How to obtain and install what you need to run tsh.
Updated Tue Aug 4 18:14:09 EDT 2009 for tsh 3.280.
You need a copy of Perl, a text editor to edit configuration files, master sheets from which to print score slips and other forms, and the ZIP archive of the complete tsh distribution.
First, you should make sure that you have a recent version of the freely available Perl interpreter installed on your machine. Perl runs under several operating systems, including but not limited to Unix, MacOS, VMS and Windows. If you don’t have a copy installed on your machine, you can download one from www.perl.com. Pre-OS/X Macintosh users can download a pre-compiled application from www.macperl.com (but be warned that the current version is not guaranteed to be Classic MacOS compatible — contact me for details); OS/X and many other versions of Unix come with Perl. Windows users can find a good Perl interpreter at ActiveState (at time of writing, and please submit corrections when the website changes: Perl -> Community Tools -> ActivePerl -> Other Systems and Versions -> ActivePerl 5.8.9.826 -> Windows Installer (MSI); then restart your machine or at least log out and log back in again).
You will also need a text editor. You will use it to set up config.tsh, your settings file. You may also use it to edit tournament (".t") files if you find you need to do something in the heat of a tournament that I didn’t expect you to need. If you’re a Unix user, you know which editor is the One True Editor and don’t need to be told. (It’s vim, of course.) If you’re a Classic MacOS user, SimpleText will do in a pinch, but BBEdit is much better. Mac OS/X users can use vim, vi, pico, or TextEdit, but they should not use a Classic mode editor like BBEdit unless they are careful to specify Unix line breaks. Windows users can use Notepad or Wordpad.
Score slips should be prepared to work best with tsh’s workflow. If you are entering scores and not just spread, the slips should contain the following information in the following layout:
1st player (start): 1ST-NUMBER 1ST-SCORE 1ST-NAME 1ST-INITIALS 2nd player (reply): 2ND-NUMBER 2ND-SCORE 2ND-NAME 2ND-INITIALS
The fields may be rearranged to some extent to suit layout constraints, but the important thing is that the numeric information that needs to be entered into tsh appears in the “1st-player-number, 1st-score, 2nd-player-number, 2nd-score” order in which it will be needed.
If you have configured spread-based entry, your slip should look something like this:
1st player (start): 1ST-NUMBER 1ST-NAME 1ST-INITIALS 2nd player (reply): 2ND-NUMBER 2ND-NAME 2ND-INITIALS SPREAD
If you use a self-posting wall chart, it should be set up so that the player names read down the left side and the round numbers across the top.
I have master sheets for stickers and score slips available for download in PDF format.
All of the basic files you need to use tsh, except for configuration files specific to your event, can be downloaded in one zip archive. When you have downloaded and expanded the archive, you then need to set up those configuration files.
tsh is a work in progress: it’s updated several times per year to include helpful suggestions from its users. Older versions are available for download from the tsh web site but are not supported. You should be sure to upgrade to the current version when you get ready to run a tournament.
If you have a copy of tsh 2.975 or later and a modern
operating system (such as OS/X or some other kind of Unix, or even
Windows XP), you can update your copy of tsh by simply
entering the
“update
”
command at the
“tsh>” prompt.
Your machine must be connected to the Internet when you enter the
command for this to work,
and any personal firewall must
permit Perl to connect to external web sites at port 80.
If you lose your connection during an update, just enter
“update
” again when your connection is
restored.
The
“update
” command gives you the
newest possible version of each file, which may be newer than the
currently posted official ZIP archive.
If you can’t run tsh to use the
“update
” command,
try running the
“get-tsh.pl” script in your
tsh folder.
If you have an older version of tsh, download the current ZIP archive, and don’t forget to copy over your event files to the newly created folder.
The main distribution described above does not include two optional extras, which are kept separate because they are large and not every director may find them necessary.
The “LOOK
”
command can be used for word adjudication.
To do so, you must first install the dictionary files using the
The “UPDATE-DICT
” command.
At least one command will display photos of players when they are
available.
To install the photo database, use
the “UPDATEPIX
” command.