kp10 Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 after a long time 30 + years am getting back in to my railway and looking at DCC/elink not sure what to go for any one give me any help on this would be great was told that elink dosnt work well on windows 8, elink looks great but how good with PC's do you need to be (me and PC's dont play well) thanks paul Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tony_forward Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Hi KP... DCC/Elink... Some of us have had major problems with it. Mostly due to well known and usually free for 3 months antivirus programs. Have a read of the forums, the railmaster support team is excellent and I've found that if I start RM indoors with full internet access, do any updates and then switch,off. Then I go to the garage with the laptop, restart the laptop with the wifi switched off on the laptop, use RM and elink to great success then all is fine! Really you pays your money and takes your choice.. There are other DCC controllers around but not at the same price as the Elink n RM package. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kp10 Posted October 28, 2014 Author Share Posted October 28, 2014 Hi KP... DCC/Elink... Some of us have had major problems with it. Mostly due to well known and usually free for 3 months antivirus programs. Have a read of the forums, the railmaster support team is excellent and I've found that if I start RM indoors with full internet access, do any updates and then switch,off. Then I go to the garage with the laptop, restart the laptop with the wifi switched off on the laptop, use RM and elink to great success then all is fine! Really you pays your money and takes your choice.. There are other DCC controllers around but not at the same price as the Elink n RM package. Thanks not being good with the pc is a massive pain i do like the look of the elink and i expect thats where it's all going. thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RDS Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Hi kp10 and welcome to the forum, Using Hornby, there are basically 3 ways of controlling DCC Loco's. 1) The Hornby Select Controller. This is quite a basic controller that cannot be connected to your computer but it runs DCC loco's. It is a starting point for many, me included. 2) The Hornby Elite Controller. This is a much more advanced (and expensive) controller that has more features than the Select and a larger output Power Supply (4 Amps as opposed to 1 Amp with the Select). This controller can be connected to your computer using the Hornby RailMaster software. This combination is my personal preference because it enables the layout to be controlled by the computer, or manually using the knobs on the Elite, or a combination of both. 3) elink. This is an Interface box between your Track and your computer. It comes with the RailMaster software and is the cheapest way to be able to use the computer to control your layout. There are no knobs on elink though, so the only way to control your layout is by using the computer. Hornby RailMaster support are regularly telling people that RailMaster works well with Windows 8 and no particular specialist computer knowledge is required, although it does help to know a little. There are plenty of members on this forum who will help you with any problems you may come across. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 kp 10, high, the baud rate is much higher with elink. Most of the guys on here with elites, had them before event of elink, and tend to prefer them. I am an elink user, and now, since recent updates, it has not missed a beat. Very reliable. You do not need to be a pc whizz. Hornby rail support, are brilliant, and will help you set it up, and troubleshoot. Go elink, much, much cheapest option if you do not have a laptop, or need for one,.I buy a secondhand one, with windows XP, and use it, just for your trains.. Finally, you dont have to have windows 8. my new machine is the far better windows 7. The customer can choose his set up, many of us, will allways be windows 7, and XP before that. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graskie Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 I can't really see any point in upgrading from Windows 7 to 8, certainly in my situation. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fishmanoz Posted October 28, 2014 Share Posted October 28, 2014 Hi kp, that's some excellent advice you've been given above. If I could make a couple of extra points in support. First, it is not a matter of DCC or eLink as Railmaster (RM)/eLink is of course a DCC system just like any other DCC system. With the exception of data rate as john mentions, Elite and RM/eLink have exactly the same capability. And that data rate will only be significant if you are trying to do a whole lot of things at once. RM is more user friendly than Elite due to the amount of info you have in front of you on the screen. The windows version you use is completely irrelevant as RM works equally with all of them. That said, the set up on Windows 8/8.1 can be a little more fiddly for some but RM Support will help you out if that should be a problem. Also as john says, it's virus protection that can be a major stumbling block rather then operating system, but again RM Support is brilliant at solving these issues. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kp10 Posted October 29, 2014 Author Share Posted October 29, 2014 Hi thanks for your advice on this, as help i think i was ok untill a local chap said he'd had a lot of problems put me off a bit. off to get my elink thanks every one Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 Kp 10. Great, good choice, if you have any probs with set up , there are a lot of us with elink, who have been there, and know the wrinkles. just ask. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graskie Posted October 29, 2014 Share Posted October 29, 2014 I've got quite a few wrinkles nowadays. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yelrow Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 Time you had plastic surgery then, good use for all your gold. john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Graskie Posted October 30, 2014 Share Posted October 30, 2014 No, not cheap plastic surgery. Gold surgery. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.