ADP Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Hi Guys,I am just returning to model railways after 52 years away and am building a new DCC layout and have got to say the changes in model railways are exciting to say the least. I am using the Elite controller and powering up my points with several R8247s. I am now thinking of buying Railmaster before I get too far.My question is: I will want to load Railmaster onto my old laptop that is still running Vista, but spotted in the forum that it may run slowly on Vista. Is this currently still the case? Will I need Internet connection continuously with Railmaster or only when updates to the Elite and Railmaster are required? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 ADP, welcome to the forum..RailMaster doesn't need and Internet connection to run. You will need an Internet connection to 'activate' it. If you don't activate it, then RM will cease to function after the evaluation period expires. If an Internet connection is present, RailMaster will do an online check during start up to see if a later version is available. If the Internet is not present then it will still run. When you know that a program update is available you can download it manually from the link at the top of this forum onto a memory stick via another Internet connected PC and update the Vista PC RailMaster application from that..As to will it run slowly on Vista. It might, it might not. It'll depend upon the build of the Vista PC, how much memory, what processor the PC uses etc. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
westernwill Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Until very recently I ran RM on an old Vista laptop. I had no problems whatsoever either with speed or losing connection with the dcc controller.In fact because there is so much more bloatware on Win 10, I now get the odd occasion when RM does not respond because Win10 is hogging resource in the background. Otherwise RM also runs fine on my shiny new PC.Reminder to myself, I must follow AC's advice on getting rid of unwanted stuff from Win10. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 @ADPWelcome to the forum. One thing with Vista is that while it runs with no added bloatware running in the background it will be perfectly fine and the hardware it is installed upon, especially if it is the original hardware, should not give an issue.Your troubles with Vista will come when you attempt to run newer versions of antivirus software. malwarebytes and Spybot are OK but the likes of any antivirus software (free or paid) will have the OS struggling with it and possibly even stop Vista running at all at times. This is even with the last service pack releases installed for Vista.The likelihood is that you will need to upgrade memory to its max, stop all processes that are not required to run in the background and some other bits like increasing the page or swap file size. To be honest, if it is running slow after installing an AV program then forget it really because once this software slows Vista you wil find it difficult to resolve even with the ideas presented above. However, if you don't need protection then RM will be just dandy. If you do have extra memory slots in the laptop then find out what type it takes, what the max memory capacity is and consider upgrading as it may just give that extra durability and result in slightly faster operation where it could be useful.Keep in mind that even though Microsoft still support this OS they don't go overboard with updates. If your version runs the Sidebar from startup then disable it. It eats memory.... @westernmillWith the latest incarnation of Windows 10 some settings have been added to the OS which are not yet uploaded to my Help Site... however, once there and changing settings you will quite quickly grasp the idea and know what to change anyway with little difficulty.If you require any help just ask in here or privately by email if you think it is not required to have a post within the forum with your question/s. Also remember that some Windows 10 features cannot be uninstalled or turned off by default which is both frustrating and annoying to say the least. But by doing that MS make money from the vendors to have their software locked into Windows at all times or, indeed, it is MS's own software. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
96RAF Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Try Crucial UK, where there is a simple scanner that will look at your pc, check the memory slots for occupancy and report to you what memory you can add within spec limits, with a list of suitable items. Their prices are reasonable and I have never had any fail to work upon installation or fail thereafter. No connection with Crucial, just a satisfied customer.Rob Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chrissaf Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 As am I. An excellent company to deal with. I buy all my memory components from them. The online scanner never fails to identify the correct upgrade component options..http://uk.crucial.com/gbr/en/?click=true Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 Another is Offtek at http://offtek.co.uk who will do exactly the same and will have much more in stock than most. I've dealt with these for many years as well as others and cannot fault their fabulous service. Again, no affilliation but choice is prudent. Prices are extremely difficult to beat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choralc Posted December 8, 2016 Share Posted December 8, 2016 I believe my RM Vista laptop has only 4MB. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Augustus Caesar Posted December 9, 2016 Share Posted December 9, 2016 Choralc... You'll find that the amount of memory in your system will definitely be more than that!The number is correct but surely you meant to put 4GB as 4MB wouldn't even boot the laptop up...It may have 4MB in cache memory but definitely not in main board... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
choralc Posted December 10, 2016 Share Posted December 10, 2016 Haha, quite true! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ADP Posted December 16, 2016 Author Share Posted December 16, 2016 Thanks for all your help. After reading all this I decided to but a new laptop running Windows 10 and also bough Railmaster. I find the documentation on setting up the R8247s, the Elite and now the Railmaster leave a lot to be desired. Hornby need to produce a simple quick guide or create two guides, one for the first time user without all the CV info in it and one for the advanced user. A newby to all this stuff, though exciting, can be a little overpowered by the complexity. Once again guys thanks for your help. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Hi ADPI think you will find that the guides you are looking for, are included in what we refer to as 'sticky' threads at the top of this section of the Forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted December 16, 2016 Share Posted December 16, 2016 Second top sticky thread ADP. You might go and look at my long reply to Percy in the DCC forum. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.