Orbits 5.x Tech Note
The Epiphany
While I was mucking around with my new copy of Orbits 5 that came with the X2 system, I stumbled across a neat new feature in Orbits Remote: App Feed.
App Feed allows you to broadcast live timing to your local network (wired or Wi-fi) for users with the Speedhive app from MyLaps. My initial reaction was I would need another computer to run yet another instance of Orbits Remote to activate the App Feed,
That's fine. You can do that. But I have a cheaper way to do it.
I'm running 2 computers; one is dedicated to timing only (Timing-1), the other is for Administrative activities related to Timing and Scoring (Timing-2). That's where Orbits Remote resides. Timing-2 is also a backup computer in case Timing-1 blows up.
The magic phrase is Virtual Machines.
So the trick is to run Windows 10 Pro on Timing-2. Enable Hyper-V to allow you to create Virtual Machines. I've embedded a hyperlink above to take you to the Micro$oft web site for that topic. You should probably have 12-16GB of RAM in Timing-2 to run VM's, but RAM is cheap. There are pre-requisites mentioned there that you will have to research.
In a nut shell:
- Windows 10 Pro (or Enterprise or Education)
- 64-bit Processor with Second Level Address Translation (SLAT).
- CPU support for VM Monitor Mode Extension (VT-c on Intel CPU's).
- Minimum of 4 GB memory (not even close to enough IMHO)
- Enable Hyper-V
- Create a VM with Windows 7, 8, 8.1 or 10
- Install Orbits Remote
- Run the App Feed in Orbits Remote.
I know all this is pretty high up on the Geek Scale, but it is possible for those that want to give it a go.
If anyone tries this, let me know how it works out.
