Toying at the idea of getting the Railmaster.

[Ajay1]

As a few of you may already know from my posts elsewhere on the forum boards I am using an Elite Controller to run my layout. Now while browsing through the many topics here (very interesting and helpful) for a newbe like me, I have been reading about Railmaster this, and Railmaster that and i'ts making me toy with the idea of purchasing as well.

As the retail supplier that I get my material from is having a sale on at the moment I thooght I might take advantage of the last few days and obtain.

Before I do I have a number of questions that I'd like to run by, I will also read up on the pages avail elsewhere on this website.

1 )  Do you need eLink to run it (whats the advantage of doing so) as well as the Elite ?

2)  Is Installation,activation and setup simple ?

3) I see a Preview version is availabe for download to try, Is the full version only avail on CD/DVD ?

I'm sure there's a myriad of other questions I could ask, but that will do for now.

I guess what I'm looking for here is to be convinced that its worthwhile in getting?  Thanks.

Antony.

[Rog RJ]

1. You don't need elink to run railmaster.  It's the other way round.  You need railmaster software to run the elink.

2.  Some find it difficult, some have no problems but you do need to follow the instructions very carefully.

3.  The trial version that you can download should be the latest, full version but it is limited in what it can do until you enter your activation code.  The activation code can only be obtained by buying the CD. The CD will probably be an old version of the software but the activation code with it will work properly with any version.

[37lover]

As a few of you may already know from my posts elsewhere on the forum boards I am using an Elite Controller to run my layout. Now while browsing through the many topics here (very interesting and helpful) for a newbe like me, I have been reading about Railmaster this, and Railmaster that and i'ts making me toy with the idea of purchasing as well.

As the retail supplier that I get my material from is having a sale on at the moment I thooght I might take advantage of the last few days and obtain.

Before I do I have a number of questions that I'd like to run by, I will also read up on the pages avail elsewhere on this website.

1 )  Do you need eLink to run it (whats the advantage of doing so) as well as the Elite ?

2)  Is Installation,activation and setup simple ?

3) I see a Preview version is availabe for download to try, Is the full version only avail on CD/DVD ?

I'm sure there's a myriad of other questions I could ask, but that will do for now.

I guess what I'm looking for here is to be convinced that its worthwhile in getting?  Thanks.

Antony.

Antony,

To simply answer your questions

1) You can run RM just with Elite, that's how I operate.

2) In theory, yes. A lot of reported problems seem to be associated with Anti-virus settings. There are several threads on this forum that, if you read first, you should be able to load without problems. If you do get problems there are many here who will help

3) Download the Preview; it's exactly the same as the full version but with limited capabilities. You can upgrade by inputting a code to the full version. You do not need a CD/DVD to load the full version.

My view would be yes, it's worth getting but be aware it is not transferrable. You cannot sell it on as secondhand.

Edit - Rog beat me to it by a second!

[Yelrow]

Ajay1, hi, i did it the other way round. Bought Elink, with Railmaster, and got up to speed with cvs, etc schematic, layout design, and locos on laptop screen. Then, was offered an Elite, at a silly price. So, i am learning about Elite. As far as connections to RM, go, since the intro of elite, they are faster, and 100% every time. What anti virus have you, as some, are a no no . I would not be without my laptop screen. Windows 8, can be tempremental, i use 7, and the finest solution, would be an old laptop with XP, dedicated to RM, however, many on here , happily use windows 8. john

[Ajay1]

Thanks everyone for your input, on what 'm reading here I might as well go ahead and get it. Think I'll take the plunge and get the ELink/Railmaster package,get to grips with Railmaster and the Elite for the time being and then add the ELink at a later date.  

Yelrow, I was aware about the anti-virus issues and have two Anit-virus programs working at the same time protecting the three computers that I am running,being Microsoft Security Essentials and  Webroot SecureAnywhere so hopefully shuld have no problems!!!

.Planning to intall it to my Toshiba Satellite P500 Laptop,Windows 7, i7,32bit, 4.00gig Ram.  I was thinking about buying another laptop for as you say :dedicated  to just RM, but I think it might be an overkill with another computer in the collection.

Antony

[Fishmanoz]

Antony, can I too suggest you try before you buy.  Download the trial version, instal it and connect up with your Elite.  Set up a couple of your locos and a couple of points and see how they work.  To get it fully installed, follow through one of the top two sticky threads in this RM forum, not forgetting to read the manual first.  The simple way to start with the latest version is to just click on the link at the top of the RM forum.  You will need to download this file somewhere convenient, then right click on it and select to Run as Administrator (most important).

 

If you like it, then buy, and you may as well buy eLink/RM as just RM for the small premium involved, although this gets you no additional features and minimal operational advantage, at least until you have a very large layout.  So you can save that premium if you wish.

 

If you've read all the threads, you will see that RM works fine on all versions of Windows, despite what some say, although it can be more fiddly to get set up on some versions and there are a very small number of USB issues with 8/8.1.  Once you have the trial working with Elite, there should be no problem with eLink as they use the same driver.  And you won't have to reinstall, just enter the activation key.  The CD that came with my RM has never been out of its pack, and I've never had to reload the software on either laptop I use it on, just install upgrades.

[Ajay1]

Aaah I see , I was wondering earlier with regard to upon installing the trial version weather or not I'd have to install the CD Full version or just enter the activation key. You have answered that for me Fishmanoz.   Have just downloaded the trial version together with the Manual for some heavy bedtime reading and will now attempt the install to my laptop.

[Fishmanoz]

When you install, the latest manual will be placed on your desktop along with other guides for AV and handhelds.  The one you found elsewhere on the site may not be the latest.

[Ajay1]

Success so far up to a point while installing the trial version. Had the Anitvirus rejection as soon as I started the Railmaster Execute file with my antivirus throwing up a Trojan file and aborting the setup. 

After disabiling the antivirus I was able to install and upon starting up the antivirus again it once again threw up a Trojan file (a false postitive?) and asked if I wanted to allow Railmaster as "always allow to open" which once accepted,now starts.

Connecting the Elite to the laptop to install the drivers is another matter, I'm presuming the driver,or (a driver,Generic) is installed for it because when I plugged the Elite into the USB port of the laptop  all I heard was the sound of it connecting and no window popup appeared asking  to install the driver. Upon checking my Device Manager/PORTS (COM & LTP) it showed that the USB Serial Port (COM4) was active and the device is working properly. ( I can't check this right now as I'm in the middle of some ballasting and plastering).   I seem to recall that when I was trying to update my Elite to the latest software I was going from computer to computer trying to get the update to work because I was having problems then, so may have installed the driver then.