John Ranta's dashboard

I think I now have my Carousel cabled properly (did you also put a picture of that little dongle cable in your diagram on page 25?) But there's no way to tell if the cabling is right, because we can't see any bulletins on the cable channel when we cut over to the Carousel.

I hooked up a PC display, mouse and keyboard, and logged in to Windows on the Carousel to test the output, but nothing displays on a PC display attached to the VGA port either, unless I boot the Carousel in VGA mode. As soon as I set the Carousel Windows display properties to 1024 x 768 (which was what it was set at to begin with), the attached PC display goes black, as if it is not getting a signal from the Carousel.

I'm not sure if the Display Engine is actually running. It's in the Startup folder, and it loads and starts when the machine boots, or when I click on it manually. But even though there are bulletins set to run, the Display Engine never takes over the PC display to show the bulletins. All I can see when logged in locally to the Carousel is the Windows Desktop.

So, I am not seeing bulletins running on the cable channel, nor on the local display connected to the Carousel VGA port. All I can guess is that the Display Engine is not running properly on the Carousel. The Display Engine was running and showing bulletins on a PC display in my computer lab two weeks ago, before I unplugged everything from the Carousel to move it upstairs to the rack (and connect it to the Nexus).

As an aside It would be nice (very nice) if I could run the windows desktop over the network connection (is there a way to enable Remote Desktop?) because having to lug a PC Display, keyboard and mouse upstairs and crawl behind the rack to plug them in is difficult.

Any ideas why I'm not seeing bulletins? Any ideas why I can't see anything on a PC display attached to the VGA port unless I'm booting in VGA mode (640 x 480)?

Thanks for your help in this ongoing saga...jr

Okay, it's been a while since I've been able to get back to wiring my Carousel to my Nexus. I don't mean to sound critical, but the documentation you referred me to is not very helpful. On page 25 of the Quickstart guide it tells me to connect to the "video output marked ’Composite Video Out’ in figure 2.4 on page 17." However, if you go to page 17 there is NOTHING labeled "Composite Video Out". The diagram and labeling on page 17 are not very helpful. Some of the ports on the back of the carousel are labeled in that diagram, but some are not. None of the ports is labeled "Composite Video Out". I could guess, but I'm hesitant to do so. I need a better diagram, or someone to interpret which of the ports on the back of my Carousel I should use to connect video and audio outputs from the Carousel to my Nexus. I'm guessing I'm not the first one to do this, there must be a website, or a description somewhere that says "you connect this kind of a cable to this video port on the back of the carousel to the Nexus, and this (these) cable(s) from this (these) audio ports on the back of the Carousel to the Nexus".

Thanks, JR

It's working! When we modified the firewall for full access for the weather bulletin, I didn't go back and also try other counties in NH (as was previously suggested). I just changed counties as an experiment, and I now am getting a live weather feed. Thanks to all for your help. JR

We've made sure the firewall is wide open for my Carousel system, and we can access that web site. The weather bulletin is still not updating. JR

We added the NOAA weather feed site (ftp://tgftp.nws.noaa.gov) to our firewall so access is not restricted, but the weather bulletin is still not updating. It just displays the generic #OUTLOOK# etc information from the Template. I have tried different counties in New Hampshire, but still am not getting an actual weather feed. Does anyone have any other suggestions on how to get the weather feed to work reliably with a firewall? Thanks, JR

FTP via 21 will need authorization for me. To do that< i'll need to enter the web site that the weather crawl accesses into our firewall list of approved sites. What is the http://www.website.com address? Thanks, JR

My network admin assures me that I have open access to port 80. But I don't get a weather feed. I don't know what you mean by "trying another local site" - can you explain? JR

For some reason I had to go back and recreate all of the bulletins I had previously setup for each zone. My test bulletins are now running in 3 of the 4 zones on my channel. In the 4th zone I tried to setup a live weather feed, using the dynamic "Weather Bulletin" for my location (Hillsborough, NH). What shows in the Carousel Display is the weather bulletin template, but there is no real time weather information. Should I be seeing live weather updates when I set this up, or do I need to do something more to get a real time weather feed? Thanks, JR

I seem to be running 5.0.2. I clicked on Update, but I need an update key. How do I get one of those?

I understand, but that's unfortunate. I'm a volunteer, and I have a 40 minute drive to the station. I'd like to be able to do a simple preview, via the web, when I'm creating bulletins from home (and not have to drive in to the station to see how they look). I love that the Carousel is so web centric. May I suggest you guys add a Browser Preview feature? it would be very useful for a lot of us, I suspect. Thanks, JR

Chad, when I preview using the magnifying glass I see the 4 zones that I've set up for that channel (shown as colored rectangles). I don't see the actual bulletins that should be running for that channel, nor do I hear the music I've set up to run in the background. I want to see the actual output before I broadcast, is that possible? Did I miss a step? This is my first time running Carousel. Thanks, JR

I was able to boot in VGA mode, and am now updating the video drivers with the latest from nvidia. After a reboot, all is working, I can see what I'm doing now. Thanks all! JR

Yes, some progress, but I'm in the dark, so to speak. Since I've never run the Carousel, it helps to know what I should be seeing. Thanks for your help. I don't get a desktop, after Windows XP finishes booting the screen goes black. If I hold the ESC key down for 2 seconds, I get the keyboard buffer beep, but nothing else happens, the screen remains black. I'll wait for the TRMS guys - do they monitor this forum? Thanks again - JR – John Ranta, on October 28, 2008 14:03

Ray, thanks, I was plugged into the 1st VGA port. I moved the display, and have progressed half-way. The system booted, and I saw the Windows XP boot prompt on the screen. Then, when Windows was done, the screen went blank. I would expect to see some Carousel screen, bnut now there's nothing. The light on the VGA display that indicates a signal went from green (during windows boot) to orange (indicating that the carousel is no longer talking to the display). Any ideas on what I should see, or how to get the 1st Carousel screen to display? JR – John Ranta, on October 28, 2008 13:33