Discussion archive for uweschmidt.org
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Ink
Hey just wondering if you could help me in using this setup with the built in inkwell handwriting software for Mac. By editing the Ink.prefpane (Info.plist) I can get the Ink preferences to show up in System Preferences. But Ink recognizes the pen as a normal mouse and doesn’t let it write onto the screen. Hopefully I can edit this to a point where it works and if i do i’ll post instructions here. Any advice, please help out.
Great job Uwe on developing the application
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meelash on Wiimote Whiteboard
Inkwell
Could you be more specific about what/where you changed to get the Ink Preference Pane? I know if you go to /System/Library/Components/Ink.component/Contents/SharedSupport/ and then load InkServer it shows up, but I’m not sure if it remains after restart?
Unfortunately, I’m not sure about the ultimate possibility of this working, because of the “pressure” bug that was mentioned above in this thread. According to this article: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=107262 it seems that Inkwell relies pretty heavily on the pressure setting from the Wacom software driver. But if changing settings in the Wacom software can change the pressure reading the system sees, shouldn’t Wiimote Whiteboard be able to do the same thing?
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Wiimote Whiteboard Virtual Keyboard
(already posted in the forum at http://www.wiimoteproject.com/other/!!!-wiimote-whiteboard-virtual-keyboard-!!!/)
I made this mockup of a simple and prety virual keyboard to use with Wiimote Whiteboard in the classrooms.
http://clinik.net/wiimote/wiimote_keyboard.php http://clinik.net/wiimote/wiimote_keyboard.php
After search and search I found only 2 or 3 virtual keyboards for mac. And all not so simple and not so prety. And none of them freeware.
Please! Become a hero!!! Turn this mockup reatity!!!
I can help with graphics stuff… And thanks in advance
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Johan S on Wiimote Whiteboard
Re: Wiimote Whiteboard Virtual Keyboard
Have you tried the system’s keyboard palette (Keyboard Viewer)? It’s not so bad, but doesn’t feature “sticky” modifier keys so you can’t enter a command key shortcut for example.
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Francisco on Wiimote Whiteboard in reply to Johan S
Wiimote Whiteboard Virtual Keyboard (Oh!!! my god!!!)
Thanks Johan!!! And believe me… I didn’t know that Mac OS already have a “Keyboard Viewer”…
About Keyboard Viewer: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?path=Mac/10.5/en/9024.html (and if Keyboard Viewer not appear in the Input menu or in International preferences: http://docs.info.apple.com/article.html?artnum=307354 )
Although, I ready think there is a place for this virtual keyboard!
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Anonymous on Wiimote Whiteboard
drawing over keynote or ppt
Hi Uwe, First, nice job and many thanks for developing this program for Mac. I’m trying to convince the school at which I teach to use this instead of investing $2K to $5K on vendor boards.
One feature that teachers like about the vendor boards is that one can create a virtual overlay over powerpoint or keynote slides and write on it. The overlay can be removed when one wants to advance the frame.
There are a few earlier posts that allude to this capability, but I didn’t see if it got resolved. Have you been working on this, or do you know of anyone who has?
Again, thanks for all your work. It’s just terrific.
— Jeff
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Descalzo on Wiimote Whiteboard
Drawing over keynote, etc.
I think you can use SMART Notebook to do that, but, as someone pointed out, it is of dubious legality. I read the license agreement, and it sounds like since I’m not another manufacturer, it should be okay. I guess this is justification, but someone on the WiimoteWhiteboard forums has actually contacted SMART about this and is awaiting word.
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Descalzo on Wiimote Whiteboard
More on SMART Notebook
Here’s a link to the post about the legality of SMART Notebook with this apparatus: http://www.wiimoteproject.com/wiimote-whiteboard/school-experiences/msg3466/#msg3466
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Drawing Over
Jeff I think there are more applications like this, but try Desktastic. http://www.panic.com/desktastic/
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Johan S on Wiimote Whiteboard in reply to Francisco
Re: Drawing over
Here are a few more drawing apps I’ve found, more or less useful: DeskDoodle.app Doozla.app Paintbrush.app Rita (not compatible due to pressure sensitivity) Scriboard Skitch.app (favourite!) Tux Paint 0.9.19
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RE: Drawing Over
I am using two apps at the moment that are free draw over programs. They are ‘Highlight’ and ‘ScribbleScreen’.
