I hope LOR II comes out soon they said the 1st six months of 07

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I hope LOR II comes out soon they said the 1st six months of 07 and 4 of those six are just about gone!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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I have faith that Dan and his team aren't just sitting around doing nothing.

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Originally, it was to be out last fall, before the holidays. Better to have a good product without the bugs than something that is less than what we are hoping for. Whenever it comes out, I am sure it will be worth the wait. In the meantime, press on with the current version as Dan has assured us that LOR II will be compatible with what you have already sequenced.

[Guest guest]

I too hope it's out in the first half of the year, but I have no idea what K.C. is going through trying to read someone else's code and interpret. He's a very sharp guy and will surely make us a wonderful tool to work with.

Patiently waiting for the sale right now though....:]

jeff

[Guest guest]

Actually, LORII has been in the works for several years. If you consider that the DMX card, which is part of LORII, was supposed to be out about 2.5 years ago, then you can tell that this upgrade has been long delayed. The "software upgrade" portion of LORII was supposed to be out right before Christmas '05. After that, it was promised to be out by Christmas '06. At this rate, I do not know if it will ever be out.

[Guest guest]

LOR will be out this year. We now have a number of programmers working on it. KC has quickly come up to speed instantly and two of the original programmers are back full time to get LOR II out...

I no longer give dates for LOR II but personally it is very important to me that it be out ASAP. We have invested a lot into the development of this software and currently all that investment is wasted because people are rightfully upset that there have been so many delays. Obviously it would have been best if I did not mention LOR II at all.. ( a lesson now re-learned ).

It is very important that it be release and it will be.

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LightORama wrote:

Obviously it would have been best if I did not mention LOR II at all.. ( a lesson now re-learned ).

so when is LOR III coming out? J/K! lol


whenever it comes out it comes out...the longer you take, the more youll make it great

[Guest guest]

Personally, I would rather they work on it until the bugs are worked out rather than releasing it prematurely and have a series of updates, etc.

Dan, I am patient and am patiently waiting!

[Guest guest]

Dan, while I know the coding may not be complete, can you give us a quick overview of how the DMX portion will work?

HARDWARE

Is it a separate card? Separate usb dongle? If it is a card, does it get put in-line with the LOR controllers? If we currently have your 8channel and 16 channel boards, what else would we need to make LOR control DMX? Will the interface accept DMX-IN and OUt for connection DMX mixing/controller boards?

SOFTWARE

Will the software include a 3d-viewer for DMX fixtures like other DMX software control software does? Also, is the DMX going to be bare bones or will whatver interface you design be more of a 'smart-dmx' box?

I know you said you would upgrade all existing cards to LOR II, will this include the DMX capability or is that separate.

Questions, question, I have so many questions.....

While we wait (not so patiently) please throw us a bone.

[Guest guest]

We must ask ourselves this, if LOR II gets delayed will we not put on our show? I don't think so. Have fun with what you have. Once LOR II comes out I am sure we will all be so pleased with it that we will have forgottten when the original release date was.

Dan just keep up that hard work you all are doing and when it gets here it gets here.

[Guest guest]

Dan:

One other thing. While you are designing a lighting interface? Any thought on thinking forward and making it RDM compatible? It seems, that that may be a more robust and flexible standard. I know there are some newer fixtures out there that recognize this protocol.

Thanks again.

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LightORama wrote:

...We have invested a lot into the development of this software and currently all that investment is wasted because people are rightfully upset that there have been so many delays. Obviously it would have been best if I did not mention LOR II at all.. ( a lesson now re-learned )...

So, what else do you got planned for LOR? Dan? Hey, you going to answer me? Dan? Hellooooo???!!!! :cool::cool::cool:

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MS_Mike wrote:

Personally, I would rather they work on it until the bugs are worked out rather than releasing it prematurely and have a series of updates, etc.

Dan, I am patient and am patiently waiting!

I would think this is of the upmost importance. LOR has a good thing going for it now, but releasing software before its ready and getting most bugs worked out could be a terrble mistake. I am sure lab models of LOR II are working perfectly on many pieces of hardware, but its also terribly important that ALL legacy models (early LOR hardware) be compatible and bug free, as well as making sure the protocols will truely support future expansion with future items like DMX controllers is truely thought of so there isnt a necessity to "do it again" and have to upgrade everyone to LOR III in the next year or two.

I would take comfort in the idea that Dan is not anxious to rush a bum item to the market. Today's world in computerized Christmas is becoming more and more competitive and the stakes are high and customers can be lost over excessive bugs or excessive difficulty getting hardware/software combinations to work as advertised. I'd say use some patience. Also on the other hand, I remember some LOR customers purchasing DMX lights 2 years ago in anticipation of up and coming DMX controllers... my advice is, hold off on these type of purchases until you have the DMX controller working and in your hands and you know what the perimeters in DMX control are available to you and your particular light is compatible with the controller.

