New Lionel LSU WiFi Software now available for download!

Very nice. Just what I kept missing so far...

Very cool, I'm glad to see the LSU updated, lots of good stuff in this release!

 

Cool. Now if they will only support windows for the operation of trains I would be a happy camper.

Ron

I was thinking about that...I think most mobile devices 70% or more are iOS and some 25% for Android. That doesn't leave much of a market for Windows. Now, desktop and laptop wise I think Windows counts for 55%.

What Windows device are you thinking for LCS?

Thanks Marty. That's pretty cool.

Chuck I have a windows tablet that I very much would like to run the software on. I could probably write my own app but as busy as I am it would probably take 20 years or so to finish it. At 68 years old that seems kind of impractical. The screens and database are no problem but my experience writing directly to the serial port is zero. I'm not interested in a phone app just a full blown windows app.

Ron

Yes I have a win 8 tablet also. I need it for a lot of popular software, but I was forced into another iPad, as well, for other apps.

Editing switch and route names....cool!  Wonder why Lionel did not make a bigger deal out of this?  Seems like it is worthy of an announcement on the homepage.

Give it time, the final copy only came out last weekend

 

And it runs great on a Mac with Parallels

Thanks for posting about the new LSU update. I look forward to trying the wifi feature to connect LSU to the base. 

Thanks Marty.

Thanks for this post.  I downloaded this morning and configured my first route.  

 

Quick question.  Is there a reason why I should not have a switch configured as switch id 1.  I have one as Switch ID 1.  When I program the route, out of the four switches I have, switch id 1 is the only one that does not respond to the route fire button.  That switch responds fine when just using the switch option from the remote.  Just not when using the fire route feature.  I reprogrammed switch id 1 to use switch id #5 and then reconfigured the route to use id #5 instead of ID#1.  Then I tried to fire the route and it worked fine.  It appears that it is configured to not utilize ID#1.  Thanks for any feedback.  I really like the new LSU.

I tried it this morning and used the wifi with my MAC(running Windows 7).  it worked great.   Nice to just bring the laptop down and not have to mess with cables.   I recommend reading the attached PDF manual on Marty's post at the top.  I was able to update engine names, and labeled switch and routes. 

 

The switch labels do show up on the Legacy remote.   It would be nice to see the updated labels show up on the iCAB app.  Does anyone know if that can be done.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

I am not sure if switch 1 is not supposed to be used.  I set up my lionel switches using the SC2 using switch 1 as the first bank of 4.   I have a route setting up my yard which includes switch 1.  I have not had any issues with my route firing an omitting switch 1.   

 

Maybe others can chime in on this.   I would double check the route setup for switch 1.

 

Right now for the iCab I 'm pretty sure the only info the iCab reads is the ENG Roster.  Perhaps in a future release.

 

Not why the route works when this one switch has ID#5 and does not work when the same switch has ID#1.  All other switches work if this switch is id #5 or ID#1.  The PDF manual's example shows them using switch ID#1 so it should work.  I reprogrammed the switch 4 times using id 5 and 1.  It always worked when using ID#5 and never worked when using id 1.  I will keep messing with it to see if I can figure this out.

I just got a new PC recently and had not yet re-installed V1 back on it yet with the old USB serial adapter.  So I installed this new version instead and it connected right to my LCS WiFi module.  No cables, no adapters, no com ports, its GREAT!  Worked perfect.

Why does Lionel not advertise this.  When I go to the Legacy section on their website it still just list V1.   Thanks to Marty and this forum for keeping us in the loop!

 

The new V2 manual has a really nice description of the Control Type and Sound Type modes and when to use each one with what engines.  Page 18. 

Guys this just got put on the Lionel site on Friday. Literally. Rudy gave me a heads up. 

can someone lead me to link on creating a track plan using LSU or is that not available?

LSU is NOT for creating track plans.  It is for editing the Legacy database, backing up, etc.

my bad I was thinking of the IPad App where you can do that. 

 

MartyE, didn't mean to semi hijack your post

Just an FYI...

 

I just updated the LSU and told it to access the Legacy Base over WiFi. It kept trying to connect, unsuccessfully, until I realized I had to explicitly tell it to search the network in the Communications setup dialog box.

 

It then connected to the base successfully.

 

That is a known issue I found late last week when using it on a Mac with Parallels (or Virtual Machine) type setup. Most of the time using Mac/Parallels it will auto detect the LCS Wifi adapter during launch, but every so often it misses it on the network. That doesn't seem to be an issue on a Windows machine it will detect the base without doing a search.

 

In my case my VM detected the LCS wifi module just fine until I started using a Netgear router and local dedicated network versus a direct connection to the LCS wifi. The software would think the Netgear router was the LCS wifi adapter and latch onto it. I used the Netgear tool to find the LCS WiFi adapters IP address was 192.168.1.3 vs 191.168.1.2 entered . Since then it has been solid

Chris,

That doesn't seem to be an issue on a Windows machine it will detect the base without doing a search.

In my case, it was a PC, nor a Mac, running Windows 7. Interestingly, I noticed that the default was 192.168.1.x, although my network is 10.0.1.x.

My Asus Surface running Win 8.1 hooked up to 192.168.1.1

Chuck,

My Asus Surface running Win 8.1 hooked up to 192.168.1.1

If so, then you had your LCS set up as an access point rather than connected to a network. Is that correct?

Mine was not auto detected on my PC either.  I suspect mine was a norton issue though.  I changed the setting to always allow LSU and then manually entered the IP address for the wi fi device.  I was surprised how easy it was to get connected.

Yes

If you have the ability to edit router settings, as I do, you can give the GainSpan entry (for the LCS device) a static IP address. That way, it will always be served the same IP address by the DHCP server.

Good point.  I will do this next time I power the wifi device on.  I have static for most of my devices.  I should have thought about static for the wifi device as well.

Has anyone been able to get pins 1 and 4 out of the base db9 to work for serial connection to a computer or the wifi? I flipped the send and receive and the serial appears to connect, but was unable to download the roster, etc. So I am still having to change serial plugs when I want to use the desktop for LSU and the iPad wireless for the LCS.

 

I don't understand your question. According to Lionel the only way to use the LSU serially is to connect directly to the base. 

The Y cable that comes with the Legacy base has pins 1 and 4 as send and receive going to the extra DB9 connector. However it is meant to go to another base so the send and receive are flipped. I unflipped them to use for a source instead of a receiver Hoping to be able to connect both the serial desktop and the LCS wifi At the same time...but it's not right yet. Another way of putting it is I made a null modem cable out of the extra DB9...I think...

That is opposite what I had happen on the Mac/VM machine. The Train network is a 192.168.1.x address but when I had the LSU software try to search it immediately went to the  10.0.1.x network which is what my normal network runs on.

I just launched the Netgear Genie app and quickly deducted that the Gainspan device was the LCS WiFi and manually entered the IP. Added benefit is that the iCab can pic up the network throughout the house now. I can run trains from pretty much anywhere in the house, I just hope nothing is in the track

Does the desktop not have a wireless NIC? I am so happy I no longer have to connect the iMac to the Base. I just flip the wireless on and run the LSU.

Added bonus on the iMac I have both ethernet and wireless, I set the wireless to the Train network and the Ethernet to my home network and i can connect to both

       
       

That's the direction they are going I think. Makes it easy. I'll look into that.

Ok. That's what I did. Ethernet to the home and wireless to the LSU. Thanks for reminding me about the wireless in the desktop...I had never used it.

Glad that worked. Next step get a cheap Router and set up a dedicated Trains network so that when the MTH wireless hits the market the iPad can support both Apps without having to swap networks