Originally Posted by: Johnvr 
Even though it may be older technology,
The technology may have changed but the "End use objective" has not. While Marklin units have offered Memory/Route and , with the CS, shuttle capabilities I do believe they should not waste their time trying to please everyone, thus by providing the interface as a tool for people to what they want with the basic building blocks is (as it was 20 yrs ago) the pragmatic way to go.
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I would love somebody who used a Computer connected to an Interface to tell me what they programmed.
Personally I see the PC as a tool to facilitate automation of routines that are not available from the control unit.
And/Or to add flexibility and realism to the "prescriptive" Memory/Shuttle capabilities that have emerged
Namely
- train tracking
- elimination the "braking module" with its unidirectional restrictions and its need for excessive wiring complexity
- Acc/Dec a) of Decoders without this feature b) of decoders with this feature but without the need to tune individually
- train reversing
- timetabling
- delays (no longer does a signal go green and the train rush of from a dead section - a more sedate, lights on, station announcement, whistle sound, start over a period of 10s of seconds
- randomness
- external interface correlation (e.g. wiring a speaker under the layout and playing a PC sound file at the appropriate time as dictated by the train type)
Other see it as simply another throttle ( I deplore the idea of picking up a mouse and clicking to control a screen).
Touch screens however allowed for the visualisation of a layout diagram (before the CS2 came out with its fuctional but restrictive version)
And the 3rd case was to save money - the simplest of PCs could replicate (functionally) all 16x6040(keyboard) to save thousands of dollars if you wanted 256 accesories.
Replacing the The 6043(Memory) functions with "soft programing" allowed for variation AND saved money
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I am looking for a description of what you programmed signals, or point switches, using eg contact tracks, delay timers, etc, and how it all worked on the layout. What did the trains on the layout do when you programmed it using an Interface ?
This is only limited by the imagination of how you see trains operating in real life. Less so if delve into fantasy. Some examples
- Choreographed routine of trains going from station to staion , accelerating, decelerating, stoping, sounding horn, reversing ... etc ...etc...etc
- Branch line signals detached from dead section so that a signal can remain Red and a train pass it in the oposite direction
- Parade from a Ladder yards with varying number of yard containing trains
- automatic shunting work with uncoupling - with recovery logcic to detect if a trains has successfully uncouple or coupled as required
- using k84 relay to a dimmer motor for day/night ambience, coordinate Faller cars crossing the tracks .....
- Timed start (e.g. on the half hour for 10 minute routine at a exhibition centre where other AV presentation ran on the hour for 25 minutes )
In recent years I have played with a simple "Mirror" routine where controlers of 6021, CS1, CS2, Loconet all participate and "reflect" the state changes around the layout.
As an aside, if ChrisP, or anyone else, had asked if it is worth getting a 6050 for their 602x I would have recommended a firm NO. Primarily because it is only unidirectional. Instead A 6021<>LocoNet adapter (with a USB_Loconet adapter for the PC end instead of the Serial adapter) opens up a far wider range of possibilities.
