Hello everyone,

+Hardware™ 10 has just been made available in a first laboratory version.

No special software needs to be downloaded or installed from the Internet to use +Hardware™ 10. The functions of +Hardware™ 10 are built into TrainController™. However, they must be activated in certain cases with a separate license code that can be purchased separately.

Details about the technical possibilities of +Hardware™ 10 can be found here.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank the following companies and people who actively supported this project with generously provided information and test hardware:

• Döhler and Haass

• Fichtelbahn

• Mr. Kufer from bidib.org

• Lenz

• Lokstoredigital

• Roco

• Tams

• Uhlenbrock

(in alphabetic order)

Further information will appear at random in other posts on this topic.

_________________
Best regards / Mit freundlichem Gruss
Freiwald Software
Railroad & Co.

Turning on +Hardware™:

The functions of +Hardware™ 10 are not available by themselves, but must be explicitly switched on by you in TrainController. There are two ways to do this:

In demo mode:
+Hardware™ 10 can be used in demo mode. You must explicitly switch this mode on. In demo mode, the connections to the connected hardware are disconnected approx. 15 minutes after the program has started. The use of +Hardware™ 10 in demo mode can also be switched off again using the same option. This option will remain after the official release of +Hardware™ 10 so that you can try out the functions of +Hardware™ 10 without obligation before purchasing a license.

With license and activation code:
+Hardware™ 10 can also be activated by entering a suitable activation code. Before the official sale of licenses and activation codes, this can be done with the activation code, which was described in detail in the previous article.


Details can be found in the online help for TrainController under the search word "+Hardware".

_________________
Best regards / Mit freundlichem Gruss
Freiwald Software
Railroad & Co.

Accessory Aspects:

+Hardware™ 10 also supports accessory aspects based on "DCC extended accessory" commands.

Please do not confuse this with the extended accessories in TrainController.

Accessory aspects are explained in more detail under this keyword in the online help. They enable objects with more than two states to be controlled with one and the same digital address. This means, for example, that a signal with more than two states can be controlled using a single digital address. Without the use of "DCC extended accessory" commands, a corresponding number of different digital addresses are occupied.

We deliberately chose the term accessory aspect for this and not the term "DCC extended accessory" to decrease the risk of confusion with the extended accessories in TrainController.

Accessory aspects are not only available for extended accessories (in terms of TrainController), but also for all other switching symbols (signals, buttons, switches and even turnouts).

Accessory aspects can be used with the following systems (if there is appropriate support on the hardware side - without claiming to be complete):

• Roco Z1 and z21

• Tams mc² and mc

• Uhlenbrock Intellibox 2neo, Intellibox II, IB Basic and IB Com

• LocoNet

• NCE

_________________
Best regards / Mit freundlichem Gruss
Freiwald Software
Railroad & Co.

Systems from Märklin:

one or the other of you may miss the support of certain functions of the Märklin system in +Hardware™ 10.

First and foremost the following features would be relevant:

C track turntable
Integration of boosters in the CAN bus of the CS2/3 into the Booster facility of TrainController.

These things were indeed on the agenda of +Hardware™ 10 and were partly implemented. However, according to the current status, they will not be released.

Unfortunately, Märklin is not willing to provide the hardware required for test and reference purposes under the same conditions as all (really all!) other hardware manufacturers do.

We have already been in contact with Märklin several times on this subject. Always with the same negative result. It is quite possible that other software providers act differently on this point. However, we are not willing to work under different conditions for systems from one manufacturer than for systems from all other manufacturers. We have tried several times to achieve other conditions. After failing to do this, we stopped pursuing the above-mentioned functions in the +Hardware™ 10 project.

But even if it is probably too late for version 10, this could be changed very easily for the future: Märklin only has to do the same as all (!) other hardware manufacturers, but not less.

_________________
Best regards / Mit freundlichem Gruss
Freiwald Software
Railroad & Co.

Shunting or line up in a block with only one occupancy sensor:

In TrainController Gold so-called special markers are set up in the blocks in which vehicles are joined or lined up (see program description for more details).

So that these special markers can work, they have always been linked to feedback indicators that are switched on by the entering vehicles. However, this also means that these feedback indicators are switched off until vehicles enter.

This often leads to difficulties in blocks that are only equipped with a single occupancy section and when the vehicles already waiting in this block generate an occupancy indication in this section. Entering vehicles can then no longer be recognized without further measures.

Until now, an additional feedback indicator had to be installed in such blocks, especially for this purpose.

+Hardware™ 10 now offers another alternative for this in connection with train identification (e.g. based on Railcom). +Hardware™ 10 makes use of the fact that with train identification (e.g. Railcom), the entry of vehicles into a section can also be detected if this section is already reported as occupied. For each special marker, it can now optionally be specified whether train identification should be used to detect the entry of vehicles into the (already occupied) block.

With +Hardware™ 10 and train identification there is no need to set up an additional feedback for special markers.

_________________
Best regards / Mit freundlichem Gruss
Freiwald Software
Railroad & Co.

Official release:

+Hardware™ 10 was officially released today. Licenses can be ordered via our Shop.

_________________
Best regards / Mit freundlichem Gruss
Freiwald Software
Railroad & Co.

Upgrade from +Hardware 9 ?

Some users wonder why there is no upgrade from +Hardware™ 9 to +Hardware™ 10.

Well, for once, with +Hardware™ the number does not denote a version. Rather, it is part of the product name. +Hardware™ 9 and +Hardware™ 10 are not two versions of one product, but two different products with a completely different range of functions.

+Hardware™ 9 was an extension product for TrainController™ Version 9. +Hardware™ 9 no longer exists. It has been superseded by +TrainController™ Version 10.

+Hardware™ 10 is an extension product for TrainController™ Version 10. It is not a successor version of +Hardware™ 9.

Therefore there is no "upgrade" from +Hardware™ 9 to +Hardware™ 10.

_________________
Best regards / Mit freundlichem Gruss
Freiwald Software
Railroad & Co.