Opening Cartwright on another computer

Cartwright runs on one machine at the station — usually the traffic PC — and everybody else reaches it through a browser. There is nothing to install. Presenters, the sales desk and anybody working from home all use the same address.

The address

On the traffic PC, open Settings → From another computer. It shows an address that looks like this:

http://192.168.0.105:8088

The numbers are that station's own, so use the ones your own screen shows rather than the ones printed here.

Use the numbered address, not the machine name. A name like p8826traffic only works on a network set up to look names up, which most small stations are not. Chrome will simply not find it.

It opens in Safari but not in Chrome

This is the commonest problem and it is not a fault with the station's server. Both causes are Chrome behaving as designed, and neither is guessable.

Tap a link rather than typing the numbers

If you type 192.168.0.105:8088 into Chrome's address bar, Chrome reads it as something to search for rather than an address to open, and you get search results. Safari opens it. That is the whole difference.

Two ways round it:

• Get the address sent to you as a link and tap it. On the traffic PC, Settings → From another computer → Copy the message produces a message ready to text or email, with a link in it.
• Or type it with http:// at the front. The full http://192.168.0.105:8088 is an address; 192.168.0.105:8088 on its own is not.

Once it opens, bookmark it. Then you never type it again.

Turn off "Always use secure connections"

If Chrome says it cannot reach the page, or mentions a security or certificate problem, this is the reason.

Chrome quietly changes addresses you type from http:// to https://. That is right for the open internet and wrong here: this server sits on the station's own network and has no certificate, so the secure version does not answer and Chrome reports a failure.

To fix it:

1. Chrome menu (the three dots, top right) → Settings 2. Privacy and security → Security 3. Turn off "Always use secure connections" 4. Open the address again

Safari does not do this for an address on your own network, which is why it works there and not in Chrome.

It will not open in any browser

Then it is usually one of three things, in the order worth checking.

The server is not running. On the traffic PC, is Cartwright open? The server runs alongside the app. Open Cartwright there and try again.

Windows Firewall is blocking it. The first time another computer asks for Cartwright, Windows on the traffic PC asks whether to allow it. If somebody clicked No, nothing from outside that machine can reach it. Allow Cartwright in Windows Firewall.

You are on a different network. The address only works inside the station. A laptop on a phone's hotspot, or at home, is not on the station's network and cannot see it.

Is it the same Cartwright?

Yes — the same data, live. A spot marked read in the studio shows as read on the traffic PC straight away. It is one program being looked at from two places, not a copy.

Browsers do not use up a licence. The installed app is limited to two computers; browsers are unlimited, so there is no reason not to give everybody who needs it the address.

What to do if you are stuck

The station's own screen has the answer to most of this: Settings → From another computer shows the right address for that station and a message you can send to somebody who needs it.