Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Nov 13, 2022 1:14:07 GMT -5
It seems that mechanical switches and even the touch screen work the best way, but not speech recognition. Meanwhile I tested SIX different modules and none worked. And there are those where I saw already on Youtube that I could save my money. I have a speech recognition on my car but for 3 years I didn't dare to activate it. Or should I make it like the commercial solution : dedicate a PC (or Windows tablet) to my layout ; at least the "single speaker" Windows recognition works well ... after training ("His Master's Voice").
On the other side I must admit that the Kittenbot was the "less bad of all", fast and rather reliable (if I discard the "going asleep" feature, which happens all the way after 10 seconds, the module saying "Uh oh"). Only one other thing bothered me : the feedback voice (which could not be switched silent, without removing the loudspeaker) was plaguey for anybody who didn't live in a world of Japanese animes (listen to the attachment for an example dialog).
Maybe that with a suitable module the keywords taken from the "alpha-bravo-charlie" series (like the system from Denmark) are the only solution but modellers will justly say that it is really too far from railroad environment. The Elechouse SmpleVR could work but "they" say that the command texts must be as long as possible. So, if one needs to make a complete speech where otherwise a simple touching of the screen has the same effect ?
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2022 6:06:57 GMT -5
Among the "Black Friday" offer of coil cars, are there any versions which could be suitable for my layout (Massachusetts around 1965) ?
|
|
|
Post by markm on Dec 16, 2022 12:17:05 GMT -5
Among the "Black Friday" offer of coil cars, are there any versions which could be suitable for my layout (Massachusetts around 1965) ? The coil car were produced first in the mid-1960s and the PRR started using them in 1964.
|
|
|
Post by dazed on Dec 16, 2022 12:51:38 GMT -5
Among the "Black Friday" offer of coil cars, are there any versions which could be suitable for my layout (Massachusetts around 1965) ? The specific car produced by AZL is not suitable for 1965. It is an NSC car that went into production in the late 1990s. In your era, the majority of coils still moved via gondolas.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 16, 2022 13:35:56 GMT -5
Thanks for Your answers ... To Mark : that's exactly what I read on Wikipedia, but as Doug said it seems that these cars produced in the 60's were not the prototypes for the AZL models ...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Dec 17, 2022 1:37:29 GMT -5
Is my layout damned ? I had already to replace 2 of 4 turnouts in the upper station, and this occured suddenly and not after some modifications. One turnout did no more flip safely and caused derailments, another was "electrically cut" and when I tried to open it, I saw that one screw at the inner cover had been damaged and had no more the "cross slot" for unscrewing (does Rokuhan avoid repair ? ), and now the third one is suddenly mechanically locked in one direction (I asked on "cold weather alert" if it could perhaps be related with low temperature, maybe "expansion/contraction") : even if I switch "by hand", the moveable part flips into the straight direction but stays locked in this position if I try to switch back to the deviant position (?). So I will first try to warm up the room (when the temperature has raised again next week, in Europe we have currently a snow period). And if it does not work, I will "simplify" the upper station, since turnouts are much more difficult to replace than in lower station (passage for the wires) ; the station will be converted to a single "passing through" track, only for railcar halt (maybe with a freight depot for short stops of the freight trains, on the opposite side of the station, because there is no more room on the same side), and the gravel plant will be sacrificed or converted to "truck operation" only, on both sides ... Sorry, but I am slowly but surely fed up by these issues ! And all the way the 4 turnouts in the lower station are finally enough for interesting operations ... So my advice to all modellers : less turnouts is better, and especially don't use them in hidden places (so called "shadow stations").
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2023 14:33:22 GMT -5
While my new landscape near the upper station progresses slowly but surely, replacing the already removed tracks, to its achievement : it's cold in the cellar ! And I had to build a new freight depot (I used Märklin's Wintersdorf, the old model was too big) and wait several weeks for delivery. I remembered what we discussed about : adding sound. Here is an example of what I wanted to avoid (especially the part from 2:10 to 2:25), when I rejected this idea ...
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Apr 30, 2023 16:03:21 GMT -5
About billboards : I saw that "Zosorailways" assembled (lasercut) billboards. Here is a picture of my 3D-printed (raw) billboards, each 22.2 mm in width (adapted from GCLaser models). They can be put near roads or on top of buildings.
