AMX DCS with Windows 7 64bit

llopez2

The documentation for AMX DCS does not list Windows 7 in the list of compatible OS. It will install and launch, but has problems with communicating with device. Has anyone made this app work in any of the available compatibility modes in Win 7 64bit?

Auser

llopez2 wrote: »

Has anyone made this app work in any of the available compatibility modes in Win 7 64bit?

We have, but you'll likely need to add it to the Win7 firewall exceptions and install the Bonjour plugin from Apple.

It's a pain to get it to work in Win XP as well - we wasted hours stuffing about. Turns out that DCS requires a newer version of the Bonjour plugin than Netlinx devices/Netlinx Studio, but you can't update to a later version of the Apple plugin without first uninstalling the existing version, reboot, hacking the registry, reboot, unregistering .dlls, reboot, hit head against wall, ..., etc.

See http://arai.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/completly-uninstall-and-remove-bonjour-service-and-files-mdnsresponderexe-and-mdnsnspdll/ for instructions on removing an existing version of Bonjour so that you can (successfully) update to the latest version.

It's generally a bad idea when companies rely on third party components for mission critical portions of a system. Bonjour is no exception. I haven't seen any troubleshooting information from AMX for getting DCS to talk to keypads naturally.

llopez2

Gave up and grabbed Windows 7 32bit laptop

Auser wrote: »

We have, but you'll likely need to add it to the Win7 firewall exceptions and install the Bonjour plugin from Apple.

It's a pain to get it to work in Win XP as well - we wasted hours stuffing about. Turns out that DCS requires a newer version of the Bonjour plugin than Netlinx devices/Netlinx Studio, but you can't update to a later version of the Apple plugin without first uninstalling the existing version, reboot, hacking the registry, reboot, unregistering .dlls, reboot, hit head against wall, ..., etc.

See http://arai.wordpress.com/2008/02/11/completly-uninstall-and-remove-bonjour-service-and-files-mdnsresponderexe-and-mdnsnspdll/ for instructions on removing an existing version of Bonjour so that you can (successfully) update to the latest version.

It's generally a bad idea when companies rely on third party components for mission critical portions of a system. Bonjour is no exception. I haven't seen any troubleshooting information from AMX for getting DCS to talk to keypads naturally.

Thanks for the quick reply. I tried reinstalling Bonjour, as well as iTunes and QuickTime per instructions. I made exceptions in Windows firewall and still no go. Grabbed a Win7 32bit laptop and just like magic it works. Oh well. maybe some other time when i'm bored I can try and resolve this issue.

Auser

I'm pleased to hear that it worked on the 32 bit machine, though I doubt that the fact it's a 32 bit OS was the root factor. The DCS software just seems to need all the planets to be in alignment and a north easterly breeze blowing at 2.5km/h before it will operate correctly.

If AMX is going to continue to rely on zero-config for device discovery they should write their own implementation and perform more testing to ensure that there are no issues trying to get the functionality working on dealer machines. We've had nothing but trouble trying to get discovery working on most staff machines. And wasted days of staff time.

IMHO the Novara DCS software is a pig to get working. Avoid.

Oh, and to add to that:

- The software was under baked when released to the market and you couldn't even have toggling buttons like you could on the old CP-1000 series. They seemed to put all their product development time into providing highly customisable RGB feedback on the buttons instead of on making the product functional. Resolved after much embarassment to us as a dealer.

- The CP-3000 series required about 7 firmware updates before it would operate without locking up. This meant a trip back to the sites where they were installed and pulling them out of the wall every time. Resolved after much embarassment to us as a dealer.

- Actions after delays don't fire reliably. Still an issue as far as I'm aware.

- Panels exhibit different operational behaviour and bugs from model to model. Still an issue as far as I'm aware.

I mean really - we're talking about a keypad and a simple configuration environment. It shouldn't be this hard to get it right. It takes us far longer to get one of these up and running than it should due to the numerous problems with them/config software - I actively avoid them.