Windows 10 Tablet & Railmaster / Elite

[Pete172]

Hi all,

I believe Santa is bringing me a Windows 10 Tablet complete with a detachable keyboard !

I have an Elite and I run Railmaster on an old Windows Vista laptop which is well past it's best.

Question - Will this new Tablet be able to run Railmaster with full functionality , i.e. programming CV's etc?. And if so, is it easy to change the RM license over to the new Tablet ?

The Tablet has 2 USB ports so I guess I can connect it to the Elite...

Many thanks,

Peter...

[Augustus Caesar]

As the tablet is Windows 10 and running a full version of the OS (Home, Pro or more unlikely on a tablet, Enterprise) the answer is a very simple YES.

I have successfully tested RM with an eLink on three tablets running Win 10 and the Elite will be no different.

The only critical thing is that the tablet has USB ports (which you say it has) and that RM is installable (which it will be). If the tablet has no DVD drive attached you may use an external one fitted to USB or just simply download the latest version from the RailMaster forum page - top of first screen on that sub forum).

 

If you are still going to use RM on the Vista laptop then to use RM on the new tablet you will require a SECOND RM license.

If you are uninstalling the program from the Vista laptop simply de-register it first through the program itself and this will allow you to transfer, easily,  the license to the new tablet by simply re-registering again through the program on the tablet when installed. A good idea is to note the details you first registered RM with on the old Vista machine so those details can easily be recognised upon the new registration on the new tablet. You can only register the software on ONE machine at a time so DO de-register first.

 

You will have full functionality as per normal as the version of Windows is a full one and is capable of taking installs unlike the Windows RT versions which are plainly of no use in this circumstance. So, as long as the version of Windows 10 is either the Home, Professional or Enterprise version you will be OK. There are other versions such as mobile and other Enterprise editions which will be no good to you here but are extremely unlikely to ever be installed on a tablet anyway.

 

Enjoy....

[Chrissaf]

Pete, One more additional bit of info that AC forgot to mention. Have a look at RM 1.63 manual page 132. If you copy the files listed here from the old Vista to the new tablet, then you shouldn't need to re-enter all your layout design and loco data.

[Pete172]

 

[Pete172]

 Hi, thanks for your replies..

I assume my new to be Tablet is just normal Windows 10, I can't see any further detail about the OS from the spec http://www.amazon.co.uk/Linx-Tablet-Z3735F-Windows-Keyboard/dp/B014D847FS so hopefully it will be ok with Railmaster. Some of the preloaded applications are Windows Mobile (word, excel etc) but hopefully that won't matter to RM.

When I get it, I will try to transfer my RM data from Vista to the new Tablet Win10, I have looked at the RM manual and see the files to transfer (resource.mdb  .pln  .prg  groups.dat so I suppose I could copy them onto a memory stick........but what do I do then ?..where do I paste them into the Tablet (after setting up railmaster presumably ?).

Any advice welcome.

Many thanks,

Peter

[96RAF]

@pete

Copy those files into the RM folder on your tablet and if asked to overwrite the existing files then say yes.

[96RAF]

 

duplicate posting deleted

[Tee1707818014]

Peter, from the link you provided above I cannot see any mention in the specs for USB so how would you connect or use the elite or copy any files to the tablet ? 

It could however be used as a handheld device with your old vista laptop.

[westernwill]

 tibrahim If you scroll down through the description it does say it includes 2 full size USB ports.

[Tee1707818014]

Ah yes just seen them in the enhanced connectivity heading lower down, don't now why it isn't listed in the technicall details though. Thanks for the clarification.

[Chrissaf]

When I get it, I will try to transfer my RM data from Vista to the new Tablet Win10, I have looked at the RM manual and see the files to transfer (resource.mdb  .pln  .prg  groups.dat so I suppose I could copy them onto a memory stick........but what do I do then

.

Just for the purpose of providing additional clarity.

 

All the files file be found in your Vista c:......Program Files/ railmaster folder. The "resources.mdb" file will have that exact name as written. It contains all your configured locomotives. Similarly the "groups.dat" file will have any locomotive groups that you might have created.

 

The .pln file (pln for plan) is the file containing your track layout including any clickable accessories such as points that you might have configured on it. The file will end in .pln but will have the name you called it when you created the file. For example "petes_layout.pln". Similarly any programs that you created will have the name of the program you created ending in .prg (prg for program). For example "petes_program.prg". If you created more than one program then there will be a .prg file for each one.

.

