Summary:A Digitrax term referring to address management by a Digitrax DCC system.
International Game Technology PLC, formerly Gtech S.p.A. And Lottomatica S.p.A., is a multinational gaming company that produces slot machines and other gaming technology. 68 slot dispatch jobs available. See salaries, compare reviews, easily apply, and get hired. New slot dispatch careers are added daily on SimplyHired.com. The low-stress way to find your next slot dispatch job opportunity is on SimplyHired. There are over 68 slot dispatch careers waiting for you to apply!
| ||||||||||||
| Short Definition |
A Digitrax term to refer to an address management for locomotives under control by a Digitrax system. |
Our weekly service assigns you an agent that manages the business side of your operation. By activating our GPS Platform the agent negotiates freight and then manages that lane-Revenue Per-Mile, Fuel Expense, State/Federal Tax (IFTA), Route Preview, Record Keeping.and much more! The pixel shader output slots are shared between pixel output registers (four 32-bit components) and UAVs. The total number of components for all hull shader to domain shader control points is limited to 3968, which is 128 less than the maximum control points times the maximum control point registers times four components.
- 1What are Slots?
- 1.1Slot Status
- 1.1.1What Does it Mean?
- 1.3Slots = MAX Warning
- 1.3.1Additional Information about the Slots = Max Warning
- 1.3.2Clearing the Slots
- 1.4Managing the Slots
- 1.7Purging Made Easy
- 1.9Slot Following
- 1.1Slot Status
What are Slots?
Slots are a concept used in Digitraxcommand stations. The number of slots available determine how many locomotives you can operate.
The concept is similar to that of a 'heap' used in Computer Science: It is a portion of memory set aside by the program you are running to store variables and frequently used data. In this case, locomotiveaddresses and consist information is stored by the command station's software for use later. Different Digitrax command stations have different amounts of memory available for slots, in the case of the Chief line, the number of slots available can be defined by changing a setting in the command station. The Advanced command stations feature Expanded Slots.
The Zephyr has ten and Zephyr Xtra features 20 slots. The Empire Builder has 22. The Chief and Super Chief have 120 slots. See the Digitrax Command Station Comparison for more info.
Slot Status
A slot can in in one of four states:
- In Use: The slot has an assigned throttle, and the command station is sending commands to the track
- Common: Commands are being sent; No throttle assigned
- Idle: The command station is ignoring this slot, no commands are being sent related to this slot.
- Free: Slot is empty or has not been assigned or used. A computer running software can also clear slots.
Any slot while in use which does not receive updates from its associated throttle after a period of time may be marked as Common or Idle. If a slot's status is Common and the speed is set to Zero, the slot may be purged by the command station at a later point in time.
- If the command station does not receive LocoNet messages in a timely manner due to corrupt messages or other activities demanding time, slots may be set to Common.
What Does it Mean?
Common
A slot labelled Common is being refreshed by the command station, and will not be available for use with another address. An excessive number of common status slots is often a result of operator discipline, or lack thereof. With proper discipline the number of slots with common status can be managed.
Releasing an address sets the status of that slot to common.
If an operator inadvertently selects an incorrect address, that address should be dispatched before a new address selection is attempted. If a new address is entered without dispatching the prior one, the first address will have its slot changed to common. By using Dispatch, the slot is made idle and available for use
Idle
This slot is available for re-assignment to a new address. By using Dispatch the status of the slot is changed to Idle, instead of common.
UniVersal Consists
UniVersal Consisting is the default Digitrax consisting method. Addresses in a consist remain in common status until the address(es) are removed from the consist. This ensures addresses are not removed inadvertently from a consist by reuse of their slot.
Purge
Any address which is permitted to Purge will have its slot status changed to common.
Clearing Slots
It is possible to manually clear slots using the throttle, the typical procedure with an advanced throttle is to select the locomotive address and press EXIT. This is not the same as Dispatching.
Slots = MAX Warning
This warning indicates the maximum number of slots available (or memory set aside for this) has been reached. Until they are cleared out, this message will persist. This can be done using an option switch (see your manual) or JMRI's LocoNet tools.
