Windows/Mac is that programs and files are not cross-compatible. For example, there are 2 versions of JMRI as referenced above. Now, before you comment on that part, please allow me to also call out
Left Coast Rail Macs are still not a big target for the virus creators so far due to several reasons.
One of which is a ver'y simplified, streamlined, and closely gaurded computer code. Which is the/a reaosn that there need to be different versions. This is kinda nice for anti-virus, but I don't like the idea of having to buy something twice, as a home user, or potentially as a business, and switching becomes difficult. I've not heard if the Universities have hit the compatibilit issues or not, I know there were problems with Office03 and 07, I haven't paid much attrention to Mac/Windows in college situations. My point on anti-virus was more directed at the dual networks/systems, not Mac, but it actually worked out nicely.
I'll admit, when I took the "Mac 101" class at my High School, I got burned. the Macs we got came with very simplistic programs and were most likely not properly tied into the network. However, first encounters are the ones that stick. My overall impression was "Okay, so it's another operating system like Linux is to Windows, with a brandname to pay for. Big Fat Hairy Deal." (Brownie points if you can tell me where that's from) Yes, these were the programs, but if I'm gonna pay another 1-200 bucksa for a brandname, I want a basic program setup that will at least let me do as much as the lower pricepoints. I'd rather pay an Athearn pricepoint for a Bluebox car than a Wlathers prciepoint for an AHM car, with or without the goodies that can be added on.
Logging in required you to restart the computer 5-10 times. It just shook the screen and cleared out yuor login like an Etch-A-Sketch. Or, it would randomy start typing your password over your username.
Once you got in, you were given the I-Suite of programs, and OpenOffice. OpenOffice is a joke if you already have the open-use agreement for MS Office, or MS Office. It did a handful of things better than Office in its presets, but they apparently weren't worth me remembering them. One of the things I mised was MS Paint. The class was a Business class supposedly, and it's nigh impossible to trim anything. I was also missing a few features, and the files tended to mess up headings.
The I-suite wasn't bad. I-Photo left a lot to be desierd. It felt kinda like one took Adobe Fireworks (a simplified version of Photoshop) and took it's arms and legs off. I-Web would have been great, except I couldn't actually work on websites. I-web doesn't read any web file but it's own. You can publish files to a drive as HTML, but as soon as you do that to take it home and run it through Frontpage or Dreamweaver, it's gone from I-web forever. Or, If I took my model train websites to work on in downtime, I couldn't do it in Mac mode, we had to log off the Mac and kick it into playing the Windows Server. And really, wat good is a Mac if you are using it to run Windows?
Left Coast Rail The whole point of the iPad isn't to replace a PC, it is made to augment the internet experience and use when surfing, e-mail, download books, music and videos along with other apps.
All of which a lot of people are doing on Laptops, which are becoming PCs in a number of places. I won't say majority yet, but I do see Laptops with Docking Stations at workplace offices being the way to go, with workplace-commute being strong. Though I don't have a lot of strong evidence on that, so feel free to poke holes there.
Although, the I-phone is more useable than a Kindle.
Left Coast Rail Apple has led the way with new stuff for the past several years
Yep, including the Windows 7 set up. Though it got rid of the issues I had with Mac's OS version, the original.
Left Coast Railand I see no sign of that situation changing anytime soon
I do. Mac has sadly seen a craze of upswings and major downturns in the past. Even if they don't fall beack under the radar, I really see them coming to an even keel with Windows and the opensource operating systems. A growing number of people in my tiny hunk of the world, mostly the Wikigen or whatever we are, are looking a Mac going, "Okay, now what?" A lot fot he hype is advertising, and social ranking. The "cool kids" have Macs, and a large number are realizing that Macs are computers. Microsoft is computers. And I believe that trend is showing in the Mass Media phones (what do you call that section?) such as Droid as well, though faster than it did in Computers. Otheriwse the App-phone market would not have grown as fast as it did.
The market is there, but for a device, not a brandname.
And speaking of Apps, the I-phone throttle has hit Naptown White River. And the concensus? While nice, they are severely limited, and loosing some of their craze. They've gonew from "neat toy" to "I do have a backup if the visitor needs to borrow my Digitrax." The visitors have never come in with the I-phone throttles, or I=phones at all. The three that have appeared are NWR users,
There will be more computer viruses. I suspect they will hit the computer-phoens first though. I know two classmates who got viruses in web-enabled phones, it can happen.
