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====== QuickShow 5.0 Registration System FAQ ======

===== What is it? =====
The QuickShow/BEYOND registration system was added in version 5.0. It is a “check in” for the control hardware to ensure that the hardware is genuine. This also allows for pangolin to help customers keep track of their hardware, and hopefully recover lost or stolen hardware. This process is done over the internet or done over email. If your show computer is connected to the internet, this is done automatically, and you will not even notice it happening. If you wish to keep your show computer offline, you will need to use email on a separate computer to complete registration manually. Registration is based on hardware and computer, so registration will only need to be done once for any specific setup, or hardware-pc combination. 

===== What does it mean for me? =====
In short, **if you have the internet on the show computer, you will have no problem**. Registration and licensing being handled on the internet will only add convenience if having internet on your show computer isn’t a problem for your application.

If you do not want your show computer to **ever** have internet, you will need a **separate computer to connect to the internet** in some way and have an **email client**. 

As well, the license type you will want to use is **hardware-based licenses** if you are okay with verifying the hardware once and carrying hardware around, or **PCID** if you only ever want to register a PC once and not carry hardware, even if this means if the pc is broken or lost your license goes with it. 

===== Ways to get internet almost everywhere: =====

**Phone tethering:**
Most phones and plans these days allow for wireless tethering to your phones, QS and BEYOND registration requires rather low file sizes so this will not affect your data plan’s limits much.

**Mobile Hotspots:**
Many services offer global mobile hotspots which will use the cell towers data plan, one of the ones we use at pangolin is Skyroam, they offer day passes for $10 globally and is relatively low cost overall, with access in 100+ countries.

**Satellite internet:**
Companies like ViaSat offer global internet coverage, while not the fastest, it will be sufficient for registration. And with companies like SpaceX and Amazon building global high speed internet satellite plants, these may become options in the future.

===== If internet just is not an option: =====
I’m doing a laser show in the Sahara Desert, on a small island in the Pacific Ocean, or on the south pole in the winter etc.
  - There is a 31 Day grace period where registration will not be required for connected hardware (this does not count for your license, so register that licensed hardware at home). This is for any computer seeing a piece of hardware for the first time, so if you used this grace period a few months before for a piece of hardware, it will have expired and require registration. 
  - If you change computers this will reset. So, you can bring multiple PC’s to push the time limit off, (just transfer settings) and you can keep operating. (keep in mind the grace period is only for first time seeing hardware)
  - Prepare your show beforehand, gather all the equipment you will be using in shop (including spares) and register before equipment is shipped off. Do this for all hardware and computers you may use on the show. 

===== Best practices based on company size: =====
If you do not want to connect show computers to the internet:

  - Small Laser Company, up to 10 lasers, 2 PC Stations
      - Generally, a smaller company has their fleet of lasers and computers able to be brought back to their shop. 
      - Best practices is whenever a new laser/FB4/FB3 is added to the fleet, you should register this hardware with all the PC’s you have, and similarly when you add a PC, you should register all the hardware with the new PC. 
  - Medium laser company, 10 lasers to 40 lasers 3-10 PC Stations
      - If possible, you can try and register all lasers and hardware together in shop whenever new equipment is added, this may be difficult. 
      - It is recommended to carry a non-show computer device which can handle email and transferring of files, which you will connect to the internet, in case a pc has yet to have seen any of the hardware connected.
      - If you know which equipment you will bring for your show, you can get all the equipment out and connected to the PC(s) you will be using and register at your shop, this will ensure you wont need internet on the show site.
  - Large laser company, 40+ Lasers 10+ PC Stations
      - In this case you may have way to many combinations of PCs, and control hardware to get it all together at once to do, and you may be adding, replacing hardware, pcs all the time. 
      - It is recommended to ship with a pack of hardware a way to connect to the internet (any way described above) Likely a global hotspot, and a separate pc device to do email registration. 
      - Use company-based registration. We have a system of company-based registration, where once you register, you can send all that info to the server, then download that info on any computer in your fleet. This will require fairly large file sizes, but will collectively register all hardware in your fleet, and share that data with all your pc’s.  

===== If registration fails; License or Hardware issues with registration =====

If your classic hardware-based license isn’t found by the server when registering, you will get a warning. There is two reasons why this may happen.
  - We missed your license. While we made all the best efforts to collect ever license file over the past 10 years, we may have missed some, email [[mailto:support@pangolin.com|support@pangolin.com]] with your license, and hardware serial number and information about where and when you got it, and we will fix it.
  - Your license is counterfeit, or licensed to counterfeit hardware. Please email [[mailto:support@pangolin.com|support@pangolin.com]] with your license, hardware serial number, and information about where and when you got it and we will work with you to get you genuine hardware and license. 

If hardware like FB3 or FB4 fails to register and is marked with an X, this hardware has two possible situations:

  - This hardware is counterfeit and will never work again, if you bought this hardware in good faith, contact [[mailto:support@pangolin.com|support@pangolin.com]] with the info about where you bought it, when, and we will ask you to send the hardware in, and we will work with you to get you genuine pangolin hardware.
  - The hardware was marked as stolen. If you bought this hardware in good faith, contact [[mailto:support@pangolin.com|support@pangolin.com]] with details about how you acquired this hardware, we will work with you to return this to its proper owner, and get you into a new piece of pangolin hardware.
      - Similarly, if your hardware is stolen and you have an official police report and the serial number of the hardware, we can mark it as stolen so if it is ever used again, we can refuse it to work, and hopefully recover and return to the owner. 


===== Further questions or concerns =====

As always, you can contact [[mailto:support@pangolin.com|support@pangolin.com]] if you have any questions about the Registration and license system, we are happy to help and find the best solution for your application!

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