A quick google should find them both. I think I prefer ‘Highlight’ better at the moment.
Cheers, MattThomas
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Fabian on Wiimote Whiteboard
Yeah, your Application rocks! It works fine, real plug-and-play ^^ The only problem on my macbook with osx 10.4 is, that the distance in which it works is very short. I user a standard Remote LED, but thought it was to weak, so I tried also a brighter IR-LED but without better results :( It also works only, if I point the LED directly to the Wiimote, but not indirectly while pointing the LED on a beamer-projectet Screen.
But thank you annyway for this great port to the mac. thx!
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Johan S on Wiimote Whiteboard in reply to Fabian
Improving the LED
LEDs are usually the brightest straight ahead. But for IR pens you’re often interested in brightness on the sides of the LED. To improve this I sandpapered the tip and around the LED to make the light stay in the LED so it appears more like a bright dot instead of like a torch. I can recommend it.
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Ben on Wiimote Whiteboard
click features request (fab app!)
Hi,
really like your application, I
ve tried (sir) Johnnys and another version gtkwhiteboard in windows, and yours has the best response by far, nice and smooth yet its doing what you ask! tricky getting the bluetooth going, as the stack that makes glovepie work for other wiimote features, your app doesnt like, and the stack your app likes, glovepie doesnt! ill figure it out…. anywayI am trying out the other apps to see the differences and the windows version gtkwhiteboard has a
touchpadfeature that i think is most the most usable ive seen so far for left clicks/dragging, and Id love it integrated into your version.I`ll describe it as best i can:
1 short click (i.e short flash) = left click at position (good for buttons and links etc.) click and hold (sustained light) = move cursor only - same as mouse mode. short-click quickly followed by click-and-hold = left click drag (left click mode) on release it resets.
in practice this is very intuitive and would be sooo good in your version as the tracking is so much smoother! This is my feature request, I am no programmer but shouldn`t be too tricky i would hope?
the author also added options for zones and stuff to do different things but i`ve not tried those.
Would appreciate any response on this and do hope you can see it as a benefit.
I intend to use this system using clear perspex on a stand as my screen to control music apps/fx/midi in studio and live use - beats having your head buried in a laptop or mixer etc. should give a visual aspect i hope is bit different.
thanks again. do consider the request!
Ben
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Re: click features request (fab app!)
Hi Ben,
I will consider your request but I’m not promising anything.
Sorry for the late response, Uwe
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About move cursor only
Ben, What’s the point of “move cursor only”.
My wishlist: the pressure pen… By the way, in TabletDraw (good to draw with WW) the eraser tool don’t work. Suppose its the “pressure pen” problem…
Francisco
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meelash on Wiimote Whiteboard
Move cursor only
One example where move cursor only is important is for mousing over, for example a link or file or icon in the dock without clicking on it. Also, in presentations to draw attention to something on the screen without actually clicking on it. Using the dock with magnification turned on is another example. I’m sure I could think of others as well.
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Move cursor only
Of course!
And the “short-click quickly followed by click-and-hold” seems to be simple too. Would be nice if this (and other) combinations were in the prefs panel.
Thanks
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Ben Jones on Wiimote Whiteboard
Works perfectly with Johnny Chung Lee's App but not yours?
Wiimote Friends: Running WIN XP Pro, Widcomm Internal
Johnny Chung Lee’s Application works perfectly!
Using same IR Pen (Vishay TSAL6400) & Wiimote (didn’t move) with your application I connect fine, if I point my pen at the wiimote a IR-Blob is detected and tracked.
However, when I write on the whiteboard it cannot detect IR-Blob.
Simply no problems connecting, but using the pen the same way I do with JCL’s app doesn’t work on yours??
I love your pen smoothing and connectibility functions so I’m really keen to get it working.
