JimRCGMO [ steinjr: Scale speed calculator - enter how many cars and what length cars you want to use for checking, press or click something when first car arrive at some point, second press or click when last of the given number of cars pass the point, calculate scale speed. Stein, actually, on the iOS platform (that sounds funny...), there already are apps for: ModelSpeed - press once to start timer, then as the loco/car passes a 10 inch from starting mark, press again. The one I have, allows you to change the scale, length covered, and what unit of measurement is used. Scale Calc - input original/prototype dimension and output scale length (you can enter the bottom of the fraction, e.g., 87.100, etc.) Also, Dallas Model Works has online programs (and if you made something in an app, that would be more useful for me/my needs) for a random/'hotbox detector', and train inventory. Also, for those using Macs, Filemaker.com has an iOS app for their Bento database program (which is less complicated than their Filemaker product), which I use to keep my inventory list with me when visiting LHS'es, train shows, etc. The Bento mobile version can be synced using WiFi between one's Mac and the iPhone/iPad/iPodTouch. You also could search most mobile app stores with MRR-related words, like railroad, 'model railroad', etc. (Hobby may be too general, and give you quilting and other non-MRR apps) to see what apps are out there. Hope that helps you some.
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steinjr: Scale speed calculator - enter how many cars and what length cars you want to use for checking, press or click something when first car arrive at some point, second press or click when last of the given number of cars pass the point, calculate scale speed.
Scale speed calculator - enter how many cars and what length cars you want to use for checking, press or click something when first car arrive at some point, second press or click when last of the given number of cars pass the point, calculate scale speed.
Stein, actually, on the iOS platform (that sounds funny...), there already are apps for:
ModelSpeed - press once to start timer, then as the loco/car passes a 10 inch from starting mark, press again. The one I have, allows you to change the scale, length covered, and what unit of measurement is used.
Scale Calc - input original/prototype dimension and output scale length (you can enter the bottom of the fraction, e.g., 87.100, etc.)
Also, Dallas Model Works has online programs (and if you made something in an app, that would be more useful for me/my needs) for a random/'hotbox detector', and train inventory.
Also, for those using Macs, Filemaker.com has an iOS app for their Bento database program (which is less complicated than their Filemaker product), which I use to keep my inventory list with me when visiting LHS'es, train shows, etc. The Bento mobile version can be synced using WiFi between one's Mac and the iPhone/iPad/iPodTouch.
You also could search most mobile app stores with MRR-related words, like railroad, 'model railroad', etc. (Hobby may be too general, and give you quilting and other non-MRR apps) to see what apps are out there.
Hope that helps you some.
Nah. I don't need any of this stuff - I can do simple 4th grade math in my head (and have a calculator on my phone to back me up when I feel lazy), and I have a memory (and a couple of fairly small layouts), so I know what I own and what I look for when shopping for stuff.
These were just suggestions for simple apps the OP could program for his first phone app project in class, instead of starting with a switch-list generator, while knowing next to nothing about either MR ops or programming phone apps.
But these suggestions may very well be useful for some of the other readers.
Smile, Stein
steinjr Scale speed calculator - enter how many cars and what length cars you want to use for checking, press or click something when first car arrive at some point, second press or click when last of the given number of cars pass the point, calculate scale speed.
Jim in Cape G.
I'm up for Beta testing!
:-)
please contact me.
Regards M Graff.
Swedish Custom painter and model maker. My Website:
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bagal Is there anything available to build a touch screen control panel using an ipad and dcc controlled turnout motors? Bill
Is there anything available to build a touch screen control panel using an ipad and dcc controlled turnout motors?
Bill
Already available as part of JMRI.
Bryan B What about an app to controls trains on a DCC system.
What about an app to controls trains on a DCC system.
Also already available as part of JMRI.
I have been wanting to put up my update on my app for some time now, but have had the time. I am basically building a data base which will contain data for all the industries on the layout, and then one for the data of all of the cars on the layout.
For the industries I am collecting data like Industry Name, Location, Product Type, Car Types, Industry type, No. of Tracks, No. of Cars and Cars per session.
For the Cars I am collection; Reporting Number, Content, Capacity, Is Full, Is on RIP, Destination and Current Location.
