Pixie 16 LOR and xlights

[Bryan H]

Ok, After watching the live stream of the Sydney meeting, I am going to have a crack at xlights... I have attempted to connect my LOR controller to xlights but with no success. I have no issues with LOR software, but just can't seem to make out how to get Xlights to talk to LOR via the usb connector. I have set it up for the right comm port.

I am sure I am missing something simple in the set up

Regards
Hammo

 

[djgra79]

The top right corner is a button that looks like a light globe - this is output to lights. Make sure this is clicked/on.
Otherwise it could be a channel setup issue. Can you get lights working from a test pattern or da_e1.31 software?

 

[Bryan H]

Ok, that now has the controller talking to xlights, now I need to work on getting the display working. I only have one LOR controller connected at this stage...

 

[Bryan H]

Looking at the website for xlights, I don't think I can use my pixie16 LOR controllers....

 

[David_AVD]

I'd never heard of those controllers before. Way too many channels to use with a standard DMX universe.

Not sure exactly what the communication is. It's not Ethernet and it's not regular DMX.

My guess is that it's designed for LOR software only.

 

[Gilrock]

I hadn't heard of them either but its just like LOR to not follow standard lighting protocols and try to force you to use their software. I'm sure someone could make it work but I think we are all getting tired of having to reverse engineer the junk they do. Just gotta quit buying their hardware is the only way they will learn.

 

[ryanschristmaslights]

The Pixie manual says

Unlike most multi-string pixel controllers, the Pixies do not use a LAN. The Pixies run on a standard LOR network in either normal or enhanced mode at speeds up to and including 1Mbit/sec

So the lack of LAN connectivity is one of the differences between the Pixie's and PixCon16 (I did wonder how these two differed but never bothered to find out)

Unfortunately the Pixie manual also says:

Only the Pixie4 supports DMX. In it normal configuration, DMX channels 1-150 control the first string, 151-300 control the second string and 301-450 control the third string.

So Pixie8 and Pixie16 are a no go for running on DMX and this rules out software that can't speak LOR protocol. This is quite the 'gotcha' seeing as most of LOR's other options do work with DMX (or E1.31 in the case of PixCon16) .

Manual: http://www1.lightorama.com/PDF/Pixie_Man_Web.pdf

 

[Bryan H]

Well, looks like I will be using LOR software this year until my LOR controllers die, I will maintain the LOR... Thanks Guys

 

[keithsw1111]

Looking at the website for xlights, I don't think I can use my pixie16 LOR controllers....

Are you going to the Adelaide mini?

 

[Bryan H]

Are you going to the Adelaide mini?

No Keith, I managed to watch abit of the live stream from the Sydney mini. Adelaide is a bit far for me to travel. Would love to go to it, but I know the minster for war and finance will not let me...

Have been watching your Youtube channel to learn a lot about xlights.
Regards
Bryan

 

[videoman3857]

Use the LOR, Hammo, use the LOR

 

[Bryan H]

Lor isn't bad. I don't mind paying for a program. But will work on learning xlights for a dual network idea..

 

[Gilrock]

xLights does speak LOR protocol. You can use the LOR dongles and control a lot of their equipment. I'm just not sure whether the existing LOR protocol we have works with those new cards. I usually tell everyone if a piece of hardware shows up on my doorstep I'll make it work in xLights.

 

[Bryan H]

I can see that the LOR controller talks to Xlights, but at this stage, I don't think xlights supports pixie16d cards. It will support the pixcon 16 card but as you pointed out not the smaller and cheaper version of the pixcon 16

 

[Gilrock]

Well most of us didn't mind paying for programs either. I bought LOR, SuperStar, LSP and used HLS then decided to help write a sequencer better than all of them. Its those stupid decisions like proprietary protocols that cause people to dislike LOR. But if they want to roll that way I don't care. We have so many users jumping ship from LOR we can barely keep up teaching them.