Roger Stone wrote: Pug 091c seems to have stopped working for me.Hi Roger,

You need to install a printer driver. Use the CD which came with your printer.

But if you don't have a printer, you don't need the actual printer. Just do this:

From the Windows taskbar:

Start > Control Panel > Printers and Faxes > Add Printer.

See previous messages in this topic.

regards,

Martin.

Martin Wynne wrote:
You need to install a printer driver. Use the CD which came with your printer.


Thanks Martin,

I had already loaded the printer drivers so I was looking everywhere else.

It seems that I had to have the printer actually connected the first time round so that the OS can enumerate the USB connection to the printer and make the correct associations for the driver.

Regards Roger

 

 

Martin Wynne wrote: Dear all,

A new pug version 091c is available if you would like to try it: Click to Download

Hello,

I am starting to work my way through Templot 0.74b using the Templot Companion as a guide.
However  I have become aware of two things.
Firstly every section of the Templot Companion has a line at the end saying "more notes here soon" and most are dated somewhere between Sep 2005 and April 2007.
Secondly the latest version 091c was released 07.02.2008 which makes it very nearly 2 years in use, and there have been at least 2 important releases between 0.74b and 091c.
My questions are:-

1. Is there a later version of the Templot Companion associated with 091c?

and

2. Why have I been set to work on 0.74b when it was released in Oct 2001?

I am sure there is a reason for all this I would just like to know what it is or have I somehow got off on the wrong track?


All the best,


ken

Kenneth Beckett wroteI am sure there is a reason for all this I would just like to know what it is or have I somehow got off on the wrong track?Hi Ken,

I tried to explain the situation in your order confirmation email. You may want to go back and read it again.

The basic problem is that there is 10 times more work in creating the help notes, tutorials, videos and documentation for a computer program than there is in writing the program itself. And then keeping it all up to date while the program is constantly developing is another massive task.

There is also a sensible limit to how many hours a day it is wise to spend sitting at a computer without damaging your health. I know that I have exceeded that limit in recent years and I am beginning to feel the effects. So now I try to be sensible.

Had I known all this, and the detailed level of support which users would require, I very much doubt that I would have released Templot in the first place. It started life 30 years ago as a program for my own use -- you can read some background to that here (this in itself is a 10-year-old web page):

 http://www.templot.com/martweb/templot_history.htm

For example, the Templot Companion section of the web site contains about 400 screenshots in all. Every time I make a change in the menus or upgrade the program, a great many of those need to be re-done and the accompanying notes revised. Again and again as the program develops. It's just not possible.

It's especially not possible when 90% of my Templot time nowadays is not spent on developing the program or writing the documentation -- it is spent on user support. Answering emails and preparing replies on here (such as this one ). Often that means preparing videos and screenshots -- it takes a lot of time doing those and double checking that every word I write is correct and accurately describes the working of Templot.

I therefore made a decision that I would leave version 074b set in stone, so to speak, with its matching documentation, as the initial release version for users. Those who want more can follow the pug upgrades as I make them available, but would need to put up with some patchy help notes and find their own way round the menus as things get changed and moved about. In hindsight that situation has lasted far too long, and it would have been very much better had it been 078e as the initial release. Also the F7 snapping functions introduced in 082d are ideal for beginners but of less use for experienced users.

The constant dilemma is whether to spend my time on new program features, some of which have been half-finished for years and for which many users have been waiting a long time. Or on a better system of help notes and videos for new users to get them straight up to date on the later versions. On many days doing either would be a luxury as all my time is spent on user support and emails.

So we are where we are. Stumbling forward into a new decade in not much better shape than the last one. Sorry about that.

regards,

Martin. 

Martin Wynne wrote: Kenneth Beckett wroteI am sure there is a reason for all this I would just like to know what it is or have I somehow got off on the wrong track?Hi Ken,

I tried to explain the situation in your order confirmation email. You may want to go back and read it again.

The basic problem is that there is 10 times more work in creating the help notes, tutorials, videos and documentation for a computer program than there is in writing the program itself. And then keeping it all up to date while the program is constantly developing is another massive task.

There is also a sensible limit to how many hours a day it is wise to spend sitting at a computer without damaging your health. I know that I have exceeded that limit in recent years and I am beginning to feel the effects. So now I try to be sensible.

Had I known all this, and the detailed level of support which users would require, I very much doubt that I would have released Templot in the first place. It started life 30 years ago as a program for my own use -- you can read some background to that here (this in itself is a 10-year-old web page):

 http://www.templot.com/martweb/templot_history.htm

For example, the Templot Companion section of the web site contains about 400 screenshots in all. Every time I make a change in the menus or upgrade the program, a great many of those need to be re-done and the accompanying notes revised. Again and again as the program develops. It's just not possible.

It's especially not possible when 90% of my Templot time nowadays is not spent on developing the program or writing the documentation -- it is spent on user support. Answering emails and preparing replies on here (such as this one ). Often that means preparing videos and screenshots -- it takes a lot of time doing those and double checking that every word I write is correct and accurately describes the working of Templot.