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Don't get me wrong. I am all for waiting until it is ready. I don't want to rush Dan.

I just want to get an overview of how their proposed changes will be implemented. I am pondering some DMX lighting and wanted to see what options would be available to me.

Thanks

[Guest guest]

LightORama wrote:

I no longer give dates for LOR II but personally it is very important to me that it be out ASAP. We have invested a lot into the development of this software and currently all that investment is wasted because people are rightfully upset that there have been so many delays. Obviously it would have been best if I did not mention LOR II at all.. ( a lesson now re-learned ).

Its OK but a valuable lesson. Sam Tramiel of Atari Computer Corp in the 1980's used to get excited in his think tanks with his development staff and came out bragging about the "what ifs" with future computer technology, and while Atari had at one time, computers vastly superior and faster then IBM PC's in the late 80's and early 90's... there were a few times some of his ideas didnt turn out to be feasible like with his multiprocessor "transputer" which in the lab used 16 each 68030 processors and was nearly 500 times faster then the best 80486 of the day but its $7000 price tag made it a busted idea. Hence the term "vaper-ware" was coined for the old Atari Computer company.

Not saying LOR II wont be out but like you said, better to suprise the market with a complete package then to have people getting mad because the product is taking longer then they anticipated.

[Guest guest]

MichaelC wrote:

Don't get me wrong. I am all for waiting until it is ready. I don't want to rush Dan.

I just want to get an overview of how their proposed changes will be implemented. I am pondering some DMX lighting and wanted to see what options would be available to me.

One thing to ponder is, there are many lights available that can be had like on sale at PSSL.COM which you can get 4 lights for $150 and they work without DMX control. Moon lights, various projectors, etc can be quite rassle dassling and commercial NON-DMX lights are designed to operate with dimmers and relays, in other words they are designed to operate with hundreds of on/off's per hour and not burn up and can operate with what you have now. I have used moon light projectors and other lights for years on dimmer circuits and they are still good to go next year. This can hold you by and also a lot to consider with these types of lights... you can get 4 projectors for $150 as opposed to 1 intellegent light for $700 and you dont need the DMX controller to boot which probably another couple hundred. You might get more bang for the buck with less then intellegent stage lighting and this can hold you by just in face DMX or LOR II doesnt happen this year.

Stay away from SPENCER'S GIFTS in the mall. All their projectors are too dim to compete with Christmas lights and they will burn up in a day or two of flashing/dimming. Get American DJ, Chauvet, etc type brands made for night clubs and you will do great and also get 300 to 500 watt brightness as opposed to Spencer's 15 dim lights.

[Guest guest]

To answer a few of the questions and add a bit of a blog:

The DMX interface will work as a separate card that interfaces the LOR network with the DMX universe. The card looks like a LOR controller but each of the channels will map to channels in the DMX universe.

All special effects such as fading/dimming/shimmer ... etc will be handled by the card.

What else is new with LOR? There are a number of things in the works. New cards, new features but I will hold off until we are sure of dates and descriptions.

On a side note: We have completed phase I of our move into our new location. In phase I we moved warehouse and order processing. It was nice because this move was within the same industrial park so we did not have far to go. It is nice to have a place to take a deep breath without bumping into a pallet of LOR1602Ws.

In phase II (next week or two) we will move the assembly/certification people to this location (they work in a building about 3 miles away) so we will be all under a single roof (well almost all under one roof). We own the building where assembly was done so that building will be dedicated to kit production. Also we have an old wave soldering machine and some heavy metal working tools which are not used and will remain there. The programming staff is in Washington State and New Jersey... Okay so we are not under one roof...

The final step will be for Me, Mary and Alex to move. We currently live 160 miles from LOR and I spend very little time with Mary and Alex and I am getting pretty sick of it!

Alex really likes the new place. He can ride his bike around inside. If someone is in the break area (far corner) and needs something from the other end, Alex will jump on his bike and make the 100 yard trip to grab something.

The move has impacted the release of the Vista version. I wanted to check a few things and have not had the time to do so. I hope to get to it now.

[Guest guest]

Dan,

Good Luck on the move and thanks for updating us on the busy cycle of LOR.

Tom

[Guest guest]

Dan,

I'm glad your first phase went well!

Through all of this keep you and your family first. Alex needs his daddy and you need him. :]

LOR is a great product and I am looking forward to seeing what the future holds!

Michael B

[Guest guest]

I have to say, this very reason is why I am going with LOR and not the other competitors. The amount of information you give us, the love you have for your product, and the fact that you dont let something like dates get in the way of quality is what makes your product stand out the most to me. Always impressed Dan. Good luck with the rest of the move!!

Greg