Melbourne Spring 2013

[TimMc]

I just bought three Pro Tournament Displays from Ty (Speed Stacks Australia) today and they look great!

New displays

• They're much smaller than before!
• The data cable is much longer and has a 3.5mm plug for the display and a 2.5mm plug for the timer (old cables can't be used)
• The 2.5mm plug is slightly smaller than the old 2.5mm plugs so Gen2 timers with silver sockets won't make proper contact and won't work (newer Gen2 timers with black sockets will work)
• The stand is much thinner (old stands can't be used)
• 12V socket is tiny (worried it might break if someone trips over a power cable)
• 12V adaptor has a US/China 2-prong plug. My partner has 2-prong power boards with an AU 3-prong plug so we don't need to get more adaptors.
• The battery compartment has screws to keep the cover shut.

Some of LED's on the old displays don't work on the reverse side. I'm tempted to put some tape over them so that judges don't make the mistake of reading off that to get the time...

Tim.

 

[Tim Major]

The battery compartment has screws to keep the cover shut

Best change.

 

[andojay]

Best change.

so many times, have i put the batteries in, checked if the display worked, for only the batteries to fall out!

 

[RCTACameron]

Maybe I'm misunderstanding, but wouldn't that mean cubes left scrambled and uncovered for anyone to see? That's not really okay...

That's a good point, but usually there is a whiteboard in the room next to the hall that we could put in front of one of the tables.

 

[MadeToReply]

Does anyone have a spare Square-1 I can use, cause I just lost a center cap on my one and I can't find it. It fell on the floor and all the center caps scattered so now I can't use this Square-1.

 

[RCTACameron]

Does anyone have a spare Square-1 I can use, cause I just lost a center cap on my one and I can't find it. It fell on the floor and all the center caps scattered so now I can't use this Square-1.

I'm not going to compete in square-1, so you can borrow mine. That is, assuming we have square-1. (Though with 25 competitors and 2 days to go, I think we'll easily be able to have both square-1 and megaminx.)

 

[Kit Clement]

• 12V socket is tiny (worried it might break if someone trips over a power cable)

This has already happened with one of our new KOII displays at our very first competition with these timers. I'd advise wrapping/tying the power cord in such a way that any tugging will not pull on the display.

 

[TimMc]

This has already happened with one of our new KOII displays at our very first competition with these timers. I'd advise wrapping/tying the power cord in such a way that any tugging will not pull on the display.

Thanks for the tip... I'll try to use cable ties or something...

Tim.

 

[MadeToReply]

I'm not going to compete in square-1, so you can borrow mine. That is, assuming we have square-1. (Though with 25 competitors and 2 days to go, I think we'll easily be able to have both square-1 and megaminx.)

Nevermind, I found the centre cap and yay megaminx.

 

[Dene]

We're going to do all the events, but we're going to have to enforce some strict cutoffs for some of the side events (5x5, 6x6, 7x7, minx, sq1). A schedule will be up by tonight.

 

[Tim Major]

All events in a one day comp? Less rounds I guess. Benefits of having a <25 competitor competition I guess. Split sq1 into two groups? If it's random state I can scramble reliably and reasonably fast now, done about 100 over this week.

 

[cubecraze1]

I'm 90% sure that the scrambles are random state.

 

[Dene]

All scrambles are generated using cubecomps. I was still under the impression that a truly random state scrambler for square-1 doesn't exist because we don't know how to achieve that, but I'm a bit out of the loop regarding things there.

Anyway, I won't be doing 4x4 or square-1, so scrambling will not be an issue for those puzzles. 5-7 are the problem...

 

[JasonK]

All scrambles are generated using cubecomps. I was still under the impression that a truly random state scrambler for square-1 doesn't exist because we don't know how to achieve that, but I'm a bit out of the loop regarding things there.

Anyway, I won't be doing 4x4 or square-1, so scrambling will not be an issue for those puzzles. 5-7 are the problem...

As usual, I can scramble 7x7.

And random-state sq1 scramblers have been around for ages, qqtimer has an option for it. Unless it's not truly random-state and I'm just missing something.

 

[Mollerz]

All events in a one day comp? Less rounds I guess. Benefits of having a <25 competitor competition I guess. Split sq1 into two groups? If it's random state I can scramble reliably and reasonably fast now, done about 100 over this week.

Yes the TNoodle Scrambles for Square-1 are definitely random state.

 

[Tim Major]

All scrambles are generated using cubecomps. I was still under the impression that a truly random state scrambler for square-1 doesn't exist because we don't know how to achieve that, but I'm a bit out of the loop regarding things there.

Anyway, I won't be doing 4x4 or square-1, so scrambling will not be an issue for those puzzles. 5-7 are the problem...

Why not Square-1? Come on Dene, it'd make podium nice and close

Anyway I assume the random state scrambler isn't an OPTIMAL scrambler. It picks a state and solves to it with phase one, the cube, phase two the cubeshape. Each phase would be likely broken up more.

Random state can exist for every puzzle really. Optimal, no.

 

[Dene]

Yes the TNoodle Scrambles for Square-1 are definitely random state.

Whoops, when I said "cubecomps" I meant "tnoodle". I thought getting a truly random state was somewhat difficult for square-1 though?

 

[RCTACameron]

Good luck to everyone for tomorrow!

This competition is also raising money for charity (which is why there is $15 for registration). The charity is Urban Seed (www.urbanseed.org) so if you could bring some money to donate it would be greatly appreciated.

LighTake (www.lightake.com) will be sponsoring the competition, so there will be prizes for most things.

If you are a new competitor, please arrive at 9:00am, as we will be having a short demonstration.

If you have any more questions, I probably won't check this thread before tomorrow, but feel free to PM me on speedsolving.com, or post in the Speedcubing in Melbourne facebook group.

 

[cubecraze1]

Good luck guys, I'll see you all in an hour.

 

[Zane_C]

Gooood. Probably arrive late, after 10.