I therefore made a decision that I would leave version 074b set in stone, so to speak, with its matching documentation, as the initial release version for users. Those who want more can follow the pug upgrades as I make them available, but would need to put up with some patchy help notes and find their own way round the menus as things get changed and moved about. In hindsight that situation has lasted far too long, and it would have been very much better had it been 078e as the initial release. Also the F7 snapping functions introduced in 082d are ideal for beginners but of less use for experienced users.

The constant dilemma is whether to spend my time on new program features, some of which have been half-finished for years and for which many users have been waiting a long time. Or on a better system of help notes and videos for new users to get them straight up to date on the later versions. On many days doing either would be a luxury as all my time is spent on user support and emails.

So we are where we are. Stumbling forward into a new decade in not much better shape than the last one. Sorry about that.

regards,

Martin. 

Hello Martin,
Obviously I touched a sensitive nerve.
Your answer possibly demonstrates where your problems start.
An appropriate answer would have been:-

1. No there is only one version of the Templot Companion.
   
2. 0.74b is the version best covered by the Manual.
   

You did indeed cover the situation regarding 091c in the confirmation email but my recollection was that you mentioned frequent updates because Templot is a system under development. I understood this to include the documentation which, when I re-read the email, I realise is quite wrong.

I don't know where you got the idea that I wanted you to spend more time at the computer, until the last few days I had no idea what was involved in your commitment to the system.

My understanding was that the Templot Club was a self help forum for the users. Instead you seem to answer nearly all the questions personally.

If we are going into history maybe I should say that in 1964 I was dragged out of one of the operating departments of a rather large company and, with one other colleague was given the task of putting the whole organisation on to a computer by the time of decimal currency day in Feb 1966. We didn't know enough to realise this was impossible so we went ahead and did it anyway.
We programmed in machine language and assembler.
While doing this we installed a computer as big as a house with tape drives as the only storage medium.

I oversaw the early operation of this computer until I was appointed to the position of Information Systems Director.

Now to the point of my story, after a couple of years of truly exhilarating work as a programmer and several more as Operations Manager I was suddenly in charge of a department with a couple of hundred people looking to me to give them answers and guidance. Before this everything had been run pretty much on an ad hoc basis.
 I found myself arriving at work by 06.00 hrs. and lucky to leave by 20.00 hrs. One day I said to myself “enough” and from then on I organised myself to set priorities and to deal with one thing at a time until I had completed the task. This is a bit of an oversimplification, emergencies always took precedence.

You should do the same, decide what it is you want to get completed and concentrate on that.

Obviously you will not be able to spend all the time you presently do answering questions on this forum. Aren't there enough experienced users to take up the slack? If there aren't, or there are a lot of queries because of deficiencies in the documentation, this should give you a guide to what your priorities should be. Good documentation plus a pool of experienced users = Martin with enough time to do the programming he wants to.

I developed a firm rule which went. A good program with inadequate documentation = an inadequate program. A poor program with inadequate documentation = a disaster. Your program appears to be excellent, I leave it to you whether you are satisfied with the documentation or not.

In your answer you refer to my questions as an example of what takes up your time, please see the first few lines of my reply.

As to your regret that you ever released Templot I think the railway modelling fraternity would be the worse off if you had not.

Anyway as a 73 year old I can't spend too much time on Templot, if it takes too long for me to grasp I will have to go back to Peco turnouts and a somewhat inferior result. I really would like to see my layout finished

regards

ken

Hi Ken,

Many thanks for your thoughtful comments.

Obviously I touched a sensitive nerve.Sorry if it read that way, I didn't intend it.

  An appropriate answer would have been:-

1. No there is only one version of the Templot Companion.
2. 0.74b is the version best covered by the Manual. Indeed it would. But I had already explained exactly that in my order confirmation email to you. I thought you were looking for some further background to the situation.

My understanding was that the Templot Club was a self help forum for the users. Instead you seem to answer nearly all the questions personally.I try not to -- it is intended to be a discussion forum. For the "share and show my track plan" type of topic I do tend to leave it to others. But on Templot itself, often I am the only one who can give a full answer.

Even so, quite often a member's contributions go completely ignored or unanswered -- look at these topics for example:

 http://85a.co.uk/forum/view_topic.php?id=1010&forum_id=12

 http://85a.co.uk/forum/view_topic.php?id=987&forum_id=12

I developed a firm rule which went. A good program with inadequate documentation = an inadequate program.Unfortunately the number of employees here at Templot Towers can be counted on 1/5th of one hand. So you can have a good program, or good documentation, but not both.

Or at least, not yet. We are still on Version Zero of Templot.

regards,

Martin.

Following on from this Martin, would it be useful for you to run a poll of the group to establish what priority Templot users put on the various upgrade ideas you currently wish to implement into the program (e.g. implementing a PDF Printer within Templot)?

Obviously some work that you wish to carry out may not lend itself to such a poll very well (for example, if there are program bug fixes that are totally lost to some of us lesser mortals that don't understand computer hocus-pocus ).

One of the line items in the poll could well be the upgrade of user tutorials perhaps, though I fully appreciate there are problems here because ideally I imagine you don't want to spend too much time upgrading tutorials until you reach V1.00 of Templot?

