MC55A addendum for Settings

• Ensure you have loaded the latest software for your scanner model. (For MC55A,as of July 2011 this is 2.0.0.06)
• To WARM boot the device - press and hold the red power key for 5 seconds.
• To cold boot the device - press the power button, W and C simultaneously. (you probably will never have to do this.)

Create and Managing a profile

Using the wireless button, select Manage Profiles

• Press on the screen until the popup window to 'Add' a profile appears. You will see a window titled Wireless LAN Profile Entry
• Enter a Profile Name
  • (for example - ticket scanning)  If you enter your network name, it is less secure as the network name should be private.>
• Enter the ESSID (Network Name) of your network.
• Click Next
• Select the following:
  • Infrastructure - For operating mode.
  • USA for country, or whatever your router will allow
• Click Next>
• WPA2 - Personal for Security Mode (this must match your router)
• Click Next
• Encryption Type and Pass Phrase are dependant on what your router settings are
• Click Next
• ipv4 address type, check all the boxes, especially obtain IP Address Automatically. However, if that doesn't work, give each scanner a unique IP address suitable for your network.
• Click Next
• For Transmit Power, change the settings to Power Plus
• Click Next
• Change Battery usage mode to CAM
• Click Save

Testing the Signal

Pressuming you are connected, click the Wireless button again in the ticket scanning program.

• Scroll down and select Wireless Status
• Pick Signal Strength - it should be a green bar (you wuld prefer excellent as the signal strength). The higher the signal, the better/faster scanning will be.
  • If you have no signal strength, then go back to the top of this page and adjust your network parameters, IP settings, etc so that you can connect to the network
• If you have signal strength, then click the 'blue' arrow at the top right of the screen to go back to the previous window
• Select Option 3: IPv4 status . On this screen you should see that you have an ip address from your router. If not, start at the top of the help page, verify the profile and make sure you are connected to your network
• Click the blue arrow to go back
• Click the quit option to get back to the ticket scanning program

Testing the Network

• Click the Wireless button on the ticket scanning setup window
• Scroll down and select Wireless Diagnostics
• Select ICMP Ping
  • It may have an ip address in there, so try ping it and see if that works
• Enter the ip address of the apache machine
• Click start test to se if you can communicate
  • If you cannot ping the Theatre Manager Apache Server, you need to adjust your router to allow communication from the scanner to the apache server. You may also need to adjust your Profile, so back to the top of this help page.
• Once you are able to ping the Theatre Manager Apache machine successfully, Stop the test
• Click the Back button at the top (or OK button at the bottom) until you get into the Theatre Manager Setup Window

Once the network settings are done, then the next step is to try and end to end test. You will need to start at least one Theatre Manager Web Listener. For the purposes of the test, it is better that only one be started.

Testing a Scan

On the Web listener window, there is a pop-up at the bottom middle of the screen beside the Show Detail button. This is the log Level selection which is normally set to Error. Change the setting to say Ticket Scanning . The Web Listener will now report more messages, including those sent by a scanner. It is helpful in the diagnostic process.

• Set the Web listener to Ticket Scanning error log level
  • Take the scanner near the screen so you can watch the listeners responses
• On the Wireless device,ensure you have entered the Theatre Manager Address correctly - it will typically look like 192.168.0.xx/TheatreManager/1 as per these instructions
• Set up the port, user initials and password as required. We recommend leaving the Performance as zero (0) as it means scan any event for the current day.
• Click the Save button on the Theatre Manager Setup Window. This takes you back to the main window.
• Click the scan button to take yo to the normal scanning interface
• Type in 12345678 as the ticket number. Then click the green arrow to test the scanner. It is very likely that you'll see a stop icon.
• You should also see an error message on the scanner indicating any problems (eg, invalid password, wrong ticket number or what have you. Please look at the Theatre Manager web listener and see if the message on the log line is similar to the message on the scanner. You should also see lines in the Web Listener Log that are 'Checkin/Out' messages and may display things like 'Scanner Synchronized Time' etc.
• If you see no messages and you got this far, then you probably need to go back and look at network and firewall settings -- assuming that the scanner is mated with the network properly

Real Life Testing

The final step in the test process is to take the scanners to locations where you will use them (if you see messages that the scanner is communicating in the previous section).

• Print off several dozen real tickets for any event - enough that each ticket scanner has a few tickets to practice with. The tickets may be for the same seat or different seats - you just need some to get a continuous string of acceptances.
• Set the performance parameter on the scanner to this event
• Stand where you will be scanning
• Check the signal strength as per the instructions above and make sure it is sufficient
• Try scanning people into the venue and out of the venue
• Test all scanners individually
• Test all scanners working at the same time to make sure there is no interference or reduction in performance if all are working at the same time. If there is a reduction in speed, you might need to boost the wireless access point's antenna, or you may want another listener or two temporarily. This depends on number of scanners and wireless signal

Training

The scanners do work, as there are hundreds in use. However, we recommend that you have a training practice session a few days before using it on your first real event. Have the ushers come in and try it. Help them scan in and scan out people so that they are familiar with the basic operation.

Then try the scanners on a small event first - it is almost a certainty that there will be minor problems when real patrons are involved. Patrons bring tickets to the wrong event and your ushers need time to adapt to the controls that a scanner brings.

Once you have a few smaller events under your belt and feel comfortable, then you are ready for all events.