# Enttec Open DMX Usb



## express (Apr 4, 2009)

Hey,
At our school we are in in of casting. We pulled out our lighting, and our board does not work. We are thinking of buying a Enttec open DMX Usb. We have two questions, do they work with a mac- and can we teach a bunch of 7nt and 8th graders how to use one. Is there a program so it is just like a virtual light board.


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## Footer (Apr 4, 2009)

Do a search for Chamsys MagicQ and Enntec. You will find a huge amount of into on this, and soon to be even more after I get around to writing it up a bit more. I would probably not hand MagicQ over to someone who has never done lighting, it might be a bit much. There are a few other pieces of software that might be a bit more of what you want.


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## express (Apr 5, 2009)

Thanks,
It turns out that our computer lab had a Enttec Open DMX Usb. We are now looking through the internet to decide what software we want to run. Any Suggestions? IT needs to be able to run on a mac- thats all our school owns. We tried MagicQ- and we didn't like it. Any Help would be appreciated.


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## willbb123 (Apr 5, 2009)

express said:


> Thanks,
> It turns out that our computer lab had a Enttec Open DMX Usb. We are now looking through the internet to decide what software we want to run. Any Suggestions? IT needs to be able to run on a mac- thats all our school owns. We tried MagicQ- and we didn't like it. Any Help would be appreciated.



Here is a list of Open Source / Freeware control programs. 
ENTTEC - Lighting Control,RDM,DMX USB PRO

I've been looking for something to use on my mac book pro. I haven't seen anything I like.


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## Footer (Apr 5, 2009)

Gotta ask... whats the gripe about magicQ? Are you just wanting a simple 2 scene preset type interface with a simple cue stack?


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## dreamsfuture (Apr 6, 2009)

What kind of Mac Do you have in school? How powerful and what generation?
You could always install Windows in your Mac, and go that way as well.


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## awhaley (Apr 6, 2009)

I'm a huge fan of MagicQ, but I'm not sure it's right for many high school and junior high situations. It just has a lot of buttons that a 7th grader can punch that change things they might not be able to immediately figure out how to restore...

It is definitely the best software out there for the Enttec Dongle in my opinion, but far from the easiest to use. 

If you post a bit more about what you want to do, we might be able to help you more... but a lot of the simpler Enttec-compatible solutions out there are PC only. Is finding a PC somewhere in the school that you can borrow an option?

And what kind of lighting console did you have that's now not working? And what's going on with it?

Art Whaley
Art Whaley Design


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## Footer (Apr 6, 2009)

Tyler said:


> MagicQ is one of the best you're going to get for an open source program. It can be a powerful controller especially if you get a couple wings for them. Why didn't you like it?



MagicQ is not opensource. It is available for free, but is not opensource. Open source means the source code of the program is out in the wild for people to use and modify. There are also some features that are locked down in "demo" mode.


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## express (Apr 6, 2009)

Hey, 
We talked the computer lab to lend us their Mac Pro. I is running OS X 10.5.6. We thought that MagicQ was to complicated, we have a bunch of 8th graders, with no theater experience, who need to know how to use our light board.


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