jkmonroe's 2.0 interfaces

[jkmonroe]

Decided to toss up my 2.0 interfaces. The templates are available for download here. (http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/jk-templates.zip)

These templates are designed for my 7" Lilliput, which I am seriously considering buying more of. Looks absolutely perfect on the night stand in the MBR.

** Edited the post to reflect the final interfaces that im using. we have both (wife and i) settled on this color scheme and design. it is easy to use and looks pretty good all at the same time. many thanks to ripper for most (all) of the graphics that ive used.

this interface incorporates a lot of the functionality that the slim server driver has along with a few neat hacks (like the XM/radio stations in a CAB). it currently controls 3 audio/video zones. most standard functions (like volume) are controlled with remotes located in each zone.

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/1.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/2.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/3.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/4.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/5.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/6.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/7.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/8.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/9.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/10.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/11.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/12.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/13.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/14.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/15.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/16.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/17.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/18.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/19.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/20.jpg

[ellisr63]

I like it... very clean design

[znelbok]

very nice - the blues work very well

[Ripper]

Yes very nice...I like the look.

The XM icons you use some look choppy around the edges...have you tried the last set I made a few months back?..they are of better quality I think but may need to be resized...I can help soon if you need help bulk resizing but I am still unpacking in the new home so wont be around here much for approx one more week.

[klindy]

jk,

If you need to resize/rename/etc images, I recommend using http://www.irfanview.com/

It's free, pretty flexible and easy to use.

[rodaaent]

Looks great jk

[jkmonroe]

Yes very nice...I like the look.

The XM icons you use some look choppy around the edges...have you tried the last set I made a few months back?..they are of better quality I think but may need to be resized...I can help soon if you need help bulk resizing but I am still unpacking in the new home so wont be around here much for approx one more week.

I havent yet. Those came from the XM website. I will search for yours, see how they look. Thanks for the offer. :-D

[Squintz]

I also like that a lot. I really like the way you put the weather icons in that black box. Looks really good.

[jkmonroe]

thanks for the compliments.

does anyone know by chance where to find icon sets? the weather icons are from ripper, and he found them somewhere if i understand right. id like to get all of the icons across that left side in the same style as the weather one.

[jkmonroe]

added some more images from the video side.

[ellisr63]

I really like the center ball and the way the number buttons are.

[jkmonroe]

yeah. its not too bad looking at all. not as nice looking as the 'Rack Series', but ive had a couple of compliements from friends/family that have seen it. :-D

its amazing what you can do with the stock images. everything except the weather backgrounds and main background is stock CQC stuff.

edited the images to show the new XM icons. those new icons are nice!

[robashroy]

Hey, we were on the IVB setup call the other day.


Where are you getting your Lilliputs and what price are you paying?
What are you using to drive them?
I think you were using the RDC systems to drive them if I remember.
I'd love to see some shots of your setups on flickr.
Do you have an account there?

Robert

[jkmonroe]

My lilliputs are the EBY-701 7" touchscreens. I bought mine from this guy on ebay: http://stores.ebay.com/MINI-ITX-SOLUTIONS.

I love them. They look like they are custom instead of a monitor. I picked up mine for $175 + shipping from that above store. I am seriously considering ditching the 15" Planars and getting a couple more of these babies. With 2.0 and popups, screen real estate isnt as precious as it was before so the 7" works great.

Fire away asking whatever questions you have and I will be happy to oblige. :-D Yes, I do have a flickr account so I can toss my images up there if necessary.

[robashroy]

Did you ever post your Image Pack? I am picking up a Lilliput today.
Also wanted to get the firmware for the WYSE.

Thanks so much.
Robert

[robashroy]

Do those WYSE terminals work on XP Pro or just 2003 Server. I just built a machine with XP Pro. I hope I don't have to go to 2003 Server.

[jkmonroe]

im using them with XP pro. just add the TS hack to allow more than one ts session.

[Helheim]

When are you going to post a link so we can download it? :)

[jkmonroe]

sorry. :)

800x480 Templates (http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/current/800x480.zip)

[robashroy]

JK, the gray area on the left of you screen, can you add a virtual tab so we could have more than 1 group of items on that side? I'd like to add some quick keys without taking anymore realestate on the left side. If we had a tabbed appearance on the left vertical bar we could have some other things on there.

Do you have an editable file for that graphic?

Robert

[jkmonroe]

yup. Here you go. (http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/current/cqc-bg.zip)

[jkmonroe]

i updated the images at the beginning of this thread to reflect my current and final interface templates. from here on out, i have been told there will be no more designing since these look so nice (to us at least).

i will post template packs and the .png images used to create these here in a day or so.

again, many thanks to ripper for providing many of the graphics used in these templates.

[Ripper]

I'm really amazed you took those graphics and made something totally different that looks very functional..good layout also.

Those were the first buttons I made for CQC

http://www.touchscreengraphics.com/gallery2/main.php?g2_itemId=124

**The dpad was the dpad from the Polk graphics I made for IVB and I just added that same sorta plastic style.

Looks really good and I appreciate you sharing the stuff you create with other CQC users!

[jkmonroe]

You can download my template packs from the first post or here. (http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/jk-templates.zip)

[bwally]

jkm,

would you mind tossing up a couple pics of your interface running on the lilliputs? also, could you explain your setup with XP Pro and the TS hack and how well (quick, responsive, multi-zone use, etc.) it all works.

it looks amazing!

i have some exposed walls left to drywall in my current renovation and just trying to decide on the control approach.

thanks,
steve

[jkmonroe]

added a few more images to the first post. i updated my main template with a volume slider so dont need to use the remote and added the images of my projector template. i also resized the play/ff/rew/pause commands and added a stop button.

bwally: probably not until after xmas. i broke my digital camera a couple of weeks ago and Santa is bringing me a new one. :-D

as far as the setup, my lilliput is connected directly to a dedicated client machine to get the native 800x480 display. i have 2 15" planar touchscreens that are connected to the thin clients and work over RDP. so far, i havent noticed any glitches or lags. the 15" screens run at 800x600, so the IV is centered with black bars at the top and bottom. all of my thin clients are wired. the ts hack allows 3 remote sessions and 1 console session.

[emillika]

How do you mount the Lilliput's? Custom or something you bought? Can you show a picture of the units and how you use them?

Thanks.

[jkmonroe]

i will take pictures after xmas when i have my new digital camera (pleease Santa, pleease!). check out robashoy's thread. he has some great pictures of his mounted lilliput. mine is mounted on its stand. it sits on the bedside table for easy control of the house at nighttime.

[bwally]

after seeing the pics of robashoy's i really am beginning to like these! man, i hope santa gets you a camera ;)

i can also see these are easy to operate with a finger.
is that your experience with the interface?

