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General => Users => Topic started by: totallymaxed on April 22, 2009, 05:03:39 pm

Title: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on April 22, 2009, 05:03:39 pm
Would you like to see an Orbiter running on the iPhone/iPod Touch? If you would and you would be prepared to contribute a small amount of money to support this work then vote in this poll.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: hari on April 22, 2009, 07:00:45 pm
let's ask the other way, how much would you pay for an orbiter in the app store?

br, hari
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on April 22, 2009, 07:17:41 pm
let's ask the other way, how much would you pay for an orbiter in the app store?

br, hari

Hmmm...well lets see most iPhone apps cost either 'nothing' or close to it...so I'll be generous and say $20 ;-)

.... think you would get a lot of 'bites' at that price!

Andrew

Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on April 22, 2009, 07:37:59 pm
Once I have MCE up and running, I'd happily spring up to about $50 in the App store to get my iPod touch (and my wide's iPhone) acting as proper orbiters.

:D
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: widescreen on April 22, 2009, 09:14:39 pm
Depends on whether it would use wifi or bluetooth for presence detection (for alarm) and follow me capabilities.   Personally, i would prefer windows mobile 6 orbiter since virtually every carrier has windows mobile phones. I would contribute to that in a minute.   ;D
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on April 22, 2009, 09:24:49 pm
Depends on whether it would use wifi or bluetooth for presence detection (for alarm) and follow me capabilities.   Personally, i would prefer windows mobile 6 orbiter since virtually every carrier has windows mobile phones. I would contribute to that in a minute.   ;D

So thats a 'no' then I guess... ;-)

Start another thread/vote for Windows Mobile 6.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: nite_man on April 22, 2009, 11:45:01 pm
Good idea ... But I think you can find a lot of iPhone volunteers who will make or at least try to do that for glory ;) I'd do that if I'd familiar with iPhone API and would have iPhone :)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on April 22, 2009, 11:54:50 pm
Good idea ... But I think you can find a lot of iPhone volunteers who will make or at least try to do that for glory ;) I'd do that if I'd familiar with iPhone API and would have iPhone :)

To be frank Michael if it was that easy we'd have an iPhone Orbiter already... and we dont ;-)

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: nite_man on April 23, 2009, 12:13:38 am
Quote
To be frank Michael if it was that easy we'd have an iPhone Orbiter already... and we dont ;-)

Then I voting 'Yes' :)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Raul102801 on April 23, 2009, 12:51:19 am
I vote yes... $20 sounds about right for the app store. At that price I would probably purchase 2, 1 for my iphone and 1 for my son's I-touch
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: extremeshannon on April 23, 2009, 03:42:09 am
I would gladdly buy the app or contribute
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: rndinokc on April 23, 2009, 02:10:24 pm
Count me in, $20.00 would be a great price either as a contribution or at the app store.

Randy
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: krys on April 23, 2009, 04:45:16 pm
I voted yes, but also wanted to make sure everyone was aware that the new Iphone OS is coming out in June and Apple opened up bluetooth to the SDK so now we can take advantage for the orbiter or whatever else we could use it for.
-Krys
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: canukguy1974 on April 23, 2009, 05:09:16 pm
 I would pay up to $40 since a Web pad 366 is already $150 on a good day.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on April 23, 2009, 05:12:48 pm
I voted yes, but also wanted to make sure everyone was aware that the new Iphone OS is coming out in June and Apple opened up bluetooth to the SDK so now we can take advantage for the orbiter or whatever else we could use it for.
-Krys

Good point...bluetooth for follow-me might be worth reinvestigating for sure. WiFi for the comms though I think is the best route.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: dlewis on April 23, 2009, 05:14:51 pm
Quote
Good point...bluetooth for follow-me might be worth reinvestigating for sure.

Andrew

+1 vote for bluetooth...
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Purplexus on April 24, 2009, 01:09:00 am
$20 bucks is peanuts for the use of the Iphone or other Windows mobile 6 as an orbiter

Count me in
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on April 24, 2009, 11:59:02 am
Does the iPod Touch have Bluetooth? I don't think it does (at least, if it does, I can't find it on mine!)

I only say this because, assuming someone takes this one up, they need to make sure that Bluetooth is used if present, but that the app will still work without. I don't want to be accused of pointing out the obvious, but any developer needs to have access to both ;) As other have said, WiFi for data and Btuetooth for follow-me (if present).

