I am the technology coordinator for a K-12 school district in central Illinois.
I have tested this on a Mac Mini and my initial tests were positive. (Now, I get to devise a more reliable pen.) Thank you for porting this for the Mac. We have Mac Minis on the teachers’ desks in our K-8 classrooms. We would like interactive whiteboard capabilities in each classroom but can’t afford $1500 for each classroom for a “Smartboard”. I do need to do some more testing before trying this in a classroom.
Thank you for your efforts. Johnny’s project is picking up steam and your Mac port of the project is a huge step for K-12 schools with Macs.
It’s good to hear that my efforts are appreciated and that the program is put to good use. Feedback like yours keeps me motivated to continue working on the software.
I started adding multi-screen support, which is almost done but untested. I assumed this could be helpful when using a projector as second display. I’m always open for suggestions to improve the program.
There is also a dedicated forum for the Wiimote Whiteboard project, in case you didn’t know.
Uwe
Hi, I am also trying to get this set up for a classroom. I am totally lost with how to install/run this. Can anyone help?
Thanks
Hi Uwe
I’m just a casual mac user who likes to play around with gimmicks. Thanks for your work and porting this to the mac. Your the man!
Hi Michael,
Hi, I am also trying to get this set up for a classroom. I am totally lost with how to install/run this. Can anyone help?
I suggest you have a look at the How to use section in the README file. If you run into problems, you can have a look at this thread where people exchange about the program.
Uwe
This is as much a question as a comment. There are two things that I think we need to make this a productive classroom tool. The first is a way to “click”. I am thinking that the teacher would have the LED pen in one hand and maybe a wireless mouse in the other - or nearby - to use for “clicking”. The other tool that would be needed would be a soft keyboard. I am sure they already exist. I just have to find the right one.
Hi Jim, “clicking” is already implemented. Whenever the LED pen is on and detected by the software, the mouse is moved to that position and a left button mouse-press is executed. The mouse button is released when you turn off the LED pen. I actually implemented right button mouse-clicking today. A right click is executed when the LED pen remains on at the same position for a certain amount of time (e.g. 1 second).
Concerning software keyboards: KeyStrokes and VirtualKeyboard are two that I found with a quick search.
Uwe
Hi Uwe
Nice job! Please keep developing this application. I am lecturing in a university setting. I am using the Wii with Remote Buddy and Keynote on may Macbook to capture the mouse while I am taping my presentations with iShowU. I was searching for a solution to tape my drawings during my presentation. This is the right tool!
Keep doing this great job!
Tomas
Thanks a lot for your job !!! For the moment I just tested with Apple remote as IR pen and it’s working.
I’m working on MBP C2D 2,33Ghz / Leopard
I never thought of using the Apple remote as an IT pen. We have BOXES of those remotes. I am definitely going to test that in the morning when I get back to school.
I spent a chunk of the weekend building an IR pen so I could test this better,
I have not gotten it to work with Vista - can’t get Johnny’s code to work with Vista either. But Uwe’s Mac code works well with our Mac Mini’s (Intel). I have only tested it on the workbench. I will test it in a classroom tomorrow.
BTW. The Math captcha questions are getting harder. Good thing I have a degree in Mathematics;)
The current (released) software was developed in about a day and meant to be a clone of Johnny’s software. I actually spent quite some time in the last days to improve the software. I changed most of the “inner workings”, but the GUI was revamped as well.
The image on the right is the current state of the new user interface. What do you say? I also want the new version to be better integrated into Mac OS X. I thought that might be a good idea since most users are on a Mac so far. It would be great if someone could make an Icon for the program…
Feedback is as always appreciated.
Uwe
Uwe
I will download the newest version immediately. The interface looks very “Macish”. Also, I tested the Apple Remotes (the small white ones that come with the Mac Mini and other Macs) and it works very well. Take off the dispertion bar at the top of the remote and the LED is in the right corner. I will test some more, but this looks great.
Thank you for your efforts.
Do you have the new version posted? I tried the download link but got the same one I already had.
Great job.
I’m sorry but the new version is not ready yet. I just wanted to show the current state. I recognize that I didn’t really make this clear, now that I read my last comment again. It will take me probably another week or so. Stay tuned…
Uwe
I had tested this with the Apple Remote as the IR pen on an LCD screen and it worked well.
I then to the Mac Mini to one of our conference rooms and tested it with a projector onto a whiteboard. I had a bit of trouble getting the Wiimote placed so that:
1) The entire screen was recognized. and 2) The Wiimote was not too far away to “see” the IR source.
Once I found the right place for the Wiimote, it worked well.
I’m not ready to roll this out to all of our classrooms. (Not sure I could get that many Wiimotes:) But I am ready to test it with one of our teachers.
I may try the IR pen that I made. I suspect that the IR LED in my pen is a bit stronger than what is in the Apple remote. (I used the same LEDs that Johnny used in his demos.)
Exciting times.
How did you guys get the black cover off the Apple Remote!?
I just want to point out that a remote control is no good substitute for a “real” IR pen. The problem is that most remote controls (including the Apple remote) emit flashing IR light. This causes a constant press and release of the mouse button when used with my program. While remotes are good to do some initial testing they are definitely not suitable for “productive” use.
Uwe
Uwe is correct about the Apple remote. I did test it thoroughly. (I have about 100 of them and it would have been nice to use them instead of building pens.) They worked well when I tested on a 17” LCD monitor. But when I moved the test to a real whiteboard with a projector, the Wiimote did not “pick up” the remote nearly as well as the pen that I built with the LED’s that Johnny suggested. Even my crude pen - LED soldered to a switch soldered to a Radio Shack batter holder (AA) held together with electricians tape - worked far better than the Apple remote.
I have since made a pen out of the dry erase marker housing. It works much, much better.
I have it in a 5th grade class now being tested by one of our teachers.
I’m posting here as well as on wiimoteproject.com. I am using this in my classroom, and I am having the Apple built-in bluetooth problem. It seems to get a bad signal, and I’m sure it has to do with the builtin bluetooth module. I think another guy had this problem too.
Also, what kind of bluetooth dongle works with this on my macs that don’t have built-in bluetooth?
blockquote>… I am having the Apple built-in bluetooth problem. It seems to get a bad signal, and I’m sure it has to do with the builtin bluetooth module.
That’s too bad. But there is nothing I can really do about it.
Also, what kind of bluetooth dongle works with this on my macs that don’t have built-in bluetooth?
That depends on the BlueCove library. I asked about it in the bluecove-users group.
One thing you can do is to start the program with enabled debug-mode for BlueCove: java -Dbluecove.debug=true -jar WiimoteWhiteboard.jar
That will cause BlueCove to print out lots of debug messages on the command line. Record them (first for the built-in and then for the external module) and send it to me.
Uwe
I am using the built-in Apple Bluetooth without any problem.
Try this:
Delete the Wiimote from the Apple Bluetooth devices. Run Uwe’s program. Press buttons 1 and 2 on the Wiimote Wait for it to “sync”.
OK, now I am intrigued. I am going to try this over the next few days. Jim, I have been reading on the other list, as well (I don’t respond on that one).
Have any of you tried this to work with pens for more flexibility?
http://www.filewell.com/iRedLite/
Mike (Illinois Tech Director, as well)
blockquote>Also, what kind of bluetooth dongle works with this on my macs that don’t have built-in bluetooth?
BlueCove works with any device supported by Mac OS X.
Uwe