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#9
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NOTES FROM THE EDITOR
Kate Farrington
In the last issue of FinishLines, we
introduced you to Lynx on the Internet. Now it is time to test to see if you
were paying attention. Do the words CyberScoreboard mean any thing to you? If
not, you have missed the most important development in sports timing since,
well, since the development of FinishLynx!
First, the linking of data from the timing
system to the results system brought track meets into the twentieth century;
then the linking of FinishLynx to scoreboards brought instant results to all
spectators at an event. Now, FinishLynx has taken that a step further and
allowed real time access to results as they happen from any computer on the Internet,
anywhere in the world. Wow! Read on for more details.
Other event highlights include a recent
successful trip to Holland for the World Short Track Championships, and two
very impressive meets for high school stand-outs where FinishLynx captured a
number of national records. It is rewarding to see such fabulous young talent
moving up the ranks!
IN THE SPOTLIGHT. . .
Jeff Cormier, resident Web expert
We have been touting our new Internet
presence for a while now, but many of you have not met the "man behind
the screen," Jeff Cormier. Jeff is our "home-town boy," having
grown up about a mile from our office, and he has been a tremendous asset to
Lynx since he joined us in January. Between trips around the world timing
events with FinishLynx, Jeff takes classes at Northeastern University, and
keeps up on the Boston sports scene, especially in regards to the Boston
Bruins.
Jeff has a few words to all you surfers
out there about the web page:
"Our home page is located at
www.finishlynx.com where you may choose from any of six other specialized
pages which feature image trading, software downloading, and many other
options. Once connected to the page you may choose the CyberScoreboard link
to view the results of past events or choose the current event link to see
the results of the live event. Further instructions are located on the actual
page. Fill out our mail form so that we may keep track of you and keep you up
to date on new FinishLynx products and information.
Keep these tips in mind while visiting the
page:
PC Software: Both the Demo and Real
Versions of Lynx are zipped. You will need to unzip them. (using pkunzip,
etc.)
Read the Readme.1st file in the Demo
version for installation instructions.
For the real version, delete (or move) all
the files in the /lynx/bin directory and then pkunzip the lynx.zip file from
the home page into this directory.
MAC Software: The MAC software is also
zipped however we have placed unzipping software on the page for you.
Remember to get the release notes when
downloading new software.
All of the images on the Image Trading
page are also zipped for convenience and need to be unzipped to view.
Please send us your own images by e-mail
or snail mail.
CYBERSCOREBOARD HAS ARRIVED
Watch the fans go wild!
At the 1996 Reno Games, the first people
outside of Reno to hear of Donovan Bailey's world record in the 50M were not
watching on television or listening to the radio. They were surfing the net.
The Reno Games marked the first time the
world got to use CyberScoreboard, our new technology for publishing results
and images generated by FinishLynx on the Internet in real-time. Unlike most
text-based results on the Internet today, CyberScoreboard runs over a
database, allowing the individual accessing the page to format and filter the
results as they want to create "personal" scoreboards. CyberScoreboard
consists of three components:
1) Software that runs on-site, listens
to results and images output by FinishLynx, and sends them via modem to our
home page in Woburn, Massachusetts;
2) Software that runs on our WWW
server that listens for results and images and places them in a database on
our server;
3) Software that runs each time a user
accesses our page that formats the results as they have requested.
Other events that have been done using
CyberScoreboard in the past month are the Simplot Games, World Short Track
Speed Skating Championships, and the National Scholastic meet at the Reggie
Lewis Center, a beautiful new indoor track down the street from us here in
Boston. Instructions on the operation of the system can be found on our home
page at http://www.finishlynx.com. Currently, the page is best viewed using
Netscape 2.0, but we will be working to make it friendly to a wider range of
browsers in the future.
Windows95 DEMO VERSION AVAILABLE
Take a peak at Lynx's new look below
We have always said that Windows 3.1 was
too unreliable of a platform to host a mission critical application such as
FinishLynx, which is the primary reason we have stuck by our DOS version for
so long. With the advent of Windows95, Microsoft hasn't removed all of the
flakiness, but at least they have given developers the ability to create
software that is protected from most of the bad things that other programs,
and even the operating system, can do. And while the overhead of a
Windows-type operating system is significant, the "average"
computer today can overcome much of that overhead and there are some natural
benefits to such an environment.
