Ed L., It's just like the old vs. new TVs. Never needed the manual on the old TVs -- just turn it on, change the channel and adjust the rabbit ears. That's it. But now they have added all these features -- tens of pages in small type to explain them all. Just had the one out for my parent's new TV last night to adjust the sound system to increase the speech volume! What luxury! And what a pain! You'd think with all the computing power inside the TV today, it could do more for me automatically, and not less!
Same with trains -- when we just had go forward or reverse and speed it was very simple -- no manual required. Even the lights were automatic. (Or with string I guess even less instruction was/is required - just tie to the correct end and pull :-) Now we have all these fancy features -- turn on the cab light, turn on the forward light, turn off the cab light, sound the horn (which horn?), and it goes on and on...And of course you need some control system to control them all since we can't fit in the cab to use the actual controls...Pages and pages of instructions...Next thing you know they will be building microphones & speakers right into the DCC/Legacy/DCS cabs -- no more canned crew talk with the dispatcher, you'll have to actually know what to say when -- guess that will require yet another 100 pages, a new manual and/or classes :-) Thank goodness most of the manufacturers provide a quick start guide and a reference manual. Gets you right to select loco, forward/reverse and speed! I just recently noticed that NCE's Power Cab Reference Manual (65 pages) has a 4 page Setup & Quick Start guide on the front of it. That's really nice -- you can consult the Reference Manual only as needed/if interested. Regards Michael Greene Sent from my iPad On Mar 20, 2013, at 4:39 PM, "Edward Loizeaux" <[email protected]> wrote: > > > “S”tring boB is right !! > > DCC is very complex. > > DCS (MTH’s version of DCC) is even more complex. MTH just announced a > 215-page guide with charts, illustrations and so forth. I am sure that boB > and all former SHS customers are looking forward to reading this material > since it is ‘intended to educate’ about DCS. Not only that, buy you have the > privilege of paying for this education as well. > > What ever happened to the good old days of a free instruction sheet on one > piece of paper? I guess that is progress……… Welcome to high-tech. > > Cheers….Ed Loizeaux > > Orders for the printed version of the DCS O Gauge Companion (2nd Edition) can > be placed by contacting M.T.H. Electric Trains at 410-381-2580 and connecting > to the Sales Department. > > This extensive 215-page four color guide for operating the MTH Digital > Command System, or DCS includes 64 charts and illustrations, 14 more than the > original edition, all intended to educate the reader on the basic and > advanced features and functions of DCS. > > >
