Hi Chris!

My guess is that the USB/Serial isn't recognized by the Mac... Have you tryed it successfully with another device?

Another software (Rocrail) instruct as follows:

http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=6050-en

Maybe you need to verify the wirings and serial properties...

Here is another instructions about wiring:

https://www.marklin-user...html/digital/DI6051.html

Best regards,

Walter

I have a 6051 which I used for some of my own VB 3.0 programs back in the 90's...

The important thing is to get the serial cable right between the USB-Serial and the DIN plug that goes into the 6050.

I presume the USB-Serial converter has a standard 9-pole RS-232 connector at the "serial" end so it should be fairly easy with some soldering skills to make a RS-232 -> DIN plug cable...
Do you maybe already have that RS-232 -> DIN connector cable?

The 6050 will never be recognized as a "device" by any operating system, you need to talk to it with via a serial cable and have to send/read commands to/from it to notice any action at all...
Is the USB-Serial Mac compatible? Are there any device drivers or such to install for the Mac?

One thing to think about with USB-Serial converters is that they might not be fully reliable regarding the RTS/CTS hardware signalling, so an extended delay up to 100ms or so between commands sent may have to be defined in the software to ensure a more reliable operation...

That is correct, 2400 bps it is. To make it more interesting, some versions need 2 stop bits and some only need one...

Hi Chris, I don't envy your dilemma, getting a 6050 to work correctly is very much a trial and error exercise which I went through many years ago.

It's complicated by the fact that the 6050 is now very old technology, nothing wrong with that in itself but it was designed around the Computer technology of that time.

On top of that you have a Mac which has a smaller pool of experts, especially in dealing with something like this.

Then you have the characteristics of the USB/Serial adapter to take into account....

And if that were not enough, the connection between the 6050 and your PC is Serial (RS232) which has some fairly rigid requirements regarding the 'soft' settings such as the Protocol and Handshaking (loosely, Protocol includes settings such as the Baud rate/connection speed between the devices, usually 2400, and also defines things like the number of Stop Bits, Parity etc). Yeah I know, it's enough to make your head spin.

Handshaking refers to how one device tells the other that it is ready or not to Receive data and is sometimes done in the Software, or via the Cable.

Fortunately, there are some default settings which are recommended to try first, and which usually work say 90% of the time. The problem is if it does not work, and knowing where to start isolating the problem down.

Have you actually tried installing the software you plan to use to see what it does? - you may be lucky to find that it has a built-in utility to check and confirm if the Serial port is working correctly and might even provide information on what settings to change. That would be the first thing I would look into and also whether the program author has any email support or even a support forum. Surely there will be others who have a similar setup to yours and who you could compare notes with? I tried a google search on "itrain basic" but got no hits so I would not know where to start looking myself.

It may help you immensely if you have a willing friend with a Windows PC to loan you and can download a Windows Demo version of a Train Control program to test with. Most demo programs are crippled by disabling the ability to save any diagrams or databases, and generally limited only to controlling 1 or two loco's - in your case that won't matter as you really want to prove that your 6050 is working correctly with as simple a setup as possible - 6050 via the serial cable to a PC.

Once you get success at that level, migrating to the Macbook is much easier because you can rule out a number of things.

I would suggest you should be able to pick up an old Laptop with Windows XP on it for next to nothing considering XP is fast approaching end-of-life (April next year). A laptop from say around 2005 vintage will most likely have a 9-pin serial port built in and this would be best to avoid using the USB adapter initially.

Provided you can get a Windows PC to work with the 6050 then you are underway. You could at that point try using the USB adapter on the same laptop to confirm that it works correctly.

If it helps, I have a Macbook Pro (even though I am a die-hard Windows user), it's running Mountain Lion I think, I also have a 6050 as well as an Intellibox, and I happen to have a USB/Serial adapter. I have successfully used the USB adapter on a Windows PC Laptop to my IB and it worked fine but never tried it on the Macbook as I had no reason to. If someone can point me to a good Mac program (sorry, App) I'll be happy to see what results I get.

Hope this helps

Steve
NZ

Hi all,

I am fascinated by this thread.

Even though it may be older technology, I would love somebody who used a Computer connected to an Interface to tell me what they programmed.
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 ?

Will appreciate your feedback, thanks.

Regards,
John

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.


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


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.

Hi John,

If I may offer my own experience, way way back (around '95), I took on a project for our club (mmrc) to convert an existing layout for Digital running by Computer.

The layout itself was an original Marklin Factory layout from the early 70's which had been gifted some years earlier by a retailer or the country distributor, can't recall which. This layout was nick-named "The Black Forrest" and continues to be called such, but is also more accurately layout "0917" from the 1971 dealer catalogue.

The first step was to replace all the track and convert from 21xx to 2200 series, and connect all the Turnouts & Signals etc to k83 decoders. I also fitted a number of reed switches in various locations to provide feedback and equipped selected loco's or wagons with magnets. The reed switches were connected to a single s88 feedback decoder which was connected to the 6050 Interface and enabled the layout to be monitored for 'cause and effect' operations.

Originally the layout was designed and wired for simple analogue operation in a store window, so my objective was to replace that with Computer control not only to show what could be done but also to achieve a greater variety in operation.

I used a program written by two Australian gentlemen also on this forum, Ross Stewart and Peter Worboys. Their program was called "C80Prox" and was a 'script' program, meaning that you created a relatively simple text list of the actions that you wanted to take place and these would then be executed in sequence with any required deviations along the way such as a track sensor being triggered, or a time delay etc. It was not a GUI (Graphical User Interface) program so unless you knew the reasonably simple commands from watching the screen, it would not mean much to you, and you could not simply create the desired sequence by pointing and clicking on a track diagram. But it did work very well and there were many additional features which I did not fully explore.

It may sound complicated but was actually quite simple.

The end result was a layout that ran fully automatically, the sequence would set the required route and then start the first train, the rest was down to whatever the script told it to do next. I usually had three trains running on the small layout, including reversing into the 3-track yard, uncoupling and shunting operations using a combination of uncoupling tracks and telex, route control of turnouts and signals etc.

These were operations that were very difficult to achieve in analogue operation and would otherwise require quite complicated wiring, timers, relays etc.

I would often be asked if (or told!) the PC had taken the fun out of the layout, but for me not at all. It was still primarily an exhibition layout which needed to be kept busy to engage the public but the PC demonstrated that changes were much easier for an automated digital layout than rewiring an analogue one, and I would also point out that the owner needed only automate as much as he wanted to for taking care of operations that you want to be reliable.

I've had quite a break of several years from this aspect of the hobby but it is something I'll be incorporating in my current layout along with looking into the newer generation of control software, improved hardware etc.

Regards

Steve
NZ

An up-date.

I've downloaded a trial version of iTrain to my MacBook. It looks very good, has an excellent, clearly written and very detailed manual and a good user forum/advice centre. The iTrain supplier (Xander in Holland) is a patient and helpful source of advice.

For the moment I'm having a communication problem. I've downloaded the drivers for the Manhattan USB to Serial Port connector and installed them on my hard drive but iTrain still won't communicate with the 6050/6021. I've asked for advice through the iTrain forum but if anyone here can suggest a solution I'd be very interested.

Regards

Chris

Thank you Mafi. It's a prolific chip (not sure if I have the terminology right) and I'm using 10.6.8. No, the USB port isn't showing in iTrain.

Regards

Chris