# New software to connect your StackMat to your PC.



## floater81 (Jan 21, 2008)

i've written some software that connects your pc to your stackmat via the serial port.

is this something anyone is interested in or even wants?

it's open source and free etc. etc.
http://www.toomuchtimeonyourhands.co.uk/

you will need to make/find/steal a cable to use it though.
i'll post instructions how to make one on the sourceforge if enough people sound genuinely interested in trying it.

it works, but it isn't finished by a long way. i'll try to spend some more time on it soon.


----------



## Stefan (Jan 21, 2008)

What a coincidence. Just an hour or two ago I spoke to a colleague about you and the stackmat (and without having seen your earlier posts I found now). What's the status about the cable? I remember you had to somewhat build your own? If I could simply buy one I probably would. Might not have the tools to build one myself.


----------



## TimMc (Jan 21, 2008)

Woah. Massive program 

What are you programming it in? 

Tim.


----------



## Jacco (Jan 21, 2008)

Wow! Nice work =) 
So you only need one cable, which fits in the timer? And which port exactly does it work on?


----------



## Inusagi (Jan 21, 2008)

I cannot find a hole in my stackmat timer.


----------



## Dene (Jan 21, 2008)

At the front, a bit to the right of the centre. I think this is where it goes?

EDIT: Yea, I just looked at the picture up there, and it seems like I got it right


----------



## brad711 (Jan 21, 2008)

*Stackmat port*

The black stackmat timers, like the one I have, do not have ports to plug them in...


----------



## KConny (Jan 21, 2008)

I don't wanna deprive you of your idea, but this is like the main feature of CCT.


----------



## TimMc (Jan 21, 2008)

brad711 said:


> The black stackmat timers, like the one I have, do not have ports to plug them in...



Only Competition Timers that you purchase separately from SpeedStacks have the Data port.



KConny said:


> I don't wanna deprive you of your idea, but this is like the main feature of CCT.



CCT uses the sound card while this uses a Serial Port. 

Tim.


----------



## bubblebuddy73 (Jan 22, 2008)

is there any way that i can use this on my mac?


----------



## TimMc (Jan 22, 2008)

bubblebuddy73 said:


> is there any way that i can use this on my mac?



Yeah. Get an RS232 to USB adapter to connect to the already home made adapter. Then port the program to something a little more platform independent (i.e. Java) and give it a go 

Ima try "use it on my" TI 89 calculator 

Tim.


----------



## bubblebuddy73 (Jan 23, 2008)

I have the adaptor but dont know what you are talking about with the other thing..... (port the program) i have Java but where do I download the thing for mac?


----------



## Bryan (Jan 23, 2008)

I tried browsing through the source, but I can't find which one is the actual parser. Some of the code seems to just be declarations. Are there some closed parts?


----------



## TimMc (Jan 23, 2008)

bubblebuddy73 said:


> (port the program) i have Java but where do I download the thing for mac?



It's just slang for "re-writing code" from one language to another or specifically for another device/computer.

...I'll have to wait until I'm back at my place with broadband before I consider downloading the 29MB~ file 

Tim.


----------



## hdskull (Jan 23, 2008)

StefanPochmann said:


> What a coincidence. Just an hour or two ago I spoke to a colleague about you and the stackmat (and without having seen your earlier posts I found now). What's the status about the cable? I remember you had to somewhat build your own? If I could simply buy one I probably would. Might not have the tools to build one myself.



He says he will sell those cables on eBay if we're interested.



KConny said:


> I don't wanna deprive you of your idea, but this is like the main feature of CCT.



I have not yet been able to configure my CCT.


----------



## hdskull (Jan 23, 2008)

What's at the timer end of the cable if the computer end is a serial port.


----------



## floater81 (Jan 23, 2008)

oo-er, so many questions!

here goes:

- sorry the download is massive, the app is written in java and is actually tiny, i just bundled in into a horrible windows installer for 2 reasons:
1 - i had to use some serial libraries that have to alter the actual jre. rather than ruin peoples installed jre, i just bundled a jre in the installer. hence why it's so big.
2 - i wanted it to be dead easy to install, and the software requires that "competition-timer" style font that I cobbled together. i also didn't want any "please supply the path of a jre you dont mind me altering ..."