The main cause of this warning is locomotives which were not dispatched by their operator after an operating session.
Additional Information about the Slots = Max Warning
On a DT400 or DT300, the display will show Slot=Max. Older DT100 or DT200 throttles will display FF, and the Zephyr shows FULL. All these indications mean that the number of slots available is zero, as all are in use.
Zephyr Express
The DCS52 Zephyr Express will display SLOTMAX on the display.
Clearing the Slots
Closing Option Switch 36 clears all slots in the command station (including “UniVersal” consists) currently in the system, leaving all other option switches as set. Once accomplished, the throttle will be able to select addresses again.
The exact procedure varies depending on the command station and throttle you are using, thus you will need to check the section for “Option Switch Setting” in your command station and throttle manuals.
OpSw38 (Obsolete)
OpSw38 clears the Alias Address Roster, a legacy feature allowing the use 4 digit addresses with decoders supporting only short (2 Digit) addresses. The only DT100 throttles can use this feature, which is rarely used today.
Managing the Slots
Releasing Individual Locomotives
A common reason for using all the slots in a command station is that locomotives are not properly dispatched when their operators are finished with them. To free a slot used by an individual locomotive, first make sure that the locomotive is removed from any consist that it may be part of. Then select the locomotive on a throttle, set the speed to zero, and dispatch the locomotive (see the throttle manual for instructions on how to dispatch locomotive addresses). This will set the slot to 'free' and it can then be assigned to another locomotive when needed.
Continue this proceedure for all locomotives that are occupying slots, but which not in use. (it may be difficult to determine which locomotive addresses are occupying slots in the command station)
Setting up the command station and Operator Discipline
- Purging makes a slot available for use. Purging requires the throttle be set to “0” (zero) speed and not be part of a UniVersal consist. Setting OpSw 14 to thrown and OpSw 15 to closed ensure all non-consisted individual addresses are purged.
- DCS 100/200 only: These command stations have 120 slots, however the factory default is 22 slots. CloseOpSw 44 to make 120 slots available.
- Releasing or Dispatching: Ensuring each locomotive's throttle is at “0” (zero) speed and is either released or dispatched.
- Consists: “UniVersal” consisted locomotives (Digitrax's default method) will not be purged. Locomotives must be unlinked from their consist to allow these slots to be purged. This is an issue of Operator discipline. If you want permanent consists, consider basic or advanced consisting.
- Periodic OpSw 36 clear: Clearing the slots (OpSw 36) helps, especially if UniVersal consists are filling slots.
- If you reset OPSW 36 on your command station, all mobile decoderaddresses and MU information will be cleared out of your Command Station. The manual that came with your command station will explain how to use the OPSW's (Op Switches). Note that this proceedure will erase all consist information that is stored in the command station. (Universal Consists).
Advanced Slot Management
- Command Station Reset: Set to factory default by closing OpSw 39. CAUTION: This will clear the “Route Table’' (DCS 100/200) if in use. It will also clear the Alias Locomotive Roster (DCS 100/200). Alias Addressing requires a DT-100 throttle and is rarely used today.
- DCS100/DT200 Losing OpSw Settings: These command stations use a CR2032 coin cell to maintain their Random Access Memory which stores these and other parameters. If the cell is dead, all settings will be lost when the command station is shut down. Instructions for changing the cell are in the command station manual. The CR2032 cell and equivalents are commonly available. The command station requires one cell, there may be two cell holders, the empty one allows you to install a new cell before removing the old one, thus maintaining your settings. Do not install two cells as it is unnecessary.
- Many erroneously refer to the memory in the command station as CMOS, and say they replaced the CMOS battery.
Expanded Slots
The DCS240 command station offers an additional range of slots, called Expanded Slots. These slots are only accessible to the DT402R2 throttle. Legacy throttles can only access up to 120 slots. The DCS240 handles this automatically by identifying the throttle type. The DCS240 offers up to 400 slots in this manner, instead of the typical 120 slots offered by other command stations.
The expanded slots are useful if a lot of consists are running. When building a consist using the expanded DT402 throttle the consist will be stored in the expanded slots.
