Computer Screen size

[PJ_model_trains]

Fishmanoz said:

Personally, I gave up using desktops many years ago and use only laptops, using a second monitor when at my desk.

I agree with Raven and display resolution. In fact, both my 4 yr old laptop and my monitor are 1920x1200.

But even today, the general run of laptop doesn't come with that resolution, significantly less in fact. But, and a significant but, most have the higher resolution as an option in their range at a higher price. And the premium is much smaller then it used

to be.

So, if you need to move a laptop around the house to sometimes use for the layout and sometimes for other use, and you don't want or have room for a second hi res monitor with the layout, then buy a laptop with a hi res screen. You'll benefit

across all of your uses, not just RM. And plenty have hi res touch screens these days too, another advantage.

Hi

Although I appreciate what you and Raven Electric say regarding resolution, I still feel RM could do more by making icons

and loco boxes a bit small to get more on the screen. They could also make loco boxes to be minimised when not in use and maximised when in use. This is nothing new Adobe PhotoShop have done it for years. They did it for the same reason to see more and to

get more on the screen.

Regarding my laptop, the one I use for RM is for RM only, my PC is in another room. I have spent almost £2500 in 5 months on the layout and locos and it is still not finished. My next big expense is signals and decoders so to

discuss a new laptop with my other half would be pushing my luck I reckon.

I have earlier today, after getting an email from HRMS removed the groups, they are useless unless you put all locos to play with today in one group, those you want to play with

tomorrow in another etc. I have gone back to two columns of 3 locos for now but although I can just get my laylout in at present when I add signals, which I will want to control I will need to move the layout to get to them. And my layout is not large, others

must struggle also.

Surely HRMS must realise customers using RM will constantly add to the amount of locos they have, the more they add the harder it will get to see and use them. A new screen 1920x1200 to show up to 10 would be good but again if you

have 50-100 locos there is a lot of scrolling to do to find them. A few changes to get more on the screen, what ever resolution, has to be better for all.

Trouble is I don't have room to add a larger screen and my laptop together by the layout and

most new laptops (in the UK) are 1080 not 1200 which would probably only show 4 locos or two rows of 4 locos which is not much gain.

[Fishmanoz]

PJ, no one has said anything against you suggestion re minimising unused etc, and I think you have already posted this in desirable features, along with others going back sometime, so just a matter of seeing what HRMS comes up with in this regard. This

 

thread has been about how to get the best from the hardware and Graphics display in the first place (tidy mind again, sorry).

 

And just about everyone using RM seriously is going to have many more locos than they can display at the same time. However,

 

unlikely that anyone will be actually running 10 locos at once, or even more than a lesser displayed number in 2 columns. But over a session, I agree that you may well have to scroll around to find the next one you want to run, then your suggestions would

 

improve things.

[Raven_Electric]

Hi Fishmanoz

 

For the kind thing I do with computers laptops can't hack it. High processing power come very expensive indeed and read/write access and backup speeds and facilities are much less wikth high price for even medium high resolutions above

 

domestic 1080p. All day on 15" screens doesn't do much for me either. Even what they can do comes at three times the price because miniaturisation increases the price, repair downtime and reduces the reliability if you start hammering their duty cycle.

 

However,

 

for general domestic and lighter business use laptops come into their own specially, if you add, as you do, a second monitor for desk work and you are happy with one smaller display. In the UK there are plenty of dealers offer leading brand 1080p laptops for

 

well under £500 delivered - I've just looked - nearer budget price than high end.

 

However, that was my point, you can turn the whole thing on its head. Business turns over desktops in large numbers so lots of seriously cheap refurbished rugged desktops

 

come to market and are ideal for continuous use for hours or days on end running a model railway. Even if a user can't a local computer shop can swap out or add a graphics card or put in additional USB cards or whatever in seconds for very little if you need

 

it, that is one of the plus points of desktops. If you can't find a quality used PC that will run two 1080p monitors day in and day out for £30 or so in the UK you aren't looking.

 

I merely suggested that at this kind of price dedicating one to the railway

 

is worth consideration. And here is one area where size does come in, you can see RailMaster across the room on a 27" 1080p monitor - try that on a 14" laptop. Shelf space wouldn't be needed for a laptop either as the computer would be under the layout with

 

a keyboard for occasional use and a wireless hand held trackball or touchscreen to do everything else WITH the fringe benefit of a more rugged 5" hard drive as a backup for the laptop. Just a low cost suggestion that may interest some to get big high res displays

 

for RailMaster.

