So, step one down, we got a working programming wing with nothing more than a 30 dollar keyboard. That’s a win in my book, but we still need the rest of the system (faders, screens, a case, and a puck) to get this project to a usable state.

The Puck

Before we go any further, I wanna make it clear that this console will not be completely void of ETC products, you still need to buy the proper keys to enable output from the Nomad install, otherwise you’re going to get random signal drops, and flashes. You’re also going to need a Gadget II to actually output DMX, as EOS (as far as I know) only outputs to ETC devices.

Essentially all the Puck is, is a nomad install on a NUC, with some flags in Windows set to make the whole thing work together.

The NUC

To start off the build, I bought the cheapest NUC I could find on amazon, the Intel NUC NUC5CPYH. Unfortunately, this NUC is not a complete system, and will need both RAM and storage media to even boot. Fortunately for us, EOS doesn’t require much memory. This means that we can basically throw any old ram and storage media in, as long as it is compatible. I solved this problem by cannibalizing an old laptop I had lying around.

Windows

Now that we have a bootable system, we need something to boot! So lets head over to Microsoft’s site and download the Install Media Creator and get going. You’re going to need a Windows 10 Professional Key before you begin installation. The installation process is pretty self explanatory so I won’t go through it here (Although, make sure when you’re asked to login with Microsoft, to instead make an offline or local user.). Once you are at the desktop we can start configuring settings. Firstly, you’re going to want to right click on the desktop and click personalization, there you can set your wallpaper to black.

While you’re there, you can click on the theme menu.

There you can change color to grey, which will change all of your accents to black, or as close as windows will allow you.

Then, go to your user settings, and change your username to Nomad XE (or whatever else, just know it’ll be visible for a couple seconds during boot.) Then change your avatar to a black image. This in combination with your black background will effectively show whatever text you want during boot. Speaking of backgrounds, by default, Windows won’t show your background after the lock screen, so make sure to flip the toggle switch that changes that.

Automatic Login

So now we’ve got Windows looking the part, let’s make it launch the console all on it’s own. To start, lets automatically login to the user we created earlier. Open the start menu and search for netplwiz.

Then in the window that pops up, you should see this toggle.

Just untoggle it, and click apply. That should bring a window up to confirm which user should be logged in at boot. It should auto-populate with our user.

Automatic EOS

That handles the computer aspect, but what about our console? We need EOS to do anything right? Go ahead and take a minute to install EOS. It should add an icon to your desktop. Right click it and select “Open File Location”, we’ll need the file location of this executable later. To launch this program on login, we’re going to use Task Scheduler, which you can launch from search in the start menu.

On the left hand menu, click the button that says “Create Basic Task”. Name it Launch EOS, click next and select the option “When I log in.” Then Select “Launch a program.” There, you can finally navigate to the EOS executable you found earlier, and finish the task.

Conclusion

Now the EOS shell will launch whenever you log in, and as you are logged in automatically, it will launch at boot. Then go into your EOS Shell settings, and uncheck the “Open in Shell ECU” option. Now whenever EOS is opened, it will automatically open as a primary device. Just like that, we are done configuring. As soon as you press the power button on your NUC, it will boot, login, launch shell, and EOS automatically. Next time, we’ll be tackling the case, and motorized fader wing. Stay Tuned!

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