The results of the poll may well allow you to prioritise your workload better, as suggested by Ken.  If you are able to consider Templot users on the Forum as your "Workforce" and hopefully take some of the workload off you with respect to answering queries I'm sure that would help you out a lot; though obviously there will be questions that will require your expertise.

HTH

Best Regards,

Brian Tulley

Brian Tulley wrote:
If you are able to consider Templot users on the Forum as your "Workforce" and hopefully take some of the workload off you with respect to answering queries I'm sure that would help you out a lot; though obviously there will be questions that will require your expertise.The latter is certainly true, but I must admit that I sometimes feel a little guilty about not stepping in sometimes and answering questions that I can.  I consider myself reasonably experienced on Templot (but I'm always learning!) so should be able to help more.  I'm not sure I can blame major upheaval last year as an excuse any more!

Having said that, sometimes I feel that people asking the questions don't appear to be doing anything to help themselves - or if they are then they don't say so.  For instance, and with no reference to any actual questions, someone may ask something like "I want a triple-tandem double-flanged track formation - how do I do it?"  rather than "I want a triple-tandem double-flanged track formation.  I read through the tutorials and got as far as xyz but I didn't understand what was meant by "confabulating the notch" and got a tandem-triple turnout instead - could someone please help me?"  On other occasions, it's so obvious that the questioner hasn't attempted to understand even the absolute basics that I just know that I'll regret diving in to help.

Having re-read that last paragraph, it sounds a bit off - sorry about that!  I know every Templot user had to start somewhere, but as I've said before I was getting nowhere until I worked through the tutorials.  Personally, I think doing that should be mandatory It doesn't mean you'll know all the answers, but you'll know the right questions to ask!

Anyway, I'll see if I can help out a bit more in future

Hi all.
Hopefully someone knows the answer to this. I have been reinstalling 0.91c on my laptop under windoze 7 (still lousy) and everything runs fine. (This is on a MacBookPro and Parallels 5)
What I can't seem to work out (or remember) is how to get my printer to work with Templot.
It works with all the other Windows detritus but not with Templot (the sole reason for the refugee OS on my machine)
It worked fine on my previous iMac installation but I'm sure I created some special setting to run my printer through, but this was an XP setup.
Which ever port I set my printer to Templot returns an 'invalid port' pop up.
Help
Ian

I use a Mac with Parallel, but with XP as I see no need to upgrade to something not proven.

Anyway, I do not have any problems connecting to the printer (which is on another computer), maybe this is a Windows 7 thing! I did not have to set a port but just set up a printer as normal on the XP desktop.

Hope this helps

Michael.

Ian Bunch wrote: Hi all.
Hopefully someone knows the answer to this. I have been reinstalling 0.91c on my laptop under windoze 7 (still lousy) and everything runs fine. (This is on a MacBookPro and Parallels 5)
What I can't seem to work out (or remember) is how to get my printer to work with Templot.
It works with all the other Windows detritus but not with Templot (the sole reason for the refugee OS on my machine)
It worked fine on my previous iMac installation but I'm sure I created some special setting to run my printer through, but this was an XP setup.
Which ever port I set my printer to Templot returns an 'invalid port' pop up.
Help
IanI am using Parallels 4 and Vista on my Mac: like you, the only reason for this is Templot.

I have found that if I restart my printer, I get an option to connect to the Mac or the virtual machine, and use the latter.
However, this only seems to work if the printer is physically connected to the Mac. It is on a wireless network (more than one computer in the house), but the scanner component doesn't want to talk wirelessly, so there is a cabled connection present and this is no hardship to me.

Sorry this may be a bit late in the day, but I only noticed your post in this thread today!

Simon

Simon Dunkley wrote:I have found that if I restart my printer, I get an option to connect to the Mac or the virtual machine, and use the latter.Hi Simon,

It's important to make sure that any printer you intend to use in Templot is either a Windows local printer, or is switched on and ready for use before you start Templot.

Templot creates a list of available printers during its start-up, to allow for the printer calibration data. Most other Windows programs don't have printer calibration functions.

regards,

Martin.

Thanks Martin.

Interesting, as I haven't had any problems in that respect, well, not usually - sometimes Templot doesn't recognise the printer, but normally it does. This has worked fine for printing small percentage plans, but I haven't tried anything bigger for a while.

The bigger problem I have is that for some reason the print spooler is not running in Windows, and I cannot install Win2PDF, so that I can go straight to pdf files. (MS website suggested starting services in control panel, but that is not there, either!)

Simon

Simon Dunkley wrote:The bigger problem I have is that for some reason the print spooler is not running in Windows, and I cannot install Win2PDF, so that I can go straight to pdf files.Hi Simon,

The next version of Templot can create PDF files natively, you won't need Win2PDF or similar virtual printers.

They can be set as very large PDFs for wide-format roll paper printing. The image dimensions are set directly and not referenced to any printer paper sheet sizes.

I'm not aware of any reason this won't work on a Mac, but only time will tell.

regards,

Martin.

Martin Wynne wrote:I'm not aware of any reason this won't work on a Mac, but only time will tell.I'd be more than happy to try it out, if you so wish.

Simon