metarace-roadmeet 1.13.13

Timing and result application for road cycling events

metarace-roadmeet

Timing and result application for UCI Part 2 Road Races, UCI Part 5 Cyclo-Cross, criterium, road handicap and ad-hoc time trial events.

Usage

Choose meet folder and open:

$ roadmeet

Open an existing road meet:

$ roadmeet PATH

Create empty meet folder and open it:

$ roadmeet --create

Edit default configuration:

$ roadmeet --edit-default

Time Trial Timing Modes & Options

Impulse (Classic)

Chronometer impulses on channels C0 (start) and C1 (finish) determine rider's elapsed time in the event.

Hardware setup:

• Tape switch or photo cell on start line connected to chronometer C0
• Tape switch or photo cell on finish line connected to chronometer C1
• Transponder loop ~10m before finish line

Meet configuration:

• Hardware -> Transponders: Decoder type/port [optional]
• Hardware -> Impulse: Timy serial port

OR

• Telegraph -> Timer: timertopic
• Telegraph -> Receive remote timer messages? Yes

Event configuration:

• Autotime: Match impulses to transponder? No
• Start Loop: null
• Finish Loop: null
• Finish Loop: Map trigger to start? No
• Start: Start times are strict? [optional]

In this mode, transponder readings will arm the finish line for arrival of a finishing rider.

The start line can be manually operated, or if the "strict start" option is set, start impulses will be automatically applied.

Transponder

Rider finish times are determined by transponder passings and start times are set by advertised start or transponder passing.

Hardware setup:

• Transponder loop on finish line
• Transponder loop just after start line (may also be finish line)

Meet configuration:

• Hardware -> Transponders: Decoder type/port
• Hardware -> Impulse: null

OR

• Telegraph -> Timer: timertopic
• Telegraph -> Receive remote timer messages? Yes

Event configuration:

• Autotime: Match impulses to transponder? No
• Start Loop: 1-8 [optional]
• Finish Loop: 1-8
• Finish Loop: Map trigger to start? No
• Start: Start times are strict? [optional]

Note: In this mode, precision is limited to 0.1s due to hardware limitations and variation in transponder placement.

If strict start times are enabled, rider start times will be set by transponder passing only when within ~5s of the advertised start time.

The start and finish loops can be the same, for the case where starters cross the finish loop as they depart the start area.

Autotime Transponder + Impulse

Start and finish times are set by chronometer impulses, matched automatically to a corresponding transponder passing.

Hardware setup:

• Tape switch or photo cell on start line connected to chronometer C0
• Tape switch or photo cell on finish line connected to chronometer C1
• Transponder loop on finish line
• Optional transponder loop just after start line (may also be finish line)

Meet configuration:

• Hardware -> Transponders: Decoder type/port
• Hardware -> Impulse: Timy serial port

OR

• Telegraph -> Timer: timertopic
• Telegraph -> Receive remote timer messages? Yes

Event configuration:

• Autotime: Match impulses to transponder? Yes
• Start Loop: 1-8 [optional, may be same as finish]
• Finish Loop: 1-8
• Finish Loop: Map trigger to start? No
• Start: Start times are strict? [Depends on start loop]

If start loop is set, strict start mode should be disabled. If start loop is null, strict start should be enabled.

Note: In autotime mode, transponder passings must be received after chronometer impulses. When using Tag Heuer/Chronelec transponders, enable the "Detect Max" option to delay transponder passings long enough to collect impulses first.

Hybrid (Impulse start/transponder finish)

Hybrid mode is a special-case where a decoder's impulse trigger input is used to supply a start time and transponder readings are used on the finish line. This mode is especially useful when a sterile finish line cannot be guaranteed, for short time gaps or when riders complete a number of laps through a shared finish.

Hardware setup:

• tape switch or photocell on start line - connected to decoder's impulse input
• transponder loop on finish line

Meet configuration:

• Hardware -> Transponders: Decoder type/port
• Hardware -> Impulse: null

OR

• Telegraph -> Timer: timertopic
• Telegraph -> Receive remote timer messages? Yes

Event configuration:

• Autotime: Match impulses to transponder? No
• Start Loop: null
• Finish Loop: 1-8
• Finish Loop: Map trigger to start? Yes
• Start: Start times are strict? Yes

Note: In hybrid mode, a strict startlist is required to allocate start impulses to starting riders automatically. If strict start is not enabled, start line must be manually operated.

