I'm new here too and had the same question (but only in my head). I discovered that one of my my new locos doesn't have it's decoder listed in the JMRI database yet so that right there is one reason to update- at least when there are production releases.
On Wed, Jan 2, 2019 at 12:42 PM PennsyNut <pennsynut@...> wrote:
Since I don't have anything up and running yet. Let me start: I have a Zephyr/50 and some BLI locos. I have downloaded JAVA and JMRI. And have played a bit with JMRI. But. I keep reading about all these updates. Both to Java and to JMRI. Are these really important to the average user? Example: After one sets up the system and has figured out DecoderPro and has programmed some locos. Is there a good reason to keep updating? Once it's up and running as expected, why do we need all these updates/upgrades? I keep reading about all the problems people have after they upgrade. Usually JMRI. I suspect that JAVA MUST be updated. So can that be done without having to keep updating JMRI? Obviously, I'm a novice and hope this isn't a stupid question. Windows 10 updates automatically and I never see what it "upgrades". Can't JMRI do much the same thing? Or as with Windows, have it set auto or ask first? I suspect Windows vs JMRI is apples and oranges. Morgan Bilbo, PRR fan/1952.