*NEW* CRT-C® – Crosspoint RESPONSIVE Touchscreen-Control

[Dochartaigh]

Thanks (again). Gotten somewhere; I can access the S4's webpage, but there's no configuration tab as mentioned in the guide; it just says "You have accessed a system configured for centralized management. Please contact your local support administrator for information required to access this system".

UPDATE

I can see it appending /nortxe_index.html to the end of the IP address. Progress!

Never seen that message before - make sure you did a COMPLETE reset. I don't know what number reset it is (probably/maybe #5), but the manual goes into how there's FIVE different levels of reset on the unit... so if it isn't reset at the deepest level the previous owner could still have settings on it, ones like how it can only be "configured for[by] centralized management", which might lock you out of accessing it (just guessing here FYI).

I'm also a fan of reinstalling firmware after every reset, whenever I get a new-to-me, bought used and unknown device (Extron DVD's with drivers, programs, and firmware are on Archive.org).


For nortxe_index.html, I'm very familiar with that. That's what the (white button) Crosspoint defaults to once you initially setup its IP address. So when you go to (for example) "192.168.1.124" or whatever, it actually automatically goes to "192.168.1.124/nortxe_index.html" by default. That's the "factory installed default startup page" the Crosspoint manual talks about, so it's probably the same on the S4 since they use similar back ends (and don't know why, but the S4 manual is a shadow of the info the Crosspoint manual contains). Hopefully that default startup page will have all the settings, and those 3x tabs as pictured (Status, Configuration, File Management).

...beyond that, I'm also not a Windows person... so don't know what else to suggest. Just know that this was the most difficult part of it for me as well (and initially with the white button Crosspoint too), probably because of my lack of Windows knowledge anymore + these initially being made for Windows 2000 or whatever ancient OS which may not translate as nicer into the newer Windows versions.

[coderkind]

For nortxe_index.html, I'm very familiar with that. That's what the (white button) Crosspoint defaults to once you initially setup its IP address. So when you go to (for example) "192.168.1.124" or whatever, it actually automatically goes to "192.168.1.124/nortxe_index.html" by default. That's the "factory installed default startup page" the Crosspoint manual talks about, so it's probably the same on the S4 since they use similar back ends (and don't know why, but the S4 manual is a shadow of the info the Crosspoint manual contains). Hopefully that default startup page will have all the settings, and those 3x tabs as pictured (Status, Configuration, File Management).

...beyond that, I'm also not a Windows person... so don't know what else to suggest. Just know that this was the most difficult part of it for me as well (and initially with the white button Crosspoint too), probably because of my lack of Windows knowledge anymore + these initially being made for Windows 2000 or whatever ancient OS which may not translate as nicer into the newer Windows versions.

Apologies if this is known/obvious, but webservers usually default to "index.html" or similar when you omit the specific file you're after, so attempting to visit <IP_ADDRESS> automatically directs me to index.html on the S4, which contains that "You have accessed a system configured for centralized management. Please contact your local support administrator for information required to access this system" disclaimer. Not sure why all the good stuff is hidden behind a guessable/discoverable "nortxe_index.html" file, nor why that file isn't listed in the file view, but it doesn't matter too much. Yes, nortxe_index.html contains the tabs, so I'm all-good, thank you.

I was initially concentrating on acquiring all the kit; hopefully over the next few weeks I'll look at properly getting it all setup and configured (lots of wires to factor in). But have the Crosspoint and the IPLink box now.

[Dochartaigh]

Glad you got it working!

Apologies if this is known/obvious, but webservers usually default to "index.html" or similar when you omit the specific file you're after, so attempting to visit <IP_ADDRESS> automatically directs me to index.html on the S4

Yup, 'normal' ones do... the Extron's aren't quite normal though... or at least the white button Crosspoints which is where I got that "nortxe_index.html" filename from to begin with (and the S4's probably behave the same). It's been a few years since I redid a Crosspoint from scratch, but pretty positive they default to "nortxe_index.html", and not "index.html", when you type in the IP address and nothing else (which is weird, I know, and is prob why you wrote "I can see it appending /nortxe_index.html to the end of the IP address" --- probably after you did a successful FULL reset of the unit, and/or your first time successfully connecting to it).

