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The software has support for various types of hardware. This chapter details some of the unique things about the supported hardware.
To communicate with the various hardware that this software supports COM ports are used. Even though each of the devices plug in via USB the old style COM communication is what is being used. Each of the devices have a chip in them to convert from USB to COM. COM ports appear differently on each Operating System, here are some specific details for each OS.
Windows: In Windows the lap counting hardware will probably be the last device in the COM port list. If that does not work or you want to know for sure what COM port is the correct one you can look in the device manager. To get to the Windows device manager go to your Control Panel then to Administrative Tools and then Computer Management. Within the window that pops up you can look at the device manager. Look under the Ports for a USB port created by the FTDI Driver. This will be the COM port you need to use.
Mac OS X: In Mac the device will appear in the list as usb- followed by some numbers. If you have multiple of these devices you figure out which one is correct through the System Profiler. To get to the System Profiler click the Apple logo in the top left of your screen and then select About This Mac. In the window that pops up click the More Info... button, this will launch the System Profiler. In the System Profiler you can click USB under Contents to see the various USB devices connected. Look for a device using the FTDI Driver. If no device is found you may need to install the driver.
Linux: In Linux the device will most likely be ttyUSB followed by a number. You may have to make a symbolic link to an existing device node such as /dev/ttyS3. How to determine the correct COM port can vary per distribution.