When controlling a consist, the top loco address controls the consist. If the consist is selected by a legacy throttle, the DCS240 will move the top loco address to the standard slot range, making a link to the other loco addresses stored in the expanded slot range. This will leave as many of the standard slots available as possible.
Computer Interface and Software
If you have a computer interface for your DCC system there are software products that allow you to see a list of all the slots on your command station, and indicate the status of each slot. Some also give you the capability to free slots with the click of a mouse button.
The free JMRI software (JMRI website) contains the Slot Monitor which provides this functionality.
Purging Made Easy
- From an email written by Don Crano on the Digitrax mailing list at Yahoo Groups.
Changes in Slot Status
If the slot status changes, or is purged by the system to be used by another decoderaddress, it does not mean all the data is cleared from the slot, only the status flag has changed, the data stays there to either be re-used by another LocoNet device (COMMON), or purged so new data can overwrite the existing data (IDLE).
Purge Timer
Each slot has a purge timer, but that timer is not always active, this will only happen when certain criteria is met.
How it all works:
- When a LocoNet device (Throttle) is maintaining a SLOT in the refresh stack it will be required to check that the SLOT status matches its internal state before reusing any SLOT. If a device disconnects from the LocoNet and does not access a slot within the system's PURGE time, the Master (Command Station) will force the unaccessed SLOT to 'COMMON' status so other system devices can use the SLOT.
- Typical purge time of a Master is from 200 to 600 seconds. Slot update activity is about every 100 seconds, i.e. if a user makes no change to a throttle/slot within 100 seconds, the throttle/device should automatically send a speed update at the current speed setting to reset the Purge timeout for that Slot.
- Note that with a LocoNet wireless throttle, (IR/Radio) you can see the ping or update being sent while the throttle is in Power Save mode, it will wake up, send ,then go back to PS approximately every 60 seconds. This prevents the system from releasing that address and making it available to another throttle.
- Before an address will be purged, the following criteria must be meet.
- The decoder's speed data must be at '00' or the Master (Command Station) must be set to force '00' speed upon purge.
- Any slot with the UP-CONSIST flag set will never be purged. This indicates the slot/decoder address is part of a consist. Prevents a locomotive from being purged while in operation as part of a consist.
Operator Discipline
Before removing a throttle from the layout:
- Un-Link consists, that clears the UP=CONSIST flag.
- Make sure all addresses associated with the throttle are at speed '00' (stopped with the throttle closed) and/or have the Master set to reset speed to zero when the slot is purged.
- Release or Dispatch any addresses associated with the throttle.
The above steps go a long way to keeping the FF or Slot=Max status from showing up.
The term UniVersal is a Digitrax registered trade mark. It is used to name or describe their command station assisted consisting. Digitrax actually uses what is called Unified Consisting, the system allows three modes of consisting, Advanced, Basic, and UniVersal, and may be mixed,matched, and even nested inside other consists. It is Unified because it can be done automatically without user intervention as they set up the consist.
Option Switch Notes
Consult the manuals for your system to determine the correct option switches for your command station.
OPSW 13 changes purge time from 600 to 200 seconds. Good for faster, more rapid purges, bad for tetheredthrottles, as when an operator unplugs a non-wireless throttle from the LocoNet they now have 200 seconds to plug in elsewhere. OPSW 14 can completely stop purging from happening.
OPSW 15 controls the speed value, can be set to force speed value to 00 upon purge. This prevents runaways from happening should an address be purged while a train is in motion.
Slot Following
Slot Following refers to operation of a stolen locomotive. When this happens the throttle will click every time the remote throttle initiates a speed change. The display will also change to indicate what is happening.
This feature allows two DT throttles to control a single address. Both throttles will show the speed and direction on their displays. This can be useful for training operators, allowing the mentor to take control without having to take the throttle physically from the operator.
Another application is computer control: A computer running CTC and routing control programs on Loconet can provide some automatic control over the train. It can change speed or stop the engine, while letting the engineer holding the throttle know what is happening.
