Release Notes for JMRI 2.9.10 release

Date: July 11, 2010

From: Bob Jacobsen

Subject: Test version 2.9.10 of JMRI/DecoderPro is available for download.

Notes:

This is a test release. Please post a note if you encounter any new or old bugs! And please back up your JMRI files before installing this, in case you want to go back to an earlier version.

This is the tenth in a series of test versions. We expect this series to end in a JMRI 2.10 production release in Summer 2010.

It contains mostly fixes to minor bugs, see the complete list below.

Some of the changes involved are quite extensive. They may require a certain amount of experience before they are working well. Therefore, this test version should be considered experimental.

JMRI is now only available under the GNU General Public License. For more information, please see our copyright and licensing page.

New warnings for this version:

(None yet)

Older warnings

Panel files written with JMRI 2.9.6 or later that contain Lights will not be readable by earlier versions of JMRI.

JMRI system names start with two capital letters, e.g. LT10 or NS23 or PLA5. Past versions have tried to cope when people enter lower cases letters, e.g. lt10 or Ns23 or pLA5, with various degrees of success. Unfortunately, this code isn't compatible with some new systems that are being working on, and we have to remove it. Starting with this version, JMRI requires that you enter consistent system names, including using the right case. If you use system names, and haven't been using consistent names, you'll probably have to practice a little to get in the habit. If you have any problems reading old files, etc, please post a note on the JMRI Users group and somebody will help you.

The LocoTools application is no longer supported, and is being removed. Some parts of it are still present, but you should use e.g. PanelPro or DecoderPro instead. They can do everything that LocoTools can.

The preferences have been significantly reworked. In some cases, preferences to add a button or do an action at startup may have to be deleted and re-entered before they will work.

The communications libraries for Mac OS X have been updated. We've tested these extensively, but there may be combinations of hardware and software versions that still aren't right. If the program can't see your layout connection, please post to the JMRI Users group list. with what type of Mac you're using (PowerBook, PowerMac, MacBook, etc), processor type (PPC G3, G4, G5 or Intel) and Mac OS X version (10.4, 10.5, etc; names like Leopard are OK) too. We've got several library versions and most likely have one that will work, we just have to figure out which.

If you're using a Lenz XPressNet connection, please uncheck the "Check Buffer Status" box in the preference pane where you selected the Lenz protocol.

This version of JMRI uses the new communications libraries introduced in JMRI 2.9.3. On Windows, the installer should take care of all installation and deinstallation required. On Linux, you may have to install and/or uninstall various communications library parts, see the JMRI Linux pages for more info. On Mac, depending on which version you were previously using you may have to remove a communications library, see the JMRI Mac OS X page.

You may get some messages like:

WARNING:  RXTX Version mismatch
        Jar version = RXTX-2.2pre1
        native lib Version = RXTX-2.2pre2

For now, this should be considered normal. We'll try to get it removed before the next production release.

The JInput USB library was updated in JMRI 2.9.1, and again in JMRI 2.9.5, which (should) have fixed problems on Windows Vista, Intel Macs and some Linux machines. We don't have a way to check this with all possible input devices, so please check to make sure that your USB-attached devices still work.

When loading an older panel file containing signal head icons, you may get WARN messages about "did not locate lunar icon file" and "did not locate flashlunar icon file". To make these stop, just store the file again so that it's rewritten in the most recent format.

Known problems with this release

None at the time of this release.

Download links:

Please use these links for downloading:

Changes since test version 2.9.9

Fixed a problem that would cause changed preferences to be saved even though the save button wasn't pressed.

Kevin Dickerson fixed a problem when switching between Signal Mast signal system definitions. He also changed how icons are resized, which should help with resizing problems on rotation.

Dan Boudreau improved error reporting in the operations feature.

Fixed a problem in sample scripts that access serial or parallel ports.

Fixed problems with signal mast icons.

Fixed a problem with French translation of roster.

Mike Mosher updated the common parts of the QSI definitions for easier translation.

Kevin Dickerson fixed a problem with selecting certain layout editor icons.

Brett Hoffman updated some of the remote throttle communications.

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