From this I plan to create the switchlist with the press of a button. As smartphones are most common the Switchlist display screen will be able to scroll both side to side and up and down, so that you can move left to right to see all of the data fields and the font size will still be large enough to read on the phone. I also plan on making it so that once the list is generated it would be up to the engineer to then input the reporting numbers of the cars added to the train, but the car slot/row will be able to be moved up or down to put it into the correct order.
As cars are dropped off and picked up the list will be able to be edited accordingly. All of the cars after they are entered into the data base will be able to be viewed in a list which will scroll up and down and new cars will be able to be added to this list be pressing an add button, or existing cars will be able to be edited if needed.
I plan on making it so that initial input will be able to be done on a computer and then uploaded to the device.
I only have a couple of weeks left in my class and my progress has not been as good as I had hoped, due to issues with the program used to build the app. I have found that it is not as intuitive as some similar application development tools are, such as Visual Basic. Even if i don't have a completely working app by the end of the class I will continue to work on it so I can get a fully working first version out to anybody who would be interested to be a beta tester for me.
If anyone has any questions or suggestions, it is not to late to voice your ideas, especially if you feel that there needs to be more data for either the industries or the rolling stock or both.
Thanks for the comments.
Some Smartphones can send to printers. Apple ones can, and HP printers can accept the connection. A switchlist though would be better on a tablet-size device, no need to print it then, and you could do things like tap and drag a car around ont he screen as you switch them.
I repeat my idea, that "any day now" I will get workign on, and that is to interface with the PC inventory program I already use so instead of having a thick bundle of paper printouts of my inventory to take to train shows, I can just use my tablet to quickly check if I already have an item I see, and if not, add it to the inventory right there when I buy it. When I get home - sync to the PC and everythign is up to date. Does bring something else in mind, I've been looking at goign directly from database to database, but there are plenty of portable apps that can handle Excel files, and I can import/export Excel from the Access-based inventory program...might make it way easier.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.
Thanks Darren.... Appreciate the welcome.
A switchlist app might be cool, but to be real, you want hardcopy switch lists. Can smart phones drive printers? Unless everyone participating in the operating session has a smart phone running the switchlist app, you need hardcopy.
A truly successful switchlist app would address the setup problem. Down at the club, before each operating session, we needed a small crew to go around the layout and spot cars, by car reporting mark, at each spur, siding, and yard track. That used up an entire evening before each op session. Then the computer generated switchlists could work. A switch list that says "Move box car BM45657 from yard track 8 to G.Willikers Machine Co siding" only works if car BM45657 is standing on yard track 8 when the op session begins.
I might actually make use of a units conversion app in the shop. It would quickly answer such questions as "What size wire (sized in thousands of an inch) represents a 2" pipe in HO" Or "What size planking does 1/16" scribed sheet wood represent in HO?" For extra credit the app would understand sizes given in American Wire Gauge, as well as inches or millimeters. It would gracefully handle dimensions given as decimals, fractions, feet and inches, metric, and miles. For even more credit the app would have a copper wire table built into it, and be able figure ohms given wire gauge and length.
I wouldn't bother with a rolling stock inventory app. I use Excel, I have Excel, I've used Excel for years and know it well, Excel is extremely powerful, fully able to solve any rolling stock inventory problem.
David Starr www.newsnorthwoods.blogspot.com
Stephen - Welcome to trains.com!
Darren (BLHS & CRRM Lifetime Member)
Delaware and Hudson Virtual Museum (DHVM), Railroad Adventures (RRAdventures)
My Blog
Hi...I've been looking for a model train inventory app for my android galaxy s 4g phone. Currently I use a PC based program Called "Yard Office" to manage my rolling stock and locomotives. And have the same problem as others...carrying around printed list of what I "have", to the train shows I attend. An android app would be great and something I would certainly buy. The "Yard Office Model Railroad Inventory Software" "www.musicmixradio.com/yardoffice/" seems to have all the features I've looked for. It also allows you to customize and create fields and incorporate pics into the descriptions of your pieces. An app should be able to be synced between the phone app and the PC. My phone has a 32G SD card installed, so being able to save the pics of the stock to the SD Card would be great. Good luck, hope you come up with something.
Stephen...Toronto, Ontario
How about an app that uses the phone's sensors to calculate scale grade? Or one that is like a modelers version of Google goggles that adds to a wishlist or inventory.