[noshali]

jkmonroe

Are you using the 2.0 media repository or jriver and zoom player? Cusrious about adding stuff to playlists.

regards,

[jkmonroe]

you can operate these things with a lightly pressed qtip if need be. they are pretty sensitive. soon as i can, ill take some pictures.

as far as the media repos, i use both. CQSL for movies/xm and radio logos and JRiver for mp3s. until the CQSL repo has an mp3 import, i am going to be stuck with jriver since i dont own any cds.

you can add albums to a playlist via the slim driver. i posted a howto about it that you can find in the SlimServer driver thread.

[bwally]

i have been thinking of getting one of these:
http://www.elkproducts.com/products/m1/ELK-TS07.htm for my elk panel.

do you see any reason that CQC wouldn't run your interface using the WinCE .net viewer? t is 800X480 as well.

also, i understand the q-tip will work. do you need really small fingers if you aren't carrying a q-tip around?

i think i'll download the latest 2.0 trial and load your stuff up and check out the size.

[jkmonroe]

i know nothing about that elk screen, but i can tell you that if it runs Windows CE, and is not a custom image, you should be able to run RDP 5.1 or 5.2 for RDP if need be. Im not sure if my interfaces will work with the .Net viewer.

and no, you dont need small fingers to work this. im not a small guy and it works well for me. :)

[bwally]

yep!
i can see that now ;)

i downloaded the trial and loaded your interface up. LOOKS LIKE A MILLION $$

i might need some help with the drivers setup (names, etc.) for Slimserver. poking around now CQC forum searching for your Slimserver setup instructions.

[jkmonroe]

thanks. i would like to set up a webex before the 10th if possible and can go over my slim setup. xmro, radio streams, playlists, shuffle, the CAB hack, etc. if you have any specific questions you can either PM, email me, or post them here.

in the meantime, you can find the how-to here. (http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/current/how-to)

[bwally]

are you Santa?
;)

i'll start with the tutorial (thanks for the link) and start there. i'm sure i'll have questions after that.

thanks again for sharing your work and your time with everyone here. it truly is appreciated!

steve

[bwally]

jason,

are you creating seperate repo drivers for each of the XM, MP3 and iNet Radio?

jK-repo-xm and jk_repo-radio?

do they all connect to the same repository?

[jkmonroe]

separate repo's. jk-repo-xm and jk-repo-radio. my mp3s are all housed in jriver until the cqsl repository can handle mp3 importing.

[bwally]

roger that.
also, i'm having a hard time with Slimserver running my WMA files. i suspect that it is just my version of windows media player. i haven't taken the time yet to look into it yet, and just thought if i mentioned it you might already have walked down this path.

[jkmonroe]

i have no idea. i use mp3 not wma so i really cant help there. i did hear somewhere (jonathan probably) that slim cannot decode WMA and needs to transcode it into something else. i know that when i play an xmro station it transcodes from wma to flac.

[robashroy]

JK, I have been using a video screen capture system called Camtasia for training. It works great. I do a piece of the work, reasonable amount that I can speak about and split the project into pieces that can be shown 1 after the other. Probably much like Deans video stuff he created. I do the voice over after I record the screen stuff. It is very easy.

Maybe the guys ag CQCUsers could all chip in (I'd chip in) and get a license. I have a license that you could use to see if it accomplishes what you want.

Robert

[noshali]

Hi,

How did you make the coverart browser blue. The cds have a blue border around them. I am sure that it is simple to do it but I am lost.

regards,

[jkmonroe]

it is a static image widget that i set behind the cover art browser.

[jkmonroe]

OK, with the release tonight of 2.0.1 and the new RFID stuff that I have, I updated my templates. You can find the new screens on the first page. When possible, I will make new template packs and post them here as well.

Just added a shot of my screen that displays the current playlist and also lets you select tracks for immediate play from that playlist. there is also a 'clear' and a 'next track' button. works great to see whats coming next. :)

Also got the TTS engine working and the events created and working for my RFID tags. SOO ... when you come home, the system will turn on the lights and greet you by name (after waiting for a few seconds to make sure you get in the door). I am going to try playing with the callerID driver to have it also read my missed calls from the day. I set a scheduled event for my garbage cans also, so if either human tag is true at 9PM on sunday nights, the system will say "Its time to take out the trash". So cool. Thats what i wanted in the first place, so im happy on this xmas morning. get to open some presents, visit my parents here in an hour, then go down to her parents. 2 hour drive. sshhh...but notice that ive stayed awake all night so i can take a nap on the couch when i get there. :-D

[jkmonroe]

OK, I updated my template download to reflect what I am currently using. You can download them from the first post.

[jkmonroe]

ok, back to the front you go :)

[jkmonroe]

I figured I would add my 'State of the System' for Q1 of '07.

Serially Controlled Components:

Inline 3808, Yamaha HTR, Slimserver, UBSUIRT, Ananiah RFID, ZWave

IR Controlled Components:

2 Comcast Boxes, Yamaha HTR, Vista MCE, CQC, MBR TV, LR TV, XBox 360

Status: Good

Devices not installed: Xantech ZPR68

Devices not working: CaddX NX-8E (will likely be exchanged for Elk)

Devices needed: Electronic Drop Down Screen, Controlled Blinds/Curtains

Devices added: Vista based Windows Media Center

Drivers needed: Vista MCE, InFocus SP5000

Interfaces: All interfaces reflected at the beginning of this thread are mostly still current.

Current Issues:

Well, after months of extensive use we have found a few of the problems with our interface designs:

The first is simply too much information and clutter on the screens. It makes them tough to read and with such small buttons, tough to accurately hit on the first try. Its not a critical issue but an annoyance. That needs cleaned up.

Second is the fact that we never ever control a zone different than the one we are in. Outside of a 'Shutdown' and 'Mute All', this functionality can be completely removed. We currently have a touchscreen in each 'zone' and plan to devise a scheme so each screen controls only the devices within its zone or will only allow playback within its zone.

Last is that guests need a quick tutorial on how to use the touchscreens. I am not certain if they are confused, illiterate, or just plain dumb, but I have never seen this many folks absolutely confounded by a single device in my life. Liken it to a caveman seeing a light switch or some such thing. We host lots of parties and ease of use is a must. This needs addressed big-time!

Plans for the Future:

Well, we need to decide on a touchscreen size for each zone and then get some interfaces professionally designed. This will still likely be 6 or 8 weeks out, but we are moving and have decided to integrate a touchscreen into every controlled zone in the new house. We use the services of an interior designer for our home and will likely try our best to match our interfaces to our interior decor.

We (I) am thinking of using the Rad I/O displays in each minor zone and a 7" display in major zones + a Viewsonic Airpanel if I can ever find one. Coupling those with the idea to have each screen control its own zone could make life very easy. I can envision those small screens showing the current weather, light control (of the room), whats playing with next/prev buttons, a very small CAB, and a screen to display the Video and Audio sources that will only change for that zone. I am not certain at all that this will work, but its the current thought process going through my head.

