#26

Contents:

• PREVIEW OF THINGS TO COME
• NOTES FROM THE FIELD
• MOVING SALE
• NEW VERSION RELEASES
• WHAT IS THIS I HEAR ABOUT TRACKERLYNX?
• TECH CORNER
• FINISHLYNX HALL OF FRAMES

NOTES FROM THE EDITOR

Nora Courtney - Customer Service Coordinator

Looking back on ten years of Lynx company history reminds us of the hundreds of Lynx customers in the field and the stories they have shared with us over the years. Those stories have taken us in the home office to events across the world. The Lynx story would not be so dense, varied or fun without our customers’ contribution to it.

And the story goes on and on. Whether on snow, grass, ice, dirt, road, track surface, etc., Lynx technology is in use year-round. Where in the world is Lynx technology being used today?

Nora

Deep in the heart of Texas.

Make sure to look for Lynx this year at the High School Athletic Director’s Convention in San Antonio, TX. We will be in Booth #349. If you will not personally be attending, let your AD know to stop by to ask about any of the new technology that you have been looking to add to your Lynx system.

We will be happy to discuss technology to integrate into your current system such as FieldLynx, ResulTV, RadioLynx, SeriaLynx, ClerkLynx and TrackerLynx. Just to name a few. Some of the Lynx products listed here may not sound familiar to you now, but we hope you will stop in to learn what they can do for you.

Are you looking for a training tool for your athletes? ReacTime Sprint Training can be used for your sprinters as well as the schools’ football players. Share the cost and the benefits across the two sports. The same can be said for OptoJump.

Lastly, if your school will not be represented at the convention in December, give Kevin McGill a call so that he can fill you in on what will be featured at the show. It should not be missed.

Once again, we will be in attendance at the USATF Convention held in Kansas City this coming December. And as always we will be on hand to talk about Lynx products, showcase new technology and spend a few minutes catching up with our friends in the field.

Something new this year will be a second Lynx technology venue. If you want to talk about tools for athletic training, you will have to stop in to visit our Lynx and Microgate Athletic Training Technology booth.

Veteran Lynx salesman and former coach Kevin McGill will man the booth along with Federico Gori of Microgate and Vern Gambetta of Gambetta Sports Training Systems. Anyone stopping in to visit Kevin and Vern will have the opportunity to tap a vast resource of coaching experience, from two men who have embraced the benefits of technology in the science of athletic training. Federico Gori is, of course, the man behind the Microgate technology that will be featured alongside Lynx’s ReacTime Sprint Training System and TrackerLynx.

Last year’s USATF Convention in Mobile marked the first time a Lynx product was the focus of a number of meetings at the convention. Lynx ran one session, organized by George Kleeman, to introduce the latest version of the software to interested officials. George then took up the charge in subsequent meetings to encourage field event officials to stop by and pick up a demo version of the software from Lynx at the Expo Show. We passed out over one hundred copies of the demonstration software to officials.

And this year, USATF will broaden the focus by hosting three hours of meetings for field event officials, spread over four conference rooms and has invited Lynx to participate in a major way with FieldLynx.

Giles Norton of Lynx will host two 55-minute sessions to introduce officials to the basics of FieldLynx: the product, its purpose and use. And for those who would like a more in depth session on FieldLynx, they will have the opportunity to join in on one of two 55-minute sessions that George Kleeman will host that will allow for hands on FieldLynx experience.

Do note that anyone who would like to try FieldLynx can go to the Lynx web site at: http://www.finishlynx.com/download/fieldlynx/index.htm
and download the demo version of the software free of charge, and at any time. You can run the program on your PDA unit in demo mode or use the emulator to run FieldLynx on your computer screen.

The demo version of the software has everything a standard licensed version would have, minus the ability to send and receive data from a database, one of the key aspects of this powerful event management tool. Therein lies the rub, or, the cost of the software license.

