I have JMRI DeCoder Pro loaded on my Mac laptcop to use for programming and such.  The computer is connected to the programming track via RR Cirkits - LocoBuffer USB.  It starts to set up correctly, but then for connection choices I get two "Bluetooth PDA" and two Bluetooth Modem."  The guy who has been helping me try to set this up has no idea.
Any suggestions? 
At the extreme, what would be the minimum Windows laptop I would have to get to make the program(s) work?
Gene

I need to scratch build a new roof for a building.  The roof is the type where it slopes up to the peak from all four sides, at about the same angle.  Does anybody know the formula for figuring the size of each piece - which would be trapezoids on the long side and  triangles on the short side?
Gene

http://www.realmilitaryflix.com/public/212.cfm?sd=61

For those who don't know, Camp (now Fort) Polk is in west central Louisiana and then Camp Claiborne was about 50 or so miles east in the almost exact center of Louisiana.
Gene

There is a method of using some form of tile or wall covering to approximate sedimentary rock like sandstone and limestone.  It's broken, glued together and fit in place.  What is it one breaks?  I can't remember.
Gene

Last night i e-mailed Woodland Scenics with a question about their new Realistic Water.  I got a response this morning that was obviously prompt, but also very complete and comprehensible. 
Those of you who model On30, I suggested O gauge figures in Victorian clothing to match the On30 trains.  If you agree with me, you might fire off an e-mail to them asking for same.
Gene

Happy St. George's Day! 
For England and Saint George!
Not to mention William Shakespeare, Gent.  RIP.
"....this was a man."

Gene

I've been using plaster gauze for ground and found a few places where it was hard to get a wet piece situated correctly. So I laid the dry gauze where I wanted it and then sprayed it with water from a sprayer.  Works great - and you don't lose any plaster in the dipping water.   
Gene

Does anybody know anything about the JAM Creations/Solutions track cleaning cars? 
Gene

In 1856 the ancestor of the C&O bored the Blue Ridge Tunnel under Rockfish Gap in the Blue Ridge.  They bored from both ends and broke through on Christmas day, less than six inches from a perfect meeting.  In 1944 the C&O built another tunnel close by to replace the Blue Ridge Tunnel.  When it bored through, the two tunnels were off by four feet. 
Gene

Has anybody taken the Spectrum 2-10-2 apart?  I need to get to the female plugs under the cab.
Gene

Mr. Bachmann,
Could you suggest to Mr. Riley that the company offer the long haul tender that comes with your 2-8-4 as a tender only purchase?  I could easily see the VT&P wanting some for the 2-6-6-2, the 2-10-2s, and the 4-8-2s at a minimum.  If I can figure a way to do it, they would look good behind 2-8-2s and even 4-6-2s.  It's hard to imagine an Eastern railroad in 1957 still using the USRA tender. 
Gene

I fit my last remaining old MRC steam sound decoder into both my Bachmann 2-10-2 and my 2-8-4 Kanawha.  Both worked fine without having to clip any capacitors.  BTW, the Van Swerigen (sp) 2-8-4 is actually longer than the USRA light 2-10-2. 
Gne

Has anybody else received e-mails from a "Robert Anderson" selling model railroading books and videos?  Know anything about him?
Gene

I bought a complete Walther's modern roundhouse on e-Bay some time ago and have the kit.  I have a question of anybody with the Walther's 130' turntable, though the 90' may answer the same question.  If I build the second roundhouse with the adjacent wall and glue the two walls together, will the turntable be able to index to the tracks in both roundhouses?  This may be moot as one roundhouse will have to be cut to fit the back wall and at least one stall will be far too short for any engine.  One, at the most two stalls will be useful - the two closest to the full size roundhouse. 
Gene

Athearn will NOT swap old Genesis light Pacifics for the new MDC Pacific.  They MAY have an improved Mike in the future.
Gene

This comes from the Milwaukee Road Yahoo group:
Over at the Milwaukee Road Modelers yahoo user group there has been a
lot of talk lately about the desire for good electric locomotives
built in plastic. Right now bra$$ is the only option and, well, we
all know about that. I've started a petition to see how many
signatures I can gather toward the goal of producing a Little Joe
(EF-4 or EP-4) electric locomotive in plastic, in HO scale. If any of
you would be interested in purchasing such a locomotive, please follow
the link and make your voice heard! We hope that with enough
signatures, maybe someone will seriously start considering it.

http://www.ipetitions.com/petition/PlasticJoes/

Gene

Has anybody built this kit?  Have you figured out what the black triangular pieces are and where they actually go?  The instructions are vague!!  I have two pictures of the finished kit and I can't find the little buggers at all. 
I'm still looking for a head house kit.  I'm thinking there are a couple of DPM industry kits which might work - I'll just have to make a hole for the conveyer belt from headhouse to tipple. 
BTW, what I mean by headhouse is the building over or in front of the mine shaft where miners enter and leave, where tools and equipment are brought, and from which the coal is sent to the tipple. 
Gene

There's an article in the current SCALE RAILS which advocates automatic transmission fluid - lightly applied - for track cleaning.
Anybody tried it?
Gene

I received a forward from a train club friend of mine that the Tweetsie gift shop and museum, housed, apparently, in an old depot burned to the ground Tuesday.  The fire may have been caused by lightening.  Companies from two nearby towns fought three hours, in part to save another building ten feet away.
Gene

I should have asked this question days ago.  I hope somebody can give me an answer before tomorrow morning!
What steam power would the N&W use for mine runs in 1957?  I'm subbing for an old language arts friend of mine and she's teaching ROCKET BOYS.  She wants me to do some talking about coal tipples and the railroad's role in coal mining.  If it were in the C&O region, I'd have no problem at all.  But for Coalwood, WV, I have no idea. 
Gene