Another thought that has been floating around is playing with the idea of a RFID receiver in each major room so that the system will be able to locate someone within the major areas of the house and trigger events based on that information. If no one is in the LR then turn the damn lights off type stuff. The Ananiah RFID receivers are supposedly coming out with a firmware that will recognize RSSI information and also talk to other receivers in a network. This is 100% experimental stuff, but I already have 2 RFID receivers and some new firmware on the way so it may work out. Hell, for $50 I gotta try. :)

I will keep this thread updated as best I can. I sort of like to keep a running record of where I am compared to where I was.

:-D

[jkmonroe]

moving right along. i played with the Harmony 1000 which put me into research mode where i came along the Nokia n800. this device looked too perfect as a wireless panel for CQC so i ordered one up. it can do RDP so displaying the IV should be easy. once this comes in i will make sure to take some good pictures of how well it works with CQC. this very well could become our control solution. the tablets are only $399 and to me thats good enough to put 1 in each room/zone that needs a screen.

i started desiging a template that would address the issues i listed above as well as be usable on a device with a 4.5" screen. hopefully it will turn out OK.

heres a preview of the main screen. note that this is 100% photoshop and nothing is actually drawn in the IV yet.

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/preview/preview.jpg

[Helheim]

Are you still going to use 7" displays in major zones or just Nokia n800s now?

[jkmonroe]

no idea yet. i wont have the nokia tablet until Sat or Mon. once i get it i will be able to make a better decision.

i really like the concept, but im starting to think that a 4" screen is gonna be just a tad on the small side.

we'll see soon enough! :)

[ellisr63]

no idea yet. i wont have the nokia tablet until Sat or Mon. once i get it i will be able to make a better decision.

i really like the concept, but im starting to think that a 4" screen is gonna be just a tad on the small side.

we'll see soon enough! :)
4":shock: At my age I would have difficulty... Wish my eyes were better for reading (2020 for distance), then 4" would be nice. Sometimes i wish I had a display larger than 10".

[jkmonroe]

heheh ... my eyes are bad enough the way it is too. after playing the harmony 1000 and seeing how they did their graphics i thought that perhaps this was feasible. the problem is designing the 800x480 template on a monitor and trying to visualize what its going to look like smashed into 4".

im not sure things like the CAB, song detail selection, etc is going to work due to the small size.

[jkmonroe]

I got the Nokia tablet. It is 100% absolutely perfect. connected directly to my wireless AP, installed RDesktop via the web, loaded up my workstation machine via RDP and put the IV into full screen.

www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/nokia/DSCN4549.JPG

the touchscreen is larger than i pictured and is VERY usable. fingertips work perfectly with no issues.

it also came with a small rubber stand that lets it sit at an almost perfect angle so you can use it on that, or take it with you. gotta play with my interfaces some but let me just say that i fully plan on buying 3 or 4 more of these and selling my Wyse terms and Touchscreens.

:-D

i would love to post video so yall can gauge for yourself how small but usable this is but dont know how. if anyone can direct me to something that lets me do that, itd be great.

[IVB]

do you have a digital camera that can take short videos? That's what I used when I recorded and posted the IR curtain stuff.

[auphan2]

That looks great with your new IV design. Any idea on what the battery life is for this unit? This might be something I could use in rooms without dedicated touchscreens.

[jkmonroe]

battery life is 4-5 hours of continuous usage and 7-10 days standby. its rated very similar to a cell phone. the screen goes blank after just 5 or 10 seconds ... a tap brings it back (it does not tap whats below - as in a cmd button). it may be settable but i havent gotten that far yet.

[jkmonroe]

wanna wall mount? no problem. included cradle will make it simple. just screw the cradle on the wall (use offsets if need be).

www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/nokia/DSCN4561.JPG thru DSCN4565.JPG

[Prefect]

I got the Nokia tablet. It is 100% absolutely perfect. connected directly to my wireless AP, installed RDesktop via the web, loaded up my workstation machine via RDP and put the IV into full screen.


Which tablet is that, the N770?

I just received an N800 as a gift from a very generous customer of mine and I've been anxious to get some CQC action going on it. I've only found a VNC viewer for it, no RDP yet. Aside from that I'm surprised at how much I enjoy using it for casual web browsing, instant messaging, etc. I've been leaving it on the night stand and using it before I fall asleep and when I wake up. Fun stuff - I never would have bought one myself but I'm pretty hooked on the idea.

[jkmonroe]

this is the 770. i have the n800 on the way as well. RDesktop is downloadable from the maemo.org website. browse to this address on your tablet and click to install ... it does it automatically. :-D

ok ... i cannot post the link. it causes a PHP Stack Overflow. :)

go here and search RDesktop. http://downloads.maemo.org/

[jkmonroe]

do you have a digital camera that can take short videos? That's what I used when I recorded and posted the IR curtain stuff.

uhm ... no. i do have a DV cam that i can use but i have no clue how to edit it as a viewable file.

[rdf]

jkmonroe, you are an evil, evil man. :)

That Nokia tablet looks great! Thanks for the pix and the info.

Does the N800 just run an updated version of the OS? Amazon claims both 770 and 800 are 4.1 inch screens (I was hoping the N800 was slightly larger, as I have the same concern as others about vision.) I look forward to seeing what you come up with for sub-screens on this. Can you post a pic with it in your hand so we can get some idea of the scale? When you said it was the size of a business card, I thought "not gonna work for me" ... but it sure looks like it could ....

[jkmonroe]

i wasnt far off with the business card ... heres a picture of me holding it with a business card laying on the screen. :-D

www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/nokia/DSCN4567.JPG

the n800 is pretty much just updated from as far as i can tell ... newer CPU/Chipset, new OS, new design, etc.

the screen measured diagonally is 4.3"

[Prefect]

this is the 770. i have the n800 on the way as well. RDesktop is downloadable from the maemo.org website. browse to this address on your tablet and click to install ... it does it automatically. :-D

ok ... i cannot post the link. it causes a PHP Stack Overflow. :)

go here and search RDesktop. http://downloads.maemo.org/

Excellent - I hadn't found RDesktop yet (but I have VNC and a bunch of other useful stuff installed). Thanks for the pointer!

[jkmonroe]

not counting the bonus of being a CQC IV viewer, this device is pretty darn functional ... i can easily see using something like this in bed in the evening or on the couch watching TV or a movie when you dont want a full on laptop with you.

youre also right ... i likely would have never bought one myself just for the Internet features. once i realized that CQC could be used i jumped on it. :)

[rdf]

Sweet. Thanks for the pic w/ the business card.

Like you said, the CAB would probably be a non-starter. Once Dean gets a playlist function for the built-in player, maybe we could have a screen to select from a group of playlists? Or list browser with a text listing of all our CDs .... Just trying to figure out how to play selected songs, etc. I can see choosing an XM station being pretty easy on this screen, but picking a song or artist out of the stack ... hmm.

Nice find!

[Prefect]

Here are a couple of pictures of my N800 running rdesktop, running some screens I had designed for my 800x480 Lilliput (same resolution as the N800). Compact Flash provided for size reference.

http://www.tangentaudio.com/cqc/n800_cqc1.jpg

http://www.tangentaudio.com/cqc/n800_cqc2.jpg

[jkmonroe]

i wish i could take pictures like that. i cant hold still enough. :)

so there we have it .. the n800 and the 770 displaying the IV.

i am really enjoying the 770 so far. what do you think on the usability?

