ChamSys Ltd www.chamsys.co.uk
MagicQ User Manual 148 Version 1.4.9.0
18 System Management
18.1 Starting Up
First of all power the console up…
If power is good then an introductory window is displayed on the screen. You are prompted to continue the
current show, to start a new show, or to follow a Help Tutorial. If you choose to continue the current show or
start a new show, you can revert to the Help Window by pressing the HELP button at any time.
Note that as the console utilises a hard disk system it is necessary to shut the console down before removing
power to it. Removing power to the console when it is running may cause problems with the file system.
Normally this will only result in a subsequent slow start-up whilst the system repairs the disk – however in
certain circumstances the file system may become corrupted. If you always follow the instructions for shutting
down you will have no problems.
When the console starts up it loads the last show file that was saved – either a file explicitly saved by you, or
the last backup file it automatically saved.
18.2 Shutting Down
To shut the console down, press the QUIT soft button in the Setup Window. When asked for confirmation,
select yes. The console powers down automatically when it has completed its shutdown sequence.
18.3 Saving Shows
The MagicQ utilises a large hard disk to enable storage of a virtually infinite number of shows. When you
are programming a show the show is stored in memory. In order to store your show on the disk you need
to press the SAVE SHOW soft button in the Setup Window.
Whilst programming, you should regularly save your show, so that if the unexpected happens and the
power fails your show data is not lost. You can chose any filename. The console will automatically set
the file extension to .shw.
By default, the console periodically saves a backup of your show to disk – you will see it show “AutoS” in
the Status Display. It uses the same show name but with the file extension .sbk.
It is a good idea to save your show to different file names so that you have various points you can back-
track to if things go wrong. For example, save the show as myshow-patch.shw after you have patched and
then as myshow-final.shw after you have finished programming.
When you shut down the console through the QUIT soft button in the Setup Window, the console
automatically saves a backup copy of your show with a .sbk extension. When you subsequently restart the
console this file will be re-loaded. This ensures that the console starts up as it was when the QUIT soft
button was pressed.
The Setup Window indicates when the show has not been saved (or autosaved) for over 10 minutes.
18.4 Backing up to an external system
It is a good idea to back up your show to an external system. This ensures that should the unexpected
happen you can transfer your show to another console. In a touring environment where the console is
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