Once you have copied all these relevant files onto a memory stick, just copy them into the c:......program/railmaster folder on your tablet. As RAF says, if you get a message saying the 'resources.mdb' exists just choose to overwrite it. Getting that message will confirm that you are copying the files to the correct folder. Your .pln and .prg files should be unique to your previous layout RM configuration so shouldn't generate a similar message.

[Pete172]

 Hi all,

Thanks for your help. I suppose from what has been said, if I paste the files into the same folder that I copied them from it should be ok ?

A horrible thought just occurred to me, ...I use a 22inch Iyama touchscreen (in my shed) connected to my Vista PC / Elite. This gives a nice big screen to operate the layout & for touching the point icons etc. From memory the Iyama does not use a USB connection for the picture signal, instead it uses the wider connection with 2 finger screws on it. If this is the case, unless I can get an adaptor, the idea of using RM on my new Tablet suddenly seems to have gone off the boil...

It's raining and late now, so I can't get out to the shed to check this out .......just like it eh !

I suppose there's still time to cancel my order, but that's a shame as I really fancy the Tablet & the performance benefits it will bring to my RM.

I will check this out tomorrow.

 

Thanks,

Peter

 

 

[Fishmanoz]

Pete, don't know the tablet you are using but doesn't it have some form of video out, would be unusual if it didn't?  

 

Given it has an output, you can almost certainly buy an adaptor to suit one of the connections on the back of your monitor, noting there is almost certainly more than VGA connector you are describing, possibly DVI or HDMI.

[Fireman_Ian]

Hi Pete,

The tablet you are getting has a HDMI port on the rear so it can connect to a monitor via a HDMI cable, if your touchscreen has aHDMI port (should have if it is fairly new) then all will be straightfoward if not adapters are available for HDMI to VCG connections.

Ian. 

[Chrissaf]

Pete stated that his 22" screen was a touchscreen. So I would imagine that as well as the video screen input, there will be a separate USB output on the screen to feed touchscreen data back into the PC. It is unlikely that if a USB port exists on the screen for touchscreen data, that can also be used for video input. Although never say never. Would need to check out the screen manual.

.

EDIT: Just had a quick look online at a generic 22inch Iyama touchscreen technical spec. The listed connectivity ports extract is pasted below, so yes there very well could be a HDMI on Petes screen he could use for his tablet. Note the reference to USB being annotated as being for 'touch connectivity':

.

Connectivity

• VGA
• DVI-D
• HDMI
• HDCP supported
• Headphone connector
• USB (for touch connectivity)

[Augustus Caesar]

@Pete

Your monitor will almost certainly have at least a standard VGA connector which is a connector shaped like a capital 'D' with three rows of five holes for a 15 pin male plug to fit. This socket and plug are defined by the term D-Sub. The socket will be of the female type so you will require at least a male VGA to HDMI cable.

If you have HDMI on the monitor a simple straight HDMI to HDMI cable will do... a gold or copper looking connector will offer slightly better connections but it really doesn't matter that much.

If you have a DVI socket, which will be female again... you will require the male DVI to HDMI cable.

You could use adaptors depending upon your connections and cables to hand.

That's it. USB does not offer any video signal to any monitor from a tablet or PC.

 

The tablet you are buying has a capability to switch between tablet mode and PC mode so do try both when you have RM up and running to see which mode offers the better option.

 

The drive is small at 32GB so don't begin to install heavy programs which will take up drive space too quickly. You always need space for the system swap file and cache to work (this goes for ANY computer). You have Word and Excel installed already it seems but they will probably be cut down tablet versions which is fine. They will NOT interfere with RM.

 

The tablet has 2GB of RAM although you will never use all that as the graphics card (inbuilt to the main board obviously) will use some of that at all times... so you may get the best of 1.7 or so GB.

 

I would recommend STRONGLY that you go through ALL settings on the new OS and turn off all communications where data is being shared with software vendors such as Microsoft themselves and other app providers. These programs will always be sending data out through the web so uninstalling some of them or turning off settings will help give you a far better user experience with Windows 10. Turn off OneDrive also unless you want to use cloud facilities which in my humble opinion are a total waste of time and money... use an external HDD to do the same job.

 

Anyway... I thank Chris for adding the other detail which I did neglect (cheers Chris) about copying files to get RM working quicker. To others who have added to that... well, you saved me some typing... ta!!! :-)

 

Hope this helps....

[Pete172]

Hi all, what fantastic & detailed replies ! really a great help..

I have the monitor manual here now (the rain stopped so I got out to the shed before the snow starts tomorrow !).

