Author Topic: DLA hardware config (Smart Strings/Pixelnet) in xLights  (Read 283 times)

Offline ghethco

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
DLA hardware config (Smart Strings/Pixelnet) in xLights
« on: November 14, 2020, 07:32:08 AM »
Hello everyone,

"Rip Van Winkle" here :-)  I did a show back in 2013 with DLA hardware and LightShow Pro software/sequencer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=04WNWGKyyJ0

Afterward I put everything in storage and did not do anything with it until this year.  Now I find that the whole world has changed!  The sources for both my hardware *and* software are gone.  I understand that the DLA hardware should still be usable, but so far I have not been able to get it working with xLights.  Hoping someone can help.

Since LSP is defunkt, I looked at both Vixen and xLights.  I prefer xLights, nice interface and more powerful I think.  Maybe slightly steeper learning curve, but I'm willing to invest the time.

I expect to upgrade hardware eventually, but hoping to get a show going with what I have for this year.

Here are the hardware details:

DIY Light Animation main hardware page: http://www.diylightanimation.com/wiki/index.php?title=Equipment#DMX_Devices

Etherdonglehttp://www.diylightanimation.com/wiki/index.php?title=EtherDongleUse

PixelNet 16 Port Active Hubhttp://www.diylightanimation.com/wiki/index.php?title=ActiveHub16Use

Smart String Controller v4 (many)

Right now I'm mainly struggling with how to do the controller configuration in xLights.  I currently have (what I thought to be) one DMX/pixelnet universe defined with 4096 channels.

Here's what one person suggested:

Active - Active
Vendor - blank
Supress Duplicate Frames - blank
Multicast - blank
IP Address - blank
Protocol - E131
Priority - 100
Managed - checked
Fpp Proxy - blank
Start Universe - 1
Universe Count - 32
Universes - 1-32
Individual Sizes - blank
Channels per universe - 512

Is this reasonable?  Have not gotten this to work yet, but still trying.

Thanks in advance!

Gary

« Last Edit: November 14, 2020, 07:35:03 AM by ghethco »

Offline keithsw1111

  • Administrator
  • Hero Member
  • *****
  • Posts: 2733
    • View Profile
    • Kellyville Christmas Lights
Re: DLA hardware config (Smart Strings/Pixelnet) in xLights
« Reply #1 on: November 15, 2020, 10:33:40 AM »
Pixel net is a USB protocol yet your properties suggest you added an Ethernet output.

Offline ghethco

  • Newbie
  • *
  • Posts: 4
    • View Profile
Re: DLA hardware config (Smart Strings/Pixelnet) in xLights
« Reply #2 on: November 16, 2020, 09:10:37 AM »
Hello everyone.  I got this working by just enabling the "Multicast" setting in the xLights controller config.

@Keith -- thanks for the advice.  As I understand it, my EtherDongle converts ethernet (IP) data to PixelNet.  This is now working.

Gary