The miracle of JMRI

tl;dr version:

1. JMRI = Java Model Railroad Interface (jmri.org)
2. It's open source, free, software that runs on any operating system and talks to your DCC system.  Programming decoders (mobile and stationary) and running your layout.  Active user group will answer your questions.
3. You'll need to pay for hardware to connect between the computer running JMRI and your DCC system.  Many options exist - you need to research.
4. I use it for all decoder programming.  I'll never go back to using a Digitrax throttle.  It's a lot of work, but, damn, once you get it all working it's so freaking smooth and easy.

JMRI was gaining in popularity in the last years before my break from model railroading.  In 2009 or 2010 I ordered a LocoBuffer computer interface from RR-CirKits but didn't install it until my restart in 2019.  By then Digitrax not only had their own computer interface model. they'd also obsoleted it for another model!   However, LocoBuffer still works fine, thanks, though I had to go to their web site and download the latest driver.

Expect to be patient trying to get JMRI to work.  When you do try to install JMRI it will insist on the latest Java version and give you a link and you have to go through that, and other issues may come up with hardware and so on.  But eventually you'll get it to work.

The standard JMRI download includes DecoderPro and PanelPro.  I haven't used PanelPro but I've seen some work others have done and with a lot of effort it can result in incredible, functional layout schematics that allow you to be the master dispatcher.  So far I've just used DecoderPro.

My standard setup at my workbench - which probably warrants its own future post - is that I have a long, straight test track, an old DC throttle* which can be connected to the track and a first generation Digitrax Zephyr (DCS50) for programming and testing DCC locomotives (I bought this in 2005 for testing with DCC - see this post).  DC is because you should always test new, non-decoder locomotives on DC to make sure they function correctly out of the box before you install the decoder.

With JMRI I take my old MacBook, which I'm typing on now, put it on the side of the work bench and connect it via USB to the LocoBuffer, and that via a LocoNet cable to the Zephyr.  I have the ability to switch the Zephyr from programming track to operating track, and do all programming on the programming track for best reliability.  I *may* use the Zephyr to do a first quick read on a decoder just to verify the connection works, but after that it's all DecoderPro.

The DecoderPro knows what each decoder supports.  It knows what all the option bits and CV values mean.  You can see on the screen exactly how the decoder is configured for everything.  You can change what you want and write it to the decoder.   You don't have to figure out exactly which bit needs to be toggled.  BUT ... if you want to get to that level of detail, DecoderPro lets you do that as well.

The DecoderPro saves all locomotives if you give it the info so it can got back to them later.  Then later, if you put it on the programming track and ask it to identify the loco from your list it will do that.  

The DecoderPro will read all values of all possible CVs from the decoder with one command.  This is huge.  With some sound decoders it can take almost half an hour to read them all, but you just sit back, let it work, then save the result.

It took a while to load my entire stable of locos into DecoderPro, but I wanted to update them all to disable DC running so I did it and now it's saved!   And of course, being a MacBook that info is now backed up both to iCloud and Time Capsule.

I don't have that many stationary decoders yet.  Just two DS64s for switches, which means 8 switch settings.  But I recently had reason to change both of those to deal with a [known-but-will-probably-never-be-fixed intermittent DS64] problem I'll post about in the future.  Doing so with a Digitrax throttle would have been painful, figuring out which option switch and whether it would be C or T.  Hell.  With DecoderPro I moved the LocoNet cable from the RRCirKits box to the layout.  This was easy to do, I have a UP5 Digitrax throttle plug just behind the workbench as that is the layout staging area.  Of course, the layout had to be turned on, but once that was done the DecoderPro quickly found the DS64s, showed me the options in plain English, and made the requested change with one click.

Between JMRI for decoder programming and WiThrottle (previous post) for running the layout I don't actually use the Digitrax throttles any more.  I do, as I mentioned, occasionally use the Zephyr on the workbench to test connectivity to the locomotives, and I use it for my test runs on the workbench, but that's it.  For me, the Digitrax infamous user interface problem is a thing of the past for regular operations.   Of course for figuring out new stuff and how to get stuff to work, it's still an issue, but the old nagging problem is now 90% solved.

(* = I use an ancient AHM "Made in Hong Kong" DC throttle that I got in a $25 box of 80s or 70s N scale stuff at a garage sale about 12 years ago.  I still have two Tech4 MRC 200 throttles that I bought in 2002 for cab control when I first started in N scale, but neither of them actually work any more.  Per the internet, they weren't very reliable.)