The RaceDB QLMux Git Archive is designed to provide a robust and easily deployable system for running RaceDB with integrated support for Brother QL printers and Impinj RFID readers. This system is ideal for events where efficient management of registration and timing is critical.
Wimsey and Escape Velocity have been using Impinj RFID readers and Brother QL label printers to support timing and registration since 2014/2015.The use of low-cost RFID tags allowed racers to retain their tags for future events, enabling RaceDB to quickly recognize returning participants.
On-demand printing of BIB and frame numbers has significantly reduced the time required for rider registration and check-in at events. These improvements have also decreased the number of volunteers needed. Typically, two or three volunteers can manage the registration and check-in for a 100-200 rider event in less than an hour. With four volunteers, 200-300 riders can be processed in the same time frame. This efficiency assumes approximately 50% pre-registration and 50% day-of registration, with a similar percentage of riders having their own RFID tags.
A container with: - PostgreSQL database server - RaceDB application - rfidproxy application - lpr script
The goal is to make RaceDB work with discovered Brother QL printers and Impinj RFID readers without having to reconfigure RaceDB for each printer and reader. Also to support multiple printers to speed up registration and provide redundancy.
This application listens for connections on port 5084 from RaceDB and proxies them to the qlmux_proxy container which will in turn connect to a discovered Impinj RFID reader. If two racedb_ssh containers are running each can connect to a different reader.
This is a simple script that uses ssh to copy the label file to the qlmux_proxy container and run the QLLabels application.
The racedb_qlmux project is a revised version of the older racedb_qlmuxd archive. It includes management scripts to support running RaceDB, PostgreSQL, QLMux Proxy, and Traefik in containers on a Linux system.
This updated version uses the new QLMux Proxy, an enhanced version of qlmuxd, which leverages SNMP to find and monitor the status of Brother QL printers and Impinj RFID readers and QLLablels.
The QLLabels project takes the PDF file provided by the RaceDB label printing and creates a Brother QL compatible raster file for printing.
New for 2026 QLLables re-images the label to make the BIB numbers about 60% larger. This makes them much easier to read at a distance.
If you want to integrate QLMux Proxy and Traefik into an existing RaceDB installation, you can use the provided tools and documentation.
Detailed instructions for installation and configuration are provided in the Makefile. For containerized deployment, refer to the docker/docker.md file for a simple build and run example.
When running the QLMux Proxy container, make sure to use host networking (--network=host) to allow SNMP broadcast discovery to function correctly.