Rocrail - Model Railroad Control System

rjversluis · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 3467

Hi,

iRoc is at the moment still under development and did not pass the review procedure for the iTunes App Store jet.

However, adhoc installations are available for a small group of testers.

If you want to join the testing you have to provide the **long** iPod/iPhone ID by email to me and you will get an adhoc installation as reply.

More information on adhoc installation:
http://www.innerfence.com/howto/install-iphone-application-ad-hoc-distribution

robteed · Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 3

Can you tell us why it didnt pass?

robteed · Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 3

I have ipod SDK on one of my computers.Can't remember which one. Do
I need to be in the SDK to get and run iroc? I'm building NanoX-S88 system
right now. Would be awesome to be able to use iRoc to control the locos.
I think iRoc would be cool with animated cab to simulate running a steam
loco.
Is iRoc going to be open source or GPL software? Just curious.

rjversluis · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 3467

Hi,

it did not pass because it crashes at startup on an iPhone if no LAN connections or no server is available.
We cannot reproduce this behavior, but at the moment the App is in review state again; Let's wait and see.

iRoc is open source and can be downloaded at Launchpad.net.

rjversluis · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 3467

Hi,

Ad Hoc snapshots of iRoc can be downloaded:

http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=snapshots-en

This links is also found in the Wiki navigation bar: Downloads->Snapshots

This will only work if you send us the iPhon/iPod Long ID:
http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=iroc-gen-en#ad_hoc_distribution
to: iroc at rocrail.net

Use small images to speedup loading:
http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=rocrailini-gen-en#small_images

Connect for a demo account to:
host: rocrail.dyndns.org
port: 8080

robteed · Joined: 08 Dec 2009 Posts: 3

Well I hope they get it approved soon. Its an awesome app.
I'm in no hurry to get the program as I'm still building my command
station right now.

gramels · Posted: 26.12.2009, 21:34 Post subject:

iroc rocks!

Installed it today and never expected to get from nothing to iphone controlled layout within 5 days (incl. soldering of accessory decoders).

One strange behaviour is one loco not stopping after the slider is mmoved all to the left.

But its big fun to walk along my LGB layout and wireless control it with my phone Smile

Thanks a lot!

rjversluis · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 3467

Hi,

Super! Smile

I have no iPhone to test with, 'only' a iPod-Touch.

Apple rejected the App because it crashes on an iPhone if no LAN is available or no Rocrail server is found.

Can you check that for me?

gramels · Posted: 27.12.2009, 07:54 Post subject:

Hi Rob,

I use
iPhhone 2G SW 3.2
iRoc-rev164.app.zip

rocrail server 1.3 running on Win XP SP3
DDX to Roco 10764

In terms of Server connection I observed two unexpected behaviours:

No Server:
iRoc does starts even without server (no crash). It also starts without network (via GSM and/or WLAN) too.
But it starts in an undefined state, displays some locos from last connect.

Server available:
iRoc sometimes does not connect first time (also no spinning WLAN wheel).
Does connect after ending it and starting iRoc again.

I suspect a race condition between iRoc trying to connect and iPhones activation of WLAN connection. I think it would also be better if iRoc can check if there is an established server connection and w/o one brings a popup ("No Server" -> retry). I checked in the servers log if the connection was established t be sure.

It is also not obvious if iRoc is still connected or has lost his server connection. Sometimes I needed to restart it. Could cause trouble of you walk away from WLAN coverage in your garden and some trains are about to crash and you have lost the server connection and cant interfere.
It seems like it needs an user initiated reconnect (stop iRoc and start it agan). Some seemless reconnect and an indicator of server connection status would be usefull.
I suspect the protocoll using TCP and loosing its state. Is UDP considered?

Maybe also an configurable default action in case of iRoc connectivity loss (stop all locos).

Also an "emergency stop" button would be usefull, would have saved me two crashes allready Wink

Hope that helps.

I am happy to test again, but I will be away from my layout for some days.

Do you want me to put this stuff in a bugtracker (have not found it so far...)?.

-gramels

rjversluis · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 3467

Hi 'Gramels'?

thanks for reporting.

But for the best result you need the latest Rocrail software installed because with older version you can have problems with connecting and other minor details.

Here you can find snapshots of version 1.4:
http://wiki.rocrail.net/doku.php?id=snapshots-en

The emergency button can be put in the tracker system as wishlist issue, the other issues should be retested against the latest 1.4 snapshot.

gramels · Posted: 27.12.2009, 11:28 Post subject:

a quick retest with latest snaphot demonstrated same behaviour.

dadolphs · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 1172 Location: Solingen

Hi,

I've installed version 165 on iPhone and iPod this morning and did some tests.

When I started iRoc for the first time on the iPhone with default settings (localhost) and Rocrail server not running the App crashed.
Since then I can do anything (flight mode, no Wireless, etc.) without experiencing a crash of the App! I do not get a hint that the App was not able to connect and still see a list of all my locos. Here I would prefer an info, that the App could not connect to the server and an empty list of locos and other objects.

Is it correct that version 165 doesn't show loco images anymore? Crying or Very sad

Best regards,
Dirk Happy with my cap

dadolphs · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 1172 Location: Solingen

Hi,

some progress regarding the images. Got confused between server and client images ... Wink

More to come soon!

Best regards,
Dirk Happy with my cap

dadolphs · Joined: 22 Feb 2008 Posts: 1172 Location: Solingen

Hi again,

got all loco pictures displayed! Very Happy

I had one loco picture with more than 256 colours which seems to confuse iRoc. After switching back to 256 colours everything is fine.

Best regards,
Dirk Happy with my cap

rjversluis · Site Admin Joined: 10 Apr 2006 Posts: 3467

Hi iRoc Testers,

the iPhone behaves somehow different under certain conditions.
But to find out what really is the matter I need an iPhone to connect to the development environment of Xcode.
Well, and because this time of year we are used to get toys, I ordered an iPhone at T-Mobile to replace my 'unusable/impossible' cellphone. Smile

In the meantime I will remove the last binary at Apple for review and will replace it if I fixed the crash issue at scratch install.

For those who can't wait to get the official iRoc App available can request Ad Hoc installation by email: iroc at rocrail.net
Do not forget to mail the 'Long ID'.