Rowpro 5

[Astevenson]

Recently I upgraded my rowpro 4 to 5 and put it onto a new laptop.
I now cannot seem to get online.
I have taken down the firewall on my BT router and set up a new port.
The only way I can connect to orbit is to tether my mobile phone to the laptop, by passing my router.
Has anyone else had this problem please?

[Citroen]

Oarbits doesn't use TCP/IP (transmission control protocol/internet protocol) it uses UDP/IP (user datagram protocol/internet protocol). Which is abnormal for BT routers, heck they don't expect you to use the internet for anything other than http:// (web) or https:// (secure web) and a bit of smtp (email).

If you have a strong software firewall on Windows then you could insert your laptop into your router's DMZ, which basically opens every port to the WAN interface. If the router has that option.

The other thing to try is explicitly setting your DNS servers to 8.8.8.8 and 8.8.4.4 as BT use DNS for some of their "net nanny" crap.

Or stick the BT crap in the dustbin and buy a decent ADSL2 or VDSL2 modem that doesn't have brain-dead firmware.
https://www.amazon.co.uk/D-Link-DSL-320 ... B0015RRIKM
https://www.amazon.co.uk/DrayTek-Vigor- ... B00F9E5LQA

If you'd like some masochistic (not on the ergo) pain and suffering give their helpless desk a call. It will be a suitably satisfying experience that will make a 2K time trial seem like a walk in the park.

[Carl Watts]

Staying with 4.3 here, if its not broken don't try and fix it.

V5 has dropped some features I waited years to get put into V4.

Pretty disappointing that most of my ideas did not get adopted.

[mitchel674]

Staying with 4.3 here, if its not broken don't try and fix it.

V5 has dropped some features I waited years to get put into V4.

Pretty disappointing that most of my ideas did not get adopted.

Carl, can you expound on this sentiment? I currently use V4 and I'm wondering what I would actually gain by upgrading to V5 (if anything).

My biggest grip right now is the software can get a bit "laggy" on group rows. I also have had two sessions where I froze and dropped out. Not sure if these were issues with my own internet connection or with the central server.

[Carl Watts]

What sort of hardware are you running it on ? What graphics card are you running and whats your fps or frames per second while your rowing down on the bottom right of the screen ?

I have still not actually rowed with V5 as I didn't even have a 64bit Windows 10 PC up and running. I now have a Hp i5 with 64 bit and no doubt I will migrate one day.

For me there were no advantages I could see at all. Perhaps the scheduled rows can now be seen in local time rather than only GMT ?

But I know for sure the option of seeing everyone's rating live on screen with V5 is gone and I waited years for that.

Using my mobile as a wi-fi hotspot these days and it connects via 4G so no delays there.

You need a half way decent PC or laptop with reasonable graphics.

You can get unlucky with the race server in that it drops you at the start or during the race but its reasonably rare. Obviously there are several links in the chain that require to be sound to keep you online and its not uncommon to see people drop out and go "Grey"

[mitchel674]

What sort of hardware are you running it on ? What graphics card are you running and whats your fps or frames per second while your rowing down on the bottom right of the screen ?

I have still not actually rowed with V5 as I didn't even have a 64bit Windows 10 PC up and running. I now have a Hp i5 with 64 bit and no doubt I will migrate one day.

For me there were no advantages I could see at all. Perhaps the scheduled rows can now be seen in local time rather than only GMT ?

But I know for sure the option of seeing everyone's rating live on screen with V5 is gone and I waited years for that.

Using my mobile as a wi-fi hotspot these days and it connects via 4G so no delays there.

You need a half way decent PC or laptop with reasonable graphics.

You can get unlucky with the race server in that it drops you at the start or during the race but its reasonably rare. Obviously there are several links in the chain that require to be sound to keep you online and its not uncommon to see people drop out and go "Grey"

I typically show 40 fps when running. I am using an old laptop that I cast onto a smart TV mounted in my exercise room. The laptop is an HP with i5 at 2.5GHz and 12 mgb RAM. Not sure about my graphics card. I am running 64 bit Windows 10.

