NSM CD-3101 support programs

NSM CD-3101 Control Programs

The directory "manufacturers_disk" contains the programs which NSM ships on a floppy disk with the CD changer. As-is.

The other directories contain the completely separate control system that I developed and used successfully for many years.

The system controls a single NSM-CD3101 100-disc changer on COM1:. If you need to use a different COM port, you'll have to rebuild the application using Visual C++. If you make a PayPal donation (see bottom of page) I can rebuild the program for a specific COM port for you. Not present here is a version that controls two CD-3101 on the same COM port.

All are Win32 programs which will run on Win95/98/NT/2000/XP. You'll find debug and non-debug versions in the respective subdirectories. I recommend using the release versions unless you'll be modifing the source and building your own debug versions.

NSMLINK.EXE

Run NSMLINK.EXE on the computer connected to the NSM-CD3101. It's located under the directory \relay. If the program doesn't appear to boot then your COM cable is not correct. (Use the Windows task manager to kill the unsuccessful process nsmlink.exe, or you won't be able to try again) The cable must support the following pins:

2 RxD
3 TxD
4 DTR *** if your cable doesn't support this the program won't work!!
5 gnd

The switch on the NSM unit should be set to on-remote. This means that the DTR line will control the on-off state of the changer. When nsmlink.exe is started, the changer will come on (you will hear a click).

Another user had a problem that the baud rate of 19200 did not work. I don't know if the problem was the NSM unit or the computer. If you have a long pause during startup of the program, this may be your problem. If you can rebuild the program for 9600 baud, try that. Otherwise, contact me.

When the program starts, you can press the SCAN button to scan all the CDs. Note that the list of CDs (list-view) may not update until the load is complete. There's no way to interrupt the load, you must wait until all 100 are scanned.

The Load button will load disc which is selected in the list-view. Unload will return the loaded disc to its tray. Play, Pause, and Stop will control the loaded disc. Next will skip to the next track in the random playlist. You should rarely have to use any of these controls, since the Remote application (described below) can do all of these operations.
When the scan done, press Random to continuously play CDs randomly. The program ensures that all tracks are played before repeating any one.

Optionally, you can create a text file (ANSI) called nsm.txt and put it in the NSMLINK's current directory. It should have one line per disc (100 lines) consisting of the artist name, and then the disc name, separated by a tab character (09). This is a common export format for Microsoft Excel. So if you keep a list of the loaded discs in Excel, you can export to nsm.txt. When this file is present, the program will display the information when using the Get Track Info button in the remote app. I believe it should also display this info in NSMLINK's list-view.

Nsmlink.exe is a server on TCP/IP port 4239 (decimal) for commands from the program remote.exe

REMOTE.EXE

launch this program on the same machine or another machine connected on a TCP/IP network (Internet is OK too if you don't have firewalls which block port 4239). Press Connect and enter the host name. I don't remember if a nuneric IP address will work here or not. You can run multiple copies of this program simultaneously to control the CD-3101 from multiple locations.

The following features are implemented in this program:
Skip - skips to the next track
Restart Track -
Play Track - (enter disc number and track number first)
Play Disc - (enter disc number first)
Get Track Info

The so-called "property sheets" on the right side of the app are not enabled. The 0-1 selection is for selecting which CD-3101 is to be controlled, and is not active in this build of the program.

You can build the programs with Microsoft Visual Studio C++ 6. All the required source code is there.

If you find this software useful, please consider making a donation by clicking on the above icon. ©2002 Glenn Slayden