Ratings on a Stick
As of April 2010, two alternative programs are provided to calculate ratings after a tournament.
The software is particularly suited to use a USB stick for running the programs and
transporting data. PratCooker is a Windows program designed to be run from a USB stick, and is designed to
be easy to run at the tournament, showing placings and rating changes in an integrated display and
also transferring files from the work computer to the USB stick ready for sending off when you get home.
The alternative program plinrat is not a Windows program but one which needs to be run within a DOS Window.
It is nevertheless moderately easy to use, and produces several styles of report.
- Download the program PratCooker.exe (right click the link and elect to save the file.
Save it on a USB stick for ease of use.
- Once the tournament is finished, run the
 PratCooker program from the USB stick.
You will be prompted to find the tou file (the file of tournament data). The ratings will be calculated
and a summary of placings and rating changes will be displayed.
Note especially any name with an asterisk. It has been treated as a novice.
You may need to fix the TOU file if there are spelling mistakes.
- Once you get home, you will find two files eg 08nuna.txt and 08nuna.tou
have been stored on the stick. The first may be opened and copied into the text of an
email as a report of results and ratings. The second is the data file which should
be sent to the National Ratings Officer.
NOTES
- It is wise to use a procedure to safely remove the USB stick.
The program Pstart is highly recommended. This will
allow you to set up RatCooker as a menu item on the USB stick,
and when you choose the menu item Close all running applications it will ensure that
the USB stick is safe to remove.
- The National Ratings Officer uses a more complicated program
plinrat which spits out
other files such as an updated RATING.DAT and the STA file showing more details. This program is a DOS
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