The computer displays a live video feed from the camera, which is connected to one of the computer's two Firewire (IEEE 1394) ports. When it receives a button press, it begins counting down from 3. It also sends a confirmation signal to the show controller (ASCII "a"), which also triggers the show controller to play a sound. (Audio resides on the show controller to free up the computer for doing video processing.) At this time, the computer also begins blocking any further button presses. When the Bronc software first starts up, it begins recording a ride automatically. (This is so that there is always a video clip available for the attract loop, as the plasma monitor is highly susceptible to image burn-in.

At zero, the computer begins recording a video clip for a specified time (currently set at 10 seconds). At the end of recording, it sends an ASCII "b" to the show controller, which stops whatever sound is playing and plays another one. The software then manipulates the video to add a background clip in place of the green, edits the captured clip into a sequence with clips before and after, and applies an "old film" effect to the edited sequence. The entire sequence is then saved as a Quicktime movie in the captured_movies folder. While it is manipulating the video, the computer will be locked up and cannot perform any other tasks. During this time, the screen that says "Wait about 30 seconds" is displayed. To quit out of the program, wait until processing is finished and the completed clip begins to play back.

When it begins playing the finished clip, the computer sends ASCII "s" through "v" (different for each of the four different rides) to the show controller, to trigger the appropriate soundtrack to play.

After playback, the computer then prints a receipt which contains login and password, for the visitor to view and download the clip on the web. Login and password strings are generated randomly from a list of all letters and numerals. The logins and passwords are also written to an external text file called users062702.txt (one named for each day) which lives in the movies_final folder. A thumbnail-sized image from the captured video is also added to the printed receipt.

After the receipt has been printed, and the print screen has been displayed for 10 seconds, the program will return to a live video feed and wait for a button press. After 5 minutes (adjustable in the settings file) the computer will run an attract loop. This is a separate program which just displays the latest 10 clips in a certain folder. This program has its own adjustable settings. When a button is pressed, the computer closes the attract loop and begins the countdown to recording.

If the greenscreen masking looks wrong, this probably means that either the lighting or camera position has changed. Adjust the camera angle on the tripod, and zoom with a wheel on the back of the camera (the size of a quarter, with two ridges to grip). To calibrate the software to new lighting conditions, do the following:

Open the crate on the floor by lifting straight up (assuming it's not locked). Press the ESC key to exit the bronc program. Look in the bronc014 folder on the desktop, in the movies_source folder, and double-click the file called Captured Movie). This opens the last captured movie (this works better if there is someone on the bronc so if there is not, run the program and take a ride yourself. The quit the program after the live video feed comes back on, and open the last captured movie using the path specified above.)

If the video feed is all white, or not clear: First, try unplugging and re-plugging the Firewire cable going into the computer, then reboot (press ESC to exit the Bronc program, and select Restart from the Special menu).

Error Messages: The computer has a Control Panel called Okey Dokey which says OK to any dialog box that appears on the screen. If an error keeps flashing on the screen, that means that each time Okey Dokey is dismissing it but the error persists. In this case, try pressing the ESC key repeatedly, or holding the Apple (Command) key and pressing the period key repeatedly.

If the message is a Script Error: please make a note of it and email to kevin@woed.com. (Pressing OK to one of these errors will attempt to keep running the program.) But if the error prevents continued running it will keep appearing, in which case the error must be cancelled (using the ESC or Cmd-. keys) and the program stopped. Then reboot (Special menu/Restart).

If the message is a communication error between the computer and printer: first try rebooting. If that does not work, check the printer power and data cables. On the computer's desktop, go to the Chooser from the Apple (far left) menu, select POSjet, and verify that a USB connection appears in the right-side window.

If files are not being uploaded, check the "zerror" log file "Network Connection Found!" or "Network Connection Not Found!". The insertSFXandFTP.exe can be triggered manually by double-clicking on it. If there are movies in the movies_created folder, it will add soundtracks, then attempt to upload whatever is in movies_final.

If there is network connectivity and the insertSFXandFTP.exe appears to be running and quitting properly, check the iDo Script Scheduler control panel (under the Apple menu). To test, you can set the time for 10 minutes later or so, then run the Bronc program (to create a new file), and wait to see if it executes properly. If so, don't forget to reset the time in the script scheduler.

Note that there is also a scheduled reboot at 9 AM. This is just in case the file transfer has stopped or frozen, and to start the Bronc software cleanly. A maximum of about 300 movies could be generated in a normal day. In eight hours, under normal conditions, the computer can upload about 1100 files.

An alternate method of file transfer has been provided. A file called insertSFX.exe can be triggered from the after hours script (open afterhours.script , change the script, then save as a Run Only Classic Applet, Startup Screen disabled, saved as afterhours.exe). This merely adds the soundtracks back to movies, then triggers a separate app called FTP.exe. FTP.exe opens a file transfer program called Fetch, uploads the entire movies_final folder, then deletes the folder and shuts down. The FTP settings are specified in the ftp.script (which must be recompiled if changed).

The danger in this method is that it does not know which files have or have not been uploaded, and it will delete the movies_final folder regardless. So it should be used only if there is ample time to upload the number of files in the movies_final folder.

Files could also be uploaded manually by opening Fetch (in the Applications (OS 9) folder on the hard drive, or from the Recent Applications.) There is a bookmark to the FTP site, and files can be dragged into the window.

One note of caution when manually moving files around: The Bronc software creates a users file for each day, and if that file is not in the movies_final folder, it will create one. If there are two files for one day, and one is uploaded, if the other file is uploaded, it will overwrite the previous, thus creating the possibility of erasing login/password information.

This machine is a 933MHz G4 with 512MB RAM and a fast SCSI-2 hard drive.

More information on the G4 is available here.

Stealth Serial Port driver is here.

More information on the CMP307XU is available here.

In the Bronc program, printing layout is controlled by a file called "barcodeprinting.cst," in the Bronc014 folder on the desktop. (Download it here.) To re-install the Dymo Labelwriter, use this barcodeprinting.cst file.

After heavy use, the Dymo LabelWriter 330 Turbo was deemed unsuitable for this application, due to difficulties with paper spooling and tearing, heat buildup, and communication problems with the computer.