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Old 12-13-2018, 12:03 AM   #1
trackcat
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ADPA Focus 2000

I hate as it is said to "beat a dead horse" but has anyone found out about John Cole and his Thoroughbred Focus 2000 software ?
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Old 12-13-2018, 09:48 AM   #2
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The web site has been gone for quite some time. I read somewhere that John had died. Not sure if that is true. I tried for a long time to reach them, as I have the software, but it is no longer usable. The last contact I had with them was early 2008.
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Old 12-13-2018, 02:32 PM   #3
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adpa

I figured something had happened but didn't know what. I had very good results with the software. Wish I could find another like it. Thank You for the reply.
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Old 12-13-2018, 07:13 PM   #4
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Agreed

The software was pretty good. But mine won't work with the newer windows either. Too bad...
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Old 12-13-2018, 10:27 PM   #5
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Quote:
Originally Posted by lefty359 View Post
The software was pretty good. But mine won't work with the newer windows either. Too bad...
Yeah, Lefty, I don't believe it worked on anything past XP.
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Old 12-14-2018, 01:19 AM   #6
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I know I should leave this program dead and buried, but I'll throw in my 2 cents. If you still have your registered copy, still on the same computer/hard drive and it will open up, you may be able to bring it over to your modern computer using Vmware to run it as a virtual machine. I was able to do that and got it to run. But it's a hassle.

Vmware has a converter that makes a copy of your whole machine and turns it into a virtual machine. I believe Focus is tied to the hard drive so I didn't know if it would work. My computer was old and the hard drive was on its last legs so I gave it a try. This was a few years ago. Surprisingly it worked and my Windows XP came back to life as a virtual machine. All my programs were still there.

The question was would Focus work. It did. This is not a program I used very much. I was using something I liked better. But occasionally I would try it out for the Derby and the Triple Crown and Breeders Cup races just to see how it did along with some other programs.

Then a few years ago it quit working. It couldn't import the files. I kind of gave up on it until recently. There must have been a change in the Bris single file that Focus didn't like. I thought maybe I screwed up the program or my Virtual machine. So I set the time back on the virtual computer a few years and tried to load an old file. It loaded and ran normally.

What I needed was the Bris single file without the new stuff they added in. I remembered a utility from Equisim's Nathan called multi to single. Set the computer back to current date and downloaded a Bris Multi File and ran it through Multitosingle and got a Bris single file. I then tried to load and run it through Focus. It worked. I tried it about a month ago to see if it still work and it did.

I don't know why I bothered tinkering with a program that I didn't use very much. Maybe I just didn't like paying for a program that quit working. I never put it through its proper paces to see how good it was. There's a couple of ratings and the Qualified works that pique my interest a little. I don't think it was a bad program for its time. There are just better programs out there now.

So if you still have a working copy on your old computer you might be able to bring it to life again, if it's worth it. That's my story of Focus 2000. As for Windows XP 32 bit working as a virtual machine, it's great. A lot of programs that wouldn't run on Windows 10 64 bit run on it. And it runs faster than on the original hardware. Now for a Virtual Windows Milliumium machine.
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Old 12-29-2018, 02:52 AM   #7
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WOW KyRacer !! You did put some effort in bringing the program back to life. I have the disk but I don't think I have any downloads left. I honestly had good results with the program. Fact is that it was my staple and the only program I used at the time.

I use the Pace Calculator and the latest version of Speed Handicapper by Charles Carroll as tools now in my play. I really liked the way focus would keep results by surface, distance and class. When you had a race that qualified it would break down the percentage it was hitting.
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Old 12-31-2018, 10:09 PM   #8
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trackcat

At this point, I don't know if anyone still has a working copy or even uses it now that the single files don't work. The earlier post was for those that do, so that they might be able to save their program before their hard drive gives out. The other day I tried another converted multi file and had some trouble getting it to load. Finally got it to load after restarting the program and the VMware emulator.

Focus is suppose to be able to use Trackmaster files, but I don't have the converter utility. It was a free upgrade using the Updatewhiz to automatically add the file. I never tried that before the site went down.

If anyone used the Trackmaster files, I'm looking for 3 files in the Focus folder that begin with cvt. The Bris files are:

cvtbrdrf.exe
cvtbrscr.exe
cvtbrxrd.exe

The Trackmaster files should look similar, maybe like:

cvttmdrf.exe

I would like to get a copy of them if anyone has them so I could try the Trackmaster files. It was suppose to be an automatic upgrade so I don't think there would be a problem with copyright since I have the original program disk.

