Pocket Computers connecting to pinsetters and Vector?

[Faded]

Hi there.

I just became the technical manager of a new restaurant which happens to have 38 lanes of GSX pinsetters on two floors and an arcade. I have 15 years experience on the arcade side, but am new to bowling.

We've had a few issues even the Brunswick installers are confused about, but we are getting things straightened out. (Such as a stuck set of bumpers that ended up with an entire masking unit server and 4 Pinball Wizard controllers toasted.)

Among the many bells and whistles purchased are a pair of little pocket PCs. Looks to me like these gadgets will instantly give us all the pinsetter errors as well as allow for communication between the mechanic(s) and the counter(s.)

Does anyone have any idea how to set them up and actually use them? Nobody set 'em up and I know my life will be easier with them and guests a LOT more satisfied with instant response time to issues (relative to the flag down a waitress, get someone to radio it in process in use.)

Thanks!
-Eric

[Joey Pascal]

Well your very lucky have these. It's a great system.

How hard this is to setup depends on how much work the installers did. In our centre everything was done for us.

The first thing you need to check is that a wireless router was installed on the computer network. This is how the PDA's communicates with the server. Hopefully they have done this for you but if not get the installation guide from here:

http://www.brunswickbowling.com/downloads/support/Installation-Instructions_Mechanic_Handheld_Wireless_Access_Point_Setup_Guide_10-095400-085_9-12.pdf

Once that is setup you need to install some software onto the server. You should have been given a cd & manuals called something like "Vector Plus mechanic setup".

Basically, you need to:

1. Iinstall the cd to the server.
2. Plug in the PDA's and copy the software over.
3. Install the software on the PDA's.
4. Setup wireless settings, etc.

It should all be clear in the installation guide. Check the user guide on how to use them.

If you haven't been given these then you would need to contact Brunswick as you can't really do anything without the install disk.

[Presh]

I would've thought that if you purchased the Brunswick Handheld system along with everything else then the installers should have it all up and running for you, might be worth asking!