ishow with windows 7

[Sputnik77]

really? why would that be a banned word? crazyness!

but yea im about to buy it myself...along with a new DAC

You dont need a new DAC if you have the iShow DAC. It works quite well with the pasta software.


If you have trouble with USB hangs in a VM, just unplug a re-plug the DAC, it should pick back up.

 

[dfhrace]

cool looks like ill only be spending $90 today
so if i buy the pasta i would still need to run it in VMware? yes?

as for the USB hanging unplugging it from the PC didnt work i have to unplug it from the power source to get it to work again.... What would cause this to happen?

 

[dfhrace]

i did get to take a couple of pictures....

and

 

[Sputnik77]

cool looks like ill only be spending $90 today
so if i buy the pasta i would still need to run it in VMware? yes?

as for the USB hanging unplugging it from the PC didnt work i have to unplug it from the power source to get it to work again.... What would cause this to happen?

Yes, you will still need to run in a VM.


Its hanging because USB needs to be polled regularly to keep alive. If for some reason the polling slows down, or hangs, it will drop the connection.

 

[hakzaw1]

********* < thats the banned word-- Admin is just trying to keep peace.

Good thread-good help/advice and pics__post more!!

 

[vk2fro]

why is the name of the software that gary wrote been censored here?

anyway its the pasta that usually comes with bolagnese and is long, thin and tubular in nature.

edit: hakzaw1 explained it to me. Pasta it is

 

[Sputnik77]

Ok, I have been working on this exhaustively for the past day to no avail.

I can now get the driver to install properly. I can get it to display in device manager properly and report that it is connected an working properly.

However, I cannot get the Ishow apllication itself to detect that the DAC is there. It will not show in the device list.

This is a big leap however!!!!

I have some other things in mind. At this point, I may not get the DAC to work with iShow, but I may be able to get the DAC to work with Pasta and Win7 x64.

That is still good!! Its a good DAC (the iShow software just suuuuucks), and can be bought for ~$60

 

[DJRayErie]

Sputnik -

Do you have this driver available yet or are you still testing it? I am a current WIN7 64bit user left in the dark (no pun intended) with iShow's DAC and pasta. It seems you may have answered mine and many people's prayers.. I agree - the iShow software isn't user friendly at all but it does include a DAC nonetheless and the 800+ ild files make it worth every penny. But anywho, do you have this driver ready for download?

Ray

 

[Sputnik77]

Sputnik -

Do you have this driver available yet or are you still testing it? I am a current WIN7 64bit user left in the dark (no pun intended) with iShow's DAC and pasta. It seems you may have answered mine and many people's prayers.. I agree - the iShow software isn't user friendly at all but it does include a DAC nonetheless and the 800+ ild files make it worth every penny. But anywho, do you have this driver ready for download?

Ray

No, not yet!! Hopefully within a week or so.

The iShow stuff is actually very useful. While its not the best at actually running a show, it does have some good tools to create them. Plus the DAC is a good DAC.

 

[DJRayErie]

Awesome - definately keep us in touch!!!

 

[DJRayErie]

Sputnik, how are ya coming along? Sorry - I'm chompin at the bit -- I may do dual boot to see it in action.. But I really wanna have it work normal because of the things i've read about doing dualboot aren't very promising.. Anywho - Keep me in touch and if ya get it working with.......y'know.... lol - shoot me a message!

Thanks

 

[vk2fro]

So let me get this straight. If sputniks driver ends up working for windows 7 64bit, once he releases it, we can have a dac for $80 with a craptonne of ild files to go with it, and if you buy pasta you can set yourself up for show creation and playback reliably for about $180. (the italian dish software is $100 if the author charges $20 for a dongle so your not tied to one laptop). Yes it can be obtained by other means but software developers need to eat too. That combo costs less than a decent 445 build. Consider the ishow package for $80 there abouts as a dac and ILD frames package. The other half (pasta) is your playback and show presentation package. You need both if you want to reliably play shows on your fancy new 6 watt projector

Thats pretty good going. For someone to get into laser shows on the cheap it would simply require a reke, an ishow and pasta, and you'd be set for under $500. The rekes are highly geared toward upgrading, and I would simply toss the internal show card, wire the ilda port via a stanwax ilda breakout (or similar gadget on ebay) directly to the scanners and lasers, and then as funds permit, upgrade the lasers to analogue units. You'd soon have a kickass projector if you stuff a few hundred milliwatts of green in there, a blue and a doublet of those mitsu diodes at 637. The other thing I'd do is wires a relay across the keyswitch, and out via an E-Stop, back to the relay, so it can cut the power to the lasers if the key is off, or someone mashes the button.

