"JP1 for Beginners" outdated and I'm nervous...

[enchant]

My JP1 cable finally arrived and I'm ready to get going. I downloaded what I believe to be all of the necessary files and I'm going through the JP1 for Beginners document.

It's quite outdated, and to a great extent that's no big deal, but some things are VERY different, and I'm afraid of screwing up my remote (I see lots of people posting that they've done this).

For example, it tells me to drop down the Configuration menu and change the transmission delay. Unfortunately, there's no Configuration menu. This is no big deal, because I found the transmission delay under the Advanced menu.

But then it asks me to change the port address (also in the Configuration menu), and I can't find this anywhere. I'm at still at the very beginning of this guide, and if I'm already getting this far off track, I'm going to be screwed quickly.

One of the first things it suggests is to "Read as many of the forum messages as you can". Well, there are over 30,000 messages and I just don't have that kind of time.

Is there any more up-to-date documentation available? Thanks for any help.

[gjarboni]

For example, it tells me to drop down the Configuration menu and change the transmission delay. Unfortunately, there's no Configuration menu. This is no big deal, because I found the transmission delay under the Advanced menu.

But then it asks me to change the port address (also in the Configuration menu), and I can't find this anywhere. I'm at still at the very beginning of this guide, and if I'm already getting this far off track, I'm going to be screwed quickly.

I'd recommend reading the "Beginners - read this thread first." thread for more documentation. But to answer the specific question you asked, you can change the interface address by going to the Interface menu and choosing Parallel. Checking the address of your parallel port can be done through the "System" Control Panel applet.

By the way, you can't screw up your remote by downloading it's contents. To break something you need to make a change and then upload the change to your remote.

So once you successfully download the contents of your remote, save it! Now you have a good image to fall back on.

[enchant]

Thanks for the suggestions. Let me ask another question. If I want to find specific answers to specific JP1 tasks, what is the best way to find them before bothering folks here on the forum? For example, the thing that I want to do more than anything else is to program a macro into my "theater mode" power button. Apparently I can do it for other devices' power buttons, but not theater mode. I heard a rumor that it can be done with JP1.

[gjarboni]

For example, the thing that I want to do more than anything else is to program a macro into my "theater mode" power button. Apparently I can do it for other devices' power buttons, but not theater mode. I heard a rumor that it can be done with JP1.

Someone might correct me, but I think you're referring to a feature on some older remotes. On these remotes (those with 740 processors) the power key had a different keycode in "home theater" mode and could have a macro programmed to it. This macro wouldn't interfere with the power button when the remote wasn't in home theater mode.

On your remote, you can program a macro to the power button (macros are global) and create keymoves for each device for Shift-power.

To answer your other question, the best way to learn JP1 is to try things out. If you save your configuration at various steps, you can always go back if something goes wrong. Once you play around with all the features, you can come back with specific questions.