The monitor is a IIyama Prolite T2250MTS, the manual (not very informative) says it has :-

USB connector - I think this is used for full touch-screen capability.

D-Sub mini 15pin(VGA) - this is what I plug into my Vista PC, it's just the standard size video plug, you know the sort.

DVI-D 24pin Connector (DVI), I'm sure this was included with the monitor (strange looking plug on it !?)

So, from what being suggested by AugustusCaesar above, I could either use a D-Sub 15pin to HDMI convertor, or DVI-D 24pin to HDMI convertor ? sounds good !,

From what I can see in the manual, the D-Sub 15pin is analog, whereas the DVI-D 24pin is digital, (I can select the output in the monitor) so should I go the digital route for the adaptor that I need to buy ?

 

"I would recommend STRONGLY that you go through ALL settings on the new OS and turn off all communications where data is being shared with software vendors" .........

This sounds fine & I would like to do this, is there an easy way to achieve this, or must I investigate each piece of software to try to prevent it communicating ?

 

THanks again,

Peter...

[Augustus Caesar]

Hi Pete

 

The DVI-D to HDMI cable will be better by a long way. It will convert the digital signal to HD and will be faster than the original old analogue D-Sub. So, yes, get the DVI-D to HDMI cable. Copper or 'gold' connections if possible and the stiffer the cable the better... loose or floppy cables are not so strong and send weaker signals usually.

 

Here's a link to the Iiyama site to get the full specs and downloads for it...

http://www.iiyama.com/gb_en/products/prolite-t2250mts-1 (opens in new window)

This will also give a .pdf version of your manual which is basically what is on screen in front of you when you get to the site. A driver download is available.

 

For the settings... (Windows 10 only)

Clcik the Start button > Settings. Within the new popup window you'll see 9 different areas containing all sorts of stuff. If you click each one individually and in order you will see what needs to be turned off and what you can leave.

 

I will be putting together a few bits and pieces for my RailMaster Help Site (see top of this RailMaster thread for that link) which will detail exactly what you can and maybe should turn off. I will be doing very soon and will post back here to let you all know.

The settings are purely personal but I will say that if you do guard your privacy then you may want to check this page out on my site when done. These settings will not hinder the OS from any workings at all and so you can be confident all they will do is stop your machine sending tracking data to those you don't need to send it to. It does not benefit you sending this stuff out but does benefit the recipient. Hardly fair!!

[Augustus Caesar]

@Pete and all who are interested in Privacy Settings on Windows 10...

 

I have now uploaded a page on my Help Site with some aid on Windows 10 Privacy Settings and how you can stop data being sent to vendors without your knowledge and approval. Also described within are which apps you can safely turn off if so desired with no adverse effect to Windows or other apps you install yourself.

Not all data can be stopped but these settings are the most basic while more can be done in Internet Options. I will upload some details of the latter later on.

 

Here's the link to the site and just look for Win 10 and Privacy... alternativley go to the link on the page at the head of the RailMaster sub forum and click on that.

http://octaviancs.com/railmaster/rm.php

Hope this helps...

 

[Pete172]

 HI AugustusCaesa,

Thanks for your advice regarding cable adaptors, I will try a HDMI to DVI-D 24pin adaptor. Can't wait until I get my new Tablet /combi !!, as using my old Vista PC is painfull cos it's so slow on internet...also when using railmaster for building a track plan, or adjusting CV's , it very often freezes and shows a message like "Railmaster has stopped working & is closing down", so I need to re-start RM after that. I hope my new Tablet will not suffer the same...

 

I had a quick look at your web site regarding privacy settings for Windows 10, this information seems sensible and I will use it when I can. When you say "Accounts" local or Microsoft, are you talking about storing data on a Microsoft cloud?, I have an Outlook email account , does this count as a local account ?

 

Thanks,

Peter...

[Augustus Caesar]

Hi Pete

Now... accounts. When you first buy a laptop or PC with Windows 8 or 8.1 on it (I use this OS as an example only) you are supposed to complete the last part of the installation of Windows and configure it for personal use. When you do that you are automatically offered the chance to sign onto the new machine with a Microsoft account. This is held on MS's servers and your data and user configs are also held there. The username and password are held on their servers and if you can't get that right when logging on some day down the line then you are asked to reset your password via email, phone or whatever. They say it is to keep your details safe and secure and this is supposed to make logging in etc easier if you lose your password for example.

