I'll start with AMB's software offering first because it's the easiest. It's easiest because there's only one to choose from; Orbits. With dBcom there's 2 current offerings that I know of and there may still be a DOS (?!?) version out in the wild.
AMB Orbits
At the time of writing this, the current version of Orbits is 4, Service Pack 4. Their web site has links to their YouTube site where you can view
video tutorials on using Orbits and you can even
download a demo copy of Orbits 4 SP1. It's a pretty astute decision on their part to create the YouTube site to help bolster their online presence.
As a side note, over the years that I have been paying attention to AMB and their web site, they seem to have developed a peculiar inclination to make their web site less and less informative. I know that may come across as strange but for me, it's my honest assessment. It seems to have been accelerated after their merger with ChampionChip. The whole story of AMB is
available here.
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| AMB Orbits 4 SP1 Demo |
This is what you will see when you start the Orbits Demo.
There's not much to it on the surface but believe me, it is just packed with capabilities and features. This is one of the reasons AMB is considered the Cadillac or the creme de la creme of timing systems. I started using Orbits in a production environment just a year ago and I've been using Kronos2 on a dBcom system for 10 years and the difference is huge. Orbits has been undergoing continuous refinement and feature enhancements for years. Unfortunately, Kronos2 has languished purely because the developer wasn't selling enough copies to make it worth his while to continue investing resources into a product that just wasn't making him any money. It's a sad statement to make but it's true.
Kronos 2
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| Blind Apex Kronos 2 |
Kronos 2 is a great basic software package that works with both dBcom and AMB hardware (amongst others). When I had decided that dBcom was the way to go for the Westwood Motorcycle Racing Club I had a choice between a DOS based program or Kronos 2 from
Blind Apex. Kronos 2 is a Windows application and any sane IT person will tell you you want to run a Windows application under Windows, not a DOS application. The reason why is that DOS applications expect to have full access to all the resources in the computer. That includes CPU cycles, RAM, mass storage read/write (i.e. hard drive), sound and video. Windows, being what is called a Virtual Memory Operating System, takes care of sharing and managing those resources amongst all the applications that are running on the computer. DOS applications don't take kindly to having to share. They simply don't play well with others. A great deal of effort and thought went into Kronos 2; the developer is a racer himself and he knew what was needed. Time and money limited him in what he could initially offer in the feature set and as I said above, he didn't see the sales volume justify additional effort.
Tempo
A few years back dBcom decided it was time to come up with their own Windows based software. They call it Tempo. I was asked to preview the pre-production versions of Tempo and provide feedback to the developer and dBcom. Tempo provided basic functionality with the dBcom hardware and seemed to work. I never had the chance to spend a great deal of time using it in a production environment and honestly never got the hang of the interface. To me it just didn't work in an intuitive manner. That could just be me, though. Your mileage may vary.
