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Installation:::...
I
mentioned that you could buy an internal USB cable, but
luckily we had one sent with the kit.
For
some reason, these USB connectors often get people stressed,
but it helps if you understand how the USB pin-outs are
arranged.
Most
internal USB headers have nine pins and look a little like
this:
The
first thing you should know to help simplify things is that
the pin that's off on its own, no matter which way up the
header is, is not connected to anything and is used as a
key to stop you attaching one-piece connectors the wrong
way around.
The
next thing that will help demystify things is that this
is a dual USB header, so there are are only four pins per
USB port, each of which is duplicated. So, in a nutshell,
we have only four pins to worry about.
Assuming
the motherboard manufacturer has done things by the book,
the pins should be arranged like this:
So
as you can see we have a pair of +5V pins on the right (sometimes
shown as VCC in your manual), then a pair of D- (Data-),
then D+ (Data +) then finally a pair of ground pins.
Below
are the four connectors from the end of the internal USB
cable.
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Internal
USB Cable Connectors
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So
you should connect the pins like this:
Or
alternatively you could connect them like this:
Either
way works fine just double check in your motherboard manual
that the pins haven't been assigned in a different order.
If so, the same principle remains, just reorder the connectors
to suit. If the wires feed dual USB ports, each connector
will have either a number "1" or a number "2"
on it. In this case just use all the connectors numbered
"1" togther on one row of pins and all those numbered
"2" on the other row of pins. Simple!
I've
already mentioned the possible problems fitting the MX with
drive rails, though apart from this, physically installing
the unit is as straightforward as removing and refitting
the four screws in most cases.
Trying
to plug in the floppy power connector (if you need to) is
a right royal pain in the Donkey if you try and do it after
the MX is fastened in place, and you probably will as most
cables won't reach far enough to connect them from the front
before prior to sercuring it in place. A small extension
lead would definitely be a welcome addition here.
This
done you just need to reboot your PC and follow the onscreen
instructions, pointing your PC to the drivers in the "USB
Drivers" folder on the installation CD. Two entries
are created in device manager, a virtual COM port in "Ports"
and an entry in your "USB Controllers".
The
final step is to install LCDC. This is much like installing
any software other than you need to get an activation code
based on the CD key number, then let the software detect
your MX before you go in and set it all up.
This
is made simpler by the "Getting Started" screen
that you can access on the way in, or later on, but make
no mistake, some of the settings are bordering on complicated
and require some thinking about. You can get things running
in basic mode quite easily, but modifying things and creating
new profiles and sequences isn't for those who don't enjoy
some figuring things out.
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Getting
Started
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Nobody
else seems to have mentioned softgware difficulties, which
either means I'm thick or they're too proud to admit them,
but I've yet to get LCDC to work as it should at the first
attempt.
To
begin with, when you install the software you're asked to
select between an MX2 series or MX3 series display. But
hold on, isn't this an MX6?
So,
you take a look through the on-CD instructions where it
tells you to "Select the MX2 or MX3, this will install
examples files into LCDC." So either will do? As
I understand it yes, though I opted for the MX3 option.
Either way it's confusing.
Next
LCDC attempts to auto-detect the attached display, though
due to bad luck or bad planning I've yet to have this part
of the installation work. The display still functions, even
after the software tells me it can find no display attached,
it's just frustrating. I even tried a couple of other systems
and got the same problem, yet others don't seem to have
the same problem so I'm not entirely sure where the problem
lies.
The
final problem comes if you want to use one of the predefined
screen demos. If you do you'll not find MX6 listed, you'll
have to know that the display module is actually a PK204-24,
while MX6xx refers to the entire display/bay insert assembly.
Yes, it makes sense to list the display type and not the
assembly and it's far from being a complex issue, it's just
a niggle and one that may catch out users who are new to
MO's displays. A little work on the software and/or instructions
would make the process much simpler and less confusing for
all.
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