Yeah, more slots won't really help. It may reduce the slot=max but you couldn;t actually have all those running locos, the DCC track signal bandwidth will become the problem. You can in many ways simulate the NCE consist method by mixing consist types = want 6 units in consist, use CV19 on 5 and then consist that address witht he lead unit using command station consisting. 2 slots for 6 locos, and the functions are directly controllable without making all 6 blow their horns. The two-table idea makes the most sense. That dispatch/aquire mechanism is how the earliest of the utility throttles aquired 4-digit addresses, and what allows them to still function today. Nothing has ever really gone obsolete except maybe the LA-1 Loconet adapter and the Challenger throttles, which was the one and only Digitrax system to code the loco address to the throttle in the style of the Bachmann EZ DCC. I wonder how much demand there really is to expand the slots though - I know Ken's layout,. it is absolutely HUGE, bigger than most clubs, let alone anyone's home layout. I just keep missing the open house days in the Fall, even though he is only about a half hour away from me. And as far as I know, his is the only one where Digitrax's method caused issues. All those monster N-Track layouts set up in exhibitions - they all use Digitrax, and not seem to have issues.
Digitrax doesn't use a 386 - it's a PIC something or other, I'm in the midst of packing up my stuff so I can't open it up and see eactly which model, and anyway the DB150 uses a different one than the DCS100. NCE has a Z80 embedded processor, which harkens back to my TRS-80 in 1983. Not that Microchip's PICs don't go back almost that far as well. But it is definitely not anything even remotely like a 386 vs a pentium. Depending on the PIC model, it is arguably the more powerful vs the Z80 embedded.
--Randy
Modeling the Reading Railroad in the 1950's
Visit my web site at www.readingeastpenn.com for construction updates, DCC Info, and more.