Dealer loader software

There is no legal way I know of that you can obtain the software without being an ASC.  I'd find a local ASC and see if you can get them to change all the info.  Without knowing where you are, I can't really recommend any specific person or shop.

An "in store" MTH Authorized Service Center might make your changes without charge because getting traffic (you) in the store is important  to selling his products. Whereas an independent ASC might charge a small fee for his time since that is about the only product he has to sell.

Merry Christmas!

I’m no lawyer or Anything but if mth closes it’s doors and the trademark doesn’t continue will it still be illegal ? For someone to share the dealer programmer and on the subject of software and closing we need some sort of digital bank of the sound files or a forum sticky for uploading files for anyone who needs a sound file to repair an engine.

The copyrights and patents will be transferred to a new entity, they're not going away.  I'm not a lawyer either, but I play one at times.

The dealer program also requires a log in.  Never sure how that fully worked, but your account had to be part of the data base.  Even if MTH closes, the current dealers and tech are capable.  G

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

The copyrights and patents will be transferred to a new entity, they're not going away.  I'm not a lawyer either, but I play one at times.

that's if there will be a new entity there nothing concrete yet 

I personally don't see what the big deal is with the dealer loader program.  Just let everyone have it. 

I don't either Dave, but that's the way the deal is structured.  I know that MTH, and I suspect any new entity that follows MTH, would be unhappy if I shared mine.

@David Minarik posted:

I personally don't see what the big deal is with the dealer loader program.  Just let everyone have it.

How well would you do as a dealer if no one ever came to your store for a part or a repair.  Do you think you would see a drop in sales, and overall cash flow?

It is an interesting conundrum, a lot of proprietary info makes it way on the web and then the owner and others see a loss in revenue and a misuse of their property.  Obviously it is a big enough deal for some to want a permanent name.

I am sure sooner or later someone with hack the program and write there own loader program, followed by the ability to reset hours, etc...  G

@GGG posted:

How well would you do as a dealer if no one ever came to your store for a part or a repair.  Do you think you would see a drop in sales, and overall cash flow?

It is an interesting conundrum, a lot of proprietary info makes it way on the web and then the owner and others see a loss in revenue and a misuse of their property.  Obviously it is a big enough deal for some to want a permanent name.

I am sure sooner or later someone with hack the program and write there own loader program, followed by the ability to reset hours, etc...  G

George,

The dealer loader doesn't offer that much more than the consumer version.  I am 100% certain that people did not come to my shop for the sole reason to get the name permanently changed in their locomotive (that is the feature we are talking about here).

The only thing that I have seen is techs pontificating by telling people that they have to go to an ACS to have this done even after they have done the work themselves.  Whenever I did change the name for a customer, I did it for free. 

How is MTH losing revenue here?  The customer bought the kit.  The customer did the upgrade.  The customer loaded the sound file.  Give them the tools to complete the job!

And just so you know, I sent MANY customers your way.

Respectfully,

Dave I think you missed what I was saying.  If your focusing on the minuet of the name sure.  I worked at a hobby shop for a short period after I retired.

That owner was an original MTH Dealer and NSC at the time.

Every engine purchased was serviced before given to the customer.  The serial data is more than just name.  Has personal info of the customer that can be added.  That would be done.  Kind of a theft protection and warranty ID thing.  I do it for all upgrades.  So just giving this to everyone also allows a different level of access.  There are a lot of trains out there with personal information in the serial data.

My only point is that in the beginning, there was structure to it.  Manuf, dealers, customer.   The goal from MTH was to help dealers.

Regardless,  MTH is not going to pay for a software change to add the naming convention in consumer program.  And the dealer has too much other data that may be in a load.  I can see the initial reason why they structured it that way.

Frankly, the Kit has no warranty if not done by an ASC.  That is a bigger issue in my mind then permanent name.

Thanks for the referrals.   G

@David Minarik posted:

George,

The dealer loader doesn't offer that much more than the consumer version.  I am 100% certain that people did not come to my shop for the sole reason to get the name permanently changed in their locomotive (that is the feature we are talking about here).

The only thing that I have seen is techs pontificating by telling people that they have to go to an ACS to have this done even after they have done the work themselves.  Whenever I did change the name for a customer, I did it for free.

How is MTH losing revenue here?  The customer bought the kit.  The customer did the upgrade.  The customer loaded the sound file.  Give them the tools to complete the job!

And just so you know, I sent MANY customers your way.

Respectfully,

And this is my issue exactly. I have an engine that had its shell damaged, so I replaced it with one of a different  road name/number. I also have swapped a board into another engine from a broken donor locomotive. In each case, the engines have incorrect names, and I sometimes reset one for use with a DCS remote commander, requiring me to change the name whenever I add it back to my main DCS system. If MTH added this feature alone to the consumer version, than I would have no desire for the dealer version.

I truly don't know why the permanent engine name wasn't part of the consumer loader, that doesn't make much sense.  I understand MTH wanting to keep the other internal information to ASC's.

@gunrunnerjohn posted:

I truly don't know why the permanent engine name wasn't part of the consumer loader, that doesn't make much sense.  I understand MTH wanting to keep the other internal information to ASC's.

I mean it would be nice to be able to give it a permanent name. That way I don't have to bring completed projects to the LHS to give it a permanent name....

I agree. Being able to set the name would be nice.

And here we go again in a circular loop.  Today I just can not understand why they did this way, but 30 years ago they did have a reason.  I can surmise it, but you may not be able too.  Back then it was ASC from dealer ships doing this.  There were not independent techs, like now.  You had to be sponsored by a Hobby shop.  Consumers were not doing upgrades, there was a slew of techs at MTH and benches for upgrades at York as I was told.  Times change, but the program did not.  Now there are more technical customer tackling upgrades, but the program was written when folks were not.   As written the serial data goes into a set section of memory in sector 1.  So the name and all the other personnel data is there.  So it might be a little more involved to only write a portion of the software in sector 1 for a consumer, but more data for a dealer.

Heck, I wanted the ability to call up my repeat customer data when I use it, but you have to re enter each time.  No interest to do this.  So who knows specifically why, but I imagine the software rewrite just might be a tad bit more involved, and they did not want to do it.

To bad, to late, not going to happen unless there is a new company and they decide that is the top priority to go tackle.

So today, in today's environment, a new company may do things different.  G