You don't have to do that however. You can bypass the signing in and creation of an MS account on the same screen or the next one after their 'kind' offer to create an MS account and sign in locally by yourself as you would expect on your laptop or PC without having to ever contact or login to the MS servers. For their account you MUST be connected to the net at all times and rely on their servers being OK so you can log on to the laptop or PC in order to use your own data.

 

So, a Micorosft account is one where you log in to their servers all the time and your username and password is held on their systems. A local account is simply where you log in to your own computer without being connected to the net (well, when logging in anyway) and where ALL data and information is held on that machine except your passwords; unless you decide otherwise via a totally different setting (never recommended to save passwords to your computer).

 

The MS account was extended to allow MS to get you the customer to begin getting used to saving data to their servers ready for the introduction of the cloud. This facility will be chargeable in the future by most providers whereas as of now only some charge. For me the cloud is a huge con. You can do the same job yourself and store files and data to your own external hard drive for free (apart from the cost of the drive). Windows 10 also offers the creation of the MS account and should be bypassed. Businesses sharing data use the cloud but servers were created to do the same job such as file sharing and is far more secure as the cloud can be hacked and already has been on several occasions with data lost!!!

 

Using an MS Outlook account for any email address (whether your own domain like pete172.co.uk or whatever) will store your data and emails on your own local system unless you use Office 365, Office 2013 or Office 2016 where they ask you to store remotely by default. You can switch this off though and store data to your local hard drive instead.

If you don't have your own domain and use, say, Outlook.com or Hotmail which are MS email accounts then you login to their servers through a browser like IE or Firefox. Your mail is stored on their servers. This is webmail.

Any version of Outlook installed from an Office suite package onto your local machine (your computer itself) is classed as a local email account but will allow you to bring webmail down to your computer without having to open a browser and login every time to get your mail. Email providers such as gmail, yahoo or hotmail etc have specific settings you install into Outlook so that facility can work. This is safer and quicker as you can use Outlook to set filters up to sort spam and other undesirable content.

I rarely use the free services as I have my own domains as the freebies get swamped with junk mail and there isn't a great deal of control over it. It is getting better but vendors often ignore the junk as some money can be gleened by them for use of their servers - although this is mostly in countries where protection is not a priority.

 

I hope this helps you get a better grasp of what you asked... :-)

[Pete172]

 Hi AugustusCaesar, I read the following in the product reviews on Amazon (for the Lynx Tablet), so to follow this chap's suggestion to make the 1st time start-up easy, I created a Microsoft Outlook Account for mail. I reach the Outlook account on the web, if I hover my cursor over the address bar it says https;//snt147.mail.live.com. Presumably this is web based and not a local one ?

 

"Software was okay OOTB, with Office Mobile pre-installed and the Microsoft Store application on hand to offer a lot of stuff. However, it's worth noting that this is a Windows 10 system and, as such, you use it more as a PC than a tablet. I've bought the MS Office 365 subscription (separate payment) and installed the Office 2016 suite on the tablet. Not only does it perform well, it really is extremely usable. OneDrive is a great configuration and a brilliant, almost seamless, way to keep documents up to date between other Windows computers (also accessible from other OS's as well).

 I'd recommend that you either have a Microsoft account before setting up the tablet or at least setup an Outlook.com alias prior to configuring the Mail client (just to keep things neat in the system... not because it won't work). ".

 

I will attempt to start the Lynx Tablet up on Christmas Day when I open my pressie !, and no doubt will be faced with the usual "preferences " to choose from including setting up the email. Should I try to set up my new Outlook.com email address -as a local account ?...will that work?? or would I be better creating a completely new email account with another Co.?

Thanks, Peter..

[Augustus Caesar]

@Pete172

That description sounds more like a slaes pitch rather than some genuine member of the public offering sound advice. If it is not a sales pitch I will eat my hat... or give the guy credit for doing his best at selling someone else's software for them!

Office 365 is a subscription based version of MS Office. Stay well away from it. If you read the statement he has 365 as a paid for subscription and has installed Office 2016 on the tablet. From this it looks rather like he has both on the tablet. If he has then he is plainly mad.

Office 2016 is Microsoft's latest Office suite of which I have a copy installed on my networked machines at home for the business. This product offers you the opprotunity to save documents to either OneDrive (cloud based (easily hacked) and can cost you eventually - there is no need to have it for a home user), This PC (your local machine which is the preferred area to save your private documents - why share with the world?), Add a Place (which means the likes of an external drive on a network for example) and Browse (choose where to save stuff in different locations).

Under the Word (and other components of this suite) Options for 2016 you can change the default Save location to your hard drive on the PC and then direct the save to a particular folder.

