Release Notes for JMRI 2.2 release

Date: July 13, 2008

From: Bob Jacobsen

Subject: Production version 2.2 of JMRI/DecoderPro is available for download.

Notes:

We are very pleased to announce that the 2.1 series of JMRI test releases has resulted in a version that's good enough to be recommended for general use, including by new users. We're therefore making that version, "Production version 2.2" available for download today. It contains many new features, including:

• Many updates to decoder definitions and new decoder definitions.
• New systems and devices supported:
  • ProTrak Grapevine system
  • Hornby Elite command station
  • NCE USB adapter and PowerCab
  • X10 power adapters
  • Quantum (QSI) Programmer
  • CTI Acela system
  • SECSI boards
  • TCH Technology NICS system
  • XnTcp network adapter
  • Digitrax PR3
  • Connection to SRCP servers
  • CAN-based networks, focusing on the MERG CBUS
  • RailDriver from PI Engineering
  • USB HID devices (joystick, scrollwheel, etc)
• Improvements to:
  • Fast clock
  • Consisting
  • USS CTC panels
  • Routes
  • Turnouts
  • Linux and Mac OS X startup scripts
  • Throttles, particularly for 28 functions and international language support
  • SPROG support
  • Digitrax firmware downloader
  • Support for multiple layout connections
• Many new and updated help pages.
• Many important additions to layout editor, including train tracking
• Possibility of running shutdown scripts.
• New sample scripts:
  • RobotThrottle.py for automated running of trains;
  • ParallelPortTest.py and ParallelPortTurnouts.py for connection of custom hardware via parallel port.

along with lots of other changes. The complete list can be found in the release notes from the test releases leading up to this production release:

• JMRI 2.1.8
• JMRI 2.1.7
• JMRI 2.1.6
• JMRI 2.1.5
• JMRI 2.1.4
• JMRI 2.1.3
• JMRI 2.1.2
• JMRI 2.1.1

JMRI is now only available under the GNU General Public License. For more information, please see our copyright and licensing page.

Warnings and Notes:

The "Double Turnout" and "Triple Turnout" signals are now called "Double Output" and "Triple Output" in an attempt to reduce confusion of new users. They still work the way they used to.

Starting in the 2.1.4 version, panels should not have duplicate names. The program assigns a unique default name to newly created panels, and will prevent you from renaming a panel to an existing name. If you read a file containing a panel with a name that duplicates an existing panel's name, you'll get a warning message. Depending on user reaction, this may become a dialog box that asks if you want to continue.

The scripts used to start the JMRI applications on Linux and Mac OS X have been extensively reworked. The new ones should do everything the old ones do, plus more. Please keep an eye out for new problems, however, and don't hesitate to report them to the list.

In JMRI 2.1.1, when you went to load a panel file, only files with a ".xml" filename suffix were shown by default. To see all files, you could select "All Files" in the window. This caused some confusion because many people hadn't added the ".xml" suffix to their panel file names. We still think having a suffix like that is valuable, but to reduce confusion in JMRI 2.1.2 when you save a panel file an ".xml" suffix is added automatically to the filename if you haven't already provided it. This makes the filename filter work better when loading a file. If you want to provide another suffix, or none at all, select the "All Files" option in the window before saving the file.

JMRI is moving toward requiring Java 1.4 or later. Certain new features may not work if you are using an earlier version of Java. To see JMRI's future plans for this and other compatibility issues, please see the JMRI technology roadmap.

JMRI no longer supports NCE AIU broadcasts. This change was needed so that JMRI could reliably read certain CV values. We recommend that if you use NCE AIUs, that you upgrade the command station EPROM to version 2007 or newer and turn off AIU broadcasts. Code has been added to detect if AIU broadcasts are enabled, and a warning message will appear at startup requesting that AIU broadcasts be turned off for proper operation of the JMRI programs.

Indexed CVs will not be included in any printouts for this release.

QSI CV 56.129 Engine ID Access is not supported in this release.

While programming QSI decoders in Ops mode, it is necessary to disable CV 62 QSI Control (Verbal Acknowledgement), otherwise the writes will fail.

QSI CV 64 CV Numeric Verbal Readout currently does not work for indexed CVs.

Download links:

Please use these links for downloading, including the "?download" at the end. That adds to SourceForge's advertising statistics, which makes them happy to host our stuff.

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