CurtPalme.com Home Theater Forum

[CIR Engineering]

So I have to go out tomorrow and trouble shoot a control board for a client. I will most likely need to transfer the setup from the original control board to a new one. Is there anyone out there that actually knows how to use either of these programs to make them work? Surprisingly neither Curt nor Tim know and I don't know either. The last time I tried to use Librarian I could not get it to work after a couple hours trying.

I have an RS232 port on COM1 and a straight RS232 cable. I believe that this is what is required for Librarian. Are the requirements the same for Loader?

Also, for Librarian I need to know the "projector ID." How do I know what the projector ID is?

Am I screwed?

Thanks guys?

craigr

[Nashou66]

Craig I use it all the time to do Greyscale and save my settings. The one I got is form the VDC web site.

if you have a Comp with a RS 232 port you'll be fine, if not you need a USB to RS 232 adaptor with a FTDI chip set. I found the Prolific chip set is iffy.

let me see if I can find the Program i use as there are a couple different ones. I thing it depends on the Firmware in the PJ. Do you know what his is off hand? if its older than 4.0 you might need an older version of the librarian. Not sure her though.

Athanasios

[CIR Engineering]

[Nashou66]

Ok I sent the two i have the Librarian and the Loader23.

Athanasios

[CIR Engineering]

Thanks Tom, got the files.

Dragan was kind enough to reply to me by email as well. He also does not know how to make the software work with the Marquee So far you are the only one with success! It is funny that Marquee has this great tool that no one knows how to use!

craigr

[mp20748]

Will you be using a USB to RS232 converter and which one?

[wkosmann]

Dear Craig;

I have used both the older Librarian with the older orginial Marquee 9000 (with 3.4 firmware) and the newer VDC loader with the pair of blended Marquee 9500 Ultras (with 4.3 firmware). Librarian is a DOS based program. Loader is Windows based, and much easier to use. I always use Loader to backup my Ultra settings each time I recalibrate. Works like a champ. Projector ID is 0, unless you have set it to something else.

I have a zip file of Loader 2.3 I can send you if Athanasios has not already done so. I also have older versions of Librarian (somewhere) that I can send you if you need.

I have never used a USB to RS-232 converter. I just use a laptop with a built-in serial connector. No problemo.

William

[CIR Engineering]

I finished the job and got librarian to work. I will post how later.

Thanks all and kind regards,
craigr

[Nashou66]

Cool, I'm happy it worked out for you.

Athanasios(Tom)

[Sparky015]

Athanasios, which USB to RS232 adaptor do you use? Unfortunately, new laptops don't have serial ports anymore. My older Dell laptop took a dive, so I was forced to get a new computer, so I need a USB adaptor, and I am hoping the VDC software works with Windows 7. Fingers crossed! Anyway, I'd love to go with what has proven to work if at all possible.

EDIT:
Found this one with an FDTI chip set. A bit pricey though.

http://www.usconverters.com/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=67&products_id=325

[Nashou66]

I use a Keyspan and I also bought a 4 port Version to connect to my radiance , Tvone and marquees all on one USB cable.

That should work, the FDTI chip set is key.

4 port I got

http://www.usbserial.com/USBG-BAY4.html

Athanasios

[CIR Engineering]

So basically I had a strange day yesterday... This was for an "MP9" thus it should have had FW 4 or higher to start with. It turns out that I have dubbed this "MP9" Marquee soup, because HR sold my client this "MP9" eight years ago, but it turns out that this is really just an MP9 case with an ULTRA motherboard and the rest of the parts are from a Marquee 9000 (based on Tim's guess because the serial number starts with 021 and NOT 2xx). Also, with the ULTA CLM installed none of the advanced geometry functions worked and the bow adjustments did not do anything including the regular H-Bow that all Marquee machines have. But that's another story for another day.

Anyway, I could not get Loader to work and I am guessing that this is because maybe Loader needs FW version 4 or higher. In any event, I got Librarian to work, but it did not work according to the manual.

