Pathway Pathport Manager 5 User Guide - Manual (Page 3)

Pathway Connectivity
Pathport Manager 5 v1 Manual 3
Overview
Pathport Manager 5 is a software program used to configure, troubleshoot and monitor
Pathport® DMX-over-Ethernet nodes manufactured by Pathway Connectivity. Pathport
nodes are used primarily in entertainment and architectural lighting systems employing
DMX512 as the control protocol.
Pathport Manager 5 will configure properties for all Pathport one-port, two-port, four-port
and eight-port nodes using a firmware version of 3.0.2.x or higher. Pathport Manager 5
will retrieve and set channel patches, and perform firmware upgrades on all nodes using
firmware of 3.0.4.x or higher. Earlier firmware versions require Pathport Manager 3.
Pathport Manager 5 is a Java application, requiring Java 1.6 or greater, and will run on
Windows XP and Vista, Mac OS 10.5 on Intel Duo Core machines, and Linux.
Philosophy
Pathport Manager 5 provides the user with two different views of a Pathport system.
The Nodes Properties screen shows individual nodes and their ports – good for global
configuration – while the DMX Patch provides a port-based view, for patching control of
the DMX flow.
Because reconfiguration of a Pathport system is typically not done very frequently,
safeguards are in place to prevent accidental changes. Also, several diagnostics have
been included to help sort out networking problems and to assist in troubleshooting.
PM5 is designed around the separation of the editing process from the application, or
commiting, of the new values. Changes are queued until the user chooses the ‘send
changes’ button, to reduce the chances of accidentally making unwanted changes.
Likewise, configuration, patching and firmware each have their own commit button, so
only the changes currently visible (highlighted in yellow) are ever sent.
As a further guard against accidental changes, Pathport Manager 5 now includes an
auto-backup feature, with a history of ten commits.
As well as improved versions of the Virtual Console and the xDMX Monitor, Pathport
Manager 5 now provides information on the user’s Network Interface Card (NIC), the
ability to view non-DMX packet traffic between the computer and a selected node, an
event log, user-defined views of node properties, and showfile saving and restoring in a
off-line editable CSV format.
Changes from Previous Versions
Pathport Manager 5 completely supersedes version 4 of the software. Version 3 is still
required to upgrade nodes from 3.0.2.x firmware, to reach full functional compatibility
with this release.
Quick Universe patches are now deprecated. Patching done with PM5 is of Source
Universes only, a more comprehensive and flexible format. Quick universe support is
still available, but is not recommended for new patches or systems.