Support

• Signal Group: metarace
• Github Issues: issues

Requirements

• Python >= 3.11
• PyGObject
• Gtk >= 3.22
• metarace >= 2.1.10
• tex-gyre fonts (optional, recommended)
• evince (optional, recommended)
• rsync (optional)
• mosquitto (optional)

Automated Installation

For semi-automated installation on common unix-like desktop systems, download the metarace install script and run with sh:

$ wget https://github.com/ndf-zz/metarace/raw/refs/heads/main/metarace-install.sh
$ sh metarace-install.sh

For installation on Windows systems, a powershell script is provided to install metarace applications under a WSL Debian container:

wget https://github.com/ndf-zz/metarace/raw/refs/heads/main/wsl-install.ps1

Post-Installation Notes

Optionally configure defaults for new meets and library options:

$ ~/Documents/metarace/venv/bin/roadmeet --edit-default

Gnome Desktop

By default, Gnome uses a system font which does not have fixed-width digits. As a result, rolling times displayed in roadmeet will jiggle left and right as the digits change, and right-aligned time columns will not align correctly at the decimal point.

To correct this, install gnome-tweaks and change the system font to one with fixed-width digits eg: Noto Sans Regular.

Debugging messages can be viewed using journalctl:

$ journalctl -f

XFCE

The XFCE default window manager uses function keys to switch workspaces, rendering them inaccessible to roadmeet. To use these function keys in roadmeet (eg for reports, arming and reset), first clear the relevant window manager shortcuts.

Under Settings, Window Manager, Keyboard, locate the "Workspace N" entries and clear the shortcut for each one by selecting the "Clear" button.

Roadmeet can be configured to open meet folders in Thunar by creating a custom action with appearance conditions set to include "Directories". The action can then be added to the toolbar or triggered from a context menu.

Following an automated install, you may need to log out and back in for the menu entries to be properly updated.

Debugging messages are appended to ~/.xsession-errors, view with tail:

$ tail -f ~/.xsession-errors

Manual Installation

Install system requirements for your OS (See System-Specific Preparation below) then prepare a metarace runtime directory and virtual env as follows:

$ mkdir -p ~/Documents/metarace
$ python3 -m venv --system-site-packages ~/Documents/metarace/venv

Install roadmeet to the virtual env, or run from source using one of the following methods:

Install From PyPI With Pip

Use pip in your virtual env to download and install roadmeet along with any required python packages from the Python Package Index:

$ ~/Documents/metarace/venv/bin/pip3 install metarace-roadmeet

Create a new empty roadmeet:

$ ~/Documents/metarace/venv/bin/roadmeet --create

Install From Wheel

Download the roadmeet wheel from github and verify signature:

$ wget https://github.com/ndf-zz/metarace-roadmeet/releases/download/v1.13.8/metarace_roadmeet-1.13.8-py3-none-any.whl
$ wget https://github.com/ndf-zz/metarace-roadmeet/releases/download/v1.13.8/metarace_roadmeet-1.13.8-py3-none-any.whl.asc
$ gpg --verify metarace_roadmeet-1.13.8-py3-none-any.whl.asc

Use pip in your virtual env to install the roadmeet wheel:

$ ~/Documents/metarace/venv/bin/pip3 install ./metarace_roadmeet-1.13.8-py3-none-any.whl

Create a new empty roadmeet:

$ ~/Documents/metarace/venv/bin/roadmeet --create

Run From Source Tree

Activate the virtual env, optionally install any required libraries, clone the repository and run roadmeet directly:

$ source ~/Documents/metarace/venv/bin/activate
(venv) $ pip3 install metarace
(venv) $ git clone https://github.com/ndf-zz/metarace-roadmeet.git
(venv) $ cd metarace-roadmeet/src
(venv) $ python3 -m roadmeet

System-Specific Preparation Notes

Debian 11+, Ubuntu, Mint, MX (apt)

Install system requirements for roadmeet and metarace with apt:

$ sudo apt install python3-venv python3-pip
$ sudo apt install python3-cairo python3-gi python3-gi-cairo
$ sudo apt install gir1.2-gtk-3.0 gir1.2-rsvg-2.0 gir1.2-pango-1.0
$ sudo apt install python3-serial python3-paho-mqtt python3-dateutil python3-xlwt

Optionally add fonts, PDF viewer, rsync and MQTT broker:

$ sudo apt install fonts-texgyre fonts-noto evince rsync mosquitto

Add your user to the group dialout in order to access serial ports:

$ sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" dialout

Arch, Manjaro, EndeavourOS (pacman)

Install system requirements with pacman:

