It's Cheap - the rapid advance of computer technology has
rendered old PCs obsolete, and thus quite cheap. Or you may have an
old PC lying around which isn't good for much anything else.
It's Flexible - the disk based software makes it simple to
upgrade and add new features. In fact - except for zero bit stretching
(a motor-cooking way of controlling a single analog loco) - ALL
possible DCC messages can be sent, given the proper software. Plus,
you can easily write your own programs, in any high level language,
which access the memory resident driver (which does most of the dirty
work.) But wait - there's more! The DCC controller runs in the
background, so you can use the computer for other things at the same
time. I plan to display a track diagram on the screen, and to use a
mouse to operate the turnouts (point-and-click!) This interface can
also coexist with other devices such as Dr. Chubb's digital I/O,
allowing computer control of turnouts, signals, etc. without having
to buy (currently) expensive DCC decoders.
It Can Be "User-Friendly." With a full screen
display, full keyboard, and perhaps a mouse, setup and operation can
be made simple and efficient (with proper software, of course!)
For Details on each section:
Throttles Up to 4 simple throttles which connect to the joystick port
Logic Board Creates a TTL-level DCC signal from parallel port data
Booster Boosts the DCC signal to track level
SOFTWARE to make it run!