Apples new "Homekit" could it provide the tools we need for a truly open control system for our O scale trains,or any scale for that mater. So goodbye to all your remotes around the house, TV,CD, stereo, garage door etc and your trains?? Its all on your phone, pad etc. The boards to contol all this will get cheaper, smaller, and more commonly available, just pope one in your loco and of you go. Stephen (cTr...Choose the Right)
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..... just pope one in your loco....
And hope for divine intervention......
Tom I believe this would go beyond that, your TIU would disappear and the communication would be direct from your phone to the loco via a board similar to Auduino and Raspberri boards. Its already being done. What is needed is a server to deliver individual control to more than one loco at a time, "Homekit" proposed by Apple may provide this. But someone with more tech savvy than me might chime in here. I think MTH may already be anticipating this in the future, since there new handsets will use WiFi communication. Stephen (cTr...Choose the Right) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jDUTB8teaRY https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1yAu9aM52YM
I watched an HO group run HO trains at a show in Canada with a computer.
they ran point to point, until the computer didn't do what it was suppose to do
and the locomotive ran off the end of the layout and onto the floor.
Don't think it was suppose to do that.
All Home Kit does is provide the API to developers to know how to use the hooks required to allow the central Home Kit app to control their hardware. So, if Lionel or MTH choose to put those hooks into their WiFi interface units they could, but the Legacy Base and the TIU would still be required. But after reading Apple's Home Kit developer page, I think the trains are too complex to be part of this system. It seems mostly geared for toggling things. It also seems that most things in the Home Kit GUI will be preset, therefore Apple would have to put train controls in the app, which I'm pretty sure they won't do, nor will Lionel or MTH allow them too. Nice thought, but I just don't see it ever happening.
Sinclair Thanks I knew someone would knew more about this, thank for the explanation. Its always fun to anticipate where new ideas and technology will take us. Stephen (cTr...Choose the Right)
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