 

1080p standarisation was not a bit popular with me, your 1920x1200 16:10 aspect ratio displays are far more to my taste. They more or less replaced cathode ray 1600x 1200 for decent business stuff so why when the industry dumped 1920x1200

 

in 2008 did they go DOWN to a 16:9 1920x1080?? To my eyes a 16:10 aspect ratio is far more pleasant to work with than 1920x1080 AND you can nicely fit two European standard A4 pages on screen. A bit like when you go into a supermarket and stuff is 10% off

 

but when you look at the packet its 20% lighter!! As in the actor W. C Fields' film and quote "Never give a sucker an even break".

 

In my office I have a triple medium high resolution monitor setup on my desk as an indulgence and a more specialised very

 

high resolution fully colour corrected twin monitor work setup. But ironically, I don't much like big TVs so when I knew 1920 x 1200 was being dumped I put one 26" in every room in my home (except the smallest, there ARE limits) and a couple more in store

 

as spares! They hook into my computer network for TV and all else each contolled via a wireless trackball and keyboard. You can still buy higher resolution 16:10 but like everything else, once you move away from volume markets so does the price. Letterbox

 

cinema, Panavision, Cinemascope etc were dreamed up to compete with TV fifty odd years so the whole

world has to miss the bottom of their documents (and train controllers) just so old movies fit the screen - it doesn't make sense! And to add insult to

 

injury round lenses don't fit too well with widescreen either so they overscan TV to cut the distortion!

 

[Raven_Electric]

Hi Fishmamoz and PJ_model_trains

 

I replied to your comment on laptops etc Fishmanoz but it has been held for moderation. Don't get too excited though I quoted a very famous and innocent US movie title from years ago (1941 actually) that the Hornby

 

computer is obviously too young to remember

 

PJ_model_trains. May I just endorse Fishmanoz's earlier comment. Your points about icons etc are valid but if you put RailMaster on a highish resolution screen and drag out the window the icons become relatively

 

small. Think of a stamp on a tabloid and the same stamp on a broadsheet and programme interface designers need to balance these things. Life would be easier I suppose if there wasn't so many variables - just think of CVs !

 

[PJ_model_trains]

Fishmanoz said:

PJ, no one has said anything against you suggestion re minimising unused etc, and I think you have already posted this in desirable features, along with others going back sometime, so just a matter of seeing what HRMS comes

up with in this regard. This thread has been about how to get the best from the hardware and Graphics display in the first place (tidy mind again, sorry).

And just about everyone using RM seriously is going to have many more locos than they can display

at the same time. However, unlikely that anyone will be actually running 10 locos at once, or even more than a lesser displayed number in 2 columns. But over a session, I agree that you may well have to scroll around to find the next one you want to run, then

your suggestions would improve things.

Hi Fishy

But 10 locos on screen is the high end market system, how many have that. In the Uk most laptops cut off at 1080 not 1200 and if you get a 1900x1200 screen you need a tower with Windows

8 for touch screen.

I would imagine at present not many can see 10 loco's but if you see 6 or 8 visible often it is at the expense of part of the layout not being visible. I tend to have my locos grouped in the one list steam, diesel, DMU, shunting.

So you have to either scroll through them to get to them or before you start bring to the top the ones you will play with at that time.

[PJ_model_trains]

Raven_Electric said:

Hi Fishmamoz and PJ_model_trains

I replied to your comment on laptops etc Fishmanoz but it has been held for moderation. Don't get too excited though I quoted a very famous and innocent US movie title from years

ago (1941 actually) that the Hornby computer is obviously too young to remember

PJ_model_trains. May I just endorse Fishmanoz's earlier comment. Your points about icons etc are valid but if you put RailMaster on a highish resolution screen and drag

out the window the icons become relatively small. Think of a stamp on a tabloid and the same stamp on a broadsheet and programme interface designers need to balance these things. Life would be easier I suppose if there wasn't so many variables - just think

of CVs !