I have been trying to compare the converted multi file to the single file to find the differences between the two file. Found a couple of differences but still couldn't get the single file to load after making changes in the file. Did get it to load the first horse but then it stopped.

I also have Taulbot's Pace Program and use it from time to time. NorCalGreg seems to be doing well with his program that only uses the last pace line so I thought I might try that with the Taulbot's Pace Computer at Gulfstream Park the other day and it had a profitable day. But that's just one day. I don't have Charles Carroll's Speed Handicapper program, but the program looks interesting and I have his book.
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Old 01-04-2019, 09:26 AM   #9
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Are you looking for the axlate.exe convertor or for something else?



I could probably dig up axlate.exe somewhere and send a TrackMaster .exe file which can be converted if that's what you're interested in. If so send me a PM.
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Old 01-04-2019, 10:54 AM   #10
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Hi ubercapper,

Thanks for the reminder. I have that utility somewhere. It wasn't what I was looking for but it should convert the Trackmaster PP and Plus files I think. The files I was looking for would do that directly from inside the program. But there's another way.

It's been a while since I had been over to the Trackmaster site. Had to update my credit card. I forgot that Trackmaster sells a B file already converted. It comes with an exe extension. Double click on it and it spits out a file with the drf extension. I then had to zip that file up for it to work with Focus. That worked. It opened and ran on Focus. It's a little slow when opening the file. Also new tracks needed to be added to the track file.

So that's two ways to get files into Focus. Trackmaster B and Bris Multi file converted with the multi2single program. Most of the programs I have use the Bris Single files with Prime Power, ep, lp and other ratings. I haven't looked yet but those should not be in the Trackmaster B file. Since I don't want to pay twice for the same information, I want to figure out why the Bris single files don't load anymore and get a little utility to make the changes that are needed. Then again this isn't a major program for me, but it at least still works. Hopefully, someone will crack the program one day so the people that bought it in the past can use it once again. Thanks again for the reminder.
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Old 01-04-2019, 03:28 PM   #11
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The Trackmaster B file does load and run but is missing the program numbers and morning line odds. I was able to load it into Ray Taulbot's Pace Computer and it ran ok. The overview button did not work. The pp's listed did have a speed number where the Bris speed number is located. So that's probably Trackmaster's speed rating. About time to put this program back to bed.
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Old 01-09-2019, 12:03 AM   #12
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Well, I finally figure out why Bris's Single File format quit loading into the Focus program. I can now load and run the files. So I've learned something new. The Bris files quit loading several years ago, maybe 9 or 10 years ago, and it was probably because Bris started using a different program to zip up the files. I thought a zip file was a zip file, but apparently not so.

Focus won't open a file that was zipped up with a 64 bit version of whatever compression utility that is used. It either hangs or pops up an error message. It uses a file in its folder called wizzip16.dll to unzip the file from within the program. That looks like a 16 bit utility. The Bris file has to be zipped when it's loaded into the program. It would have been easier if Focus could load unzipped files.

I use 7zip. Once the file is the proper Focus folder on Windows XP, I then unzip it using 7zip and rezip it again with 7zip. This is an older version of 7zip. The program will then load and run normally. I do this within Windows XP virtual machine.

If I unzip the file on my Windows 10 64 bit computer first using 7zip(64 bit version) and then rezip it before moving it to Windows XP, then it won't load into the Focus program. The same is true for the zip programs that come with W10 and XP.

The Bris files have the letter k in its name. When I zip it back up it doesn't include the K. You can either rename the file including the K or just set Focus on the configure screen to load the file without the K.

It loads and runs with the Bris single files now. That's as far as I can or need to go. I don't have the skills to crack the program to get it to run on other computers. Maybe there's some other old programs that have problems with zipped files that this can help. I hope this made sense.
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Old 01-31-2019, 11:20 PM   #13
ezhillatl
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Adpa

I still have a working copy of the dog track version. I also still have a version of the horse focus 2000 but missing the activation file to make it work. But it was great software. Winning at the track online software is closest you find these days.. The Helfman Formula software is also nice... I now use HSH Software which I went to after focus 2000

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