running PractiScore on Windows

[euxx]

In some cases it is really handy to be able to run PractiScore on desktop computer, e.g. to try it and get familiar with functionality or just for a better keyboard if you need to enter lot of competitors.

Apparently you can now run an Android version of PractiScore on BlueStacks app player for Windows. See http://bluestacks.com/

You just download and install the BlueStack application on your Windows PC, then download PractiScore.apk file from PractiScore web site and click on it to get installed on BlueStack. It works like a charm!

[Graham Smith]

Thanks. Definitely worth looking at.

[Skydiver]

Note that the Practiscore sync capabilities don't work while running Practiscore in Bluestacks. The VM is running in behind a NAT'ed firewall. I originally thought that Bluestacks was going to be my solution for the registration problem: it would be easier to enter the registration on a PC as opposed to the small screen of a phone.

[Graham Smith]

I haven't had time to get back to it but I currently cannot get it to run anything. And that's after having to install four patches to Windows. One at a time. Because each time I tried to install it I got an error about a different patch needed. PITA

[bwit]

"The VM is running in behind a NAT'ed firewall."

Could you put this in English with a small explanation, thanks.

[Skydiver]

"The VM is running in behind a NAT'ed firewall."

Could you put this in English with a small explanation, thanks.

BlueStacks is actually running inside a virtual machine (VM). This like the XP Mode that you hear about for Windows 7, VirtualBox that lets people run other operating systems within their operating system of choice.

A firewall provides a barrier on the network to only allow same data packets in and out mostly to provide isolation, but also used for protection. This is why Windows XP started enabling firewalls as a first defense against malware. Network Address Translation (NAT) allows the network behind a firewall to have completely different network addresses as further protection. Bluestacks has NAT enabled for virtual machine that it is running in.

The way Practiscore currently works when talking to other devices is that it assumes all devices are on the same network and talks to each other using their network addresses. The NAT'ing completely blows that assumption out of the water.

[Mark Woodfield]

"The VM is running in behind a NAT'ed firewall."

Could you put this in English with a small explanation, thanks.

BlueStacks is actually running inside a virtual machine (VM). This like the XP Mode that you hear about for Windows 7, VirtualBox that lets people run other operating systems within their operating system of choice.

A firewall provides a barrier on the network to only allow same data packets in and out mostly to provide isolation, but also used for protection. This is why Windows XP started enabling firewalls as a first defense against malware. Network Address Translation (NAT) allows the network behind a firewall to have completely different network addresses as further protection. Bluestacks has NAT enabled for virtual machine that it is running in.

The way Practiscore currently works when talking to other devices is that it assumes all devices are on the same network and talks to each other using their network addresses. The NAT'ing completely blows that assumption out of the water.

Can input done on the pc be saved to the phone through the sd card?

[Skydiver]

I didn't try when I had BlueStacks installed. I can see it almost working. Hitting the Export Scores button should save a set of files. If you can get those files out of BlueStacks (perhaps the SD card as you suggested) then plugging that back into the machine to have EzWinScore read the files will work. But then, if you already had EzWinScore on the machine, you might as well has been typing in the scores into EzWinScore.