FinishLynx32 is the latest member of the
Lynx family: a full 32-bit application intended for use on computers running
Windows95 and WindowsNT. In addition to combining all the best features of
the Macintosh and DOS versions of FinishLynx, here are just some of the
capabilities that have be added:
User-configurable results
display/printouts
Printing to non-PostScript printers
Much easier handling of intermediate
times
Continuous Evaluation, a feature that
is so cool it has to be seen to be believed.
Macintosh users have reason to rejoice at
this development as well, since this version will unify the two platforms.
This means that any enhancement that is made to one version will instantly be
available on the other. No more wondering if one version has advantages over
the other; use whichever computer you feel most comfortable with.
A demo version of the software is
available on our home page at http://www.finishlynx.com on the New Products
page. This is the only place it will be available for now; once it is in
production, we will start sending demos out by mail.
CYBERSCOREBOARD CUSTOMER BETA PROGRAM
Take the challenge, Be a Pioneer
So here is the next phase: we have tested
CyberScoreboard enough at our own events to feel comfortable that it is
reliable and easy to set up (all you need is a Windows95 machine on the
Internet and running our client software, FLClient). Now we need a few
customers who are comfortable enough with the basic operation of their system
that they could add another component without having it distract them. Since
there is no fundamental limitation to the number of events the
CyberScoreboard can handle at one time, we expect that in the near future
there could be 10 or more events happening simultaneously on our page.
E-mail (now) if you are interested.
A NOTE FOR MACINTOSH USERS
You are not forgotten
Macintosh FinishLynx systems can be used
to drive CyberScoreboard, too. The only trickiness is getting the Windows 95
machine to talk with the Macintosh. Fortunately, there is an easy to install
software package from Miramar Systems called Mac-Lan Connect that allows
Windows 95 machines to mount and serve AppleShare volumes. It costs $149 from
PCConnection at 800-800-1111.
ASK NEXUS
A New Forum
Very often, we get questions from
customers that we have heard in different forms from other people. We are
introducing this new column to our newsletter in an effort to answer common
questions.
Q. Ed Scullion of Monmouth Regional H.S.
experienced problems when running FinishLynx on a network and taking large
images: he was getting a disk full error. He thought this was odd, since he
had 400MB free on his evaluator PC, which was the machine on which he was
saving images.
A. The disk that was filling up was the
disk on the CAPTURE computer not the evaluator. FinishLynx temporarily stores
image on the machine that captures it; it is only transferred over the
network when you actually SAVE the race. Therefore, if the capture machine is
very low on disk, you can get a disk full message while capturing.
Q. Steve Wilkin of Newark (Ohio) H.S.
recently purchased a Mac Performa to use with his Lynx. He was very surprised
to find that when he ran FinishLynx, he got "low on memory"
messages when the only other thing running was system software 7.5 (his Mac
came with 8MB of RAM and a 500 meg disk).
A. Unfortunately, 8MB of RAM just isn't what
it used to be. System 7.5 takes up a whopping 5000k of space, only leaving
slightly more than 2500k of usable memory for FinishLynx. You may change the
suggested size of Lynx's allocated memory under "Get Info" after
clicking on the FinishLynx icon. The other option is to spend the extra
$200-$300 to get 8 more MB of RAM, a relatively inexpensive solution to the
problem.
OUTDOOR UPGRADE FEVER
You could be styling with Lynx
Our latest try at neat FinishLynx clothing
is a lined Polar Fleece jacket with an embroidered FinishLynx logo. It is
perfect for those nippy spring nights when you are packing up your FinishLynx
equipment. And there are only two ways to get one of these limited edition
jackets. First is to be an employee, and second is to buy $1000 or more of
upgrades to your FinishLynx equipment before May 31, 1996. Such a deal!
FEEDBACK
Our readers write
Steve Vaitones of the New England Athletic
Congress writes:
"Doug,- A long belated thanks for
your help with backing up the finish line at the USA National Cross Country
Championships. Once again all pieces of the puzzle came together for a great
event."
Mike Ridenour of Angola (IN) High
School sent via e-mail the following accolades:
"We just received our two camera
remote system and are excited about getting it set up and using it this
spring. [I] appreciate the help I have received so far. Keep up the good
work!"
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