I have downloaded and am checking out the trial version of your software and so far all is real good, however as a complete simpleton when it comes to this techie stuff (think it's an age thing as am now over 40!!! ) I am attempting to push my boundaries to see if I can use Xnotestopwatch to manage the following task.
As a volunteer I do manual timing for an off road motorcycle club that in part of it's overall event has a special test section timed manually with stopwatches, we would like to improve our accuracy by automating the controls and previous volunteers have gone some way to collecting equipment to help such as photelectric beams and laptops and cables and things!
So far I have managed to get xnotestopwatch to start and stop using RTS/CTS controls via a 9 pin com port and also to achieve the operation with a single photoelectric beam as our sensing device (Works really easy like this and to be honest i'm quite pleased with my efforts to date!)
What we/I would like to achieve is the following:-
Use photoelectric beam #1 to start the clock
Use photoelectric beam #2 to stop the clock
Record the results of the above in a spreadsheet with a rider number applied in another column
AND
this i think, is the tricky bit!
time multiple riders in the test at the same time (riders all starting at say 20 second intervals and say 8 riders in the test/timed section at once)
We do this at present by using stopwatches at the start and finish that are synchronised and we hit the split/lap button write down the rider number and the time then do the same at the finish and deduct start time from from finish time to measure the elapsed time for each competitor......simple and effective. Is this possible to do with xnote? We of course can then just keep repeating the hitting of the split / lap and also add more synchronised stopwatches as we have people available to do timing. Even with one person at start and finish you can time two or 3 riders in the test at once.
I think what i'm asking is possible from the things i have read in this forum but i'm not sure my little brain can decipher the answers properly.
Some assumptions i'm going to make
A) I will need at least two spare RS232 Com ports to operate the start and stop functions?
B) I will need to use xnote in multiple windows to time multiple riders (upto 8 windows)
C) Both beams will need to be operated as snap timing and the records written to excel then calculated by excel.
D) I will need to buy the full version software to get this up and running.
E) I will need to be clear about how the hardware connection effects the software operation.
F) The sensitivity of the photoelectric beams could cause problems as flying debris from the moving motorcycle will likely trigger the switching of the photoelectric beam
Any help and advice you can give would be much appreciated.
Kind regards