# I'm new here. My DCC command station



## underthetire (Jun 6, 2013)

Hello all. I built a new DCC control station, thought i'd share.


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## underthetire (Jun 6, 2013)

Here is a PDF of what i used


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## waltr (Aug 15, 2011)

Very nice. I have a borrowed R-Pi and thought it would be good for running JMRI.

At first reading your post I thought you built a DCC Command station and was looking for which H-bridge you used to power the track. Your second post cleared up what you really built.

I see that the Sprog can run a layout as well as program decoders. Which one did you use?
http://www.sprog.us.com/

I have looked at JMRI but was unsure of which version to use on the R-Pi. Can you tells us please? Also, any idea which version to run on Ubuntu Linux?

Some software installation directions would be very welcome. I'm pretty good with Linux but still unsure of what to do to get this stuff installed and running. I'm sure other people here are much less sure of how to do this.

Great project, thanks for sharing.


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## underthetire (Jun 6, 2013)

I'll try to answer questions to the best of my limited ability

My set up is N-Gauge, so I went with the Sprog II, however the Sprog III uses the same interface, just has more power available. It will both program and operate a layout.

I have not messed with Ubuntu at all, sorry no help there. I used the JMRI for Linux with the .tgz, version 3.2. Earlier versions won't run on the Pi, since it uses a ARM 6 processor, not a X86.

I'll try and write up instructions to the best of my ability, or can try and simply supply an image of mine already working. The Pi is really easy as far as Linux systems to install. I used a windows machine, downloaded Win32 disk imager http://sourceforge.net/projects/win32diskimager/ . This allowed me to put a FAT formatted SD card in the computer, download the raspian image, http://www.raspberrypi.org/downloads and image it to the SD card. Once complete, put in the Pi and power it up. It will get to a config screen, a few changes there and your up and running. Then you use the Sudo apt-get and install Java. I have the address at home. Then simply download JMRI, unpack it (right on the Pi) and brows for the JMRI folder. From there, it's just like JMRI on a windows machine. I still need to configure the linux to auto-start the Panel Pro file on boot up. My panel pro is configured to start the throttle, start the Wi throttle interface for my Ipad remote, and the JMRI web server. The system seems quite stable, even more than it was on WinXP. Don't think I really even need the monitor once things are set up, but it's nice to see whats going on. 
Keep in mind though the Pi is no rocket ship as far as speed goes. It boots to the desktop quick, but once the Java starts in the JMRI, mine takes a good 3 minutes before its running, and I have my Pi overclocked to turbo mode.


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## waltr (Aug 15, 2011)

Thanks for the info.
I also found that the R-Pi takes a good bit of time to start a program (must be the SD card file system).

About the case for your system. I guess you made it yourself. How it you put the logos on the plexiglass? It looks really good.


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## underthetire (Jun 6, 2013)

Thanks, I have limited access to a small CNC engraver. Just imported bitmaps to the control and let her rip.


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## underthetire (Jun 6, 2013)

Doing a new build of it today on a faster card. Looks like the newest release of raspbian with java and JMRI will require a 4 gb card.


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## waltr (Aug 15, 2011)

Excellent. Please update us on have this performs.


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## underthetire (Jun 6, 2013)

I now have working images of my set up. The faster the card, the better. I'm using a class 10 8gb card, although the image is less than 3gb. With the new build, boot to desktop is about 30 seconds. Full panel pro, loading the JMRI web server, Wi throttle, and a clock, is roughly down to 90 seconds. The only thing I've found so far, is it won't drag and drop the locomotive pictures on the programming. Everything else seems to work fine. I can read and right to the decoders, etc without problems. The system seems way more stable than it did on windows XP.

Oh, and I got it to display at 1080i !


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## underthetire (Jun 6, 2013)

Added some heatsinks to the pi now ($3.00 on evilbay) and clocked the pi to turbo. System is completely stable for days on end, and all the jmri stuff loads in 70 seconds,


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