These are just some of the comments we have heard recently about FieldLynx from the people who are using the technology:

"FieldLynx is really taking off. Last night, FieldLynx caught at least three mistakes made by the officials working on the field sheets while students were using the FieldLynx units in conjunction with them." -Pat Leone, Syracuse, NY

"Just thought you would like to know. Getting ready for another season with the FieldLynx units starting with a big indoor team invitational scoring 30 places. I dont know why everybody that can afford these does not use them." –Gordon Aldrich, Corunna, MI

"Last Wednesday, the Peninsula Athletic League used 5 FieldLynx for their field event results in the Long Jump, Triple Jump, High Jump, Pole Vault, Shot Put and Discus. With the exception of one event (operator problems) it was WONDERFUL! It actually works (not that I doubted that). Tap on one icon and ‘Get results’ and its done." –Jim Hume, San Mateo, CA

Roger Jennings of Flash Results gave us a stellar report on RadioLynx after putting it to the test in late September in Charlotte, NC.

"I got the serial wireless device from Lynx Thursday, downloaded/installed the drivers, and made sure the unit was charged. On Friday we set up for the Great American XC Festival. I figured it would be a good event to test RadioLynx out considering the start was about 400m+ away over a hill and behind a large metal building.

Other than the first race where it was turned off (oops!), it was perfect, no ghost starts, very easy to use and set up. We did use a "cell phone" system for the back up, but never needed it. RadioLynx really is a super product.

The meet went very well from our end; results were out as soon as the last runner finished in each race."

With years of Lynx experience, Glendon Rand of Brewer, ME tried a new event this fall.

"We used FinishLynx for the first time at an XC meet yesterday at Belfast (thanks for the tips Giles). We had 25 schools and 500 runners. Everything went great! We used just 1 camera due to cost of hip numbers. We had a great picture and were able to see about 90% of the hip numbers, the rest were verified with numbers taken in the chute."

"A couple of weeks ago I met with Lynn Cannon (USATF Women`s Javelin Development) and experimented with using Lynx to measure javelin velocity at/near the point of release.

We put 2 marks one meter apart on the javelin, set Lynx up to record to the 10,000ths (results), then blew into the gun sensor and captured the javelin just after release. We ‘read’ the javelin at the 2 marks and used the delta time to punch into a calculator and got the release measurements that she was looking for.

Anyway, I thought you might be interested in yet another use of Lynx. I am curious if you have heard of anyone else doing this type of stuff?"

Doug DeAngelis wrote back to Sean to tell him it was the first he had heard of using Lynx with the javelin, but certainly not the first creative use we had heard of for Lynx technology. Lynx has been used in such divergent fields as fashion photography and in the physics classroom.

Over the last couple of years Lynx has been adding more and more wireless solutions and options to our product lines. A name that has kept cropping up in this arena is AirLynx, and a lot of people are wondering – as they often do when we come out with a new product – “Where can I buy an AirLynx?” The answer is, “You can’t.”

The technical press is full of discussions of WiFi technology, and terms like 802.11b, 802.11a, Blackberry, etc. are flying around. It can get very confusing; but what the engineers at Lynx have done is ensured that your results network can be enhanced by one or more wireless products or wireless options with the confidence that products under the AirLynx umbrella do what our products do best – link together seamlessly.  In the case of AirLynx, it is the wireless connectivity that links the systems.

Continue reading to find out more about three recent events that have demonstrated the power and applicability of a whole range of Lynx products that are components of the AirLynx mindset.

MOVING SALE

Lynx will be moving soon and we are hoping to lighten the load. With that in mind, we have a few great deals that won’t last long once you have seen the bargain prices we are offering.

First we have two brushed aluminum carrying cases. These are ready to be fitted for a Lynx camera system or anything else you may want to use them for. These cases are terribly sleek and inexpensive at $150.00 each.

We also have two Daktronics Indoor use LED display boards. With 4-inch high digits, these boards can be used to display Lane, Place and Time and were originally more than $1000. Each board is now on sale at only $450.00.

