Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad
-
Here is a pic of the table I had about ten or fifteen years ago.
-
It would definitely take some creative thinking and a lot of motors! Ideas are endless though, you could script out an entire episode of Thomas and Friends ha
-
Actually it could be done,.. but you would need special tracks and trucks (wheels). The trucks would have dual sets of wheels,.. upper and lower...
T\rying to find an image, ... but haven't yet.
-
@gjacobse said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Actually it could be done,.. but you would need special tracks and trucks (wheels). The trucks would have dual sets of wheels,.. upper and lower...
T\rying to find an image, ... but haven't yet.
Ah - Roller Coaster trucks..
http://www.themeparkreview.com/forum/files/thumb_sw_pv_407_0.jpg
-
@TAHIN said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Funny you mention this, I was just thinking about it the other day. When I was a kid my dad built a train set on a table (about 8' x 6'). N-scale I believe. All electric that went back to levers and buttons to control switches, train speed, etc.... The legs detached so it could be easily rested up on it's side and stored.
You could rig up something like that to a raspberry pi?
I'd want an Arduino to actually run everything. A Raspberry Pi could run a human interface for it. The big difference in this case is what happens when a power loss or unexpected reboot happens? The Arduino (ATmega328) is going to be back up and running in a second or two, whereas the Pi is going to take a minute or more to boot. Guess which one is going save the set more reliably after that dreaded unexpected reboot
The relays needed to control everything should be industry standard items, so should be very doable.
-
@TAHIN said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
It would definitely take some creative thinking and a lot of motors! Ideas are endless though, you could script out an entire episode of Thomas and Friends ha
Yeah, that kind of stuff. With synchronized lighting and sound so that you can have scenes happen. Like a live story telling system.
-
@gjacobse said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Actually it could be done,.. but you would need special tracks and trucks (wheels). The trucks would have dual sets of wheels,.. upper and lower...
T\rying to find an image, ... but haven't yet.
Of course and then it wouldn't be like a train, that's the problem. Roller coasters don't look like trains.
-
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@TAHIN said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Funny you mention this, I was just thinking about it the other day. When I was a kid my dad built a train set on a table (about 8' x 6'). N-scale I believe. All electric that went back to levers and buttons to control switches, train speed, etc.... The legs detached so it could be easily rested up on it's side and stored.
You could rig up something like that to a raspberry pi?
I'd want an Arduino to actually run everything. A Raspberry Pi could run a human interface for it. The big difference in this case is what happens when a power loss or unexpected reboot happens? The Arduino (ATmega328) is going to be back up and running in a second or two, whereas the Pi is going to take a minute or more to boot. Guess which one is going save the set more reliably after that dreaded unexpected reboot
The relays needed to control everything should be industry standard items, so should be very doable.
What makes an RP take so long to boot? Sounds more like a storage problem than a boot problem. An RP should be able to boot in seconds as well.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@gjacobse said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Actually it could be done,.. but you would need special tracks and trucks (wheels). The trucks would have dual sets of wheels,.. upper and lower...
T\rying to find an image, ... but haven't yet.
Of course and then it wouldn't be like a train, that's the problem. Roller coasters don't look like trains.
The goal I would think would be to just use the trucks... not the 'cars'. Cars can be whatever you want them to be.
-
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@TAHIN said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Funny you mention this, I was just thinking about it the other day. When I was a kid my dad built a train set on a table (about 8' x 6'). N-scale I believe. All electric that went back to levers and buttons to control switches, train speed, etc.... The legs detached so it could be easily rested up on it's side and stored.
You could rig up something like that to a raspberry pi?
I'd want an Arduino to actually run everything. A Raspberry Pi could run a human interface for it. The big difference in this case is what happens when a power loss or unexpected reboot happens? The Arduino (ATmega328) is going to be back up and running in a second or two, whereas the Pi is going to take a minute or more to boot. Guess which one is going save the set more reliably after that dreaded unexpected reboot
The relays needed to control everything should be industry standard items, so should be very doable.
What makes an RP take so long to boot? Sounds more like a storage problem than a boot problem. An RP should be able to boot in seconds as well.
It's the storage media's horrible throughput. Should they boot in seconds, yes. Do they boot in seconds, no. At least not compared to an Arduino. Remember, and Arduino doesn't "boot", as soon as power comes up it's running.
-
@gjacobse said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@gjacobse said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Actually it could be done,.. but you would need special tracks and trucks (wheels). The trucks would have dual sets of wheels,.. upper and lower...
