RDSS and using an USB flash drive - Pace and Cap

reckless · 04-06-2009, 08:48 PM

hello Ted:

I had a tough weekend again due to RDSS freezing and crashing. On Saturday I downloaded four racetracks and on too many occasions I missed races due to the slowdown on my computer.

I closed down everything but RDSS and even tried not to zip and quickly click through races and tabs, which caused similar crashes a few days back (which we spoke about).

I have a question which could help me (and hopefully others).....

How large is RDSS' program??

If I were to move it to a 4gb USB flash drive and work the races off that flash drive, would this make it possible to avoid the system conflicts and hangups?

Thanks Ted.

Ted Craven · 04-07-2009, 08:43 AM

Reckless,

I am certainly aware of Version 0.98.5's tendency to crash, either gradually when moving forward from race to new race, to new race, or more quickly returning to a previously handicapped race. Per the Release Notes for that version, the fault is the memory consumption of the new Toteboard module.

For this specific reason, the previous Version 0.97.9 is also still available to download and it is much more stable. You could consider switching to this older version if greater stability (for the way you use it) is more important than the toteboard or the larger fonts or wider screen layouts.

The memory consumption which is in short supply for the new version is not total system memory (e.g. 2 GB ram or 3 GB ram), nor hard disk space (e.g. 60 Gb, 120Gb, or a 4 Gb flash thumb drive). The memory (for those interested) is GDI Objects (Graphics Device Interface Objects), which are units of Windows memory representing every little graphical widget in a program. In a single open race, every tab (e.g. several per panel, 3 panels per horse, plus other panels) consumes several of these little units, as do other graphic Windows programs like any MS Office apps (Outlook, Excel, Word), browsers, etc. There is an absolute limit on the number of these objects, and I have reached it in RDSS and have been redesigning things for a little while now. Sometime this year, I will release a largely rewritten application which stands on a more sound internal footing, which will allow essential unlimited races simultaneously and all the other screens (toteboards, models, graphs, embedded browser windows, etc).

I apologize for the frustration this must cause you. Installing RDSS on a thumb drive won't hurt, but it won't help. Closing other memory intensive apps will help for a while, then not. Installing RDSS Version 0.97.9 overtop of Version 0.98.5 will help with crashes due to the above described memory problems (though not completely eliminate them).

Ted

reckless · 04-12-2009, 11:19 AM

hello Ted:

I tried my best yesterday (Saturday, April 11) to 'work' slower than normal. I did not jump from race-to-race, tab-to-tab, and especially, not from track to track. And yet I still had too many freezes, crashes and slow downs that I would have cut my wrists if it wasn't for my love of the RDSS program in pointing me to many winners! (Thanks)

I had only one track 'open' at any one time, which is also frustrating because when I handicap a race, or the entire card, while I don't lose the work, if I close down that track to work another track when I do return to that previous track, I need to fetch and re-download the past performances again (not from TM, but from the track module). Didja get that?

This is also very frustrating and time-consuming and the program crashed a few times on Saturday when I would close one track and re-launch the other.

I am writing today to ask you if is it possible to offer end users a slimmed down version of RDSS?? I understand that most people wish for more bells and whistles so this may seem to be a strange request. But, Ted, I am a child of ink and paper, and sometimes I try to use RDSS like I did the Racing Form, bouncing up and down and all around, turning pages at will.... well, you know what I mean.

For example, Ted, I don't have a need for the linked toteboard feature which seems to me to be at the heart of some of the system demands. And, while the color-coordinated widgets you make possible is extremely helpful, I would even forego that good feature if it helped to stop the continuous freezing and crashes.

I am not a techie by any stretch but I do know enough that these crashes are driving me nuts because there are absent features in RDSS that my nimble brain thinks should be both easy and available, yet are not, such as a print button, quicker access between tracks, or even a modeling environment of some sort.

I think RDSS is great and I had a tremendous day Saturday at Keeneland and Oaklawn, so I am not bitching and moaning... beyond the usual venting that horseplayers seem to have in abundance.

I am asking you for some suggestions on how to make the RDSS more relaible and enjoyable. Winning races goes a very long way in the happy department, for sure, and I am gonna send you the license fee this week, so I not laying the ground work to bail out of RDSS.<s>

Also, I had d-loaded the pp's for Saturday late Friday evening. For some reason I did not get the pp's for Oaklawn's final race, with a diolog box popping up and stating something about the odd distance of that race (it was a marathon) and that distance adjustments couldn't be made.

Did you know of this Ted?