Linux is hitting a stride too, though I don't know why. It too showed up at my school district. The 2nd grade got a grant for laptops. Little mini-me things that are the thickness of a dictionary, and not all that reliable. Still, seeing ANOTHER new Op. Soft. in the mix will be interesting to watch.
Anyway, my four cents. The tip is because it has almost nothing to do with trains.
-Morgan
Flashwavegalaxy Net books, ipads and the like will likely be the near future items to have. Ipad will not be the wave of the future. Tablets might be, I'd even go so far as to say we'll see the old Star Trek Padds, But not Ipad. It's too limited. Not only for the the standard Windows/Mac problems, but also for memory, the Ipad does not conform to standard movie formats, and oh by the way, it's slowly killing AT&T's network. galaxyThey also advise as banking/bill paying goes paperless and online that one employ a single netbook SOLELY for the purpose of banking and bill paying online and NOT GO ANYWHERE/DO ANY SEARCHES ONLINE with it to avoid it getting corrupted and hacked. "They" are forgetting that you would need a whole separate network to avaoid getting hacked, and would still be wrong. Get a good anti-virus. Better yet, get 2. I also reccomend a program called Web of Trust, which is a user-rated filter, and has stopped a number of things by diverting me to it's default page. Between that, Spy Bot, Ccleaner, and the Windows IE built-in, and some common snese, your fine.
galaxy Net books, ipads and the like will likely be the near future items to have.
Ipad will not be the wave of the future. Tablets might be, I'd even go so far as to say we'll see the old Star Trek Padds, But not Ipad.
It's too limited. Not only for the the standard Windows/Mac problems, but also for memory, the Ipad does not conform to standard movie formats, and oh by the way, it's slowly killing AT&T's network.
galaxyThey also advise as banking/bill paying goes paperless and online that one employ a single netbook SOLELY for the purpose of banking and bill paying online and NOT GO ANYWHERE/DO ANY SEARCHES ONLINE with it to avoid it getting corrupted and hacked.
"They" are forgetting that you would need a whole separate network to avaoid getting hacked, and would still be wrong. Get a good anti-virus. Better yet, get 2. I also reccomend a program called Web of Trust, which is a user-rated filter, and has stopped a number of things by diverting me to it's default page. Between that, Spy Bot, Ccleaner, and the Windows IE built-in, and some common snese, your fine.
jwhitten You mean something like typing: http://www.google.com, and entering: "5 cm in inches" ???
No, I was thinking more in terms of conversions to HO scale, etc for scratchbuilding. I know that the calculator function will do a lot but oftentimes, specialized programs make those calculations much easier to enter & use.
Another application I've found on the web is one which is a hip roof calculator. That really helps ehen you are trying to cut roofing material for those pesky two-angled corners.
dlm
danmerkelI guess I was thinking in terms of something like a conversion app that you could run at the worbench when you were cutting away at those strips of wood to get just the right length.
You mean something like typing: http://www.google.com, and entering: "5 cm in inches" ???
Of course that does sorta take the fun out of a new toy doesn't it???
John
richg1998 I have been using my stepson's iPad and it sure has potential. Leaves all other PC's Operating Systems in the dust right now. I will probably wait for a tablet as the first generation of a device will come down in cost and have more options in the next version which will not be far behind. I found this out almost three years ago when I bought the first mini laptop. Rich
I have been using my stepson's iPad and it sure has potential. Leaves all other PC's Operating Systems in the dust right now.
I will probably wait for a tablet as the first generation of a device will come down in cost and have more options in the next version which will not be far behind.
I found this out almost three years ago when I bought the first mini laptop.
Rich
THAT was EXACTLY my point. I now feel vindicated.
-G .
Just my thoughts, ideas, opinions and experiences. Others may vary.
HO and N Scale.
After long and careful thought, they have convinced me. I have come to the conclusion that they are right. The aliens did it.
If you ever fall over in public, pick yourself up and say “sorry it’s been a while since I inhabited a body.” And just walk away.
galaxyI do believe the ipad and clones will be the wave of the future! So anyone not wanting to become a quick "dinosaur" will jump on bored [sic] sooner than later.