Ben :-)
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Descalzo on Wiimote Whiteboard
Johnny's vs Uwe's version
Try restarting Uwe’s version various times.
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Ben (of click feature request) on Wiimote Whiteboard
thanks
Uwe, Thanks for at least considering the request, I do feel it does make navigating through and around programs more natural, even if its an option that would be great. the
mouse move only(to those dubious of it), i found handy to track the mouse pointer visually across the screen to get to smaller buttons etc. ( when moving from one part of screen to next etc) and also if youre using the software as a tablet and not touchscreen. other benefits have been mentioned. a click to then push any buttons and theshort and longto left click-drag is what i found particular nice to use.
you could have a try on the gtkwhiteboard version that has this for a few min to see what you think in practice if you like:
http://fuelnatchos.webng.com/gtkwhiteboard/it`s not as nice when drawing as the smoothing is not on a par with yours but I did like the click model.
I`m not an advocate of that version or anything just thought trying it out is easier than me talking about it! if thats ok.
had my nephew and niece drawing away on my laptop screen over the weekend went down a treat!
cheers
Ben K
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Thanks Alot
I saw Johnny’s Vids about a month ago and was looking for a mac version for so long. Thanks
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Anonymous on Wiimote Whiteboard
Windows XP Pro
Uwe & Friends Opening & closing works but is not a long term solution (takes time and is spiratic at best). I love this app, It is essentially an end user application, rather than Johnny’s which requires more than basic computer skills.
Are there any Windows gurus working on this problem, www.wiimoteproject.com has updated Johnny’s code to do the smoothing but it still does not replicate the quality and usability of yours and requires extra apps for right click and is problematic in bluetooth conectivity.
Ben :-)
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Oliver on Wiimote Whiteboard
Trackpad behaviour
There is also C# mousepad code published by Etienne Lamy that you could look at. One key benefit of the move only function is that if your pointer is slightly offset because of bad calibration, you can move the pointer exactly over a button. A single click (short single flash) should not move the pointer before clicking, it should just do a button press. This is how the trackpad on my laptop works. I think it would be a very handy mode when you’re using software on the screen, rather than drawing.
Congratulations again on your great work developping the best implementation of this idea.
Oliver
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Descalzo on Wiimote Whiteboard
Double-click
I am having problems with double-clicking. I think this must be a problem inherent with the accuracy of the program and my unsteady hand, but it takes me several tries to double-click anything medium-small (a small dock-icon or file icon in finder). My double-clicks are usually read as 2 single-clicks, because my hand has moved slightly during the brief moment.
What can be done to deal with this?
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Double-click
Good point Descalzo! In my opinion, this subject (not ‘a problem’ but sometimes exasperating, specialy with stressed hands :-) is more important than the “Move cursor only”. “Move cursor only”, and other ways do deal with pointer, are interesting as prefs. This “Double-click” issue is a basic function!
Perhaps would be nice to have the opportunity to check a box saying something like: “Act as ‘double-click’ with 5 pixels tolerance”…
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Uwe on Wiimote Whiteboard in reply to Anonymous
Re: Windows XP Pro
Hi Ben,
Opening & closing works but is not a long term solution (takes time and is spiratic at best). I love this app, It is essentially an end user application, rather than Johnny’s which requires more than basic computer skills.
I’m sorry, but Bluetooth (particularly in combination with Java) isn’t that stable and mature. The Wiimote library I use (WiiRemoteJ) also needs to be updated in order to incorporate some of the newer discoveries about Wiimote communication.
I also just do a quick test on Windows XP before I release my software. The entire development is done on a Mac…
Uwe
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Re: Double-click
Hey guys,
for now try setting the Mouse movement threshold in the preferences to a value like 5 or so. It will decrease the mouse accuracy but may help with double-clicking. I’ll think about some better solution for the future.
