Discussion: SPORTident Software

I have recently bought a simple SPORTident system (a school kit plus extra units). The 'pack' came with SIME, however in our recent competition (G-COM) which had over 100 competitors and courses with 'butterflies' and a mass start, we did not find it very user friendly. Is there any software out there that people would recommend?

Allan

AutoDownload handles all of that easily, including butterfly loops. You can even run the event using the download unit connected to the printer that came with the kit then download that unit into AutoDownload after the event

Maybe try Geco (discussed here), which is free and should do the job.

Another one you should try is OEvent.
http://www.oevent.org

It is currently not finished yet, but will be very soon.

Mature and powerfull multisystem (Emit/SI) software:

http://www2s.biglobe.ne.jp/~matoba/public/mulka2/

At beginning it can take a while to learn how to prepare data for more complex scenarious like Score-O or Relay but it is woth to try.

I'm at a little distance from this, so my view may be challenged, but...

Back in the day, people decried mainframes because they weren't "user-friendly". Now they hook up their PC's into the internet, have to acquire and install their own software, deal with differing versions, do their own backups, raise defences against malware, etc etc.

Back in the day, people decried OExxxx, and out came alternatives for simple events without bells and whistles, such as SIME (Sport Ident Mini Events).

Now SIME is being denounced as "not user-friendly".

Has SIME been pressured to handle this and that and the other situation, so that it is no longer so simple?

Then that would create a market for new and simpler softwares. Which will come under pressure to cater for....

I have never felt SIME was simple. Its nothing to do with a version 2 syndrome.

MeOS is another free software package that GVOC has been using for the last year and we are pretty happy with it. Website is not yet available in English. Neither is there an English user guide... However, when you start up the program the first time, you can change the language in the GUI to English and there are nice help texts right in the user interface that describes most anything you need to do.

It supports individual races and relays, one-man relay, prologue/chase, score-O, etc, but it does not yet support multi-day events. You can pre-enter runners, classes and courses for big events, or just let runners download and build up the courses automatically for small events.

Runs on XP, Vista and Windows 7.

Direct download link:
http://www.melin.nu/meos/MeOSV25beta.exe

"It is currently not finished yet, but will be very soon."

Software is never finished, O software especially!

Don't forget Ór
http://orienteering.ie/wiki/doku.php?id=or:index

found another one: helga http://www.helga-o.com/

are there simple set-up instructions for using the school kit? In particular, we also want to have the results go into the computer. Got our kit but instructions are missing.

Are these the right instructions?

jimkin - our club has a document on using the school kit (well the printer/download unit) and processing results afterwards using SI Simple. See this Word doc.

It won't cope with mass starts and butterflies, but is fine for regular small events.

Thanks Undy. I'll give this a try at our next event. Doesn't look too tricky.

I have a slightly different question than the original poster.

We don't have the SportIdent printer. We have a laptop and an Epson receipt printer.

We are planning a school event soon that will have maybe 180 students arranged in classes of 30 or so. Only about 30 students will be handled each hour. SI numbers will be used multiple times during the day, but each individual (teacher's) class won't reuse any SI numbers.

We really don't need to type in names, we just need something that will code check and print splits and an overall time.

What is a good way to do this?

If you don't need names, and are willing to run each class as a single event, just use the SI school print box unit and reset after each class. It will print out a results list of sorts with a form of code checking.

You could use Ór. Splits will be printed and the dibber number will be added to the "Downloads without Entries" section. Shouldn't be a big issue.

An update: I don't need code checking. It's a score course.

@TheInvisibleLog---We don't have an SI School Print Unit.

I will give Ór a try. I have used it before.

Are there any other options? (Thanks!)

We use a net book and a receipt printer running Ór. Works fine, though be sure to set the "Splits Sheet" to the Default Printer mode when setting up the Competition. There is a Score mode.

MEOS is a good alternative - Ór is great but is sometimes let down in the field by Java shortcomings.

MEOS supports score events (called Rogaining in the software), re-use of sticks, has a good English translation and is pretty easy to use.
The slightly modified version MEOS-OZ has better score event splits printout than regular MEOS (the score event splits in Ór are also good).