[Prefect]

i wish i could take pictures like that. i cant hold still enough. :)

so there we have it .. the n800 and the 770 displaying the IV.

i am really enjoying the 770 so far. what do you think on the usability?

I think it's pretty cool - I'm using it for a lot of things that I didn't imagine I would originally. I love the display. It's small, but really high resolution for its size. The onscreen keyboard is a bit of a drag, so I might consider looking for a bluetooth keyboard (moot point for CQC use, but I use it for chatting and browsing and sshing into my unix servers as well)

To use it as a real remote control for CQC it might be tough to do good interfaces that can be finger-driven without really limiting the functionality, but that could also be OK. I don't mind using the stylus for it personally.

Now I really need a better terminal server since when I connect, this kicks off my kitchen touchscreen user.

[jkmonroe]

are you using the RDP TS Hack? you should be able to get 3 or 4 simultaneous sessions (each a different user). i have been doing it that way with my thin client setup no problem.

[Prefect]

are you using the RDP TS Hack? you should be able to get 3 or 4 simultaneous sessions (each a different user). i have been doing it that way with my thin client setup no problem.

I had that set up at one point, but (coincidentally I'm sure) right after I installed it, a whole bunch of things started going wrong and I was getting connectivity issues to CQC from my other clients, etc. I backed out the changes but it didn't help. I've since rebuilt the server, but I later discovered I had a failed gigabit switch and failing gigabit network port on my main desktop machine.. So that was probably the actual cause of my problems. Maybe I should give it a spin again.

[Rolecgroup]

If you havent installed the hack get xpunlimited - its free for 3 simultaneous users.



Dean.

[Prefect]

If you havent installed the hack get xpunlimited - its free for 3 simultaneous users.

Dean.

Nice, I've got that running now. Thanks for the pointer!

[jkmonroe]

thought i would update on the nokia 770.

i havent gone through and configured everything until the new MS is built, but I did configure the USB-UIRT, VMC, and the extender driver. its funny, the wife actually fights me for the nokia because its so damn easy to use. no bulky touchscreen, fits and feels perfect in your hand, and the most responsive touchscreen ive used outside of industrial grade equipment.

its only been a day of real world use, but this device has to be the best purchase that i have made for CQC.

[MikeW]

This may have already been discussed, but is it possible to use the hard buttons on the Nokia when using RDesktop? It would be very nice to map the volume control to hard buttons.

[jkmonroe]

im not sure. i want to explore that a little further because it could be fantastic.

the device runs on a port of Debian, so there may be a way to code it in there since its all opensource.

[jkmonroe]

i explored a little...the hard buttons sort of work.

transport will move the cursor (think focus), the enter key is actually a mouse click, the little half circle guy is escape. the home key takes you back to the Nokia desktop, so i dont figure that will be able to get used. buttons on the top do not appear to do anything at all.

edit: the menu looking button with a left pointing arrow is the right click button ... doesnt work in CQC but does on the desktop

[jkmonroe]

update on the nokia internet tablet:

i found a quirk in the rdesktop that i hadnt noticed before. if youre using rdesktop to display the IV, when the tablet goes into its 'power down' mode, you have to cilck the little arrows at the bottom left to get back to RDP. ive also found that if you attempt to do something else (multitask) with rdesktop open, you will not be able to get back into your session. you will need to close rdesktop and reopen it.

ive also learned that nokia is releasing a version of ITS 2007 for the 770 named the 'Hacker Edition'. from what ive read, it will bring all of the 2007 updates that are compatible with the older hardware into it.

you can adjust your touchscreen pressure sensitivity. i noticed laying in bed that when i set the tablet down (screen side down) it registered a click. turned up the pressure sensitivity so it doesnt do that anymore.

all in all, still gotta say that for me, its the best IV device we could possibly have.

[stefand]

JK,
where do you get these great icons?
I am refering to the ones you are using in your latest nokia screens (the photoshop mockup)

In general, I really like your UI designs.
I have one in the works, Ron is helping me with them [ read: he is doing all the UI work, I'm doing the programming ]
I will post them when they are somewhat done.

[jkmonroe]

here and there ... i compile them while im browsing the web. the ones for my nokia tablet came from a mythtv theme that i liked and simply resized. some of them i make myself.

once i get my nokia templates finished i plan on packing it all up and making it available for download.

[Sendero]

Anyone else have issues with rdesktop? It launches and prompts me for everything but as soon as I hit OK it just disappears. Just got the 770 today and it works great for everything else. No RDesktop though :(

[jkmonroe]

its an issue with either the IP address or your firewall. ive had that happen to me a couple of times. if you cant get it working, hop into the chat room and if im around ill walk you through it.

[CalypsoCowboy]

How comparable are the two speed wise. It looks like the 770 is around $250 - 300$ with the N800 being about $100 more. Just wondering if the extra cost is worth it?

[Sendero]

its an issue with either the IP address or your firewall. ive had that happen to me a couple of times. if you cant get it working, hop into the chat room and if im around ill walk you through it.

Ah, hadn't thought about that. I tried both by IP and machine name and get the same behavior. Tried on both 2k3 Srv and XP with same behavior. I can TS into both the machines fine from a PC.

[jkmonroe]

How comparable are the two speed wise. It looks like the 770 is around $250 - 300$ with the N800 being about $100 more. Just wondering if the extra cost is worth it?

save the money ... its RDP and the speed is just fine ... sort of like being local.

:)

[jkmonroe]

Ah, hadn't thought about that. I tried both by IP and machine name and get the same behavior. Tried on both 2k3 Srv and XP with same behavior. I can TS into both the machines fine from a PC.

then its going to be an IP issue with your Nokia ... you on DHCP? also, i havent had any luck with the Nokia being able to resolve names so I use IP address. works fine for me :)

[Sendero]

then its going to be an IP issue with your Nokia ... you on DHCP? also, i havent had any luck with the Nokia being able to resolve names so I use IP address. works fine for me :)

Its working now! I feel like a doofus. For some reason it didn't have it net conn working. Did that and retried by IP and all good now.

btw, Wow! the res on this screen is awesome. Now I just need to work on an interface I like. Something tells me I'm going to like the looks of yours better though.

[jkmonroe]

soon as im finished with what im doing i planned on posting them for DL. if youd like what i have sooner, i can post em sooner with the warning that they likely wont do anything other than look pretty. :)

glad you got it working. its certainly a nice machine, eh? ;)

[Sendero]

I spent some time this morning pretty just porting over my 8125 basic screens to the 770. I also figured out that the SonosWeb stuff that I am doing will fit in the res of the screen as well. Here are some pics of the IV on the acutual device. Sorry about the jitter on the first one, hard to keep camera still with one hand.

