RDSS and using an USB flash drive

[Ted Craven]

Originally Posted by reckless

hello Ted:

I am writing today to ask you if is it possible to offer end users a slimmed down version of RDSS??

Also, I had d-loaded the pp's for Saturday late Friday evening. For some reason I did not get the pp's for Oaklawn's final race, with a diolog box popping up and stating something about the odd distance of that race (it was a marathon) and that distance adjustments couldn't be made.

Lastly (I promise), if I do download an earlier version of RDSS as you suggested on an earlier day, must I delete and remove the entire version of RDSS that I have on my hard drive?

Must I also contact you and/or TM about this, my thinking being when I fetch some race-cards the TM computer might read my computer and get different versions, which could necessitate denying me access?

Will changing versions of RDSS cause me more agita or less?

Thanks Ted for all your help. Please PM your home address so I could send you the license fee.

Reckless,

I am very happy for your success on 4/11 and simultaneously I commiserate with your pain - don't slash those wrists just yet (my wife is a mental health crisis counsellor and I don't want her to be calling Philly 911 over RDSS ).

The stripped down version of RDSS you want is Version 0.97.9 (the previous version). Download the V0.97.9 Update version (no need to download the whole Full Install) then run the installation. No need to uninstall V0.98.5. No need to check anything with TrackMaster or with me (but do let me know if anything goes awry). It will crash less - you will be happier.

RDSS (nor Spec nor Val) cannot work races over 12 furlongs (mile and a half), hence the final race at OP Saturday. These distances are not conducive to pace analysis. In Spec/Val you can simply change the distance today to one which the software CAN work (e.g. change it to 12f). You can't do that yet in RDSS, but should in the next version.

Again, I apologize to you and to anyone who is frustrated with RDSS Version 0.98.5 (and give the same advice: revert to the previous version if the current one is TOO annoying). What I am doing is basically rewriting RDSS. The past 2 years or so have shown me what I (and others) want to have (i.e. a prototype) and now I am re-organizing the foundations to be able to do all that is expected. Sometimes in software development, you don't know what you don't know, and I made a few design mistakes. The next version (whenever it arrives) will be a lot less memory intensive and the missing bells and whistles will be there (for those who need them). I have not been promoting RDSS (though new people keep showing up).

If you still wish to continue with it, you're welcomed to subscribe (and check your PM in a minute for the postal address).

Thanks for you kind words, and also for telling it like it is - warts and all, I don't mind. Let me know if the previous version works better for you.

yours,

Ted

[Ted Craven]

Originally Posted by kahunab

Be very careful with these minis. They will load RDSS but the resolution you need to see the full RDSS screen is 1240 X780 and these machines usually come with 1240 X600. It cuts off the bottom part of the RDSS screen. So when you are in the Data Centre and download races you can't get to all of the buttons to process races. Likewise when you look at horses you really can look at only one pane or two with about 3 lines visable. My wife has one of those netbooks and I have tried it.
The program will load but you wont like what you get when you try to run it.

Thanks Dick for the hand-on review. I played with a few of these today in the computer store, both Vista and XP, an Acer and a HP mini. Both had 1 Gb memory and 60Gb or 160Gb hard drive, and screen res of 1024 x 600.

There is absolutely enough memory and disk space to run RDSS. In 1 Gb of system memory, XP will run better than Vista. It's the vertical screen resolution of 600 which will halt you right now, as Dick says. The current version of RDSS is not suitable for such netbooks for this reason only.

One of the main things (aside from memory usage) in the next RDSS version is sizing the screen a lot more flexibly. We have the visual mechanism right now in horses' PPs to display information in 2 or 3 panels depending on screen res. This will change further to 1 or 2 or 3 panels depending on vertical screen size or font size preferences. So a netbook with 600 vertical pixels would have 1 panel with ALL tabs you need - you pick the tabs you want to appear - then just flip back and forth between tabs like you do now. You forego the Analysis tabs in Panel 3 position just like you do now when all you can fit is 2 panels, and access Analysis from the top row of Tabs.

I do think these kinds of netbooks are a great thing - Tim Y had one with him when we went to Woodbine last summer, using Spec160 on Windows XP in 8Gb of flash memory (i.e. instead of a hard drive). You wouldn't fit RDSS in 8 Gb of flash memory, but some newer ones have 16Gb of flash, which would probably work (again, next RDSS version).

Again, summarizing, RDSS is a memory hog, but not conventional memory (i.e. 1 Gb - 4Gb of system memory), rather Windows allocated internal memory for visual widgets. Mea culpa, mea culpa - but no, you don't have to give back the winnings...

Cheers,

Ted

[reckless]

hi Ted:

I did what you suggested and downloaded the slimmed ver 0.97.7 update.

Once completed I even re-booted my computer, a laptop running Vista op sys.

When I tried launching RDSS a box popped up as Error no. 2.

I don't know how to procede at this point.

Thanks for your help, in advance.

[Ted Craven]

Plan B. Go ahead and do an Uninstall of RDSS (Control Panel, Programs and Features, choose RDSS to Uninstall). Note: if you want to keep the database of races handicapped so far and pacelines selected (e.g. to review them again), during Uninstall when prompted whether to Delete the file \rdss\data\data.db (i.e. your RDSS database file), say NO. If you don't care about the races you've worked so far, say YES to delete it. After Uninstall is complete, reboot. Download the FULL VERSION of RDSS V0.97.9 and install that.

Let me know if that works better.

Ted