Firstly, my normal work computer has Win7 64-bit and WinXP 32-bit dual partitions so I can boot either OS. I do this on the work laptop to help maintain compatibility with hardware and this wound up being necessary for Librarian. Librarian (at least the versions I have and on Curt's site) does not work inside a 64-bit OS, even in the Win7 XP compatibility mode. So if you want to run Librarian you will need a 32-bit OS (Dos or Win).

So after failing with Loader and Librarian in Win7 64-bit I booted into WinXP 32-bit. I started Librarian and connected my RS232 straight cable (NOT null-modem guys) to the RS232 output of the "MP9." The Librarian "online manual" that is included with the Librarian software specifically states that an RS232 straight cable is required, and that the RS232 cable can be connected to either the In or Out RS232 port on the Marquee.

A good test to see if you are connected to the projector is to select your com port even if the correct com port is already set. When you select the com port, the Librarian software polls the projector and will tell you if it is NOT connected. If you get a message that the Librarian cannot see the projector after choosing your com port, than something is wrong and the software will not work.

So after connecting the correct cable to the RS232 output on the Marquee and selecting the correct com port I was still unable to communicate with the projector. I tried with the projector powered off, powered on showing an image, and in standby; no luck with any.

Finally a installed a gender changer on my RS232 cable and plugged into the RS232 input port on the projector. With the projector turned on and showing an image I was then able to download the config successfully I could not connect to the projector with the projector off or in standby, the projector had to be showing an image on screen.

So according to the manual I should have been able to use either RS232 port on the projector. I however was only able to use the INPUT RS232 port. I suspect that this is why I failed the last time I tried to use Librarian

I use an industrial USB-RS232 four port converter that was included with some Sencore hardware I bought many years back. My USB-RS232 converter does not have any of the chip sets mentioned by others. I opened it and checked, and now I forget what chip set it uses, but the converter is the Quatech QSU-100.

Just a note for others who may seek out this RS232-USB converter, there is no official Win7 64-bit driver for the Quatech QSU-100. In Win7 64-bit I use the driver for their "QSU2-100" and it works fine for applications other than Librarian.

So I hope this post and mini tutorial helps other in the future.

Thanks guys to all who helped and offered their help.

Kind regards,
craigr

[Sparky015]

Thanks Craig, this is timely info!

[Nashou66]

Yeah I forgot to tell you it has to be connected to the input port. Reason being Marqueee's can be daisy chained together and the output port needs to be available for connecting another PJ to it. The control RS 232 cable to PC is connected on the 1st PJ input in the chain.

That PJ sounds like one of my first Marquee's I got. A Sanford and Son Reference 8 , all different boards.



Athanasios

[CIR Engineering]

[CIR Engineering]

I used Librarian on Windows7 32-bit last Sunday and it worked perfectly. So it seems that Librarian is fine with all windows versions that are 32-bit.

craigr

[Tim in Phoenix]

Guys

Does Loader run on firmware below v4.0?

I have never gotten Loader or Librarian to work on anything, and I have a serial port equipped laptop.


.

[barclay66]

Hi Tim,

I've been able to use both with CLM Firmware V3.3, 4.0E and 5.0. I had been using a Desktop PC with Windows XP. Maybe the problem is related to the computer You're using. I've often read that the serial ports on laptops don't reach the voltage levels normally required for serial communication. Most serial devices do tolerate this but maybe the serial port on the Marquee is picky.
At least from what I can see on the CLM schematics the RS232 drivers (LT1381) are not being used as recommended on the LT1381's datasheet...

Regards,
barclay66

[CIR Engineering]

Tim,

I think Librarian works on all Marquee FW versions. I have heard that Loader only works on v4 and higher. However, since I now have Librarian working reliably, I will probably not try Loader again until I absolutely have to.

craigr

[ronaldus]

Hi every body i was just reading a little bit this post.

I've tried using a vivanco usb to rs232 converter on my mac. Since this converter was not compatible mac, I've installed Oracle virtual box (runs also on windows machines) and this is a virtual machine that can simulate many different machines. I have created a virtual windows XP machine and run the software from there. Works very good and you don't have to reboot your machine.

Maybe it can be useful for somebody.

regards,

Ron.