[Carl Watts]

Yes it sounds like your laptop is a bit marginal in terms of the graphics performance.

Something decent will see 50fps on the highest quality setting or even higher like 60 or 75.

I can run it on an old Hp like my 6710 with 4Gb of ram that was 'Designed for Window XP" but now has Windows 10 on it but the fps is down at 25 so its a bit glitchy.

The graphics can cause RP to crash or throw a dialogue box but if your getting dropped its usually the internet or race server issue.

All you can do you end is use the most up to date firmware on the monitor and get a bit of decent hardware to run RP on with a good internet connection, after that its outside your control.

[mitchel674]

Thanks, Carl. I've not had issues with my last few group rows. At this point, I'm reluctant to upgrade my hardware just to use rowpro.

[Carl Watts]

Thanks, Carl. I've not had issues with my last few group rows. At this point, I'm reluctant to upgrade my hardware just to use rowpro.

This is why getting RowPro V5 as an App to run on your Samsung and iPhone is now critical. Your smartphone has enough processor grunt to eat this now and you probably already have a decent smartphone right ?

Your talking to a guy that resists buying new tech, I must have been the last person in this country to make the move to a smartphone about a year ago now.

The main reason for the move is that I can use the phone as a mobile hotspot, but I'm sure I would give the RowPro App a go if it was a really cut down version with only online rowing and simple to use without a full size keyboard & mouse.

[bisqeet]

Thanks, Carl. I've not had issues with my last few group rows. At this point, I'm reluctant to upgrade my hardware just to use rowpro.

This is why getting RowPro V5 as an App to run on your Samsung and iPhone is now critical. Your smartphone has enough processor grunt to eat this now and you probably already have a decent smartphone right ?

Your talking to a guy that resists buying new tech, I must have been the last person in this country to make the move to a smartphone about a year ago now.

The main reason for the move is that I can use the phone as a mobile hotspot, but I'm sure I would give the RowPro App a go if it was a really cut down version with only online rowing and simple to use without a full size keyboard & mouse.

your typical ipad is on average more powerful than a typical 2 yr. old laptop/computer.
i use 5.0 for most stuff except - custom intervals-
flat stuff is good, interval programming (mostly l4 stuff) is a pain - i prefer the newer interface, but it is just too buggy.

rowpro is not hungry - a simple usb dongle with wifi and hdmi connection would have been the way to go. platform redundant, slot a 100€ on top of the price and sell it as a freebie...

[Citroen]

Thanks, Carl. I've not had issues with my last few group rows. At this point, I'm reluctant to upgrade my hardware just to use rowpro.

Any laptop less than five years old will be perfectly capable of running RowPro (any version).

I'm unsure why Carl thinks everyone needs a hardware upgrade for it. Their minimum spec is a stock standard $200 machine from Best Buy.

MINIMUM COMPUTER SPEC

• Processor: 2 GHz, 64-bit for RowPro 5 and later
• Memory: 2 GB
• Free Disk Space: 250 MB
• Operating System: Windows 7 SP1 or Mac OSX 10.10 Yosemite
• Graphics: Hardware accel, 128 MB Video RAM
• Ports: USB 2.0 port or higher for Concept2 PM

[Carl Watts]

I think I have put my hardware used in several posts, its just an old HP DC7100 SFF from about 2006 ! 4Gb of ram and the old single core Pentium 4 at 3.2GHz. I found this in the rubbish bin, you cannot give them away these days and its been great for over 5 years.

Where it falls over is not the processor but the graphics. It required a midrange graphics card with a bit of grunt if you want the maximum frame rates on the highest quality video setting.

The integrated graphics wouldn't look at it and I doubt even the latest laptop with just integrated graphics would either, it needs a dedicated video card.I ended up with this after a couple of other cards. The 128Mb and 512Mb got killed off by Windows 10.

http://www.sapphiretech.com/productdeti ... d&lang=eng

Sure you can run it on 25fps but don't complain if it crashes now and again.