An SMC8416T brand network card should be installed into the spare ISA slot on the RFM computer motherboard. The slot is located on the far edge of the motherboard, next to the slot with the prism card installed. This is the first job in getting your game to communicate with the outside world!
To enable the server to talk to the game you need to allow a port through your firewall. The port is 2069 and needs to be allowed for both tcp and udp in and out. If you don't have a firewall set up, or have the game in a dmz then you don't need to worry about this. Consult your router/modem settings for more info on setting this up on your network.
The game's network card must be connected to a custom configured Linksys WRT54GL router which can be readily bought for about £40. It must be running open source software DD-WRT version 23 SP2 which can be downloaded here -
http://www.dd-wrt.com.
The router should be configured as a client to your main router. We have a default configuration file to use as a basis for this setup which can be downloaded here - http://www.mypinballs.com/tournament/setup/router/client.bin.
However, if you want to create your own configuration from scratch, a great tutorial for doing so is available here - http://www.dd-wrt.com/wiki/index.php/Client_Mode_Wireless. You should make sure the port forwarding mentioned previously is also configured on this router.
Next, you should add the following command using the Command Shell in the Administration tab of the router web GUI to modify the ttl settings for packets originating from the games ip.
iptables -t mangle -I PREROUTING -i br0 -s XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX -j TTL --ttl-set 64
where XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX is the games ip address. Save the instructions in the firewall by clicking the 'Save Firewall' option so the settings are kept across reboots and are run when the firewall starts up at power on.
The model we have currently tested is a CipherLab 1022R Barcode Reader. This is the one we recommend, though any rs232 barcode reader should work. The barcodes on the badges are stored in a standard format that any reader should read. To connect your reader you need to connect it using a straight wired 25pin serial cable. One end connects to the 25 pin serial port (Comm 2) on the rfm computer and the other end to the default 25 pin connection of the barcode reader. Also, a 5 volt connection needs to be added to pin 25 of the rfm computer Comm2 serial port, which can be fed from the internal power supply.
Finally check the RS232 setup of your reader and confirm the following options are selected.
Parity - None
Data bits - 8
Terminator - Carriage Return
Below are some useful resources that we have colated to make the setup of your reader easier. New items will be added here as and when we find them. Please do not link to the items individually. Link to this page instead.
CipherLab 1022R
System Default Configuration Card 1 System Default Configuration Card 2 User ManualPlease note that if you modify your game computer then it is at your own risk.