I herd a rumor the other day that the HES was going to stop supporting the IPC, yet i have not found any posts or press releases about this. Is this in fact true, or just rumor?
Hardware: I believe that the warranty period on all iPCs is concluded. I imagine that some parts are still available.
Hog2PC: Hog2 software has not been supported for some time now. Any additional libraries required for this need to be written by hand or by a friend with Hog 2 skills.
Hog3PC: This software is still supported and new fixture libraries can be obtained by e-mailing HES. (The forum is no longer the appropriate place to request Hog3 fixture profiles.)
Hope tht helps (and that I haven't put my foot in my mouth).
thanks. I am not really sure what they meant buy support either. I know Hog3PC is still an active release and being worked on, but as for the IPC hardware itself i guess was the question. which i believe you answered. thanks
This info came about because i was looking into an IPC for one of the clubs i work at, and the question of how long it will be considered current and the ability to get support for it. I know they have been out of production for some time, but people still use them often (myself included).
In my personal opinion, this would not be a bad console for a club. It's pretty easy to maintain these consoles in an install environment and you can use all of the Hog 3 expansion wings as well as MIDI and SMPTE triggering.
That being said, you should get a good look at the used console you're considering. These consoles have not all stood the test of time very well, especially if they've gone out on the road for extended periods.
thats what i figured. I have an IPC in the shop that i have used a lot, and i think its a pretty solid desk. I hate using it on the road (When your on the road the last thing you want to deal with is 9 wires + DMX + LTC behind your desk), but in a stationary environment i love it.
I've been wondering if its possible to use the desk as a PC case and run the front panel as USB components? a little more venting would be required but I think it might be doable once the console reaches the end of its current being.
That's all it actually is. Front panels, touch screens, USB widget, and timecode widget are all USB devices terminated to the USB host on the motherboard.
The biggest difference between iPC/Road Hog/Full Boar and a home-made Hog3PC system is that the consoles use a Windows XP Embedded installation which is more locked down than a typical Windows installation and has everything stripped out that is not necessary for the use.
What Phil said, in fact if you ever opened up your IPC, you will see that that the components are prettymuch USB devices that go right into your mainboard. So long as you use a mainboard that HES says in compatible, and with the prob extension cables, i dont see why you cant.
In fact an experiment i always wanted to try was to take the top panel and mount it to the booth at the club i work at (our booth is 2x4 and 1" plywood). kinda silly but just for shits and giggles. and then just plug in the DP8000.
i guess then you could theoretically take a basic USB cable with a mainboard plug on the other end and plug your front panel into a USB plug... once again, not like that serves any purpose.
[QUOTE=LDEvanB;59173]you could theoretically take a basic USB cable with a mainboard plug on the other end and plug your front panel into a USB plug.
Not sure if this will work the way you think it will or not.
USB devices "identify" themselves once plugged in so that proper drivers can be applied. I believe that the different front panels (iPC, RH, RHFB) each "IDs" differently than the standard playback and programming wings. This is one of the things a re-image install "looks" for (for both security and to make sure you don't install the wrong OS version), and also why you can see a specific front panel version on the XPe based desks. Not to say you can't get it to work with a little tweaking, but I doubt it will be as simple as "plug-and-play" in this regard.
I may be wrong, but I'm fairly certain this is how it would go.
Marty may be right. However, tho it has been a good 7 years since my days of building PCs (mac guy now) , i think you can cheat it if thats the case. You just need to, when setting it up, make sure that you label what USB ports you wire to what USB inputs on the mainboard. make sure the panel and/or DP8000 is plugged in before you start up, and it should recognize it. Once again tho, as i said, not practical for any use.
If Hog does continue to upgrade on this line and my IPC dies internally. I'm not fond of spending X thousands on new hardware is I can likely put together my own pc and use it as many people would the Programming and Playback wings.
Or for example the IPC gets left behind in an update due to hardware specs. My experience is that the button face will survive longer then the computer hardware components.
But only one way to find out.
I have opened up my console to do some video card reseats. Next time maybe i'll try popping the usb onto my desktop and see if she boots up properly
It will be a little more involved than that, as some of the internal USB connections are on plastic motherboard connectors and nt standard USB A connectors.
[QUOTE=kurtiswilk;59178]I would semi-disagree with the practical part.
If Hog does continue to upgrade on this line and my IPC dies internally. I'm not fond of spending X thousands on new hardware is I can likely put together my own pc and use it as many people would the Programming and Playback wings.
Or for example the IPC gets left behind in an update due to hardware specs. My experience is that the button face will survive longer then the computer hardware components.
But only one way to find out.
I have opened up my console to do some video card reseats. Next time maybe i'll try popping the usb onto my desktop and see if she boots up properly
remember tho, an IPC is basically a tower PC with a built in DP8000, in a custom case, with a front panel. With that said, the IPC supports an array of hardware options that are used in the computer industry (primarily the mainboards and GPU). You can buy any of those supported hardware options at just about any online computer shop (i know i did that with my IPC video card), however, once the computer companies (like EVGA or ASUS) stop producing that hardware that works with the system, chances are you will be SOL. but either way, the console itself acts as the computer case, housing the computer, and the DP8000/LTC/Front Panel.
