At 05:13 PM 9/23/2001 , WA9ALS - John wrote:
>1. Let's say both computers shut down for the night. The next morning,
>does each computer open only it's local contest file and then link to the
>network? (I think this is correct.) Or does one of them have to open the
>shared file first, then save as the local copy??
You always use a LOCAL copy of the file, even when networked. The only
difference is that when you've linked the stations via the network,
WriteLog communicates with the other stations to keep them in sync.
The purpose of the shared file is ONLY to ensure that both machines start
with EXACTLY the same configuration. It's not a strict requirement that you
use the shared file method; I seldom if ever go to the trouble of
replicating the file between machines. But you have to be certain that all
machines are configured exactly the same. It easier to do it via a single
shared file, so that's why the instructions recommend it.
>2. I thought the shared file always had everything. However, I just did
>the following experiment. Had both stations on the network. Added a couple
>of Q's on Station B - They immediately appeared in the log of Station A, as
>expected. Both local copies were saved. Then both programs were shut down.
>Then I started WL again on Station A and opened the SHARED log and was
>surprised to see that it didn't have the 2 new Q's logged as described
>above. Now if both stations open their local logs and get linked to the
>network, then ALL the Q's appear as expected, but why didn't they all show
>when station A opened the SHARED file?
Again, you never use the shared file, it's only for initial setup. Just
open the LOCAL file on both machines, register to accept network
connections on both machines, then link from one machine to the other. Just
like magic, they'll both sync up and have identical copies of the log.
You can of course save yourself the trouble by just leaving WriteLog
running on both machines during the entire contest. There's no reason to
shut down and you'll save the wear and tear of an unnecessary spin-up on
your hard drives.
>Any help/tips along these lines would be appreciated. I can get it going,
>but then I have questions if one station shuts down, loses Q's etc. And I
>also note that neither station can DELETE a QSO - Do you just have to mark
>as unclaimed if you made a mistake? THANKS!
I don't recall if deleting works across the network or not, but all other
functions do work fine. So mark Qs as "unclaimed" until you verify that
delete works correctly.
You'll inevitably lose the connection between the machines at some point in
the contest - for us, it's usually due to RFI on 75m. This is not a
problem; WriteLog usually tries to restart the connection on it's own; if
it doesn't link the two again. You might need to shut down WriteLog and
restart it, depending on how confused the network was when it lost the
connection. But in general, the networking in WriteLog is robust and
corrects itself just fine.
73,
-Marty NW0L
martyt@pobox.com
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