(the finger in the first one is to give an idea of scale)
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w239/m_later/IMG_1167.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w239/m_later/IMG_1168.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w239/m_later/IMG_1169.jpg
http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w239/m_later/IMG_1170.jpg

If I stick with this approach I'll need to make some much bigger icons for the main screen, the buttons there are too small. The lighting screen is very busy but actually works pretty well, and I like the yellow circles beside each zone to show me its current state. I will move to using scenes soon and that will be a better interface.

All my buttons are just CQC built in ones. I need to spend some time finding better ones, but I like how quickly I was able to get this all up & running. There are defintely some very cool parts of CQC.

And the Nokia is perfect for this. i was playing with it earlier today and had net radio streaming on the device while also browsing this forum. Works fine for peef and very cool. Hope there aren't too many of us bidding the prices up too much on E-bay now.

[rdf]

Looking good, Sendero.

What kind of lighting control do you use?
Is that 20% for each yellow dot next to a room's text box?
Do you plan to implement touching a light bulb at the bottom of the page to set a selected room to that light level?

You really do get a lot of functionality onto such a small screen. Nice.

[jkmonroe]

sendero, what are your impressions of the 770 running RDP and teh IV?

so far im a HUGE fan of this device as my home control remote. i would like to hear what other users who are doing the same think of it.

[Rolecgroup]

sendero - how are you using sonos-web within CQC ??

If you are using a full screenweb widget how do you get back from it to the IV ?


Thanks



Dean.

[Sendero]

sendero - how are you using sonos-web within CQC ??

If you are using a full screenweb widget how do you get back from it to the IV ?


Thanks

Dean.


Dean - Its hard to see on the pic, but the SonosWeb app does not quite take up the full screen. There is a very small line on the right side of the screen where I can click to go back to the main screen. If you take a look at the pic here (http://i177.photobucket.com/albums/w239/m_later/SonosWeb.jpg) you can see the word "back" spelled in red letters down the right hand side.

[Sendero]

Looking good, Sendero.

What kind of lighting control do you use?
Is that 20% for each yellow dot next to a room's text box?
Do you plan to implement touching a light bulb at the bottom of the page to set a selected room to that light level?

You really do get a lot of functionality onto such a small screen. Nice.

I have Insteon lighting for my house. The light bulbs at the bottom are already hooked up & working where I touch a light button and then touch a lightbulb to set that light to that level. The first bulb is Off, the next one is 30%, it increments by 10 to 80% and then skips 90%. I found 10, 20, and 90 weren't that useful to have so I dropped them.

The way it works is that when you click on a button I set two thing:
1 - A global variable noting which light is being controller
2 - A VariableDriver variable noting which light is being controlled

The Variable driver variable is used for the display of "Now Controlling ..." and the global variable is used to act on when doing the lighting commands.

I was going to go into more detail here but I don't want to hijack the thread. I created my own interface thread here (http://www.charmedquark.com/vb_forum/showthread.php?p=57693). if you want more details on how the light stuff works just ask over there.

[Sendero]

sendero, what are your impressions of the 770 running RDP and teh IV?

so far im a HUGE fan of this device as my home control remote. i would like to hear what other users who are doing the same think of it.

I love this approach. The 3500 is nice but sometimes just a bit slow. The only thing with the Nokia is that even though I have it set to automatically connect to the network I still have to do it manually when I first turn it on. I usually forget and try to rdp, have it fail, and then remember to check it.

The speed is great though. That little red circle in my main screen is an exit button. I have the tablet login with a username and pw on it and if I let it sit too long then I get asked to re-login to the rdp session but no way to enter a PW. So I can end up doing a disconnect/reconnect to get it back. Instead, I now exit the IV and logoff the remote session. Takes more time, but not too bad of a hassle.

As for the device, I knew it was a winner when my girlfriend played with it and then last night at dinner was telling some of my friends about it. I think this thing is definitely the way to go and I'm trying to find 1-2 more if I can get them in the $170 range.

[jkmonroe]

yeah, im with you on that one ... right now i have a 770, n800, and 1 more 770 on the way. im thinking that will be good enough for now but i like the option for a sub $200 iv viewer.

[jkmonroe]

ok, here is what i have so far running on my nokia 770. not 100% complete, but most major functions are in there. all buttons are large enough on that tiny screen to use with a finger. volume control works a lot better than i expected. hope you like em!

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/1.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/2.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/3.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/4.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/5.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/14.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/6.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/7.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/8.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/9.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/10.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/11.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/12.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/13.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/15.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/16.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/17.jpg

http://jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/18.jpg

[rdf]

Wow. You've been busy. These look great. I like the song name, time, and progress bar all on one panel.

What kind of TV/DVR setup do you have? Those are recorded shows that you can select for playback? (House, Bones, Numbers, etc?)

When you started out, you were going to select "which room are you in" ... are you still doing that, and these pages are the ones downhill from there?

Looking good.

[jkmonroe]

the where are you screen ended up going to be too much work. in order to have a countdown timer you would need to reset that timer on *every single button press*. so i nixed that idea. im going to just hardcode the zones into templates since each nokia will have its own home.

i am just finishing adding bedroom, office, living room, kitchen to the bottom of each background image (sort of behind the icons) so you know where each tablet belongs.

as soon as there is an 'auto-home' feature i will be moving to that and using the Where are you screen.

I have 2 Comcast cable boxes and a Vista Media Center with 2 HD and 2 SD tuners along with an extender. all are routed through my matrix switch. the selected show list will eventually have the ability to play back with a click but for now its just show. the VMC driver is still in early alpha.

:-D

[jkmonroe]

updated some of the images above.

also would like some suggestions on how to best handle the lighting/status screen. im thinking per room with a whole house overview like IVB has.

[smithb39]

I figured I would add my 'State of the System' for Q1 of '07.

Devices not working: CaddX NX-8E (will likely be exchanged for Elk)



So are you thinking of getting rid of the NX-8E? I'm currently deciding between the Elk and NX-8E, but if the designer of the driver is changing it gives me reason to ask. Any particular reason why?

Thanks,
Brent

[jkmonroe]

So are you thinking of getting rid of the NX-8E? I'm currently deciding between the Elk and NX-8E, but if the designer of the driver is changing it gives me reason to ask. Any particular reason why?

Thanks,
Brent

yes, im thinking about it ... however, i am not the driver author :-D that would be jscheller (i believe).

i am looking into the Elk for the fact that it would have the ability to keep certain aspects of the home automated in the event the cqc server went down.

i would like to have the flexibility that IVB does in automating various things as well. it seems to me that the elk is proven in this regard and i can get support from many users.

the nx8e is a great security system in its own right i just decided i wanted some more flexibility.

[IVB]

... it seems to me that the elk is proven in this regard and i can get support from many users....

Although I have no particular opinion about anything other than the Elk, I must say that especially after my angst over the past few days/week with hardware, going with a solution where as many unknown variables as possible are removed is certainly a huge value add.

Of course, that's anti-competitive thinking, and ends up in products being tied at the hip or branded as the "winner" too quickly, but I'm so dang bleeding edge with everything else I do, removing as much angst as possible can only help.

