SCAT Electronic News 16 February 1999
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SCAT Electronic News 16 February 1999
Table of Contents
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Palm Pilot Sources and Why ?
Corrected results Isaacson - February 1999
Palm Pilot Sources and Why
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At the MaxMen a number of people asked me where to buy
a PalmPilot. The Palm Pilot is made by 3-com. It was a US Robotics
product. You can buy them in many office [Staples, Office Depot,..]
stores and computer stores.
There are two mail order places that I have used that have good prices.
They are NECX , www.necx.com at 1 800 808 3375 and
MicroWarehouse www.warehouse.com ar 1 800 397 8508.
Check their Web Site before ordering.
Also CNET at www.cnet.com and Yahoo www.yahoo.com have
information about other suppliers.
The current top of the line mode the Palm III retails for $399,
at the end of last week Micro Warehouse had it for 249 as a 'Web Special'.
Finally the reason that I do not sell the Palm Pilots as part of my
BlackMagic electronic timers is that I cannot compete with those prices
for sell such a consumer product.
There was a second question as to why the PalmPilot.
Other than the name which is kind of appropriate. To compare
what I did with two other popular timers - the Russian and Danish
systems.
The Danish system is the oldest - at that time devices
like the PalmPilot did not exist, so they built their own 'programmer
box'. This was a very good decision because it made the timer
very easy to use. I did not do this because a few years later
I could not sell a customer pogrammer box for less that the
cost of a PalmPilot.
The Russian system went with a cheaper solution for a programmer
deices and used a CASIO organizer. The main disadvantage with this
is that the CASIO cannot be programmed. But rather you adapt some
of features on the device. this makes it difficult to use, particularily
when under stress and represents a significant obstaclein getting
started with the Electronic timer. Originally I had a way of using the
CASIO with my timer but I tested it with some friends in
the SCAT and decided that it was too hard to get started.
I chose the PalmPilot because it was programmable - this meant that I
could write a special BlackMagic program that sits on the PalmPilot
with a 'fill out the form' interface so you can easily enter the
information. At the time the PP was the market leader for this
kind of Palm Top computer [it still is]. There are other devices
that I could have used such as Windows CE machines .. But the
cost of developing the the program for and an additional device
is significant in terms of cash outlay and more importantly my time.
After all if I had to do that I could not do this stuff.
It is of course possible to us a lap top computer as is done
by the Finnnish system and the CST Smart system. This has
the advantage that the screen is bigger, so with more
'real estate' more helpful information can be displayed.
The disadvantage is the the laptop is bigger, can be
harder to read in bright sunlight and needs to be kept charged.
I think for the Electronic timer to be useful at the
top level of F1 competition it must be easy to program,
the user has to decide which way works best for them.
Corrected results Isaacson - February 1999
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F1A
1 Stamov, Victor 210 180 180 180 180 180 180 297 1587
2 Coussens, Tom 210 180 180 180 180 180 180 135 1425
3 de Boer, Pieter 210 180 180 180 180 180 166 1276
4 Markos, Chuck 210 180 180 180 180 180 149 1259
5 McKeever, Mike 210 180 180 180 180 139 180 1249
6 Nyhegn, Henning 187 180 168 180 161 180 180 1236
7 Parker, Dallas 151 180 180 180 180 180 180 1231
8 Breeman, Cenny 210 180 180 180 136 180 146 1212
9 Van Nest, Brian 210 180 180 180 92 180 180 1202
10 Allnutt, Peter 210 180 180 180 167 180 100 1197
11 Coussens, Stephan 210 180 180 180 64 180 180 1174
12 Brun, Pierre 210 180 97 180 145 180 180 1172
12 Hines, Lee 186 180 87 180 180 180 149 1142
14 Parker, Jim 210 180 94 118 180 180 180 1142
15 Cowley, Martyn 115 180 180 86 180 180 180 1101
16 Busnelli, Ernesto 210 100 170 180 155 180 80 1075
17 Chkarev, Mikhail 210 180 180 142 180 176DNSS 1068
18 Brocks, Peter 210 180 180 180 76 58 172 1056
19 Van Eldik, Anton 0 180 180 171 180 148 180 1039
20 Krainock, Jerry 95 180 180 0 165 180 180 980
21 Makarov, Sergei 210 180 180 180 180 32DNSS 962
22 Zink, Don 152 180 180 180 180 5 0 877
23 Kozlyuk, Dmitro 124 101 67 180 137 65 165 839
24 Weiler, Randy 147 180DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF 327
25 Coussens, Ben 0DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF 0
25 Diez, Hector DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF DNF 0
DNSS means "Did not share score"
..................
Roger Morrell