I currently don’t have a ton of time…
Uwe
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Anonymous on Wiimote Whiteboard
Re: Windows XP Pro
Uwe Respect to you! I understand you are a Mac programmer so any support for us Windows suckers is greatly appreciated. Ben :-)
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Anonymous on Wiimote Whiteboard
no connect to remote
This is the resulst of an incompatible bluetooth device, see this list for further reference! http://wiibrew.org/index.php?title=List_of_Working_Bluetooth_Devices
However that list is obviously not the one and only, there might be other devices that work or doesn’t, but if you wanna be a 100% sure get one of the devices listed as working, I personally got a Simcom 521 and it works like a charm on Vista with Bluesoleil.
Hope that helps!
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Daniel on Wiimote Whiteboard
My compliments to the chef
Hi Uwe You are awesome. I spent some quality time reading through this webpage, and I am very impressed with your work, as well as you commitment to principles. And your dedication to your users! I went down to radioshack, built an IR pen, and tried out your software, which works great. I am a tinkering! It is so fun. Thanks for bringing this joy to my living room.
I, like half of your users, am itching to find a way to give up my mouse entirely. It seems this is a Hard Problem.
A perhaps cumbersome solution (just to prove that it can be done): - One wiimote directed at the screen - A second wiimote directed at a pair of offscreen IR LEDs - A IR pen that has 3 buttons: 1 for a local IR LED, and 1 each for the 2 offscreen LEDS (connected either by wire or by some wireless method) - The whiteboard software then can obtain information for all the main type of mouse actions: MOVING, RIGHT clicking and LEFT clicking. MOVING works by moving the LED on the pen and tracking (already implemented). RIGHT and LEFT clicking is done by tracking the ON/OFF state of the two offscreen LEDS.
A lower tech version of the above: tape the 2 offscreen LEDS to the bottom of your monitor / whiteboard, below the viewing surface, use one WIIMOTE and sacrifice a little extra resolution.
There of course must be a more elegant version of this, but the sooner the better.
Thanks again Uwe Daniel
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mcclane on Wiimote Whiteboard
Multitouch / TUIO
Hey all!
Does the application actually run on Mac with TUIO? Uwe wrote on 9 March: “I couldn’t get any multitouch Flash apps to work on Mac OS X though.”
I tested it on a G4, but the puzzle only works with one pen.
On my vista pc I have a lot of troubles with the bluetooth connection and I haven’t made the application to run, yet. (with 2 bluetooth dongles and widcomm, bluesoleil drivers testet).
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Re: My compliments to the chef
Hi Daniel,
thank you for your kind words :)
It seems like the current left & right click implementations are not good/fast enough for you to replace the regular mouse. I assume you want two extra buttons on your IR pen for left & right click, and I agree that it would be more convenient.
In my opinion, the basic problem with your idea is that it requires a more complicated setup, raising the (technical) level for the inexperienced user. I assume that even the lack of off-the-shelf IR pens is preventing some people from getting started with the Wiimote Whiteboard. Commercial distribution of IR pens would solve the problem if the community could agree on a reference design. There has been some discussion about using Pulse-width modulation for detecting right clicks and even pen IDs, also proposed by Johnny Lee. However, I’m not aware of anyone who has done this yet. The problem is also that it requires more complicated IR pens, no way for the average user to build (which leads us back to selling IR pens).
The problem I see with your idea in particular is that it requires extra wires or wireless transmission to the off-screen LEDs. Wires are just not practical, and why not directly transmitting to the computer if already using wireless?
My proposal: Buy a cheap wireless mouse and use it exclusively for clicking. Or dissect the mouse and put the electronics into an IR pen. Add two buttons to your IR pen and use them to trigger the left and right mouse buttons on the mouse’s electronics. This is obviously not trivial to do but has the advantage that it doesn’t require extra software on the computer.
Uwe
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Uwe on Wiimote Whiteboard in reply to mcclane
Re: Multitouch / TUIO
Hi mcclane,
Does the application actually run on Mac with TUIO?
Uwe wrote on 9 March: “I couldn’t get any multitouch Flash apps to work on Mac OS X though.”
I got them working after all, see this previous post for more details. Make sure you add the flash app to the list of trustworthy locations.
I tested it on a G4, but the puzzle only works with one pen.