So, when should I start checking the Appstore to download this? ;D
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on April 24, 2009, 12:47:28 pm
Does the iPod Touch have Bluetooth? I don't think it does (at least, if it does, I can't find it on mine!)

I only say this because, assuming someone takes this one up, they need to make sure that Bluetooth is used if present, but that the app will still work without. I don't want to be accused of pointing out the obvious, but any developer needs to have access to both ;) As other have said, WiFi for data and Btuetooth for follow-me (if present).

So, when should I start checking the Appstore to download this? ;D

Currently only the iPhone has BlueTooth. So my thinking is that we would use Wifi for the network connection like we do with the WebDT's and the Nokia N810's etc. We may be able to use the BlueTooth capability in the iPhone to trigger proximity to an MD and therefore FollowMe.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Marie.O on April 24, 2009, 01:16:59 pm
I don't want to be accused of pointing out the obvious, but any developer needs to have access to both ;) As other have said, WiFi for data and Btuetooth for follow-me (if present).

I did the iOrbiter proof-of-concept without any of them. But I would, if you'd send an iPhone and an iPod Touch so I can verify, that my iOrbiter is working on both. PM if you need my german postal address.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: cyf4746 on April 25, 2009, 10:16:58 am
Any plans for Orbiter for Win CE 5.0 and 6.0? Please take note I mean WinCE not Win Mobile? The existing Orbiter download from web admin is not work for Win CE 5.0 and 6.0. And, the WEBPAD 366 orbiter develop by Thom is a good choice for users. But the device already face off from the manufacturer.  Why don;t we develop an Orbiter for most of the MID can use? So that users from Iphone, Winmobile, WinCE, and ArmLinux can use it. Just a suggestion.... ;) 
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Marie.O on April 25, 2009, 10:35:07 am
Why don;t we develop an Orbiter for most of the MID can use? So that users from Iphone, Winmobile, WinCE, and ArmLinux can use it. Just a suggestion.... ;) 

Well, there is a simple reason.

We have, up to now, about 112000 times people tried to install LinuxMCE (or its predecessor PlutoHome). But right now, we only have a handful (and I mean that literally) of people doing development work. We have tons of people coming up with suggestions. Mind you, I do not have a problem with people suggesting stuff, infact, I have done so myself on a couple of occasions.

Our problem is, we do need more people doing development work. And if you would have taken a look at the current iOrbiter proof of concept, you would have realized, how little that thing has to do with the iPhone or iPod Touch, and further more, how little it has to do with being able to program. The iOrbiter was created without a lot of programming expertise, no compilation is involved, and the result can be used by anyone with a fairly recent browser on their device.

Even if the name suggests otherwise, the iOrbiter PoC is more about having a new web based Orbiter, that is snappier than any other Orbiter we currently have, than about anything else.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: chrisbirkinshaw on April 29, 2009, 10:34:06 am
If this supports using the cellular data networks when away from home, and eventually the background notifications in the iPhone 3.0 software, then I would happily pay up to $50 for this app.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: richard.e.morton on May 03, 2009, 04:57:13 pm
similar thread started for Andoid phones. rational is that it will be supported by many more companies to meet more peoples needs.
http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=8070.0
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on June 11, 2009, 04:59:36 pm
Has anyone started work on this?

Just curious as to progress :D
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on June 11, 2009, 05:01:06 pm
Has anyone started work on this?

Just curious as to progress :D

No...not yet.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: davegravy on June 17, 2009, 09:20:00 pm
I'd contribute $40

My iPhone 3GS 32GB is on its way  ;D

Am I allowed to ask if development will be going ahead, and if so when it will begin?  ;D
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: dlewis on June 17, 2009, 11:26:48 pm
Yes, you are allowed to ask. We're weighing the options for development (i.e. dev environment to create iPod/Phone app, time involved, costs, etc...).
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on June 24, 2009, 09:44:28 pm
Ok,

I'm probably biting off WAY more than I can chew here, but EVERYONE who has (or it would seem has heard of) an iPhone or an iPod Touch thinks this is a good idea, yet NO ONE appears to have taken up the challenge.

So....

I'm currently trying to set up an iPod/iPhone development environment. I have a Laptop for work and spend quite a bit of time on planes etc., so intend to set up a development MCE system in VMWare on that. IF I can get it all working, I'll take a stab at this. That seems to be Thom's philosophy and who am I to argue with the great man himself?

BUT...