I would go the above route if I hadn't already sunk over a grand into my home built projector. Keep us posted on your driver sputnik. As soon as its available I'll pop a reference to it on the projector wiki as a cheap software/hardware combo to get into scanning.

Only one thing to note - the ishow is TTL only, so your going to need a new dac if you upgrade to analog and want to take advantage of the bazillions of colour combinations it offers.

 

[Sputnik77]

Only one thing to note - the ishow is TTL only, so your going to need a new dac if you upgrade to analog and want to take advantage of the bazillions of colour combinations it offers.

The iShow software is actually fairly useable once you figure it out.

I actually think the newer version of the iShow DAC is capable of analog. The software is, and being specifically written for this DAC, I dont see why it wouldnt be. However, I have not tested this as my projectors are TTL. I will hook up a meter and find out.

I have seen iShow and the DAC sell for less than $60. I paid $52 for mine. That seller now wants $67 for it.


Also, I am also working on a way to re-program the built in patterns on the show card MCU. I have an ISO of an old version of iSHow which contains PatternISP.exe (In circuit Serial Programmer), which is the app used to download patterns to the MCU. However, I need to figure out how to connect to the show card. They may be using the DMX port (which is a serial port) to program the patterns. It also has a number of programs for various "brand" projectors.

 

[DJRayErie]

VK - totally with you on the first part and that's actually the route I went.. I contacted Pasta's Chef...about how to get started in laser projection and adding it to my mobile dj light shows.. I did exactly how you posted. I bought my iSHOW on ebay for 90$ (one of the higher at the time auctions) and Pasta... Now all I need is this driver to recognize the ishow DAC in windows 7 and I'm ready for custom shows using either iSHOW or Pasta.... I already have a start to an animation show to the song YMCA (I work for the YMCA and I'm trying to impress them - LOL) That's why I can't wait to get this driver so I can see it in action in real life.. Like I said I'm thinking of doing dual boot but there's not that much positive on going that route and I'd rather just leave my system as is.. So I find myself constantly checking the forum for an update from Sputnik.. (DEFINATELY NOT TRYING TO RUSH YOU =) )

 

[vk2fro]

I might have to buy an ishow just to help you reverse engineer the board so we can find that programming port. (oh and for shits and giggles as well - be interesting to see if its analogue - I can plug it into my 445 module).

Mind you it will have to wait until after I finish my projector as I already have norms frame streamer, and want a quickshow, but the ishow will be fun to fiddle with

 

[Sputnik77]

I might have to buy an ishow just to help you reverse engineer the board so we can find that programming port. (oh and for shits and giggles as well - be interesting to see if its analogue - I can plug it into my 445 module).

Mind you it will have to wait until after I finish my projector as I already have norms frame streamer, and want a quickshow, but the ishow will be fun to fiddle with

You dont need iShow for that, just a show card like THIS, the MCU board they put in these projectors for internal "shows".

I does use a bootloader for loading patterns to the MCU memory. It is called LHloader. Will need to figure out how to get the MCU into boot load mode. That is if the application/ISP doesnt force it into boot load mode automatically.

There are several pads on these show cards that are always unpopulated with pins/connector. They may in fact be the ISP port.

The iShow DAC is a good DAC, and Im certain its basically pretty much a straight copy of the Pangolin DAC for the most part.

Xinyu Laser is the company that makes the iShow DAC and software.

I am going to test it for analog sometime tonight. Plus I have a single color cheap projector Im going to play around with the ISP on.


I have attached the iShow PatternISP application if you want to play with it. It also has a decent drawing tool built in for creating ILDA or DDR frames. DDR is iShows proprietary format for their drawing files. It also contains a BUNCH of drawings already. You can save any of them down to ILDA from within the drawing tool.