The DCC Decoder Programmer

Using SPROG with Linux Operating Systems

The published instructions refer mainly to the Windows or Mac operating system but the same basic principles apply to other operating systems.

Please read the Release Notes for this version for important information.

Should you have any questions during the installation process, please contact us using the link on the left (requires e-mail and internet connection), or separately send email to sprog@bbmgroup.com.

As there are so many different versions and variants of Linux, users of Linux are referred to the JMRI web pages for details of how to install and run the required software. There are numerous users of SPROG, JMRI and Linux, and help is often available on the JMRI site, or one of the User Groups.

If you don't yet have Java installed, you can get Java 11 from either Azul (scroll down to the right version 11 downloads) or by going to Adoptium (Eclipse).
On a Raspberry Pi, run "sudo apt install zulu11-jdk" for the easiest install.

You must run the Java installer for version 11 (or have previously loaded Java 11) before running the JMRI installer in the next step, or it will issue an error message and stop.

USB device drivers are not required for SPROG 3, SPROG IIv3, SPROG IIv4 or SPROG nano, as Linux sees them as standard USB serial devices.
Earlier SPROG II USB drivers for Linux are provided in the USB/Linux compressed file,, along with installation instructions.

You are recommended to read through these instructions to see the flow of steps involved, and then apply these steps as required for your specific installation.
For Linux the flow is similar to portions of both Windows and MacOS:

• install Java JRE
• install JMRI
• install USB drivers if needed

The next step is to start DecoderPro, and set preferences for this connection.

Next an introduction to DecoderPro.