It is possible to cut one upper "level" to get less height. If somebody is interested, I attach the zipped version of the stl file (itself 511 KB in size) to allow printing it Yourself (but I am afraid that FDM will cause issues) or let it print in SLS. Billboards.zip (35.82 KB)
|
|
|
Post by seerindarkness on May 1, 2023 2:33:33 GMT -5
|
|
zosorailways
Engineer
I mean base board appearance detailing and such
Posts: 219
|
Post by zosorailways on May 1, 2023 7:51:15 GMT -5
Saw your post about billboards I'm Not too computer savvy this side view of two different manufacturers of billboards are nearly the same in height. To possibly help or give a perspective (one on the right is the GCLaser billboard kit) Have an awesome day
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on May 1, 2023 13:54:08 GMT -5
Thanks Seerindarkness, but I use on my layout only(4)Rokuhan turnouts, with built-in magnetic actuator. Meanwhile my upper station has been converted to a single, passing through track station, which is perfect for a village. I am only waiting for my new station base ... from Shapeways ! To Zosorailways : Almost all my items were printed at Shapeways.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 6, 2023 16:11:34 GMT -5
Fresh news : The only things to be done are : 1) Some working on the landscape around the "upper" station (and re-ballasting about 1.5 meters of single track) ; all structures are finished (look for the station in another topic ; it will be fixed with two screws), the asphalted part around the silo on the right side is finished, too ; and I added a field (with grass) near my farm, where there will be some cows, and surrounded on two sides with a fence. I must only add the lawn surfaces for the houses along the track, between the silo and the beginning of the opposite side of the station, and a "small" forest between the houses and the gravel plant. 2) The supplementary electronics : a new board for the processor, with connexions for the speech control system (2 x serial) ; my Chinese speech recognition (5 € via Ali) works correctly (in English), at least with my voice, and they claim that it's speaker independent (there is no training, the vocabulary is created online) ; let's hope ... And the feedback will be spoken by the Adafruit sample player (controlled via the second serial interface). To avoid comments about the gender of the speaker (I found 2 good voices, Kendra and Joey, on ttsmp3.com), I decided to stay really in the 60's, with a ... robotic voice, like in SciFi movies. A little bit of humor. I created the sentences with the software "AnalogX SayIt" and the appropriate (4) parameters, and Audacity. Listen for the attachments : it sounds really "horrible", but at least it's understandable ... and genderless !
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 18, 2023 11:15:01 GMT -5
Some people say that only fools never change their mind ... Versatility of the touch panel, OK. Any modification needs only a re-programming and no new hardware, for this reason I wanted to migrate. The push buttons are nice, they look like a control panel in the sixties, but in case of failure they need a stock of spare parts (they are "NOS" ; as far as I know, they are no longer manufactured ? ) and are very difficult to replace (almost as difficult as a Rokuhan turnout in the middle of the layout ) . I think the most "flimsy" is the interlocking mechanism ; the only way to avoid this would be to use the switches as momentary pushbuttons only, but this needs (warm led) indicators for backup (like my first panel with the digitasts) ; it looks well but needs some additional encoding and decoding electronics, because finally there are not enough I/O lines at the processor. I think the best version will be the touch screen, despite of the fact that it is not coherent with the era (but neither the sequencer control is compatible ... and nor a DCC panel would be ) so the control panel will now be definitive (or not ? ) . The speech control with spoken feedback would be "invisible", as long as the headset is not plugged in, the Nextion display can act as a sample player too (with an embedded speaker), and the operator could "drive" the layout with or without a glance to the console and without an additional loudspeaker (as needed with an Adafruit sample player). The other advantage is : if a train is "awaiting" its start ( "paused" in the village station or automatic random mode) there can be a display page with the name and itinerary, and a countdown bargraph, so it's always visible what is happening, and if perhaps a train does not start because there is a bad contact. Meanwhile I made some additional tests of the recognition with a friend and his wife (same age as me) : it worked ! The only unknown fact his how the system would respond to "youngsters", but under 11 years of age they don't speak any English (we are in France and lessons for foreign languages don't commonly start at school before 11)
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Jun 26, 2023 1:19:10 GMT -5
Every day brings new issues. I tested the touch display "on desktop" ... and, despite of the fact that it's a capacitive version (I do no more consider resistive versions, this technology is in my eyes "has been" ), it does not react if I only touch slightly and briefly the display ; is it related with the duration of contact or the surface of the finger in contact ? I don't know ... So finally I think the best solution would be : - manual control via 10 "vintage" pushbuttons : one group of 4 for the train and one of 4 for the itinerary, momentary version (no interlocking) ; to start the train one must depress and maintain a switch of each group. Two additional switches (on-off) for automatic mode and emergency stop ; two control lights, one for "error" and the other indicating that the trains are inactive. - speech control with feedback via both an AdaFruit Sound FX and the lights. Can I finally see the "end of the tunnel" ?
|
|
|
Post by BAZman on Jun 26, 2023 10:51:03 GMT -5
Which touch product are you using?
|
|