Operating a on a DT40X Throttle
When the command station detects that a loco address that is in-use on one of its throttles is being changed by another throttle or computer, it will cause the throttle to “click” every time it sees a remote throttle change its locomotive settings. If that locomotive is in the active throttle, its speed display will also show the changes. This is called slot following.
This allows two DT throttles to run a single locomotive address with both throttles able to send commands to the loco. Both throttles will show the current speed and direction of the locomotive in their displays.
Slot following is useful for training new operators. The supervisor can “steal” a locomotive that is selected on a trainee’s throttle & be able to “look over the trainee’s shoulder” and closely supervise that locomotive’s control. The supervisor can gain instant override control without having to physically “grab” the trainee’s throttle. This lets you have unskilled visitors participating and enjoying operations without too much anxiety for either party.
Slot following also allows a computer on LocoNet to run CTC & routing control programs with automated control over locomotives. The computer can control speed and stop engines automatically while letting the engineer with the throttle in his hand know what is happening.
Ghost Throttle
A ghost throttle is one that you are not aware of. It was used to steal control of the locomotive and is still active. Erratic operation is often the result, as the command station overrides your throttle using the ghost throttle settings.
Acknowledgements
Information on resetting command stations and other additional information is from the 'Slot=Max' document found in the Digtrax Yahoo Groups file area. Author unknown.
Email written by the late Don Crano in 2004 on purging.
This topic contains a list of resources that Direct3D 11 supports (specifically feature level 11 or 9.x hardware).
Slots Dispatch Jobs
Resource limits for feature level 11 hardware
All of these resource limits are defined as constants in D3d11.h.
| Resource | Limit |
|---|---|
| Number of elements in a constant buffer | D3D11_REQ_CONSTANT_BUFFER_ELEMENT_COUNT (4096) |
| Number of texels (independent of struct size) in a buffer | D3D11_REQ_BUFFER_RESOURCE_TEXEL_COUNT_2_TO_EXP (2 7) texels |
| Texture1D U dimension | D3D11_REQ_TEXTURE1D_U_DIMENSION (16384) |
| Texture1DArray dimension | D3D11_REQ_TEXTURE1D_ARRAY_AXIS_DIMENSION (2048 array slices) |
| Texture2D U/V dimension | D3D11_REQ_TEXTURE2D_U_OR_V_DIMENSION (16384) |
| Texture2DArray dimension | D3D11_REQ_TEXTURE2D_ARRAY_AXIS_DIMENSION (2048 array slices) |
| Texture3D U/V/W dimension | D3D11_REQ_TEXTURE3D_U_V_OR_W_DIMENSION (2048) |
| TextureCube dimension | D3D11_REQ_TEXTURECUBE_DIMENSION (16384) |
| Resource size (in MB) for any of the preceding resources | min(max(128,0.25f * (amount of dedicated VRAM)), 2048) MB D3D11_REQ_RESOURCE_SIZE_IN_MEGABYTES_EXPRESSION_A_TERM (128) D3D11_REQ_RESOURCE_SIZE_IN_MEGABYTES_EXPRESSION_B_TERM (0.25f) D3D11_REQ_RESOURCE_SIZE_IN_MEGABYTES_EXPRESSION_C_TERM (2048) |
| Anisotropic filtering maxanisotropy | D3D11_REQ_MAXANISOTROPY (16) |
| Resource dimension addressable by filtering hardware | D3D11_REQ_FILTERING_HW_ADDRESSABLE_RESOURCE_DIMENSION (16384) per dimension |
| Resource size (in MB) addressable by IA (input or vertex data) or VS/GS/PS (point sample) | max(128,0.25f * (amount of dedicated VRAM)) MB D3D11_REQ_RESOURCE_SIZE_IN_MEGABYTES_EXPRESSION_A_TERM (128) D3D11_REQ_RESOURCE_SIZE_IN_MEGABYTES_EXPRESSION_B_TERM (0.25f) |
| Total number of resource views per context (Each array counts as 1) (all view types have shared limit) | D3D11_REQ_RESOURCE_VIEW_COUNT_PER_DEVICE_2_TO_EXP (2 ) |