Hi Raven Electric

I agree totally with your comment across the spectrum of resolutions but, it didn't stop Adobe Photoshop doing exactly what I suggested.

I think there is a compromise here and HRMS will be able to

see all screen resolutions. At present, it has to be said, the icons and loco boxes are to big in any resolution. When we first get software we thing OMG, but once played with a few times we know what is a tortoise and hare icon, plus the loco or 2 locos,

etc, etc. And the panic button is so big and taking up valuable loco space. Like the trains, round and round we go, hopefully HRMS will look at all sides, including what percentage of users have high end systems and what percentage have middle of the road

ones and want to spend money with them on trains and loco detection etc, not new screens, laptops and computers that they don't sell.

The above is not tearing strips out of RM it is excellent software, a credit to them but with a bit f tweaking it

could be better, I believe the more we can see and use, the more we will buy and use.

Life would be easier I suppose if there wasn't so many variables, Spot on.

[Raven_Electric]

Hi PJ_model_trains

 

Unfotunately my last earlier comment on this is awaiting moderation but I did point out there that in today's market 1080p is not even remotely near "high end" but is the current volume

consumer standard and I have drawn my

 

facts on this from some current UK product sales information, laptops included.

 

RailMaster is highly specialised and complex software for a very small market, it would be unreasonable to expect the development team to be able to match the resources

 

that Adobe can throw at a project. I know of professional industrial control software costing many times what RailMaster costs where the ENTIRE user interface is very little more than the ".ini" file!

 

I mentioned the staffing of our biggest supermarket

 

in an earlier post and they are almost small fry compared to Adobe! Nevertheless, if asked, I could come up with quite a few suggestions for changes to their software and yet in 25 years of working often with Postscript, the core of their main product's technology

 

(and with their image processing products too) I've yet to see responses from them as quick as some from Hornby on here. So we know Hornby ARE paying attention to requests and I am sure they be considering what perhaps could be done quickly in response to

 

suggestions for improvements such as you have make.

 

Postscript, like the TrueType fonts on your computer you can list in "Word" describes objects mathematically rather than making up an image from dots. Ideal for screen displays because you can change

 

the size at will without loosing definition but, and a very big but, a great deal of work is needed initially to produce a whole user interface for a product like RailMaster in that way. Hornby will be considering such things but with points and signals and

 

many other things to consider too, these things take time.

 

Have you ever used version 1.5 of Photoshop? (And may I point out, you could buy a half decent used car for less at the time!). Seen that way RailMaster is well up to speed.

 

I am not

 

for one moment suggesting users should stop telling Hornby what they want, in fact the opposite, everyone keep doing it! Only today they asked for responses in their latest survey. I raise these issues merely to illustrate that often these things do take time

 

and a lot of care too if they are to be got right.

 

 

[PJ_model_trains]

@raven Electric

 

Many thanks for your reply, excellent as always.

 

No I have not used Adobe Photoshop 1.5 but can only start to imagine how much the software improved to my entry at around 5.5, it has moved on incredibly from that point to

 

now to CS5 or I think CS6. Incredible piece of software.

 

I learnt many years ago, no matter how qualified and knowledgeable you are many ideas come from ground level/shop floor. It is that hands on thing plus communication that counts and Hornby are

 

watching and listening that is good. RailMaster is good and will improve, I have no doubt about this, although they recommend the high end resolution they also have to take account that probably the most popular size in the UK is not 1200 but 1080. The 1200

 

high is good for sales talk but in reality most people will only see 3 or max 4 locos per column and those who use 2 columns do so at the expense of the working track area.

 

HRMS could listen and decide to use smaller icons and smaller loco boxes etc

 

in RM. They could build into the software the facility to alter the screen by percentage for the high end computer screens so that what gets smaller on the 1900 x 1200 can be increased. This would give more for the up to 1080 high screens and an adjustment

 

option for those with 1200 high screens.

 

I make is sound simple I know but these are clever people, they have proved it with RM so far. I also appreciate it is not just computer screens that have to be taken into account but tablets and phones as well.

 

There are so many variables to consider but it is not impossible and I am sure they are considering the options, the more they make accessible and workable, the more we will want to do and the more we can see possible and want to do the more we will buy.

 

Technology

 

is here to stay and the re-birth of the humble train set can find it's place in the market again.