What is also weird is as soon as you put any file (or maybe any .HTML file specifically) on the unit, THEN it will start defaulting to "index.html" instead of nortxe_index.html - which is why I always bookmark that nortxe file so I can get back to the settings (or something like that... as I said it's been a long time since I did this).

I've never used RS232 before, so will be interesting to check out the code. I've some other legacy devices with that connection on the back, and considering you've played with communicating to a Extron RGB 203 then I assume CRT-C might be able to talk to other non-Extron stuff(?)

Yes and no... The Extron IP Link boxes WERE designed from the start to talk to ANY (most?) devices which can be controlled via RS232 or similar. BUT that relies heavily on the "Extron Global Configurator" (GC) – the software system integrators use to setup massive office/college/conference-center A/V systems... and when you use that you're then stuck with Extron's awful, non-user-friendly, ugly, and super dated (like 1998 style lol) web interface if you go that route.

Since a large part of CRT-C is about is getting away from Extron's fugly interface, and making that interface simpler and better looking (AND fun - with all the console logos and such), there is the problem of bridging that gap from Extron's interface to CRT-C's.

I bridged that gap on the Crosspoint super easy because the code to change a preset was literally right there in the link/URL. Once I saw that it was only a couple hours to get a rough version of CRT-C up and running, with console logos and all. Easy peasy.

BUT, it's a different ball game on the GC code Extron uses for their IP Link devices. It's completely different and WELL beyond my (very) limited coding ability. I can't find the commands it uses in that code, and thus can't put them into CRT-C...

I hope somebody takes this upon themselves and clues us into how to do something like this! I HAVE had GC setup to control my Crosspoint, RGB 203 Rxi, and Corio2 (limited, as they didn't have my exact model listed), and once that was installed I DID get a little extra functionality from CRT-C itself (seems like if you program it via GC first, you can do some things elsewhere which feed off the settings/buttons you setup in your GC layout)... but it was so sporadic and nonsensical when/if it worked I never released even an early version of it (just seemed mostly broken to me...).



Anyway, just to show some more possibilities of this, Extron has literally a library of TEN-THOUSAND+ devices it can control with one of their IP Link boxes. I'm sure a WAY smaller percent actually applies to us and retro gaming... but still crazy what they can do:



...just food for thought if somebody could really get all this integrated - could be an amazingly crazy setup for sure.

[coderkind]

Glad you got it working!

Thanks! And thanks for the continued assistance.

Yup, 'normal' ones do... the Extron's aren't quite normal though... or at least the white button Crosspoints which is where I got that "nortxe_index.html" filename from to begin with (and the S4's probably behave the same). It's been a few years since I redid a Crosspoint from scratch, but pretty positive they default to "nortxe_index.html", and not "index.html", when you type in the IP address and nothing else (which is weird, I know, and is prob why you wrote "I can see it appending /nortxe_index.html to the end of the IP address" --- probably after you did a successful FULL reset of the unit, and/or your first time successfully connecting to it).

What is also weird is as soon as you put any file (or maybe any .HTML file specifically) on the unit, THEN it will start defaulting to "index.html" instead of nortxe_index.html - which is why I always bookmark that nortxe file so I can get back to the settings (or something like that... as I said it's been a long time since I did this).

Not sure what my Crosspoint's defaulting to (been a while since I've tried), but the IP Link S4 I've most recently been looking at defaults to "index.html" after whichever reset I performed on it, and "nortxe_index.html" is the destination which gives me the tabs and all the good stuff. I haven't tried uploading any files to the S4 yet. It's been about a year since I tried similar on the Crosspoint, but from memory I think there were some type of files it wouldn't accept being uploaded (I think some sort of image format... possibly SVG). When I play around with it next I'll check.

Yes and no... The Extron IP Link boxes WERE designed from the start to talk to ANY (most?) devices which can be controlled via RS232 or similar. BUT that relies heavily on the "Extron Global Configurator" (GC) – the software system integrators use to setup massive office/college/conference-center A/V systems... and when you use that you're then stuck with Extron's awful, non-user-friendly, ugly, and super dated (like 1998 style lol) web interface if you go that route.

I haven't looked at that software at all yet, but unless it's web-based code (HTML, JavaScript, CSS, etc) then it'll be alien to me too. It sounds like an .exe?