[jkmonroe]

i agree ... :-D

posted some more screenshots above. im not sure how i like the lighting control there, but time will tell.

[rdf]

Do you have the light switches acting like real ones? i.e. when you touch the top of the switch, the light comes on? Do you have it ramping up in brightness and the LEDs reflecting that? If so, how's the response time?

What's the red LED above the speaker icon on the lighting panels?

[jkmonroe]

well, i cant get the LEDs to work ... im not smart enough for that one :)

as of right now there is a cmd button on top and a cmd button on bottom for on/off that isnt configured (gotta replicate zwave to cqc again). i still need to add the small rectangular LED on the bottom so you actually *know* if the light is on or off.

the red button is the audio zone power state and the volume button brings up the same popup as the XM volume.

it turned into more of a zone control screen rather than purely lighting control, so i hope it works out.

[smithb39]

yes, im thinking about it ... however, i am not the driver author :-D that would be jscheller (i believe).

i am looking into the Elk for the fact that it would have the ability to keep certain aspects of the home automated in the event the cqc server went down.

i would like to have the flexibility that IVB does in automating various things as well. it seems to me that the elk is proven in this regard and i can get support from many users.

the nx8e is a great security system in its own right i just decided i wanted some more flexibility.

Sorry about that didn't look close enough to the names. I'll do some more research before deciding, I think the biggest think I'll miss with the Elk is lighting control, still trying to decide on a system.

Brent

[simon]

I am so glad to be able to use my 770 at last.
I was trying to use a VNC type solution, but it was quite painful.

I seem to have a slight problem in that if i come out of rdp or the 770 sleeps I cannt start it up again; once I have rebooted all is well.

I did look for a way to close open programmes on the 770 but couldnt see a way, any one know different?

Thanks.

[jkmonroe]

if the 770 'sleeps' you gotta tap the bottom left corner of the screen. those 2 little arrows down there will pull RDP back up immediately (they do for me).

if the 770 sleeps and i tap anywhere on the home screen except for those little arrows i cannot re-establish my RDP session.

[Rolecgroup]

My N800 has arrived in this mornings post - just set it up and got it on charge now - exciting.....




Dean.

[simon]

Ah, I did read your post about restarting after sleep, and wondered where the arrows were supposed to be.

Is that not a PITA for the WAF? I dont expect mine to remember where to push, a least not for the first 100 times!

I did find a programme that would let one shut down apps, but it doesnt seem to be available for download any more.

[Jonathan]

Make sure you are running the latest OS update for the 770. That one keeps the WiFi connection active even when it "sleeps". No idea if that is why but I don't have the issue you guys are talking about on my 770. It always wakes up fine when I tap the screen.

[jkmonroe]

updated my templates some more ... i added the home screen functionality via a home button on the bottom right. hit the home key, select your zone, then the audio/video/lighting/overview stuff will be controlled in that zone.

works great so far!

added 2 new images to the long list of screenshots a couple of pages back.

now, i would very much like to get those little blue LEDs working and showing the dim state of my lights, but i cant get em working right. if anyone knows how, please please let me know. im using zwave.

[jkmonroe]

ok ... since this is working except for a couple of things here and there i decided to post my template pack. these templates are designed for the Nokia's and have rather large buttons. the resolution is 800x480.

download here: http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/nokia-800x480.zip

drivers needed:

jk_audio-player (CQSL Audio Player)
jk_extender (VMC Alpha Driver)
jk_inline (Inline 3808 Matrix Switch)
jk_jriver (JR Disk Browser)
jk_rfid (CheaperRFID Receiver)
jk_usbuirt (USB-UIRT)
jk_variables (CQC Variable Driver)
jk_vmc (VMC Alpha Driver)
jk_weather (Weather Channel)
jk_xantech (Xantech ZPR-68)
jk_xmchannel (XM Channel Info)
jk_yamaha (Yamaha RX-V1600)
jk_zwave (ZWave USB Controller)

[Sendero]

updated my templates some more ... i added the home screen functionality via a home button on the bottom right. hit the home key, select your zone, then the audio/video/lighting/overview stuff will be controlled in that zone.

works great so far!

added 2 new images to the long list of screenshots a couple of pages back.

now, i would very much like to get those little blue LEDs working and showing the dim state of my lights, but i cant get em working right. if anyone knows how, please please let me know. im using zwave.

Do you mean how to have the LEDs next to the light switches show the current state? I have a set of 5 enumerated image widgets on my UI. They are all bound to the Insteon.<RoomName> field for the light. On the Values page I set the "False Value" IsLsThan X and "True Value" IsGtThan X. For a set of 5 I have one using 0, one using 20, and so on through 40, 60, 80 (to me, >80 is ~100).

[jkmonroe]

enumerated widgets? my zwave driver doesnt appear in the device list for that widget. which could be why its giving me issues ;)

[Sendero]

enumerated widgets? my zwave driver doesnt appear in the device list for that widget. which could be why its giving me issues ;)

Hmm, guess the ZWave driver is a bit diff than the Insteon one. For the Insteon one you define 'fields' using a data file (basically fieldname, InsteonAddress) and those fields show up through the driver.

When you use the CQC Field Browser and view one of the ZWave fields, does it show it having a Range set for it? All my Insteon fields have "Range:0,100" defined. The Type is MEng.Card4. Looking at the documentation for ZWave I wonder if the fact that the field can be either bool or Card is why its not showing up in EnumeratedImage widget.

[Dean Roddey]

Actually only an enumerated string field should show up as a target for an enum image widget.

[jkmonroe]

so does this mean that I will not be able to do this with ZWave? what about using checkboxes?

[Jonathan]

I have a set of 5 enumerated image widgets on my UI. They are all bound to the Insteon.I think you are actually referring to the Mapped Image widget, not the enumerated widget...

[jkmonroe]

jonathan ... thanks for the info! mapped image widget worked perfectly. :-D

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/19.jpg

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/20.jpg

[Dean Roddey]

Yes, the mapped image widget is for mapping to an arbitrary set of values. Enumerated widgets are just for enumerated fields where the values are already pre-known and it just makes it more convenient for you since I can present the values to you and let you select the images for them easily.

[rdf]

You are some smart rascals. The new light switches and LEDs look great, jkm. By the time I get moved/house built, you guys are going to have everything I want to do already figured out. (I like that idea.)

[Sendero]

I think you are actually referring to the Mapped Image widget, not the enumerated widget...
Actually I was referring to a Boolean Image widget :-) Sorry.

[jkmonroe]

another update ... idea courtesy of Jonathan ...

on the main template, i created a transparent cmd button. behind that i used the current weather icon. this way the button that is used to bring up the forecast actually shows you what the weather is!

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/22.jpg

[Dean Roddey]

You might want to look at that icon site that Simon linked to the other day:

http://www.vistaicons.com/

You might be able to get some nice icons from there to use in this kind of style.

