Backup ELE2 using Nomad

1) yes

2) nomad is a software not hardware so no it does not have an output port. You can either output with an USB to DMX device by ETC, called Gadget II. Or you can output through network to any node or gateway that can listen to sACN or ArtNet. the network device can also be 3rd party, but the USB device need to be by ETC

3) yes.

Don't forget that you not only need the nomad software and an output device, you also need a license. This comes as a USB dongle. It's available for 512 addresses or 6144 addresses.

We're ONLY DMX so dongle at $225 a must I guess (Pity, as we have ENTEC USB/DMX). Presumably USB license dongle comes on purchase of the NOMAD. Still, overall at around $800 better than Puck at $2,600. I can see why really big shows have 2 boards in tow now. Its a creepy feeling when mid show something goes belly up! Thanks for the help.

You can buy a gadget2 which have two DMX ports, it cost around $250 I think. With v2.9 the client dongle will have 1024 addresses.

Just to clarify this.

Nomads itself is free you don't buy it just download and then you can work on shows offline.

To run a show online you need the licence dongle which a quick google search showed a best price of $567 https://www.fullcompass.com/prod/506225-etc-etcnomad-512-lighting-control-software-dongle-512-output?gclid=EAIaIQobChMIqpSA4KP54gIVEKvsCh3ExQtHEAQYASABEgKnGvD_BwE

You then need something to output to the rig.

You can choose either the ETC Gadget 2 USB/DMX at $225

Or an sACN/Artnet to DMX convertor which is in the $125 - $175 kind of price range from Entec or DMXKing.  They just connect using ethernet to the PC and output normal DMX   (big rigs would always use this approach as they can connect the Ethernet to both desks and fail over to the backup desk without needing to touch the wiring)

Hope that makes it clearer

Thank you. We have a single ELEMENT 2 connected to a Private WiFi router (no internet access) to be able to use our RFU tablet. A straight ETC USB/DMX would allow us to switch the DMX Cable to the dimmer rack from the console to the USB/DMX dongle.

But, I'm still trying to get my head around the sACN/ArtNet/DMX thingy. As we do not use anything more than a single DMX Universe I'm trying to work out if this would have any advantages in our small setup.    

to use the backup as a real backup (so-called tracking backup, i.e. master and backup are connected and backup knows what master does at all times, so it's always in the correct cue) you will need a network cable between the two anyway.

so the proposed solution is:

you take a simple unmanaged (not "smart") network switch. this is the heart of your small network. you connect multiple things to it: your element, the nomad computer, the router and the sACN/ArtNet-to-DMX thingy.
your one DMX cables stays connected to that thingy all the time. the network, element and nomad find out among themselves who is sending stuff to the DMX thingy. so in case of failure you don't need to re-plug the DMX cable

Oh - I'm getting there :)  So taking all of this into account we would setup all as you describe; Then move our current 'DMX to dimmer' cable from the Element 2 into the "thingy".

With respect to the "Unmanaged network switch" Would our "Netgear  WiFi AC1000" with 4 ethernet ports (one in use by ELE2) provide the switch function or would we be better off getting a small separate switch box?

Yes that should work perfectly and its better not to have two switches passing stuff from each other as more scope for things to misbehave.  

So all you need to do is plug the "thingy" into the the netgear and plug nomads into it as well and move the DMX cable as you said.

You are then all setup for the future in a robust way.

If you ever need more universes it just plug another "thingy" into the switch.  You can also put the "thingys" at the stage rather than in your FOH position and just run a single Ethernet cable to them which is easier /than long DMX runs.

Excellent. Actually understand this. Thank you for your patience.