IPad to Nook syncing question

[Nimitz]

I have my first Nook coming in a few days to start playing around with it so I can use it for 1 squad at my next match & have a question about syncing the devices . (I know I need to root it first)

On the Practiscore menu I see where it says the sync is via Wi-Fi but is this only device to device or can I use the Wi-Fi network at our range to sync devices during the match? Trying to figure out if I need to go around to all squads throughout the day to sync them or can I sync them whenever I want by myself as long as the Nooks are on? If its only device to device how close do they have to be to sync?

[gng4life]

Sync them all over WiFi.

[Mark R]

As long as you are on the same wi-fi network, the devices will sync...remember sync is always a "Pull" process...not a "Push". So yes, you can sync from your Nooks to your master (pull) at any time considering you are connected to the same network.

[Nimitz]

great, i was hoping I wasn't going to have to wander around to every squad throughout the match to sync ...

[jdonohue]

If your range has wifi AND if you booted all your devices in the presence of that wifi AND none of the devices wander beyond wifi range (+- 100 yds) then you could sit in the stat shack and every 10 minutes or so sync up with the device(s) out on the stages to pull in recently input scores to your master device. now if I can just figure out how to VPN from my house to the range, I could score matches without having to drive out to the range. ;-)

Edited June 17, 2015 by jdonohue

[Nimitz]

great, that's definitely the plan .

[Jim Norman]

So, where does one get a Wi-Fi router that will cover a range? I would really like to be able to sync every 10-20 minutes as the day progresses. From our stats trailer it is probably under 100 yards to any location that the nook is likely to be in, but only just under. Also we would not have internet access, only our local wifi. And just to make it a little more interesting, we have a solar array charging a couple 12v batteries, no 110 power unless I add an inverter and a couple more batteries.

[gng4life]

So, where does one get a Wi-Fi router that will cover a range? I would really like to be able to sync every 10-20 minutes as the day progresses. From our stats trailer it is probably under 100 yards to any location that the nook is likely to be in, but only just under. Also we would not have internet access, only our local wifi. And just to make it a little more interesting, we have a solar array charging a couple 12v batteries, no 110 power unless I add an inverter and a couple more batteries.

Lots of commercial models will do it. Here is a company that is more geared to the SOHO/home user that is reasonable:

http://www.ampedwireless.com/

I have a few of their products and they worked great.

[ZackJones]

For our SC State match we used a Linksys router and some extenders from TP-Link (http://www.amazon.com/TP-LINK-TL-WA830RE-Wireless-Extender-antennas/dp/B006ZHX8S8)

This setup let me pull scores from the stats shack. Occasionally one of the NST's would drop off but that didn't happen very often. Next year we'll have our range-wide WiFi in place so I should be good to go.

[bikerburgess]

as far a syncing goes there is no device to device system it has to be through a wifi router of some sort. if you have rage wide wifi you are set. we use a small pocket router to create a small hot spot and use it only when we are syncing.

for anything other than an major match with paper backup (we don't use paper backups at club matches and have had zero requests for them) I don't see any reason to sync before the end of the match, if something happens to a nook I will just have to toss a stage.

PS so far I have not had to toss any stages.

[Nimitz]

we are not going to use paper backups either and I don't exactly plan to sync every 10 mins either but I'll probably do it once or twice during the 6-stage match, at least for the 1st match or so .....

[ZackJones]

For monthly matches I usually don't sync during the match unless I get some free time (very rare). For the SC State steel challenge match we'll be pulling scores on a regular basis.

[Nimitz]

ok, you all convinced me ... I'll probably do it once just to make sure I know how to do it ... one other question (really need to download the manual) since you only 'pull' data from NOOKs how do the squad lists get loaded on the individual Nooks or is the entire list on every Nook and you just have to go find your squad for scoring?

[NMBOpen]

Match is defined on a master (Nook or iPad) with stages and registration. I also do squadding there. Then I sync stage Nooks, pulling from master, now they're ready to go to the stages for score entry - I'll usually select the stage and first squad so it's ready to go - squad can determine shooting order. Nook stays on stage, squad self-ROs for Level I.

[euxx]

Few points from the best practices https://practiscore.com/support/

Somewhat specific to Android app:

* run the last app version 1.2.30 (not everything from below points is available in earlier versions)

* assign name to every scoring device (on Sync screen)

* since one of the recent version, the app automatically creates match backups on big changes (including sync, editing stages, etc), those backups are basically match export files and can be re-imported later if needed or used to investigate issues. You can also kick manual backups

* recent versions also have unsaved scores recovery (e.g. device dies/restarts in the middle of scoring)

* enable logging of entered scores to SD card (you can specify location in the match editing page)

this is a local per-device log (not synced), but if something goes South you could use this text log to recover your scores from given device, so pretty close to a paper backup. Even if you don't have removable SD card, still enable it and store it somewhere on device

* avoid syncing scores between scoring devices (from the best practices list)

this does help to investigate and recover stuff in case something goes wrong

* to prevent syncing scores across scoring devices you can also use "stage lock" or "squad lock" per-device (depending if you are keeping devices with stage or with squad)

* at the end of the match do a match export from each scoring device, save exported *.psc files (or email to yourself) and take them with you home. It does help to have them if you discover issues or missing scores at home and your devices are left at the range 2 hours away

[jester121]

You can use a smartphone with hotspot capability and do a straight device-to-device sync (or walk around the range grabbing scores from the Nooks), although techinically the smartphone is acting as a Wifi access point in this case. Other than a quick time sync Nooks aren't going to burn through any of your data plan.