Author Topic: sound problem with slow computer  (Read 3013 times)

tandemrx

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sound problem with slow computer
« on: November 07, 2006, 09:09:32 PM »
O.K., here is an odd one,

As stated in my last post, I have an old/slow laptop that I run TD on. (600mghz, 256 ram).

Well, things run rather slowly on this middle aged laptop, but for the most part TD runs just fine.

As is known with TD, if you run it on a slow machine, the round timer clock will keep the correct time, but the screen time shown can't always keep up with the system clock, so every once in a while (say 4 or 5 times a minute), the display time will skip a second or 2 to catch up with the system time.

Not a problem, we only really need to know about where we are in the round and when it ends.

Thing I have noticed though is that some of my sound events don't play, and I think I have tracked it down to a sound not occuring because the TD clock never hits a certain time because it is skipping the second it is supposed to occur.

Example.  I have a "ring" that is supposed to occur at 5 seconds before the end of a round or break.  This is to let me know the round is about to change - important as the dealer.  Well, every once in a while, the 5-second ring just doesn't happen.

I have run it through that time frame a few times and when the display clock hits 5 seconds left it DOES play the sound.  If the display skips 5 seconds then it DOESN't play the sound.

I am not sure if this is coincidence or not.  Maybe Corey knows what the sound events are keyed to.

Anyone else with slow computers run into this?  Any good solutions?

I suppose that I could just set the ring to occur a few times during the last 10 seconds and I am bound to hear a couple.

Corey Cooper

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Re: sound problem with slow computer
« Reply #1 on: November 08, 2006, 10:59:52 AM »
You hit the nail on the head.  Without getting too technical, the "monitoring" part of the software wakes up several times each second and checks for events occurring in the tournament, and updates the screen if necessary.  The display is done by Internet Explorer, which makes it very flexible, but also makes it dependent on how fast IE can update the screen.  On older hardware, updates can sometimes take more than a second, and if so, you'll see what you are seeing, which is a "skip" of a second or two.  On my older laptop (350MHz, I think), the tournament page doesn't even get updated because it can't keep up.

If a screen update takes a long time, the next update might be after a full second has passed, going from say 11 seconds remaining to 9 seconds remaining.  If you had a sound event scheduled to play at 10 seconds remaining, it will get skipped.

tandemrx

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Re: sound problem with slow computer
« Reply #2 on: November 08, 2006, 02:59:15 PM »
thanks Corey,  that's what I figured.

Just wish that this problem by itself justfied buying a new laptop  ;D, unfortunately, I don't think so. :(

CanopicJar

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Re: sound problem with slow computer
« Reply #3 on: November 08, 2006, 04:00:59 PM »
Check out the sales at Best Buy the day after Thanksgiving.  You can get a low end laptop very cheap that day.  Depending on what you use it for, it will certainly give you much more ability than you have now.

Travis