What can you do with ETCNet with an Express board? (Help!)
I'm primarily looking to see if there was any way that I could write shows on the lighting console and then be able to retrive them in a .shw file on a computer hooked up to the network. What I am trying to do is make the risky buisness of handling shows on 3-1/2in. A: Floppy disks obsolete. If anybody has any info or tips about anything related to the subject that I could try please respond as soon as possible. Thank-You very much!
I agree with Steve that floppys are not as risky as you suspect. People saving just two copies of a show have lost very little in 25 years of light board development. (On the other hand, how risky is it to make an important phone call on a miserable cell phone, or to think that an MP3 version of a tune actually sounds like the real thing? Not trying to start an argument, just pointing out that new technology is not always "better" than old technology.)
To add to Steve's list of prudent practices:
Don't smoke around floppy disks or your console.
Vacuum your console and the area once a month.
Buy new diskettes and use them only in the Express. That is, avoid using floppies that have been written to in a PC for regular daily storage with the light board. That is: Use a floppy to transfer an EOL show to the board, and then return the transfer floppy to your regular office PC floppy library. (This rule is based on occasional misalignment of read/write heads in floppy drives. If you always use the same drive, the misalignment becomes the "right" alignment.)
To be honest, I haven't paid money for a floppy in some time, because they used to be available with huge rebates or free with purchases. But there are good floppies and bad ones. If you have two failures from one box of inexpensive diskettes, discard the rest of the box immediately.
I agree with Steve that floppys are not as risky as you suspect. People saving just two copies of a show have lost very little in 25 years of light board development. (On the other hand, how risky is it to make an important phone call on a miserable cell phone, or to think that an MP3 version of a tune actually sounds like the real thing? Not trying to start an argument, just pointing out that new technology is not always "better" than old technology.)
To add to Steve's list of prudent practices:
Don't smoke around floppy disks or your console.
Vacuum your console and the area once a month.
Buy new diskettes and use them only in the Express. That is, avoid using floppies that have been written to in a PC for regular daily storage with the light board. That is: Use a floppy to transfer an EOL show to the board, and then return the transfer floppy to your regular office PC floppy library. (This rule is based on occasional misalignment of read/write heads in floppy drives. If you always use the same drive, the misalignment becomes the "right" alignment.)
To be honest, I haven't paid money for a floppy in some time, because they used to be available with huge rebates or free with purchases. But there are good floppies and bad ones. If you have two failures from one box of inexpensive diskettes, discard the rest of the box immediately.