RJ
"Something hidden, Go and find it. Go and look behind the ranges, Something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go." The Explorers - Rudyard Kipling
http://sweetwater-photography.com/
rrinker Havign the handheld device complemnt a desktop-based operating system was actually brought up in the JMRI group recently. The idea beign that if you operate with a 2-man crew, the engineer can use an existing app like WiThrottle or Engine Driver to run the train, and the conductor can have a switchlist in his mobile device, instead of carrying around a stack of waybills. Or they can be waybills on thehandheld, instead of a switchlist, if waybills are preferred. About the only feature needed on the mobile device would be the ability to sort them (probbaly better for a tablet size-device, displaying multiple READABLE waybills on a small phoen screen is probably not practical) - and it has to be a manual sort, such as when rearranging cars at an available siding before proceeding to the next series of setouts. The hard part of creating waybills or switchlists, and making up the trains is already in the base app, in this case JMRI with the Operations module. The idea is to use the handheld to replace the paper.
Havign the handheld device complemnt a desktop-based operating system was actually brought up in the JMRI group recently. The idea beign that if you operate with a 2-man crew, the engineer can use an existing app like WiThrottle or Engine Driver to run the train, and the conductor can have a switchlist in his mobile device, instead of carrying around a stack of waybills. Or they can be waybills on thehandheld, instead of a switchlist, if waybills are preferred. About the only feature needed on the mobile device would be the ability to sort them (probbaly better for a tablet size-device, displaying multiple READABLE waybills on a small phoen screen is probably not practical) - and it has to be a manual sort, such as when rearranging cars at an available siding before proceeding to the next series of setouts. The hard part of creating waybills or switchlists, and making up the trains is already in the base app, in this case JMRI with the Operations module. The idea is to use the handheld to replace the paper.
Yup. A Waybill system (or switch list). Instead of a stack of paper, just give your train crews/operators a tablet. Tablet's are so cheap these days (Android ones, anyways) that it makes sense to do away with paper and hand your operators a tablet with the waybills/switchlist on it.
steinjr Philip H.: One may already exist, but an app that converts back and forth between common mrr scales would be really useful. That way when MR Mag posts a cool HO drawing I want to replicate in N scale, I can just print it, and have the app do the appropriate photocopying reduction as I walk to the copier. Or you can use the calculator on your phone to calculate 87.1/160 and get 0.54 - i.e. 54% when going from H0 to N, or 160/87.1 = 1.83 (183%) when going from N to H0. Smile, Stein
Philip H.: One may already exist, but an app that converts back and forth between common mrr scales would be really useful. That way when MR Mag posts a cool HO drawing I want to replicate in N scale, I can just print it, and have the app do the appropriate photocopying reduction as I walk to the copier.
One may already exist, but an app that converts back and forth between common mrr scales would be really useful. That way when MR Mag posts a cool HO drawing I want to replicate in N scale, I can just print it, and have the app do the appropriate photocopying reduction as I walk to the copier.
Or you can use the calculator on your phone to calculate 87.1/160 and get 0.54 - i.e. 54% when going from H0 to N, or 160/87.1 = 1.83 (183%) when going from N to H0.
Woodland Scenics has a scale app.. I have used it a few times for some scratch building I did. real easy to use and it covers G,O,HO,N, S, TT, 1:18, 1:32, 1:72, 1:285 and an option to do custom
Actually there is a scale converter app, as well as some other calculators. It's been advertised in that 'other' magazine that's online and free.
Philip H. One may already exist, but an app that converts back and forth between common mrr scales would be really useful. That way when MR Mag posts a cool HO drawing I want to replicate in N scale, I can just print it, and have the app do the appropriate photocopying reduction as I walk to the copier.
NittanyLion If you're after a simple inventory keeper (for when you go to train shows and want to have a..."don't buy this list"), just import your Excel workbook into Google Docs. I'm assuming you have a Droid and not an iphone though.
If you're after a simple inventory keeper (for when you go to train shows and want to have a..."don't buy this list"), just import your Excel workbook into Google Docs. I'm assuming you have a Droid and not an iphone though.
Yeah, my phone is running the Droid OS. I can see my excel workbook with the bundled app that came with the phone, OfficeSuite. It opens most MS Word items and even PDF's but only in read-only mode. For a fee it can be fully enabled but I don't use my phone to create docs so I don't see the justification to pay for the full version if I won't use it a lot. I'll look into Google Docs, thanks for that tip.