I assume the puzzle game just used the regular mouse input. In case TUIO is working, you should see some colored dots in the puzzle game where the IR pen is pointing at.
On my vista pc I have a lot of troubles with the bluetooth connection and I haven’t made the application to run, yet.
I’m don’t even think it works on Vista out of the box. If someone knows more about that, please let us know.
Uwe
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Anne Krijger on Wiimote Whiteboard
Works on Vista with Widcomm (Broadcom) 5.1.0.1100 Stack (driver)
I got the application to work on Vista running on my Dell XPS 1330.
Short version; Follow the steps of the ‘UnCrippling Bluetooth in Vist (RTM)’ (at your own risk as usual) and install the Widcomm (now Broadcom) 5.1.0.1100 driver(s).
Longer version; I intially tried Lee’s version, which failed. The ‘List of working Bluetooth Devices’, as also referenced here http://www.uweschmidt.org/comment/253 mentioned the ‘Dell Wireless 355 Module with Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR Technology’ as being supported. As far as I can tell the 355 Module installed in my Dell 1330 laptop is de DCM_2045 (the 2045 is the frequency in use I guess).
So I d/l-ed the newest drivers from Dell (of july 7 2007; R140135.exe) and installed then. As long as I removed and re-added the Wiimote everytime I started Lee’s app it seemed to work.
I say seem to work because I hadn’t (and haven’t :) finished my IR-LED-Pen yet so I tested it holding the LED connectors to a battery pointing at my laptop screen.
And then I came across Uwe’s version. Many kudos as this is right up my alley, being a senior Java developer.
So I tried to get it to work…. and failed. No matter what I tried, be it re-adding the device, using buttons 1&2 or the red one at the back, or even the 6.x and 5.x BlueSoleil drivers, the app would either timeout, or throw a stacktrace telling me it could not connect.
So after some hours restarting, un-re-de-installing, re-syncing and messing up the installed driver suite quite a bit, I came across this message; http://www.uweschmidt.org/comment/162 and low and behold, after following the steps the application found the Wiimote no problem. The steps basically mean deinstalling the bluetooth driver(s), making sure they don’t automatically reinstall themselves and then installing the Widcomm 5.1.0.1100 driver/stack. Unfortunately Lee’s app doesn’t really seem to like the new drivers, but for now I won’t test that any further.
Next step(s); In the mean time (as sort of a distraction for all the re-de-un-installing) I started working on creating a sleek(er) IR-LED-pen using my IR-LED and battery. Although I didn’t get in bed till 4:30am, I didn’t get it quite finished, so I wasn’t able to test the pen with the application yet. Hopefully I will be able to finish it tonight. Who cares about the Dutch team playing @ Euro 2008, right ? :)
I’m fairly content with the pen so far and it’s really just the last step that needs to be taken (hooking up the + side of the battery and closing the pen).
I’ve made pictures of every step so far and will put a short manual online once I’m done. One secret I can already reveal is that I just happened to have a set of ‘Papermate permanent markers’ of the W10 series lying around which I think are perfect; - The tips allows a 5mm LED to be slipped from the outside-in and has a base on which it then rests. - The tip is detachable from the holder - The back end of the tip allows for installing a micro button switch
As said; more later.
For now; thanks again Uwe for keeping me awake most of this weekend :)
Anne.
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Anne Krijger on Wiimote Whiteboard
How to create a IR Pen in steps
Ok, so I did see part of the game :) But I also had a (good) idea on how to solve the + battery-terminal-connection-challenge and was able to finish v0.02 of my IR Pen. Follow the link for an explanation of what I did.
http://www.skipspeedracing.com/misc/irpen/
Constructive comments are appreciated :) One minor improvement to go…
Anne.
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mcclane on Wiimote Whiteboard
Multitouch
Hi Uwe,
it’s me again. I still got the problem that the puzzle doesn’t work with two pens :( I did the following: - started the wiimote application - started flosc (tried the older version from your post and the latest version) - started the puzzle (tried the .exe and .swf in browser and standalone flash player) And I added the PuzzleGame.swf to truthworthy locations in flash player settings
What did I do wrong? Could you please describe your procedure you did to get the puzzle work?