Maybe, maybe not. The iPad is only the first, there will be copycats and competitors. Sometimes there is a danger in being an early adopter of a new technology. (HD DVD anyone? Or how about Laser-Disc?) Although iPad vs. Streak vs. whatever probably isn't exactly the same sort of format war like Beta vs. VHS or HD-DVD vs. Blu-Ray. In cases like that it's better to wait for the format war to be won and lost.
galaxyThe "experts" already advise to think seriously before you buy another another desktop or laptop as they are on their way out. Net books, ipads and the like will likely be the near future items to have.
Um, no. iPads and the like are not a replacement for a full desktop or laptop computer. They simply do not have similar capabilities. iPads are memory limited devices and can only run one application at a time. They're pretty slick but they do not have the capability to replace regular computers. Even netbooks are severely limited in comparison to a standard laptop.
The iPad is basically not much more than an iPhone with a bigger screen that you can't make phone calls from.
Chris van der Heide
My Algoma Central Railway Modeling Blog
I guess I was thinking in terms of something like a conversion app that you could run at the worbench when you were cutting away at those strips of wood to get just the right length.
If that train monitoring software were available in an iPad version, I'll bet the railfans would snap them up by the shipping container load. But I'm hearing that something like that isn't in the future of ATCS.
Most of the content here on MR would be available except for the movies since I'm guessing that they are probably in Flash format. I was just wondering about other modeling or prototype uses that those of you who have them or have access to them might have come across.
I guess one good thing is you could check in the forums and run trains the same time
Springfield PA
Dan
Check your PM please.
"The true sign of intelligence is not knowledge but imagination."-Albert Einstein
http://gearedsteam.blogspot.com/
MisterBeasleyI work in a cube farm, doing computer stuff. One of the things I like about my trains is that they are not something I do at a computer keyboard with a screen in front of me. They are not virtual. They are not on-line. In short, my trains are real. I like the feeling of creating something physical, with size and weight, as opposed to something which consists of bits and pixels. I'm up on the latest technology, but I don't need to surf the web from my cell phone, just make calls. Call me a dinosaur if you will. You should hear the music I listen to in the trainroom....
I work in a cube farm, doing computer stuff.
One of the things I like about my trains is that they are not something I do at a computer keyboard with a screen in front of me. They are not virtual. They are not on-line.
In short, my trains are real. I like the feeling of creating something physical, with size and weight, as opposed to something which consists of bits and pixels.
I'm up on the latest technology, but I don't need to surf the web from my cell phone, just make calls. Call me a dinosaur if you will. You should hear the music I listen to in the trainroom....
Ditto, with the exception of old music and the cube farm. I work with computers but we're more like a cube garden.
It takes an iron man to play with a toy iron horse.
Well... if the iPhone has apps you can run the JMRI panel to run your trains, I don't see why you couldn't run that on the iPAD. Heck, you may even be able to install JMRI straight on that thing, they have a MAC version you know. JMRI for MACs here
Edit: I just found out the iPAD runs the iPhone OS, so you can try this app
Michael
CEO- Mile-HI-RailroadPrototype: D&RGW Moffat Line 1989
Congrats on your anniversary! may you have many more healthy ones!
I don't know.
BUT, I can't imagine that a magazine series/forum series like MRR has here would want to be left behind in the techical dust.
Even all Social Security payments of all types by Mar 1, 2013 will ALL be electronic deposits or electronic debit cards, announced today.
I do believe the ipad and clones will be the wave of the future! So anyone not wanting to become a quick "dinosaur" will jump on board sooner than later.
The "experts" already advise to think seriously before you buy another another desktop or laptop as they are on their way out. Net books, ipads and the like will likely be the near future items to have.
They also advise as banking/bill paying goes paperless and online that one employ a single netbook SOLELY for the purpose of banking and bill paying online and NOT GO ANYWHERE/DO ANY SEARCHES ONLINE with it to avoid it getting corrupted and hacked.
Man I still like to have paper in my hands, though. SOmething about teh feel of it...the smell of it...i don;t know...maybe I will be a dinosaur!
My loving wife (36 years TODAY!) has asked me if I might like an ipad for Father's Day! I've done some reading and have messed a bit with one owned by a friend and am at least interested in looking a little more into one.
Is anyone aware of any applicationss that might be useful in either model railroading OR train watching? I've scanned the apps store on the Apple web site but was disappointed that there was no way to search for keywords in the apps' descriptions. So I thought I'd ask if anyone here a). uses an ipad and b). has a few apps that they have found helpful for our collective interest in trains.
Thanks.