TONY
"If we never take the time, how can we ever have the time." - Merovingian (Matrix Reloaded)
jasperofzeal I'd like to see an app for train inventory purposes. Right now I an the excel spreadsheet I have on my laptop (imported to my smart phone) and works good but it's lacking and it's in read-only format. If I want to update my inventory I have to do it on the laptop and then import the new version of my list to my phone. A dedicated train inventory app would be awesome.
I'd like to see an app for train inventory purposes. Right now I an the excel spreadsheet I have on my laptop (imported to my smart phone) and works good but it's lacking and it's in read-only format. If I want to update my inventory I have to do it on the laptop and then import the new version of my list to my phone. A dedicated train inventory app would be awesome.
As for my inventory idea - this is just to store basic inventory information for pieces of rolling stock and locos. Only a subset of the fields is carried through, the main database resides on a desktop computer. This might be easier if I ever finished my OTHER project, which was to convert the Access database to something else - SQL Express (free) or MySQL. As for size - not a huge issue, I have some 2 dozen locos and somewhere around 250 cars, can;t get an accurate count because there's all sorts of OTHER stuff in this database besides the inventory information, but it's only a few MB in size. Cut dow to justthe essentials, it would be far smaller. A few devices still come with only 8GB, but most of the low end models are now 16GB, so even allowing for music and so forth, you know, all that stuff that is unimportant next to the trains, I don't think space will be a problem. And it sure beats pages of double-sided printouts, both in convenience AND in the trees that get wasted every time I go to a show.
Eric97123 Along this line let it do the barcode reading of new boxes so all you do is snap the photo the barcode and it is added to your inventory...or wish list
Along this line let it do the barcode reading of new boxes so all you do is snap the photo the barcode and it is added to your inventory...or wish list
Now that's a good idea.
Brent
"All of the world's problems are the result of the difference between how we think and how the world works."
tbdanny I like the idea of an inventory app - you could use the phone's built-in camera to take photos of the rollingstock and add it in.
I like the idea of an inventory app - you could use the phone's built-in camera to take photos of the rollingstock and add it in.
Thanks for the reply Steven. This would be an extension of the idea I had and I like the idea of the switch list basically auto populating. Part of my idea originally was to input the layout roster and then to be able to build the switch list from the available empty cars. The random generator I think increases the realism as not all industries would need the same number of cars on the same schedule all of the time.
Also, maybe something similar to Decoder Pro that you could run from a smartphone to program DCC decoders. Of course, the hardware interface with the DCC system might pose a challenge. Or maybe you could just have the app spit out a list of CVs you'd need to change based on different options you select.
Dan Stokes
My other car is a tunnel motor
Steven Otte How about an app into which one can program all the industries and team tracks on the layout, and input the frequency with which each demands and supplies specific car types. Then with a push of the button, the app uses that data to generate a random industry switch list for an operating session that can be output to a network-connected printer. The random algorithm should include a function that keeps track of how long it's been since an industry has requested a certain car so that if it doesn't come up in the random for a long time, it pushes it to the top priority.
How about an app into which one can program all the industries and team tracks on the layout, and input the frequency with which each demands and supplies specific car types. Then with a push of the button, the app uses that data to generate a random industry switch list for an operating session that can be output to a network-connected printer. The random algorithm should include a function that keeps track of how long it's been since an industry has requested a certain car so that if it doesn't come up in the random for a long time, it pushes it to the top priority.
I was going to say something similar! I'm currently using a home-grown Excel spreadsheet to generate random switch lists for my layout. Mine is also a car inventory, and generates a random train with the required car types from the inventory. I thought it would be nice to be able to do this on an iPhone/iPad, but to my knowledge, neither of those can run Excel, so they'd have to have an app that does the same thing. If such an app existed, I'd definitely use it!... now I just have to get an iPhone
How about an app that ties into the GPS and detects when I've walked into the trainroom and turns the phone off! That way I won't be bothered when playing with my trains.
There is nothing worse than trying to glue two tiny bits together and have your pants start to vibrate.
--Steven Otte, Model Railroader senior associate editorsotte@kalmbach.com