I hope somebody takes this upon themselves and clues us into how to do something like this! I HAVE had GC setup to control my Crosspoint, RGB 203 Rxi, and Corio2 (limited, as they didn't have my exact model listed), and once that was installed I DID get a little extra functionality from CRT-C itself (seems like if you program it via GC first, you can do some things elsewhere which feed off the settings/buttons you setup in your GC layout)... but it was so sporadic and nonsensical when/if it worked I never released even an early version of it (just seemed mostly broken to me...).

That's the problem; spending more time configuring and setting things up, and not playing the actual games

Anyway, just to show some more possibilities of this, Extron has literally a library of TEN-THOUSAND+ devices it can control with one of their IP Link boxes. I'm sure a WAY smaller percent actually applies to us and retro gaming... but still crazy what they can do

That's nuts!

[hipsofjw]

Would it be possible to run this on an Extron MVX in combination with an Extron IPL box?

[Joebot]

Would it be possible to run this on an Extron MVX in combination with an Extron IPL box?

Yes the black box portion of the guide is what you’re looking for assuming you have the normal MVX with just the serial port. If you have one of the ones with Ethernet use the first part of the guide for the white buttons. If you need any help feel free to message me on discord username joebot.

[hipsofjw]

Would it be possible to run this on an Extron MVX in combination with an Extron IPL box?

Yes the black box portion of the guide is what you’re looking for assuming you have the normal MVX with just the serial port. If you have one of the ones with Ethernet use the first part of the guide for the white buttons. If you need any help feel free to message me on discord username joebot.

Thanks so much! Just ordered an IPL box so should get everything all started next week. Which discord server are you on?

[Joebot]

Would it be possible to run this on an Extron MVX in combination with an Extron IPL box?

Yes the black box portion of the guide is what you’re looking for assuming you have the normal MVX with just the serial port. If you have one of the ones with Ethernet use the first part of the guide for the white buttons. If you need any help feel free to message me on discord username joebot.

Thanks so much! Just ordered an IPL box so should get everything all started next week. Which discord server are you on?

I’m on a few servers but you can reach me direct message as joebot. I’m also on the CRT Reddit discord and a server of my own but I’m not sure on self promotion here so I’ll just leave it to DM on discord if that works for you. Which box did you end up getting btw?

[hipsofjw]

Yes the black box portion of the guide is what you’re looking for assuming you have the normal MVX with just the serial port. If you have one of the ones with Ethernet use the first part of the guide for the white buttons. If you need any help feel free to message me on discord username joebot.

Thanks so much! Just ordered an IPL box so should get everything all started next week. Which discord server are you on?

I’m on a few servers but you can reach me direct message as joebot. I’m also on the CRT Reddit discord and a server of my own but I’m not sure on self promotion here so I’ll just leave it to DM on discord if that works for you. Which box did you end up getting btw?

I went with the IPL T S4. I've got three boxes I'm hoping to control: MVX 88, MXV84, and an MPS 112. Not sure if the last one is possible to control through the software, but that's okay. My S-Video and Composite stuff isn't used that much anyway.

I'm at least a couple of weeks away from being able to set it all up. I'm transitioning from mostly RGBs RCA to VGA on the MVX. Building adapters and cables to get clean CSYNC has become a bit of a project! All part of the fun of course.

[Ikaruga11]

How do I remove the plastic caps from my Extron Crosspoint to put the print outs of the game consoles inside?

[Dochartaigh]

How do I remove the plastic caps from my Extron Crosspoint to put the print outs of the game consoles inside?

There's little rectangle indents on the sides of the buttons. Take a small flathead screwdriver, put them in that indent and just kinda pull to pop them off. Once the OUTSIDE clear cap is off (you'll sometimes pop off the internal white backer to the cap at the same time - you want to leave that on the Crosspoint) you'll see the stock number inside, printed on clear plastic – remove that as well (usually using an even smaller flathead screwdriver).

[hipsofjw]

I'm finally getting around to this, but am having an issue with my IPL box. The power supply it came with didn't seem to work at all, so I got a 12V5A phoenix connector psu. It powers on the IPL box, but the power light doesn't stay on. The activity lights all go up when trying to assign the IP but I'm unable to ping it. I assume I'm supposed to factory reset the unit so I can give it a new IP, but resetting it involves paying attention to the power light which doesn't stay on during operation.

My suspicion is that the power supply is bunk. Does anyone have a picture of the official Extron power supply? I can't seem to find any good info on it.