BetaBright Signs

BetaBright signs are popular contenders, price and feature-wise, to the Pro-Lite PL-2014R. In my opinion, the sign has more features and a higher coolness factor, however my exposure to messing with the sign was limited to about 2 hours total. Certainly not enough time to compile anything substancial.

(The sign was purchased for the intention of hooking it up to a computer. When it was discovered that it cost an additional amount to do so, the sign was returned to the store and a Pro-Lite was purchased instead. This appears to be a common theme.)

It is my hope that things will progress forward and I will be able to produce an extensive set of pages for this sign.

However, I have been informed that the BetaBrite is a mutant cousin of the Alpha signs, and that there is a good possibility that the connector/protocol for an Alpha sign may work with a BetaBrite.

On an astounding note, I was contacted by AMS (via email on 7/26/1999) stating that they had just posted an "open document" online about the BetaBrite protocol. It was a sales document, but it appears that it proves the BetaBrite does us the Alpha protocol. Check out the sales document on their site. (97088097.pdf 226k)

Alpha Protocol Available -- It would seem our friends in Europe aren't as secretive about the protocol as the American counterparts! Thanks to "The Fox" for pointing me at AMS's web site in Europe http://www.ams-e.com/download/ where they published 97088061.doc (Word97 251k) for the world to see. Here's the same document in html. Please, grab and distribute far and wide.

Other BetaBright Links (good luck!)

• MacBrite (OS X) - program the BetaBrite from a Macintosh.
• Allen Huffman's <os9al@delphi.com> Beta-Brite LED Sign Page
• Adaptive Micro Systems - The U.S. manufacturer of the sign
• AMS's Tech Specs - Hardware documentation, including pinouts
• Sine Systems - Tech note on undocumented Beta-Brite "feature"
• PaceSetter Communications - The company that sells the $150 documentation package, available for much less just by reading Walt's LED Sign page!
• Kitchi - download RSS feeds and display on a Beta Brite

Walt's favorite vendor is:

Tek Solutions, LLC   <info@teksolutionsllc.com>
Portland, OR Sales Office (503) 289-1502 or toll free 877-266-0925
Milwaukee, WI Sales Office (414) 353-2181 or toll free 877-370-4319
Alexandria, VA Sales Office (703) 922-9573 or toll free 877-551-4689

Get the Alpha Protocol Document (pdf) and view the brochure.

These folks bundle the BetaBrite Messaging Software and a 25 foot cable/adapter with the displays!

If you are a vendor or manufacture of BetaBright signs and would like to see information posted, please see this information about having a free web page posted.

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