| Buffer structure size (multi-element) | D3D11_REQ_MULTI_ELEMENT_STRUCTURE_SIZE_IN_BYTES (2048 bytes) |
| Stream output size | Same as the number of texels in a buffer (see preceding) |
| Draw or DrawInstanced vertex count (including instancing) | D3D11_REQ_DRAW_VERTEX_COUNT_2_TO_EXP (2 ) |
| DrawIndexed[Instanced]() vertex count (including instancing) | D3D11_REQ_DRAWINDEXED_INDEX_COUNT_2_TO_EXP (2 ) |
| GS invocation output data (components * vertices) | D3D11_GS_MAX_OUTPUT_VERTEX_COUNT_ACROSS_INSTANCES (1024) |
| Total number of sampler objects per context | D3D11_REQ_SAMPLER_OBJECT_COUNT_PER_DEVICE (4096) |
| Total number of viewport/scissor objects per pipeline | D3D11_VIEWPORT_AND_SCISSORRECT_OBJECT_COUNT_PER_PIPELINE (16) |
| Total number of clip/cull distances per vertex | D3D11_CLIP_OR_CULL_DISTANCE_COUNT (8) |
| Total number of blend objects per context | D3D11_REQ_BLEND_OBJECT_COUNT_PER_DEVICE (4096) |
| Total number of depth/stencil objects per context | D3D11_REQ_DEPTH_STENCIL_OBJECT_COUNT_PER_DEVICE (4096) |
| Total number of rasterizer state objects per context | D3D11_REQ_RASTERIZER_OBJECT_COUNT_PER_DEVICE (4096) |
| Maximum per-pixel sample count during multisampling | D3D11_MAX_MULTISAMPLE_SAMPLE_COUNT (32) |
| Shader resource vertex-element count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_STANDARD_VERTEX_ELEMENT_COUNT (32) |
| Common-shader core (four 32-bit components) temp-register count (r# + indexable x#[n]) | D3D11_COMMONSHADER_TEMP_REGISTER_COUNT (4096) |
| Common-shader core constant-buffer slots | D3D11_COMMONSHADER_CONSTANT_BUFFER_HW_SLOT_COUNT (15) (+1 set aside for an immediate constant buffer in shaders) |
| Common-shader core input-resource slots | D3D11_COMMONSHADER_INPUT_RESOURCE_REGISTER_COUNT (128) |
| Common-shader core sampler slots | D3D11_COMMONSHADER_SAMPLER_SLOT_COUNT (16) |
| Common-shader core subroutine-nesting limit | D3D11_COMMONSHADER_SUBROUTINE_NESTING_LIMIT (32) |
| Common-shader core flow-control nesting limit | D3D11_COMMONSHADER_FLOWCONTROL_NESTING_LIMIT (64) |
| Vertex shader input-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_VS_INPUT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Vertex shader output-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_VS_OUTPUT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Geometry shader input-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_GS_INPUT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Geometry shader output-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_GS_OUTPUT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Pixel shader input-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_PS_INPUT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Pixel shader output slots | 8 |
| Pixel shader output depth register count(one 32-bit component) | D3D11_PS_OUTPUT_DEPTH_REGISTER_COUNT (1) |
| Input assembler index input resource slots | D3D11_IA_INDEX_INPUT_RESOURCE_SLOT_COUNT (1) |
| Input assembler vertex input resource slots | D3D11_IA_VERTEX_INPUT_RESOURCE_SLOT_COUNT (32) |
| Hull shader control point input-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_HS_CONTROL_POINT_PHASE_INPUT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Hull shader number of input control points | D3D11_HS_CONTROL_POINT_REGISTER_COMPONENT_BIT_COUNT (32) |
| Hull shader control point output-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_HS_CONTROL_POINT_PHASE_OUTPUT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Hull shader number of output control points | D3D11_HS_CONTROL_POINT_REGISTER_COMPONENT_BIT_COUNT (32) |
