KHarms
Sep 18, 2009, 01:01 PM
We often get asked about the UPB setup program UPStart. UPStart is distributed by most of the companies that license the UPB technology - PCS, Web Mountain, Simply Automated, and others.
What seems not to be known is that any version of UPStart can configure all UPB devices from all manufacturers. You don't need to use the Simply Automated version of UPStart to configure its devices. The PCS version would work as well.
So what are the differences? A few features differ between each manufacturers version. For example, the UPStart from Simply Automated has "The UPStart Wizard" which allows for quick configuration - within limits - of some device types.
I suggest that you download from whoever has the most recent version available on their web sites. Not everyone releases new versions at the same time and UPStart changes frequently to fix problems and support new hardware.
One tip when you are using UPStart: Enable the "auto export" feature. Select from the UPStart menu Tools - Options. On the "UPStart File" tab is an option that will export your network to the format that HCA can read each time you save your file. This way the export is always kept up to date. You, of course, have to manually export the first time - using File Export from the menu - so UPStart knows the export filename.
The second issue is on the HCA side. There are two little understood options on the UPB Import dialog. These tell HCA how to handle matching up devices from the UPStart export file and those already in your HCA design. There are two choices, match by name, and match by unit id. Here are some guidelines in using these options.
If you change the room name or device name of something in UPStart then you should import by unit number. Also if you have previously imported a device into HCA and changed its name or what folder it is in, then import by unit number.
If you changed a unit id of an existing device in UPStart - not very common an operation - then import by name.
Any questions?
What seems not to be known is that any version of UPStart can configure all UPB devices from all manufacturers. You don't need to use the Simply Automated version of UPStart to configure its devices. The PCS version would work as well.
So what are the differences? A few features differ between each manufacturers version. For example, the UPStart from Simply Automated has "The UPStart Wizard" which allows for quick configuration - within limits - of some device types.
I suggest that you download from whoever has the most recent version available on their web sites. Not everyone releases new versions at the same time and UPStart changes frequently to fix problems and support new hardware.
One tip when you are using UPStart: Enable the "auto export" feature. Select from the UPStart menu Tools - Options. On the "UPStart File" tab is an option that will export your network to the format that HCA can read each time you save your file. This way the export is always kept up to date. You, of course, have to manually export the first time - using File Export from the menu - so UPStart knows the export filename.
The second issue is on the HCA side. There are two little understood options on the UPB Import dialog. These tell HCA how to handle matching up devices from the UPStart export file and those already in your HCA design. There are two choices, match by name, and match by unit id. Here are some guidelines in using these options.
If you change the room name or device name of something in UPStart then you should import by unit number. Also if you have previously imported a device into HCA and changed its name or what folder it is in, then import by unit number.
If you changed a unit id of an existing device in UPStart - not very common an operation - then import by name.
Any questions?