Information; Artnet & Sacn Unicast Options; Telnet Command Line Interface - Strand Lighting NEO User Manual

User's Manual

Information

The "information" column of the grid will display any additional data that could be obtained about the port. For USB
devices this will often show the firmware version and device serial number. For Ethernet options this will usually
show the official name used to identify the port on the network.
ArtNet & sACN Unicast options
The ArtNet and sACN DMX over Ethernet protocols also support a unicast option. By default these protocols
broadcast the data onto the network meaning that all devices on the network receive all data. For large installations
this can mean that all devices are receiving and handling a lot of data.
Unicast transmission of the DMX data means that the data packets are sent only to the devices that need it. The data
packets for universe 1 for example will only be sent to the devices that need universe 1. This mode also helps with
network management as many Ethernet switches can struggle with continuous broadcast data.
In order to use Unicast transmission NEO needs to know what devices are outputting each DMX universe. The
ArtNet protocol has a discovery process that can configure this automatically (assuming the device supports the
ArtPoll message). For sACN the Unicast routing must be configured manually by editing a file.
To turn on Unicast communications double click on any line of the device settings page that is set to ArtNet or sACN
to open the advanced protocol options. If you are using both protocols you must configure each one separately.
Tick the check box labeled "use unicast communications" to enable this system. Below this check box any devices
found or configured will be shown.
To manually configure Unicast routing create a CSV file in the NEO install directory called "unicast_list.csv". Each
line has 3 fields - IP Address, DMX Universe, Description.
For example: 10.27.34.73,1,"Desc 1"

Telnet Command Line Interface

To access the Command Line interface remotely from any computer on the network enable the telnet interface. Once
checked you can connect to NEO through port number 3100.
If you do not see the characters you type in your telnet client enable the "Echo Telnet characters" option. Use the
"Telnet Port" edit box to set the IP port number that the software will bind to.
The "Enable discovery by remote systems" will cause NEO to broadcast a message onto the network at regular
intervals so that the system can be discovered automatically without needing to know the IP address.
NEO can also receive commands via a direct UDP message. Unlike the Telnet interface the UDP system is
connectionless and no acknowledgement of the message is sent back to the sender. Turn on "Enable receiving UDP
based commands" to allow NEO to listen for commands via UDP messages.
Note: The Telnet interface must be enabled to use any of the remote (e.g. LFRemote for iPad) applications with NEO.
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Software Configuration