[jkmonroe]

yeah, thats a great place for icons ... i have used a couple from there ... the lock seemed to look pretty decent in this to bring up my overview screen:

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/23.jpg

[Squintz]

You are becoming a real artist with those designs. I wish I had half your talent.

[sweethip]

looking nice, you have any pics of the audio browser

[jkmonroe]

sure ...

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/3.jpg

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/4.jpg

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/5.jpg

[sweethip]

very nice, would you be sharing your template pack with us:-D

[jkmonroe]

the template pack is already posted ... its in this thread somewhere ... look back a page.

[jkmonroe]

i made a few new icons to try and represent various devices instead of the simple text button. what do you guys think?

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/24.jpg

[noshali]

looks great. I will have to get the n800...good stuff.

[jkmonroe]

the audio icons ... im not sold, but i will leave em for a couple of days to see how they go ...

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/25.jpg

[Sendero]

Do you have any pics on the screens on the device? I'm curious to see how large the icons actually appear on the device?

[sic0048]

JKMonroe - I really like your backgrounds - the simple blue with gray bar.

Could you whip up a 800x600 background a post it if it's not too much trouble? I need to create this size IV for my kitchen touchscreen.

Many thanks,

[jkmonroe]

Do you have any pics on the screens on the device? I'm curious to see how large the icons actually appear on the device?

here you go ... wish i could take pictures without shaking though :)

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/size-1.jpg

http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/size-2.jpg

[Rolecgroup]

Nice looking sets of icons - are you making them yourself or do you have somewhere you are getting them from ?

Would you be willing to share any of them ?


Thanks



Dean.

[jkmonroe]

the icons come from various places then i edit them to my liking. i have the originals that i used, so if you would like any just let me know.

[Rolecgroup]

the icons come from various places then i edit them to my liking. i have the originals that i used, so if you would like any just let me know.

I would certainly be interested in any that you are willing to share - you seem to have one to cover most things audio/movies/lights/home/volume etc.


Thanks



Dean.

[IVB]

if you download and import his templates, you'll have immediate access to all those icons. CQC automatically puts them in the same image directory that jkmonroe used, so you can re-use at will.

[jkmonroe]

I would certainly be interested in any that you are willing to share - you seem to have one to cover most things audio/movies/lights/home/volume etc.

IVB is right ... if you import my template pack, you will get all of my images. but i went ahead and zipped up my PNG folder that has the icons and images that i used to make these screens.

you can download the original png files here: download (http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/png.zip)

and you can download my template pack here: download (http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/nokia-800x480.zip)

i have a few hundred or so more that i did not use or zip up. i will do that shortly and post those as well in case some folks are interested.

[jkmonroe]

here are some more icons:

download (http://www.jkmcomputers.com/cqc/iv/nokia/more.zip)

[Rolecgroup]

You're a fine man jkmonroe - expect those icons to be coming to a Touchscreen near me real soon:-)




Dean.

[NishanF]

jkmonroe,

I know that in the past you have been using thin clients connected to your planar touchscreens. I see that you are selling some of the WYSE clients. Are you still using thin clients, or moving on. I've been so happy with the RDP connection on the nokia 770, that I'm thinking of deploying more thin client/touchscreen solutions around the house.

thanks,
nishan

[jkmonroe]

jkmonroe,

I know that in the past you have been using thin clients connected to your planar touchscreens. I see that you are selling some of the WYSE clients. Are you still using thin clients, or moving on. I've been so happy with the RDP connection on the nokia 770, that I'm thinking of deploying more thin client/touchscreen solutions around the house.

thanks,
nishan

oh, im still using thin clients ... thats what the nokia really is acting like. :-D

i have the Wyse terminals in the for sale section that i am still getting rid of. ive just moved to the nokias and a single 7" touchscreen.

[jdmontague]

Have any of you tried seamlessRDP (http://www.cendio.com/seamlessrdp/) (on the server) along with rdesktop on the nokia 770?

I just picked up a 770 and installed rdesktop on it. When I try to run rdesktop, I fill in the fields in the connection details box, but when I click on OK, rdesktop closes up and goes away. Any hints? What are you putting in for the "RDP Server" and "Domain" fields?

Thanks!
.... Jim

[jkmonroe]

Have any of you tried seamlessRDP (http://www.cendio.com/seamlessrdp/) (on the server) along with rdesktop on the nokia 770?

I just picked up a 770 and installed rdesktop on it. When I try to run rdesktop, I fill in the fields in the connection details box, but when I click on OK, rdesktop closes up and goes away. Any hints? What are you putting in for the "RDP Server" and "Domain" fields?

Thanks!
.... Jim

use the server IP and not the server name. i dont have anything in the domain field.

[ctay]

Also make sure that you are connected to your wireless before you try to RDP. Mine doesn't auto connect like it should...

[sic0048]

Make sure your 770 doesn't have the "disconnect when cover on device" option checked as well. It is listed on the Control Panel/Connectivity page. Also make sure your idle times are listed for unlimited for WLAN.

I just checked my 770 to get the specific location for these options while posting here and my current connection has been on for 66 hours and 45 minutes. So there shouldn't be a lot of disconnecting. Now I have not been running RDP the whole time as my CQC setup isn't ready yet, but I have been playing with RDP from time to time.

Leaving the WLAN connection open all the time does not seem to reduce the battery life a noticeable amount. It's been almost two days since I last recharged and I am still at 50% on the battery meter. Now I haven't been actively using the 770 that much during the last two days, but it has certainly been connected and in an "instant on" status with good standby battery life.

[jdmontague]

Thanks for the help jkmonroe, ctay, and Brian (sic0048). All three of you pointed out things that I had set/done wrong. I'm connected now to a Vista machine. Time to hit the Interface Editor!

Any CQCers that are trying to use the Nokia 770 with a Vista Ultimate machine, there is a RDP hack that you will need to use. If anyone needs it, let me know and I will post the files and instructions to this forum.

Thanks!!
.... Jim

[sic0048]

Well it is funny that right after I posted, the 770 did a reset and told me the battery was low. So clearly the battery indicator isn't all that accurate. I think most people will need to recharge the battery every night. Still, that isn't bad IMHO. Oh well, connected now for the last 1 hour 5 minutes.......

[Stipe]

Got the 770 today and have it controlling my TV via IR. Loving it :)

[jkmonroe]

IR via CQC and the USBUIRT?

[jdmontague]

Do any of you using the 770 have it set up to automagically make the connection to your wireless network and bring up rdesktop? If not, how well have your spouses/families dealt with all the steps required to bring up rdesktop?

How long do your batteries last? The manual says not to leave it on the charger when it is fully charged. Does anyone know if that still applies if the 770 is left on?

Thanks,
.... Jim

[jkmonroe]

Do any of you using the 770 have it set up to automagically make the connection to your wireless network and bring up rdesktop? If not, how well have your spouses/families dealt with all the steps required to bring up rdesktop?

no, no. show them the steps ... its really not tough. most of the time the device is on and connected, so its a non issue.