Lastly (I promise), if I do download an earlier version of RDSS as you suggested on an earlier day, must I delete and remove the entire version of RDSS that I have on my hard drive?

Must I also contact you and/or TM about this, my thinking being when I fetch some race-cards the TM computer might read my computer and get different versions, which could necessitate denying me access?

Will changing versions of RDSS cause me more agita or less?

Thanks Ted for all your help. Please PM your home address so I could send you the license fee.

mikesal57 · 04-12-2009, 11:55 AM

hey reck....what are your computer specs?

rdss is a memory hog..maybe you dont have enough ram or there are too many programs running in the background..

gandalf380 · 04-12-2009, 11:58 AM

Sort of on that note, will RDSS work well on any of the new netbooks that run on windows XP? They usually have at most 1g of memory.

mikesal57 · 04-12-2009, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gandalf380

Sort of on that note, will RDSS work well on any of the new netbooks that run on windows XP? They usually have at most 1g of memory.

g...one gig of memory these days are not even recommended ..

newer notebooks run Vista(which is a hog in itself) and should have at least 4 gigs to run smooth

XP on the other hand should run well with 2 gigs...and shut down unnecessary background programs

gandalf380 · 04-12-2009, 12:17 PM

no, i am not talking about notebooks, i was asking about netbooks which use the new intel chip and cannot handle more than 2gb of memory at most. Most have no cd or dvd drive but do have up to 200gb hard drive. For instance, the netbooks which are being sold for $79 with an ATT contract. These netbooks will not be able to load vista.

mikesal57 · 04-12-2009, 12:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by gandalf380

no, i am not talking about notebooks, i was asking about netbooks which use the new intel chip and cannot handle more than 2gb of memory at most. Most have no cd or dvd drive but do have up to 200gb hard drive. For instance, the netbooks which are being sold for $79 with an ATT contract. These netbooks will not be able to load vista.

ok...just as i thought....its a basic email ,browsing, and playing mp3's

forget about RDSS

check it out if you want

http://www.hp.com/united-states/camp...TheHPMini1000/

kahunab · 04-12-2009, 07:41 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by mikesal57

ok...just as i thought....its a basic email ,browsing, and playing mp3's

forget about RDSS

check it out if you want

http://www.hp.com/united-states/camp...TheHPMini1000/

Be very careful with these minis. They will load RDSS but the resolution you need to see the full RDSS screen is 1240 X780 and these machines usually come with 1240 X600. It cuts off the bottom part of the RDSS screen. So when you are in the Data Centre and download races you can't get to all of the buttons to process races. Likewise when you look at horses you really can look at only one pane or two with about 3 lines visable. My wife has one of those netbooks and I have tried it.
The program will load but you wont like what you get when you try to run it.

gandalf380 · 04-12-2009, 08:17 PM

thanks m & k for the advice

04-06-2009, 08:48 PM	#1
reckless Grade 1 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: near Philadelphia Park Posts: 259	RDSS and using an USB flash drive hello Ted: I had a tough weekend again due to RDSS freezing and crashing. On Saturday I downloaded four racetracks and on too many occasions I missed races due to the slowdown on my computer. I closed down everything but RDSS and even tried not to zip and quickly click through races and tabs, which caused similar crashes a few days back (which we spoke about). I have a question which could help me (and hopefully others)..... How large is RDSS' program?? If I were to move it to a 4gb USB flash drive and work the races off that flash drive, would this make it possible to avoid the system conflicts and hangups? Thanks Ted.

04-07-2009, 08:43 AM	#2
Ted Craven Grade 1 Join Date: Jun 2005 Location: Nanaimo, British Columbia, Canada Posts: 8,855	Reckless, I am certainly aware of Version 0.98.5's tendency to crash, either gradually when moving forward from race to new race, to new race, or more quickly returning to a previously handicapped race. Per the Release Notes for that version, the fault is the memory consumption of the new Toteboard module. For this specific reason, the previous Version 0.97.9 is also still available to download and it is much more stable. You could consider switching to this older version if greater stability (for the way you use it) is more important than the toteboard or the larger fonts or wider screen layouts. The memory consumption which is in short supply for the new version is not total system memory (e.g. 2 GB ram or 3 GB ram), nor hard disk space (e.g. 60 Gb, 120Gb, or a 4 Gb flash thumb drive). The memory (for those interested) is GDI Objects (Graphics Device Interface Objects), which are units of Windows memory representing every little graphical widget in a program. In a single open race, every tab (e.g. several per panel, 3 panels per horse, plus other panels) consumes several of these little units, as do other graphic Windows programs like any MS Office apps (Outlook, Excel, Word), browsers, etc. There is an absolute limit on the number of these objects, and I have reached it in RDSS and have been redesigning things for a little while now. Sometime this year, I will release a largely rewritten application which stands on a more sound internal footing, which will allow essential unlimited races simultaneously and all the other screens (toteboards, models, graphs, embedded browser windows, etc). I apologize for the frustration this must cause you. Installing RDSS on a thumb drive won't hurt, but it won't help. Closing other memory intensive apps will help for a while, then not. Installing RDSS Version 0.97.9 overtop of Version 0.98.5 will help with crashes due to the above described memory problems (though not completely eliminate them). Ted __________________ RDSS - Racing Decision Support System™