Office 2013 needs defaulting to the local account (your own PC) as it defaults to save to the cloud.

 

A Microsoft account is not local to your machine... ever. It is based on their own servers and all data is saved there. You can bring it down to your local PC but you need Office Outlook to do it. This is by far the best program to do this for web based mail if you want to bring it down to a local level. You can bring any web based mail to a lcal PC or laptop doing it this way but the account will always be web based and therefore not local.

When setting up Windows 10 or even 8/8.1 for that matter you must not set the machine up with a Microsoft Account IF you want to login to the PC and keep everything local to your machine. So when it asks you to sign in or create an MS account just look for the local account link to set it up properly for YOURSELF and not use MS servers. Otherwise you are always logging into their servers when booting up up the PC/laptop/tablet and you always need Internet access to use the machine. Remember, these days, everyone out there wants a piece of your data or usage habits. I don't offer up anything... my data is mine and mine alone!

 

The live.com address you have takes you to an Outlook.com login site. This is yuor web based email which can be accessed anywhere you are able to connect to the web. Any free email address is accessible this way simply because it is all web based.

If you have a domain of your own, say, ilovetrains.com then you choose your own email addresses such as: pete172@ilovetrains.com. You have to pay for this service and is a way to skip using webmail altogether. However, you are unlikely to do that so web based mail it will be.

 

I've probably been a bit more comprehensive than I should here but I hope it helps. Your final question is about the setup for Outlook.com. Your live.com account doubles as an Outlook.com address and if you had a Hotmail address you would also login to the Outlook account. All Microsoft you see.

There is no setting up on your PC of the address as all you do is open a browser and simply use the link you gave above and login on the page presented to you. If you set the tablet up with an MS account you are PERMANENTLY logged into their site. Potentiality to slow the tablet down here... another good reason to stay away from that type of account.

 

So, the upshot is: set up the tablet to use a LOCAL account and not an MS one. Your email address and its email are accessible through a browser and simply login and sign out like you normally would which means you are only logged into your machine and not MS's servers all night and day when the tablet is on.

One more thing... do not confuse Outlook.com with MS Outlook from the MS Office suites. They are two entirely different things... one is web based email client and pretty weak whereas Office Outlook is far more complex and includes a calendar, tasks, notes, email (obviously) and more.

 

Hope this helps... sorry for long answer.

[Pete172]

 Hi AugustusCaesar,

Thanks for all your help, but I find all this complicated ..!

I looked at the PC Magazine web site, where they do a review of Windows 10, in which it appears there is an email facility built in - called just "Mail", this is what they say about setting it up ..

 

"If you do need to set up your mail account for the first time, the Mail client supports all the standard mail systems, including (of course) Outlook.com, Exchange, Gmail, Yahoo! Mail, iCloud, and any POP or IMAP account you may have. (POP isn't a choice with Windows 8.1's Mail client, which requires the superior IMAP.) Simply enter your address and password for any of the account types, and Mail will figure out the required server settings. A big advantage of using the Mail client instead of just the Web browser version of your email is that new messages will appear in the Action Center's notifications pane, from which you can reply.".

 

So - would the "Mail" application in Win10 be a decent application to handle my emails (on a local level !), if so then - would I be better selecting a different email Co like Gmail or Yahoo ? just to keep things away from Microsoft.

Many thanks again,

Peter...

 

[Augustus Caesar]

You can quite easily use the 'Mail' app you have in Windows 10. No problem at all with that. It will as it says above in your post download most mail from web based accounts.

It makes it easier for you as it does the hard work finding server details you used to have know yourself and type in manually.

If you have set up an email account using WinLive then that will work here. This app will bring all mail to your local PC and takes away the inconvenience of logging in to servers through a browser. It's better too because usually a copy is left on the server for a time so therefore you have two copies of each email.  Don't get worried about that too much here though.

Have your settings ready for the WinLive account you just set up and then off we go...

 

Start the 'Mail' app up and you are presented with the following:

You'll see an area to 'Add account' - click that

You're now presented with a list of accounts 'Mail' will allow you to use. Click Outlook.com as it wil handle the Live.com address you set up.

Put your email address in the top box of the next screen and your password. Simply sign in and follow on-screen instructions.

You will be asked if you want to sign in using your Microsoft account... select Skip this step.

Your account is created. Click Done.

 

You should be able to access your mail from this app now. When I set it up to test it for these procedures I got a system error because my mail is NOT linked to any MS accounts. You should be OK though because your live.com email is an MS account.

Try this out and let me know how you get on...