| Hull shader patch constant output-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_HS_OUTPUT_PATCH_CONSTANT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Domain shader control point input-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_DS_INPUT_CONTROL_POINT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Domain shader number of input control points | D3D11_DS_INPUT_CONTROL_POINT_REGISTER_COMPONENT_BIT_COUNT (32) |
| Domain shader patch constant input-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_DS_INPUT_PATCH_CONSTANT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Domain shader tessellated vertex output-register count (four 32-bit components) | D3D11_DS_OUTPUT_REGISTER_COUNT (32) |
| Compute shader unordered access view (UAV) slots | D3D11_PS_CS_UAV_REGISTER_COUNT (8)4 |
| Resource tile size in bytes | D3D11_2_TILED_RESOURCE_TILE_SIZE_IN_BYTES ( 65536 ) |
An app can try to allocate more memory for a resource than the maximum resource size specifies. That is, the Direct3D 11 runtime allows these memory allocation attempts in the event that the hardware might support them. However, the Direct3D 11 runtime only guarantees that allocations within the maximum resource size are supported by all feature level 11 hardware. If an app tries to allocate memory for a resource within the maximum resource size, the runtime fails the attempt only if the operating system runs out of resources. If an app tries to allocate memory for a resource above the maximum resource size, the runtime can fail the attempt because either the operating system is overextended or the hardware does not support allocations above the maximum resource size. The debug layer only checks D3D11_REQ_RESOURCE_SIZE_IN_MEGABYTES_EXPRESSION_A_TERM (128) MB.
Slots Dispatch Games
The pixel shader output slots are shared between pixel output registers (four 32-bit components) and UAVs.
The total number of components for all hull shader to domain shader control points is limited to 3968, which is 128 less than the maximum control points times the maximum control point registers times four components.
4For compute shader profiles CS_4_0 and CS_4_1 there is only 1 UAV available. For more information about shader profiles, see Shader Model 5.
Resource limits for feature level 9.x hardware
All of these 9.x feature level resource limits are defined as constants in D3dcommon.h.
| Resource | Limit |
|---|---|
| Feature level 9_1 texture1D U dimension | D3D_FL9_1_REQ_TEXTURE1D_U_DIMENSION (2048) |
| Feature level 9_3 texture1D U dimension | D3D_FL9_3_REQ_TEXTURE1D_U_DIMENSION (4096) |
| Feature level 9_1 texture2D U/V dimension | D3D_FL9_1_REQ_TEXTURE2D_U_OR_V_DIMENSION (2048) |
| Feature level 9_3 texture2D U/V dimension | D3D_FL9_3_REQ_TEXTURE2D_U_OR_V_DIMENSION (4096) |
| Feature level 9_1 texture3D U/V/W dimension | D3D_FL9_1_REQ_TEXTURE3D_U_V_OR_W_DIMENSION (256) |
| Feature level 9_1 textureCube dimension | D3D_FL9_1_REQ_TEXTURECUBE_DIMENSION (512) |
| Feature level 9_3 textureCube dimension | D3D_FL9_3_REQ_TEXTURECUBE_DIMENSION (4096) |
| Feature level 9_1 anisotropic filtering maxanisotropy default | D3D_FL9_1_DEFAULT_MAX_ANISOTROPY (2) |
| Feature level 9_1 maximum input assembler primitives | D3D_FL9_1_IA_PRIMITIVE_MAX_COUNT (65535) |
| Feature level 9_2 maximum input assembler primitives | D3D_FL9_2_IA_PRIMITIVE_MAX_COUNT (1048575) |
| Feature level 9_1 simultaneous render targets | D3D_FL9_1_SIMULTANEOUS_RENDER_TARGET_COUNT (1) |
| Feature level 9_3 simultaneous render targets | D3D_FL9_3_SIMULTANEOUS_RENDER_TARGET_COUNT (4) |
| Feature level 9_1 maximum texture repeat | D3D_FL9_1_MAX_TEXTURE_REPEAT (128) |
| Feature level 9_2 maximum texture repeat | D3D_FL9_2_MAX_TEXTURE_REPEAT (2048) |
| Feature level 9_3 maximum texture repeat | D3D_FL9_3_MAX_TEXTURE_REPEAT (8192) |