You should update the thread title: "LokProgrammer" is an ESU product.

Märklin announced a "Decoder-Programmer".

It seems that both products currently can be used with Windows software only. Windows is the dominating operating system.
Both companies could make software for Mac OS and Linux, too. They would if they thought it would be profitable.

Some announcements wrote that the PC version of the CS2 software would come for Windows, Mac OS, and Linux.
So far we only saw the Windows version.

IMHO a thread title "New lok programmer" suggests that there is something new coming from ESU.

Your question is about a product that Märklin named "Decoder-Programmer" and IMHO it was less confusing to have "Decoder-Programmer" or maybe better "Märklin Decoder-Programmer" in the thread title. You disagree. C’est la vie.

Regarding the software itself I think it is natural - business wise - to launch it for the most common personal computer platform...

Maybe the other platforms will be supported later, but that will put more strain on their support contacts...

And - ESU also has a PC version only of their LokProgrammer, so I don't really know why you are complaining about Märklin...

Hello Goofy,

Yes, you certainly can!

Even though you have in Macintosh (Apple) the best ever computer made for mankind , you can still step onto the dark side of the earth and run these PC applications such as the Märklin lok programmer and (even much better) the ESU LokProgrammer on your Mac .

All you have to do is partition your hard-drive with "Bootcamp", install Windows on the partitioned bit and either startup in Windows (press "option" button at startup) or use "parallels" or similar app, then you are running fine in Windows, even though for the vast majority of things in life, Mac is far better

Whilst I am an avid Mac fan , there are some things ( some interesting computer games and apps such as LokProgrammer) that I also want to run, and it all works fine.

Send me a PM if you need Mac help here.

Regards,

PJ

(remember, I.B.M. is an acronym that stands for: "I should have Bought Macintosh"

But decoder program is an lok programmer.
Lok programmer is an decoder program.
What ever!

Laugh ... I did that very thing. There I was in the the US for 20+ years, and during a lunch break at the university, I drove down to the McDonalds, which naturally has a Burger King a block away I also occasionally visit, and sat in the drive through order line and asked for a "Whopper with cheese". The staff kindly informed me that this was McDonalds. Doh!

That said, they are all decoder programmers - as the thing on the locomotive, switch, signal, what-ever-device, is always a decoder and you are configuring/programming the decoder to have the settings you want.

What you call the device or software to actually do that task is partly a marketing decision by the manufacturer.

The decoder programmer is a USB device which you plug into the USB port on a PC and then the decoder plugs into it. The software to use it is free from Märklin and you just have to purchase the USB device.
This new system lets you interface with the latest mLD3 and mSD3 decoders in much the same way that you can interface with ESU decoders using LokProgrammer. You can use this interface to update the CV's (which you can also do with a CS2/3) and to update and modify the sounds on the mSD3 decoders. The decoder must be removed from the loco to do this which is not the case with the ESU system. Some find that an issue and others do not.

Märklin has provided details here:

http://www.maerklin.de/e...etails/article/60971/21/

you Mac-in-tosh lover : your acronym must be I.s.h.B.M. I guess you missed two letters!

But "I Bought Microsoft" fits perfectly with IBM. .

The chip in the loco which controls its behavior is a decoder. It decodes the instructions embedded in the data stream from the command station.

The encoder is in the ECoS or CSx or whatever command station you use. The encoder chip embeds the instructions in the data stream distributed on the bus.

You program the CVs in the decoder with a decoder programmer suitable for the decoder being used. You can program the decoders with the command stations but you need a decoder programmer to upload sound files to the decoder. I'm sure there are more subtleties that I am not yet aware of because I am still learning the systems used in model railroading.

There are other terms as well. When I wrote software for the 1553 bus used in US military aircraft we called the software that did the encoding "packers" and the software which did the decoding "unpackers". So messages were packed and placed on the bus by encoders and then unpacked to control the devices by the decoders in the peripherals.

Which is at the root of the term CODEC - Coder-Decoder; where the hardware/software attached to a communications channel (such as the Märklin tracks) has the ability to send (encode) data as well as receive (decode) them.

TEEWolf, its likely just differences in how terminology (Umgangssprache?)

When you program (aka configure) a decoder with the "decoder programmer", that programmer takes the settings it wants to put on the decoder, and 'encodes' all of that information into a data delivery that is sent, electrically, to the decoder. The decoder recognizes that transmission, decodes the data and stores it appropriately.

In English we would say you "configure" the decoder.


In sophisticated systems, such as smart phones and complex consumer electronics (Tesla cars to televisions, etc) one can send almost full configurations to the device in the form of 'firmware updates'. Thats how the operating system on your smartphone is updated, for example. Well all of it but the very core boot/loader core. The signalling system used as a way of addressing the payload (firmware) and signing it (to ensure its not tampered with and authorized). With the trains, that full soft of infrastructure is overkill, but the signaling systems don't have the capabilities to address individual decoders all listening to the programming signals at the same time (which is partly because you may be changing the address of the decoder). So to simplify that update, we put only one sender (the USB encoder or other programmer) and one receiver (decoder) on the communication line.. that means you can greatly simplify the communications between the two; makes for cheaper parts as well.