How long do your batteries last? The manual says not to leave it on the charger when it is fully charged. Does anyone know if that still applies if the 770 is left on?

when my nokia is 'on' and i plug it in, it will charge properly. the dont leave it on the charger thing is (i think) just a precautionary measure so you dont kill the battery faster. batteries last days unless im using it constantly (think party).

[jdmontague]

Thanks for the info. Sounds like I need to replace the battery (in the used one I just bought). Battery only lasts a few hours when it's left on.

.... Jim

[jkmonroe]

left on? on and active, or on and goes into sleep? mine will goto sleep after 10 seconds or so which i think is what makes the battery last longer. if yours is on all the time, then a few hours is about right.

[Stipe]

IR via CQC and the USBUIRT?

Yeah, just an old TV, VCR and DVD player... plenty of fun!

[ismewor]

Good work JK

[ctay]

So JK, after a couple of weeks with the 770 what do you think?

[jdmontague]

left on? on and active, or on and goes into sleep? mine will goto sleep after 10 seconds or so which i think is what makes the battery last longer. if yours is on all the time, then a few hours is about right.

Mine will go to sleep if I have no connection made or have a connection made but no RDesktop running. If I have RDeskTop running, it doesn't appear to go to sleep (the battery runs out quickly). Is there something special that you are doing to get RDesktop (or IV) to let the 770 sleep?

I am getting it to go to sleep by putting the cover on.

Thanks,
.... Jim

[jkmonroe]

So JK, after a couple of weeks with the 770 what do you think?

loving it ... no more fixed touchscreens for me (except in the kitchen). every facet of my system is working with the nokia, including the CAB.

im still tweaking a little bit and need to figure out some logic to get a few zones working properly, but other than that its working great!

[jkmonroe]

Mine will go to sleep if I have no connection made or have a connection made but no RDesktop running. If I have RDeskTop running, it doesn't appear to go to sleep (the battery runs out quickly). Is there something special that you are doing to get RDesktop (or IV) to let the 770 sleep?

I am getting it to go to sleep by putting the cover on.

Thanks,
.... Jim


mine will simply goto sleep even when running RDP. im about to run out the door but will post my sleep settings soon as i get back.

[Mike Boulanger]

Just to be clear, once the 770 goes into sleep mode, when it comes back is rdesktop running and connected still?

What scenario would require you to re-connect?

[sic0048]

Just to be clear, once the 770 goes into sleep mode, when it comes back is rdesktop running and connected still?

What scenario would require you to re-connect?

It has been my experience that RDP is always connected. When you touch the screen to wake it up, the RDP screen will come up as expected about 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, RDP is still connected, but the Nokia desktop page comes up and you have to click on the "<<" button in the lower left of the page to switch back to the RDP page.

There appears to be no rhyme or reason why the RDP page doesn't pull up 100% of the time, but it is no big deal to hit the << button to bring it back.

[sic0048]

Dean, I think these posts related to the 770 are very important, but might be lost inside of JKMonroe's thread. Is it possible to create a new thread on the Nokia 770 and move these post (or copy them) over to the new thread. Of course I would want to make sure that is OK with JKMonroe too.

[Mike Boulanger]

It has been my experience that RDP is always connected. When you touch the screen to wake it up, the RDP screen will come up as expected about 80% of the time. The other 20% of the time, RDP is still connected, but the Nokia desktop page comes up and you have to click on the "<<" button in the lower left of the page to switch back to the RDP page.

There appears to be no rhyme or reason why the RDP page doesn't pull up 100% of the time, but it is no big deal to hit the << button to bring it back.

This is a pretty big deal for me, since I have enough oddball things for my family to deal with as it is... ;)

Do any of these tablet devices (the Samsung maybe?) come back from sleep any more reliably?

[jkmonroe]

Dean, I think these posts related to the 770 are very important, but might be lost inside of JKMonroe's thread. Is it possible to create a new thread on the Nokia 770 and move these post (or copy them) over to the new thread. Of course I would want to make sure that is OK with JKMonroe too.

fine by me ... i think having a dedicated thread to the nokias wouldnt be a bad idea at all ... and to go a step further, a complete subforum dedicated to interface viewers - nokias, rad i/o, touchtronix, mini-ITX, Q1's, etc

[sic0048]

JKMonroe - can you do me a favor. I would like to use your alphabet and genre popups, but I would like a larger black background so I can make the letters bigger. Can you edit your background and send me the same width background, but maybe three times as tall?

I'm thinking of having two lines of letters sized a little larger.

Thanks,

you can send to brett brian at juno dot com (take out all the spaces).

[jkmonroe]

its pretty amazing that once you get to a point with your setup it integrates perfectly into your life. this is the first major change i have made in quite some time (for me). i added an ipod as a controllable source (IR) and made a simple screen to move to the previous or next track and play/pause. simple, but functional...its been great having the ability to drop someones ipod into the dock during a party or what not.

http://jkmonroe.com/cqc/iv/nokia/28.jpg

[SamVimes2]

I'm currently using interfaces i (lightly) derived from yours - can you post an updated template pack with any changes you've made in the last few months?

Thanks!

[Squintz]

I really like the graphics on your interfaces. I think it would be really cool if you could add left and right arrows to the bottom of the interfaces where the icons are so that you could add more icons and scroll through them to select various task. Kind of like the albumn browser but for command button widgets.

[Dean Roddey]

Just make it a toolbar and you can then make it a scrollable list.

[Jonathan]

Just make it a toolbar and you can then make it a scrollable list.
That would work, does anyone have (or might be able to create) some "nice" looking left and right arrow that would fit? I'm thinking for something that is as tall at the images but fairly thin (obviously big enough for a finger though) and probably somewhat semi-transparent.

[CalypsoCowboy]

JK, first of all thanks for providing your templates. It's users like you that make this a create place for information.

I was trying to better understand how you used the mapped image widget for the status of the lights. For some reason when I got your lighting templates it wasn't on there.

So is there one mapped image that has the various light pipe images that goes on top of the switch image or are there mupltiple blue dots that make up the light pipe or do you have the image behind the switch?

Thanks,
Josh

[jkmonroe]

oy, each of those blue dots is a separate image. i used the mapped image widget. there are a total of 9 widgets that range in value from 10% - 90%.

ill try to post the template pack again and link back to it here.

[CalypsoCowboy]

That is what I got working as well.

[sic0048]

JKMonroe,

I am using one of your older designs for my interfaces, but I have a touchscreen now that is running 800x600 instead of the 800x480 for the Nokia. I would like to use the extra realestate for some other things.

Would it be hard to modify this template by extending the gray bar on the left and making the overall size 800x600? If you don't have the time, could you perhaps post the original photoshop file so I could play around with it?

Here is the image that I am talking about.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x46/sic0048/Nokia%20Screens/NokiaMainTemplate.jpg

Thanks!!

[jkmonroe]

good lord ... its been a while since i used those templates. i will dig around and see if i can find them for you.

sorry it took so long to post back ... didnt see the thread :)