04-12-2009, 11:55 AM	#4
mikesal57 Grade 1 Join Date: May 2008 Location: Staten Island, NY Posts: 3,952	hey reck....what are your computer specs? rdss is a memory hog..maybe you dont have enough ram or there are too many programs running in the background.. __________________ Never bet a favorite doing something for the first time-Harvey Pack Last edited by mikesal57; 04-12-2009 at 11:59 AM.

04-12-2009, 11:19 AM	#3
reckless Grade 1 Join Date: Jan 2007 Location: near Philadelphia Park Posts: 259	hello Ted: I tried my best yesterday (Saturday, April 11) to 'work' slower than normal. I did not jump from race-to-race, tab-to-tab, and especially, not from track to track. And yet I still had too many freezes, crashes and slow downs that I would have cut my wrists if it wasn't for my love of the RDSS program in pointing me to many winners! (Thanks) I had only one track 'open' at any one time, which is also frustrating because when I handicap a race, or the entire card, while I don't lose the work, if I close down that track to work another track when I do return to that previous track, I need to fetch and re-download the past performances again (not from TM, but from the track module). Didja get that? This is also very frustrating and time-consuming and the program crashed a few times on Saturday when I would close one track and re-launch the other. I am writing today to ask you if is it possible to offer end users a slimmed down version of RDSS?? I understand that most people wish for more bells and whistles so this may seem to be a strange request. But, Ted, I am a child of ink and paper, and sometimes I try to use RDSS like I did the Racing Form, bouncing up and down and all around, turning pages at will.... well, you know what I mean. For example, Ted, I don't have a need for the linked toteboard feature which seems to me to be at the heart of some of the system demands. And, while the color-coordinated widgets you make possible is extremely helpful, I would even forego that good feature if it helped to stop the continuous freezing and crashes. I am not a techie by any stretch but I do know enough that these crashes are driving me nuts because there are absent features in RDSS that my nimble brain thinks should be both easy and available, yet are not, such as a print button, quicker access between tracks, or even a modeling environment of some sort. I think RDSS is great and I had a tremendous day Saturday at Keeneland and Oaklawn, so I am not bitching and moaning... beyond the usual venting that horseplayers seem to have in abundance. I am asking you for some suggestions on how to make the RDSS more relaible and enjoyable. Winning races goes a very long way in the happy department, for sure, and I am gonna send you the license fee this week, so I not laying the ground work to bail out of RDSS.<s> Also, I had d-loaded the pp's for Saturday late Friday evening. For some reason I did not get the pp's for Oaklawn's final race, with a diolog box popping up and stating something about the odd distance of that race (it was a marathon) and that distance adjustments couldn't be made. Did you know of this Ted? Lastly (I promise), if I do download an earlier version of RDSS as you suggested on an earlier day, must I delete and remove the entire version of RDSS that I have on my hard drive? Must I also contact you and/or TM about this, my thinking being when I fetch some race-cards the TM computer might read my computer and get different versions, which could necessitate denying me access? Will changing versions of RDSS cause me more agita or less? Thanks Ted for all your help. Please PM your home address so I could send you the license fee.

04-12-2009, 11:58 AM	#5
gandalf380 Grade 1 Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: central islip ny Posts: 1,091	Sort of on that note, will RDSS work well on any of the new netbooks that run on windows XP? They usually have at most 1g of memory.

04-12-2009, 12:17 PM	#7
gandalf380 Grade 1 Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: central islip ny Posts: 1,091	no, i am not talking about notebooks, i was asking about netbooks which use the new intel chip and cannot handle more than 2gb of memory at most. Most have no cd or dvd drive but do have up to 200gb hard drive. For instance, the netbooks which are being sold for $79 with an ATT contract. These netbooks will not be able to load vista.

04-12-2009, 08:17 PM	#10
gandalf380 Grade 1 Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: central islip ny Posts: 1,091	thanks m & k for the advice