T\rying to find an image, ... but haven't yet.
Of course and then it wouldn't be like a train, that's the problem. Roller coasters don't look like trains.
The goal I would think would be to just use the trucks... not the 'cars'. Cars can be whatever you want them to be.
I understand, but those won't grip railroad tracks.
-
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@TAHIN said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Funny you mention this, I was just thinking about it the other day. When I was a kid my dad built a train set on a table (about 8' x 6'). N-scale I believe. All electric that went back to levers and buttons to control switches, train speed, etc.... The legs detached so it could be easily rested up on it's side and stored.
You could rig up something like that to a raspberry pi?
I'd want an Arduino to actually run everything. A Raspberry Pi could run a human interface for it. The big difference in this case is what happens when a power loss or unexpected reboot happens? The Arduino (ATmega328) is going to be back up and running in a second or two, whereas the Pi is going to take a minute or more to boot. Guess which one is going save the set more reliably after that dreaded unexpected reboot
The relays needed to control everything should be industry standard items, so should be very doable.
What makes an RP take so long to boot? Sounds more like a storage problem than a boot problem. An RP should be able to boot in seconds as well.
It's the storage media's horrible throughput. Should they boot in seconds, yes. Do they boot in seconds, no. At least not compared to an Arduino. Remember, and Arduino doesn't "boot", as soon as power comes up it's running.
Doesn't the RP have the same capability? What lets the Arduino do that and not the RP?
-
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@TAHIN said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
Funny you mention this, I was just thinking about it the other day. When I was a kid my dad built a train set on a table (about 8' x 6'). N-scale I believe. All electric that went back to levers and buttons to control switches, train speed, etc.... The legs detached so it could be easily rested up on it's side and stored.
You could rig up something like that to a raspberry pi?
I'd want an Arduino to actually run everything. A Raspberry Pi could run a human interface for it. The big difference in this case is what happens when a power loss or unexpected reboot happens? The Arduino (ATmega328) is going to be back up and running in a second or two, whereas the Pi is going to take a minute or more to boot. Guess which one is going save the set more reliably after that dreaded unexpected reboot
The relays needed to control everything should be industry standard items, so should be very doable.
What makes an RP take so long to boot? Sounds more like a storage problem than a boot problem. An RP should be able to boot in seconds as well.
It's the storage media's horrible throughput. Should they boot in seconds, yes. Do they boot in seconds, no. At least not compared to an Arduino. Remember, and Arduino doesn't "boot", as soon as power comes up it's running.
Doesn't the RP have the same capability? What lets the Arduino do that and not the RP?
The Arduinos are really just an ATmega328 chip. All the memory and storage (what little they have) are on that ATmega328. Everything, on that one chip. You write the C program on a computer, and the precompiled code gets loaded into the firmware on the chip. The RP will always have something to load other than firmware.
-
@travisdh1 No way to write to firmware on the RP?
-
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 No way to write to firmware on the RP?
Not quickly and easily that I know of, while the Arduinos are built on the principle. It's like comparing a PIC to an x86.
-
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 No way to write to firmware on the RP?
Not quickly and easily that I know of, while the Arduinos are built on the principle. It's like comparing a PIC to an x86.
Yeah, but you can make an x86 boot in seconds
-
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 No way to write to firmware on the RP?
Not quickly and easily that I know of, while the Arduinos are built on the principle. It's like comparing a PIC to an x86.
Yeah, but you can make an x86 boot in seconds
How?
-
@Dashrender said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@scottalanmiller said in Has Anyone Built a Computer Controlled Model Railroad:
@travisdh1 No way to write to firmware on the RP?
Not quickly and easily that I know of, while the Arduinos are built on the principle. It's like comparing a PIC to an x86.
Yeah, but you can make an x86 boot in seconds
How?
Even Windows can get to just a few seconds to boot. But booting is much faster if you are not booting a full environment like a GUI. Look at a VM boot time, for example, that's the OS going from zero to fully booted. If you boot a memory image and keep it small, it can boot in a second or two easily.
-
PCs only seem to boot slowly because they tend to boot enormous GUIs, from slow disks and don't use a memory image.
-
I agree with using Arduino + RP for machine application. Arduino is a great single-threaded "doer" while RP is a multitasking "thinker". I'm planning to start a program to manage my Christmas lights for next year. Nice simple project for a beginner.