All of these items are in their original packaging, in their original condition, and ready to be shipped to the first person to put them under order. So call now, operators are standing by…

And one last offer for a free, yes free, Texas Instruments 600 DPI Laser Printer. It is 230V so it narrows the pool of prospective takers but we are confident that someone will want this brand new printer. All we ask is that you pay for shipping. Weight ticks in at 18 kilos. What a bargain!

Have you discovered the new features in the latest releases of FinishLynx, FieldLynx and ResulTV? Were you aware that each of these software products had a version release recently? They are all available now at the Lynx web site so go and check them out if you haven’t already. Here are some highlights:

FinishLynx 4.1

▪New for graphic overlays is the ability to repeat the graphic across the entire width of the screen or printed image. You still have the ability to do non-repeating overlay graphics. The difference between the two can be seen in the file extension. A single overlay ends in .TGx while its repeating counterpart ends with a .RGx extension.

▪There is a new button for your Image Toolbar that allows you to change the orientation of your FinishLynx image. To display the new button, click Image then Options and check the box next to the arrow icon. A text reference to your orientation has been added at the event object and hardware control windows.

▪There is support for new boards and lap timing equipment in the new version of FinishLynx.

▪ VCPD has moved aside to make way for the new and improved NCP (Network Com Port) plug-in. Working on the same principals at its predecessor, NCP allows you to use a single computer to communicate with multiple serial devices via a TCP-IP network instead of serial ports. NCP also supports UDP broadcast communication with scoreboards.

▪A new plug-in, LPRC, allows you to control several FinishLynx software functions remotely, such as print results, print image and export image. You can control these FinishLynx functions via a serial port using SeriaLynx, or when using NCP control these functions over a TCP-IP network. Using this last configuration, you can even Telnet in your commands to the FinishLynx computer.

▪Are you working with split times with either Multi-Split or Lap-Time? You can now display split lines on your image (Image: Options: Splits: Ok) and a Best Split field has been entered into the Results Zone field options.

▪Customize your Results Zone fields by selecting what fields you would like to see displayed from the drop-down menu found at File: Options: Results tab: Fields.

▪We have built in default serial port parameters for serial devices with Version 4.1. You are free to change any of the settings but note that if a serial device module or scoreboard script is changed, the default settings will reestablish themselves.

FieldLynx 2.1

▪You can keep the audience on the edge of their seats with quick dissemination of results from the final. Instead of having to jump out of the final to send round results, tap on the icon to send results directly from the final to announcers and scoreboards.

▪Many PDA’s turn themselves off to conserve their batteries. You can now disable or enable the auto-off functionality of the PDA from within the FieldLynx software; see Preferences.

▪Two short cuts have been added to the software for ease of use. When using a PDA with LaserLynx, the hard scroll buttons now take the measurement instead of putting you into a pre-measurement screen. Another short cut that was added allows you to access the network preferences of the PDA through FieldLynx; see Network on the Preferences dropdown list. This allows you to quickly disconnect and reconnect if your PDA hangs up during wireless transmittal.

▪FieldLynx allows for a new USATF and IAAF rule from 2001. With the exception of the high jump and pole vault, if there are 8 or fewer competitors, the athletes do not need a valid mark in the prelims to move on to the final.

ResulTV 2.1

ResulTV has come forward leaps and bounds in its first version release since it debuted back in 1998. We have made real changes to this product with Version 2.1. Gone are the bare bones functioning and look of ResulTV. A more sophisticated product has taken its place.

Like before, you can place text over graphics, but now you can move these layers back to front and back again as you wish. And you can get much more creative with your graphics. The Targa files that were used in the older version of ResulTV were limited to "flat" images and now you can create graphics with shadowing, beveled edges and so on.

The new ResulTV supports a range of fonts as well as characters for character-based languages. Other functionality changes in 2.1 are your ability to copy and paste text boxes, select a box or boxes to move them around the screen, and align text boxes vertically or horizontally. Gone are the days when you worked hard to create text boxes that matched others and aligned text boxes by sight.

