NWare 1.6.1 RC-1 now available

Hello all,

The NWare 1.6.1 RC-1 release is now available:

http://www.peaveyoxford.com/public/NWare-1.6.1RC-1b.msi

http://www.peaveyoxford.com/public/Kiosk-1.6.1RC-1b.msi

Feature summary:

- The code is now signed
- You should no longer get firewall warnings after installation
- Support for the nTouch 60
- nControl redundancy
- Support for the NION nE low cost NION
- Support for the nTouch180++ (nTouch180 with nControl)
- New Dante CAB 4n device
- External clock support for the nio-AES card
- pySNMP support added to the Python scripting system

Also, 136 new Plugin devices, including:
- PIN based keypad security devices
- New high performance Automatic Mixers
- A Delayed Crosspoint Mixer
- A wide selection of easy to wire controls
- A complete set of logic devices with integrated state indicators
- An advanced clock device with 7-segment display
- High resolution FIR filters

Release 1.6.1 (September 27, 2010)
=======================

Features

nTouch 60
------------
The nTouch 60 touch screen device has been released.
For information about installation and initial configuration, refer to the nTouch 60 Hardware Manual.
For information about using the device with NWare, see Adding an nTouch 60 node to your design in the NWare User Guide.

nTouch 180
--------------
Hosting of nTouch 60 projects

The nTouch 180 can now host NWare projects containing nTouch 60 devices.
Firmware upgrades from within NWare

You can now upgrade the firmware on the nTouch 180 from the NWare Update Firmware dialog box.

For more information, see Updating firmware on MediaMatrix devices in the NWare User Guide.

Note: You must use a USB stick to upgrade the firmware to version 1.6.1. You cannot use NWare.

Once the upgrade is done, subsequent firmware versions can be installed using NWare.
Optional nControl functionality nControl functionality is now available as an option, controlled by an activation key.

NWare
-------

Support for nTouch 60
--------------------------
You can now add nTouch 60 nodes to your design. You can find these under Hardware in the NWare device tree.

These new nodes allow you to design individual pages for display on nTouch 60 devices on the network.

For more information, see Adding a nTouch 60 to your design in the NWare User Guide.

Support for nTouch 180
----------------------------
You can now add nTouch 180 nodes to your design. You can find these under Hardware in the NWare device tree.

These new nodes allow you to manage nTouch 180 devices on the network. You can deploy projects to them, upgrade the software they run and monitor their status.

Support for NION nE
------------------------
The NION nX device has been renamed to nX/nE and is now compatible with both the NION nX and the NION nE. You can find it under Hardware / NION Audio Processor in the NWare device tree.
For more information, see Adding a NioNode to your design in the NWare User Guide.

Support for CAB Dante
--------------------------
You can now add CAB Dante nodes to your design. You can find these under Hardware / CAB Audio I/O in the NWare device tree.

For more information, see Adding a CAB 4n to your design in the NWare User Guide.

New settings for nControl redundancy system
----------------------------------------------------
The nControl device now has a new tab called Redundancy. This allows you to manually power off the active nControl (so that the standby unit can take over) or switch over to the standby unit (without powering down the active unit). It also displays information about the standby unit.
For more information on the redundancy settings in NWare, see nControl in the NWare Device Reference.

New sample plugins
-----------------------
There are new plugins in the NWare device tree under Plugins\Peavey. These include a number of DSP devices, nTouch 60 devices, logic devices, buttons and third party devices.

NION
------

Synchronizing devices using an external clock source
--------------------------------------------------------------
You can now configure the NioNode AES card to receive a clock signal provided by a device connected to the card. This signal is transferred to the CobraNet network and used in place of the CM-1 clock signal from the CobraNet Conductor to synchronize devices on the network.
This feature is designed to be used in installations that require a clock source to be provided by a device that is not a NioNode.

For more information, see Using an external clock source to synchronize devices on a CobraNet network in the NWare User Guide.

nControl
-----------
Redundancy system
-----------------------
The nControl now supports a redundancy system that allows a standby unit to take over should the active unit fail.

For more information, see Setting up redundancy in the nControl Hardware Manual.

Python PySNMP support added
------------------------------------
nControl now provides native SNMP support in the Python programming environment. This technology is referred to as PySNMP.

For more information on PySNMP, see http://pysnmp.sourceforge.net/.

For information on using Python with nControl, see Adding flexibility to your design using Python scripting in the NWare User Guide.

Note: You must use a USB stick to upgrade the firmware to version 1.6.1. You cannot use NWare. Once the upgrade is done, subsequent firmware versions can be installed using NWare.

Enhancements
-----------------

nControl
----------

Activation key changes
--------------------------
If you create a project containing devices from the nControl Devices section of the NWare devices tree, and deploy it to the nControl, it will only function if an activation key has been specified.
If your project does not contain devices from the nControl Devices section of the devices tree, an activation key is not required. The nControl can host nTouch 60 projects without a key being specified.

Bug fixes
-----------

NWare

345 - When you uninstall NWare, not all items associated with the installation are removed

379 - Could not uninstall via Control Panel under Windows Vista or Windows 7

Previously, under Windows Vista or Windows 7, it was not possible to uninstall NWare from Windows Control Panel.

551 - Network interface selection dialog box sometimes appeared behind NWare window

Each time you emulate or deploy a project, NWare checks to see if the list of available network interfaces has changed. If it has, a dialog box is displayed that allows the user to select the network interface to use. This dialog box was sometimes displayed behind the NWare application and was not visible to the user. In this version, it is always displayed in front.

554 - Opening a new page when emulating caused NWare to crash

When emulating a project and clicking different page tabs in NWare, the application sometimes crashed. This problem has now been fixed.

564 - The severity for time change log messages is now verbiage

Previously, when the time was changed on a node, a log message with the severity note was generated. As NWare is configured to add messages of this severity to the log, it meant that a large number of log messages were generated. In this version, when the time is changed, a log message with the severity verbiage is generated; by default, messages of this type are not added to the log.

623 - Problem opening and closing blocks when project contained a large number of meters

Previously, if a large number of meters were active on screen, it was not possible to open or close a block.

625 - Publisher cannot be verified warning was displayed

When the NWare installer was run, a warning stating that the publisher could not be verified was displayed. NWare source code is now signed and this warning is no longer displayed.

626 - Windows Firewall warnings were displayed

The first time NWare was started on a PC, Windows Firewall warnings were displayed.

657 - Unit and System mute buttons did not mute outputs on NIO-4x4 card

Previously, when a NioNode was fitted with a NIO-4x4 card and the Unit mute or System mute buttons on the Mute tab were clicked, the outputs from the NIO-4x4 card were not muted.

Known issues
---------------

NWare

57 - Additional steps needed for non-admin users running NWare under Windows XP

Currently, non-administrator users cannot run NWare or Kiosk under Windows XP without additional steps being completed after the installation.

The administrator must change the permissions of the \program files\mediamatrix\nware <version>\plugins\nware\xml folder to allow write access for the non-administrator users. Once this has been done, NWare and Kiosk will operate normally.
For more information, see Allowing non-admin Windows XP users to run NWare and Kiosk in the PDF or webhelp NWare User Guide.