- i know CCT does exactly this, i wrote this software before CCT was released. i never considered parsing the stackmat output through the sound card, (although i'm impressed they did it!). I just thought i'd release it in case anyone was interested.

- all the source is there. you sound like you're interested in the code that reads from the comm port:
http://areyoubillywhizz.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/areyoubillywhizz/src/timer/Timer.java
and the code that interprets the data:
http://areyoubillywhizz.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/areyoubillywhizz/src/parser/TimerCodeParser.java
install eclipse and the subclipse plugin and you can just cerate a project>checkout from repository and it'll be ready to go. the .project file is there and ant tasks to do it all. some of the code is ropey, i'll tidy it up one day (yeah right!). hope you're comfortable with callbacks, programming to interfaces, TDD and IOC, it's a real mixed bag in there 

- serial pin #2 goes to the jack tip and serial pin #5 goes to the middle ring of the jack. i've stuck a picture on the sourceforge site: https://sourceforge.net/projects/timeonyourhands

- i'll make a few cables and stick them on ebay. i tried last night but couldn't find my solder! grr.

- not all stackmats have the socket for a competition timer


----------



## TimMc (Jan 23, 2008)

floater81 said:


> - all the source is there.



Thanks for the source code! It'll be interesting trying to understand the logic behind it 

Tim.


----------



## floater81 (Jan 23, 2008)

This isn't the right forum for talking about code, but i dont believe in commenting code.
i suggest looking at the test code to see what's going on.
http://areyoubillywhizz.googlecode....llywhizz/test/parser/TimerCodeParserTest.java


----------



## hdskull (Jan 24, 2008)

My tower is under my desk is the cable going to be long enough for me to hook it to my stackmat ? (4 ft approximately)


----------



## floater81 (Jan 24, 2008)

probably not, but you can just use as many extension cables as you need. you could use either a male-female d9 serial cable (like i do, mine is about 2m (~7ft)), or a male-female 2.5mm headphone jack cable (which is probably harder to find). whichever is cheaper.


----------



## fw (Jan 25, 2008)

floater81 said:


> i'll post instructions how to make one on the sourceforge if enough people sound genuinely interested in trying it



I would be interested in creating such a cable on my own. How about linux? Since its java, it should work, right? Or are there any OS specific things in your serialport code? Did you test it with linux?

Nice work! Thanks!


----------



## floater81 (Jan 25, 2008)

I've not tested it on linux but it should work with a little tinkering (not the installer obviously).
i'm away this weekend but can do it next week if you serious about giving it a try.
I've got ubuntu on a box at home. if you cant wait that long, just check out the source.
you'll need to change the build.xml slightly to point to your jre and also to use the correct RXTXCommDriver .

next week i'd like to make some changes to it to take these sort of properties from a simple properties file.
I was also going to add the feature for the software to optionally output the times it collects to a separate file so that people can write plugins or just do their own analysis in a spreadsheet.


----------



## slncuber21 (Jan 28, 2008)

^ yeah i was wondering this also... seeing as i only use my mac nowadays...


----------



## slncuber21 (Jan 28, 2008)

slncuber21 said:


> ^ yeah i was wondering this also... seeing as i only use my mac nowadays...



sorry, i was talking about what bubblebuddy wrote a few pages back


----------



## bubblebuddy73 (Jan 28, 2008)

thanks
(i only have mac computers in my house.....not a single windows)


----------



## SynCere (Mar 18, 2008)

could someone help me connect my stackamt to CCT?
the only problem is i hear annoying sound from speakers how do i fix that


----------



## Hadley4000 (Mar 19, 2008)

bubblebuddy73 said:


> is there any way that i can use this on my mac?



Took the words out of my mouth. Or, keyboard.


----------

