Router and live scoring

[MurrayPeterson]

So, our existing router and netbook and web server system appears to be less than fully reliable.  And, note, this appears to only apply to IPhone users.  Android users are happy campers as far as I can see.

This is an area where I am *completely* out of my depth and/or comfort zone.  So, if this is going to get better, I need some serious expertise and help from you guys.

What we have now:
Small web server app (written by me) running on the timing netbook.
Router running dd-wrt to support DNSMASQ service.  This allows you to browse to "scores.com" instead of "192.168.1.111" (actual value).

I do not have internet/cloud access from the netbook, so please don't suggest that unless you have some idea how the club can do this for a reasonable price and location availability.

So, where do we go?  \ just don't know how to go forward from here.

[PedalFaster]

I do not have internet/cloud access from the netbook, so please don't suggest that unless you have some idea how the club can do this for a reasonable price and location availability.

For several years, all live timing, audio, and video from SCCA national-level events was going through one random person's cell phone. You can get several Mbps through 4G these days, so if we decide that internet access would help solve this problem, we shouldn't consider it a blocker.

[nnywg]

If club-level expertise is not available, I would suggest reaching out to http://protospace.ca/ and see if someone there would like to solve this (for some agreed fee).  It's all hobbyist types that are in to solving unique problems on a hobbyist budget.  I guarantee someone there can solve this, probably quickly.  It's all way over my head. 

[Oprah]

I do have issues with my Andriod Phone as well with Scores.com, I've only been able to successfully connect to it once since i've started coming out

Also i May be able to assist on providing Internet to the Notebook via. Data stick but I will have to get it reactivated. (perks of working for a Telco Company)

[zero10]

Are you having the problem with iPhones where they won't stay associated to the wireless network because it doesn't route to the internet?  There is some documentation out there on how to avoid this problem but basically the answer is don't try - the methods are ever evolving and it seems the Apple devs frown on non-internet-connected-wifi quite strongly.

When I was working on this my vision was to run a web service that basically watched a directory and parsed the csv score files posted there.  Every time a file was touched it would regenerate static HTML pages containing a nicely rendered version of the scores (I was trying to minimize server side complexity, so it was just a nodejs process and nginx basically).  I then ran a light weight service on the netbook that similarly watched the scores file directory for changes, waited 2-3 seconds (because I was having concurrency problems, though likely that can easily be worked around) then it read any changed files into memory to help avoid locking issues and synchronized the files from memory to the web service using rsync.

This did require an internet connection, obviously, and my solution there was to plug my phone in by USB so it would stay charging and use it as a mobile hotspot.  It is my understanding USB cell modems are reasonably cheap and operate with very little intervention, and the areas where we operate typically have good cell reception.

I am certain this approach is contentious and I recognize that but I personally felt like it was the best way to go.  I had a semi-working version of this and had a very alpha scores site running for a little while but there have been new scoring methods introduced since then and the championship scoring did complicate things.  Data usage was modest - If I recall correctly it was about 5-10 MB for one event at Westerner Park.

With this approach it would benefit significantly from having the file change / upload process get notified directly by mjtiming and the data would ideally be handed off directly instead of using the disk as a middle man to avoid file locking / consistency problems.  Basically when a score file is to be written it should send a signal and include the raw data rather than making the watcher application scrape it back off the disk.  Oh, also, our netbook had an SSD in it for performance / battery life reasons.

[Cagare]

With respect to iphones, I found I could access the site with safari but with no other browser.  Once I started to use Safari it was really reliable. Had to turn off cell data, similar to Android.

The web interface sounds nice, sounds like a more detailed club decision on whether to spend the money on live connection on site.

[MurrayPeterson]

The IPhones appear to connect to the access point (scores) fine, but nothing gets them from there into the timing computer.  I thought it was DNS giving problems, but even going direct to the IP address wasn't working.

As far as internet access via phone, remember that this has to be available at *every* event, not just events where we have a particular person with a phone available.


And, so far, the one person who came over to my place for testing (thanks Stephen!) wasn't able to duplicate the problem

[Cagare]

If you need another iPhone for testing let me know.  I am new to iPhone in the past few weeks.

[MurrayPeterson]

If we are willing to use a raw IP address (instead of browsing to scores.com), I can set up a different router at an event and see if that fixes the issues.

[Cagare]

If we are willing to use a raw IP address (instead of browsing to scores.com), I can set up a different router at an event and see if that fixes the issues.

Any issue with that?  I would say just put a sign up near timing with the ip address with basic instructions and go from there.  The regional series in Ontario has a really complicated method, but they just put it on display at timing so people can sort it out.  I find live timing to be a bit of a luxury, so if it has to be a bit more complicated then I am not concerned.

[zero10]

The IPhones appear to connect to the access point (scores) fine, but nothing gets them from there into the timing computer.  I thought it was DNS giving problems, but even going direct to the IP address wasn't working.

As far as internet access via phone, remember that this has to be available at *every* event, not just events where we have a particular person with a phone available.


And, so far, the one person who came over to my place for testing (thanks Stephen!) wasn't able to duplicate the problem

Yeah - with iPhones once the phone figures out the network doesn't route to the internet it stops giving it traffic even though the link stays up, and even if you're trying to access an address that is "local".  Using IP addresses instead of a domain name may fix this just because the phone may have less chances to figure out something is afoot but likely the phone will figure out rather quickly and it will end with the same frustrations.