By the way, the application now works on vista :) Special thanks to Anne.
mcclane
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wiiman on Wiimote Whiteboard
windows bluesleil
I also have tried it with bluesoleil and get the “wiiRemote failed to connect! Not supported on bluesoeil”. It may be a problem with the code if you did not first have the code refresh sevices and then connect instead of pair. Just an idea.
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Anonymous on Wiimote Whiteboard
BlueSoleil
yeah, i just got this, and i got the same message about bluesoleil…
what else can i use instead of bluesoleil? i just got a USB dongle and don’t know much about bluetooth yet….
i can connect wiimotes to it and my cell(not important)
get the message: “WiiRemote failed to connect! Not supported on bluesoleil”
in the background it shows: ” WiiRemoteJ: found Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 WiiRemoteJ:Nintendo RVL-CNT-01 is a WiiRemote. WiiRemoteJ:….forget here… WiiRemoteJ:Error getting device ”
I’m running BlueSoleil version 3.2.2.8 and i just downloaded the java wiimote whiteboard software today, whatever version that is….
any help?
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Anonymous on Wiimote Whiteboard
Multiple Wiimotes
Does the software here allow for more than 2 Wiimotes?
i haven’t been able to use the software yet=(
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Uwe on Wiimote Whiteboard in reply to Anne Krijger
Vista
Hi Anne,
thanks for sharing your “Vista odyssey” with us!
Who cares about the Dutch team playing @ Euro 2008, right ? :)
[…]
Ok, so I did see part of the game :)
The game was pretty good. You showed Italy who’s boss :)
Uwe
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Re: Multitouch
Hi mcclane,
try this little Java app from reactable (they also have other example clients) to check whether TUIO is working. It doesn’t require Flosc to be run, hence you can check whether it causes the problem.
Uwe
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BlueSoleil (again)
See this previous post for information about BlueSoleil.
It may be a problem with the code if you did not first have the code refresh sevices and then connect instead of pair.
I’m not dealing directly with Bluetooth in my app. See the post I linked above.
Uwe
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Uwe on Wiimote Whiteboard in reply to Anonymous
Re: Multiple Wiimotes
blockquote>Does the software here allow for more than 2 Wiimotes?
No, currently not. I haven’t even received much feedback from people using two Wiimotes with my app…
Uwe
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mcclane on Wiimote Whiteboard
Hi Uwe, it's as you
Hi Uwe,
it’s as you suspected. In the Java app I have the same problem. Just one pointer. It seems that TUIO doesn’t work. But I have no idea why? I enabled it in the application.
Any idea?
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TUIO message dump
Hi mcclane,
In the Java app I have the same problem. Just one pointer. It seems that TUIO doesn’t work.
that seems odd to me. There should be no pointer in the Java app if TUIO isn’t working. Maybe your second IR pen isn’t working, or the pens are too close to each other and are recognized as one IR dot.
A further test is to run the command-line “dump mode” by typing this in the folder with all the stuff: java -cp Tuio.jar TuioDump Then start the Whiteboard app (and calibrate if necessary). You should see a bunch of messages at the command-line when you move the activated IR pen around.
Uwe
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Anonymous on Wiimote Whiteboard
Other Programs
didn’t answer this:
what other than bluesoleil can i use?
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Descalzo on Wiimote Whiteboard
2 WiiMotes
I tried 2 wiimotes, but for about a week or so, and not much. I got it just before the last week of school, and now school is out for the summer. Here’s what I’ve noticed: It takes about twice as many restarts to get both wiimotes working.
I haven’t noticed any real improvement in accuracy. The main reason I wanted 2 wiimotes is so that I could have them both covering the same area from different angles so I wouldn’t have to worry about the students blocking it when they write. I haven’t been able to find a good way to make this happen. This isn’t any reflection on the software, of course, but it is an issue. I wish I could give more feedback, but as I said, school is out and I’m busy with classes.
Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Germany License.