You can have your FinishLynx computer (running NCP) and your ResulTV computer communicate over a network instead of relying on a serial connection.

And lastly is the introduction of dynamic graphics. Using a reference file, you can associate dynamic text with dynamic graphics. You can associate a first place finish with a gold medal graphic, second with silver and so on. You can also link a country name with a flag and broadcast the athlete’s national flag with the results. Another way to make your results display more exciting to spectators and announcers is by referencing a Lynx image to a text field.

New Lynx technology about to hit the market.

This "chip" product has been integrated into the Lynx fold to feed data to FinishLynx and ResulTV but can stand on its own as a lap-counter and timing device.

The TrackerLynx hardware and software package consist of a "chip" for every competitor, a chip tracking device linked to a computer, and an antenna over which the athletes must pass. The antenna is an unobtrusive cabled detection loop and minimal hardware means for an easy equipment setup.

Marry TrackerLynx with FinishLynx and Lap-Time and see a flood of data come in as the software posts Cumulative Split Time, Last Split Time, Speed, Best Split Time and Projected Finish Time. Of course, this data will be associated with the athlete’s name, ID, Lane and Affiliation. With data, the entire race can be seen on your computer screen.

All this data can be sent to ResulTV in real time also. This is a wealth of information that can be shared with an announcer or the crowd via broadcast from ResulTV. Imagine the excitement that can be generated with this sort of information at the fingertips of an announcer with a microphone.

Kevin Holden asks: Where have all the Com Ports gone?

In case you haven't noticed, the 9-pin com port is on the verge of extinction and the USB Port is rapidly becoming its replacement.

We began to see this trend about a year or so ago when we purchased a new laptop computer and found that there was no place to connect our capture button. Just last week when ordering a desktop computer from Dell, we discovered that 9-pin com ports are an option for which they charge you extra. 

I remember back in the old days when there were three guarantees in life: death, taxes, and two com ports on a desktop computer. It is too bad that com ports had to go the way of the dinosaur instead of say, taxes.

My first response was to dislike these funny little rectangular slots on the back of my computer until I found out that USB stands for "Universal Serial Bus" and there are all sorts of companies out there making cool things to plug into USB slots.

With a little research, I found a solution to our particular vanishing com port predicament. There is a product on the market that actually offers four 9-pin com ports and connects to the USB port on my notebook. 

With my new widget I not only have a place to connect my capture button, but I've got more com ports on my notebook than on any desktop I've ever owned. And for those of you who don't need four com ports, you can buy a USB to Serial Adapter with just one or two com port. For more information on USB to Serial Adapters, you can go to sites like www.digi.com, www.belkin.com, or www.keyspan.com and search by USB.

Now, If I could only find a notebook with a floppy drive…

FINISHLYNX HALL OF FRAMES

Lynx: A Cat’s Tale

The lynx in Lynx System Developers, Inc. carried a dual meaning when Doug DeAngelis set out to name the company as such. He chose the lynx for its speed and its homonym, links. Connectivity was, and still is, the key to Lynx technology.

And now we are connected to the Canada lynx itself.  Lynx has provided financial assistance to a study of the Canada lynx that is currently underway in Maine. A team from the US Fish and Wildlife Service and Maine's Department of Fisheries and Wildlife, working in cooperation with local landowners and conservation groups, has been brought together for this study. They are looking to gather information on lynx ecology in order to ensure conservation efforts in the Northeast. It is the only such study in the eastern half of the United States.

The study began in 1999 and the team hopes to continue to gather data for another two years in order to satisfy the goals they laid out in their original proposals. They currently have 19 lynx radio-collared and have identified 68 lynx, 31 adults and 37 kittens, in the 400 square kilometer area covered by the study. They have been tracking lynx movement, behavior and habitat information on foot and by plane. Along with that information, they study the lynx's predators and prey. All with the purpose to determine if the existing group of lynx in the northern border area of Maine is a viable and self-sustaining population. We plan to provide updates in the coming newsletters so check back in on the study and see how these animals fare in the coming months. 

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