$ sudo pacman -S --needed python python-pip gtk3
$ sudo pacman -S --needed python-pyserial python-dateutil python-xlwt python-paho-mqtt python-gobject python-cairo

Optionally install pdf viewer, fonts, rsync and mqtt broker:

$ sudo pacman -S --needed noto-fonts tex-gyre-fonts evince rsync mosquitto
$ sudo systemctl enable mosquitto.service

Add your user to the group uucp in order to access serial ports:

$ sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" uucp

Gentoo Linux

Install required system libraries, or select a suitable meta-package (eg XFCE):

# emerge --ask -n xfce-base/xfce4-meta x11-themes/gnome-themes-standard

Install required python packages:

# emerge --ask -n dev-libs/gobject-introspection dev-python/pygobject dev-python/python-dateutil dev-python/xlwt dev-python/pyserial dev-python/paho-mqtt

Install optional fonts, pdf viewer and MQTT broker:

# emerge --ask -n media-fonts/tex-gyre media-fonts/noto app-text/evince app-misc/mosquitto net-misc/rsync

Add your user to the group dialout in order to access serial ports:

# gpasswd -a "username" dialout

Alpine Linux (apk)

Setup a desktop environment, then add python requirements with apk:

# apk add py3-pip py3-pyserial py3-dateutil py3-paho-mqtt py3-gobject3 py3-cairo

Install optional fonts, pdf viewer, rsync and MQTT broker:

# apk add font-noto evince rsync mosquitto

Install Tex Gyre fonts from Gust:

$ wget https://www.gust.org.pl/projects/e-foundry/tex-gyre/whole/tg2_501otf.zip
$ mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
$ unzip -j -d ~/.local/share/fonts tg2_501otf.zip
$ fc-cache -f

Add your user to the group dialout in order to access serial ports:

$ sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" dialout

Fedora Linux (dnf)

Install system requirements:

$ sudo dnf install gtk3 gobject-introspection cairo-gobject
$ sudo dnf install python3-pip python3-cairo
$ sudo dnf install python3-pyserial python3-paho-mqtt python3-dateutil python-xlwt

Optionally add fonts, PDF viewer, rsync and MQTT broker:

$ sudo dnf install google-noto-sans-fonts google-noto-mono-fonts google-noto-emoji-fonts texlive-tex-gyre evince rsync mosquitto
$ sudo systemctl enable mosquitto.service

Add your user to the group dialout in order to access serial ports:

$ sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" dialout

Slackware

Install a desktop environment (eg XFCE), python packages will be installed as required by pip.

Note: Slackware does not ship evince with the XFCE desktop, but sets it as the Gtk print preview application. To enable print preview, install evince from slackbuilds, or add an entry in ~/.config/gtk-3.0/settings.ini to point to another application:

[Settings]
gtk-print-preview-command=xpdf %f

Install Tex Gyre fonts from Gust:

$ wget https://www.gust.org.pl/projects/e-foundry/tex-gyre/whole/tg2_501otf.zip
$ mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
$ unzip -j -d ~/.local/share/fonts tg2_501otf.zip
$ fc-cache -f

Add your user to the group dialout in order to access serial ports:

$ sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" dialout

FreeBSD

Install a desktop environment (eg XFCE), then install optional components with pkg:

# pkg install evince rsync mosquitto

Add user to group dialer in order to access serial ports:

# pw group mod -n dialer -m op

Install Tex Gyre fonts from Gust:

$ wget https://www.gust.org.pl/projects/e-foundry/tex-gyre/whole/tg2_501otf.zip
$ mkdir -p ~/.local/share/fonts
$ unzip -j -d ~/.local/share/fonts tg2_501otf.zip
$ fc-cache -f

Note: Use callout serial devices for decoder access. For example, a race result active decoder on the first USB serial port:

rru:/dev/cuaU0

MacOS / Brew

[TBC]

Windows / WSL

Install VirtualMachinePlatform and Windows Subsystem for Linux with Powershell:

Enable-WindowsOptionalFeature -Online -FeatureName VirtualMachinePlatform -All -NoRestart
wsl --install --no-distribution

Reboot computer, then prepare a Debian container:

wsl --install -d Debian

In the Debian shell, install wget, cups and thunar:

$ sudo apt-get install wget cups thunar

Add your user to the lpadmin group:

$ sudo gpasswd -a "$USER" "lpadmin

Download the installer and run with sh:

$ wget https://github.com/ndf-zz/metarace/raw/refs/heads/main/metarace-install.sh
$ sh metarace-install.sh