1) PLEASE, if you are an experienced iPod/iPhone developer that has considered looking at this, don't let my post stop you.
2) I will be trying to learn about 5000 things at the same time, so it may be a while
3) PLEASE, if you are an experienced iPod/iPhone developer that has considered looking at this, don't let my post stop you.
4) I need some pointers to resoirces explaining how the orbiters communicate with the core. (DCE messages sent / received, format for the UI skin etc)
5) PLEASE, if you are an experienced iPod/iPhone developer that has considered looking at this, don't let my post stop you.
6) Any help anyone can offer will be gratefully received.
7) PLEASE, if you are an experienced iPod/iPhone developer that has considered looking at this, don't let my post stop you.

Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on June 26, 2009, 01:18:16 am
when

IF, please, IF!!!
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: grunt on August 18, 2009, 05:51:51 am
Ok,

I'm probably biting off WAY more than I can chew here, but EVERYONE who has (or it would seem has heard of) an iPhone or an iPod Touch thinks this is a good idea, yet NO ONE appears to have taken up the challenge.

So....
....
So how's it going?
I finally got LinuxMCE installed under VMWare. Doesn't do much yet, but installed and went through all the set up and can play with things using the arrow keys on the keyboard. fun. Running it under Mac OS 10.5.8 on a Core Duo 20" iMac with 2GB Ram.

If you install the developer tools on mac os x (may have to get a free developer license from developer.apple.com), there is a simulator located at your-HD/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/Applications/iPhone Simulator.app. In case you do not have a touch device. I currently do not, but plan on getting one shortly, when the new ones are released.

I will pitch in a few lines of code etc if I can on the project, but till then, there is always the web browser built into the iPhone / iPod Touch.

I will have to do some research on how the tilt API's work, and if it is just sending messages to the server (right), then it shouldn't be that hard to set something like that up for these devices and get it working. Can even think of a few clever ways to keep things quick and simple, which is the point ;).
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on August 18, 2009, 06:51:16 am
why don't you spend some time investigating how BD, DCE, et al work, before worrying about whether you can tilt the phone to make it do stuff?

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: has007 on August 25, 2009, 09:40:04 am
let's ask the other way, how much would you pay for an orbiter in the app store?

br, hari

Hmmm...well lets see most iPhone apps cost either 'nothing' or close to it...so I'll be generous and say $20 ;-)

.... think you would get a lot of 'bites' at that price!

Andrew





isnt 20$ too low?30$ atleast you should pay.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: hari on August 25, 2009, 02:24:45 pm
kinda funny, I did a proof of concept with a friend, sending DCE messages from the iphone. It took us less than an evening to control the lights with a few buttons. Sure, this is no full Orbtier yet, but I really wonder why nobody takes some effort here if so many ppl want this iOrbiter..

br, Hari
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: krys on August 25, 2009, 03:46:11 pm
Hari,
Did you do it as an app that you built with the SDK, or a web app? I would be more that willing to spend some time making an actual iphone app but I would need OSX to run the SDK and i dont have the $$ to drop on a MAC.
-Krys
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: hari on August 25, 2009, 03:47:26 pm
real app. I use a MSI Wind U100, runs OSX fine (and yes, I have a licensed copy).

br, Hari
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on August 25, 2009, 04:02:01 pm
Hari,

All that is stopping me from having a stab at this is a lack of a Mac on which to program. I've seen various mentions online on how to get MacOS to run in VMWare etc., but so far I haven't been able to get one to work. The alternative is to use one of the Windows-based SDKs, but AFAIK these only work with jailbroken iPhones / iPods, which is no good at all.

Can you advise on how I can program using a Windows box for the iPhone? Maybe I'm just putting the wrong search into Google! For Example, what is MSI Wind U100?
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: davegravy on August 25, 2009, 11:03:07 pm
Supposing your hardware happened to be supported by OSx86, and some electromagnetic interference happened to arrange the bits in one of your hard drives to mirror one such distribution...
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: hari on August 26, 2009, 12:43:04 am
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=msi+wind+u100+osx
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on August 26, 2009, 09:46:28 am
and some electromagnetic interference happened to arrange the bits in one of your hard drives to mirror one such distribution...
Errr, what? You been taking something :o
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=msi+wind+u100+osx
Ok, I suppose I asked for that  ::) However 95,300 hits  :-[ I was kind of hoping for a set of instructions that someone had verified worked. (I've followed MANY HowTos that don't work in the end!  >:()Never mind, thanks for the lead - I'll return IF I manage to get something working!
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: hari on August 26, 2009, 10:54:48 am
rumor says the best way is to use a EFI boot CD and the retail OS-X install dvd.
br, Hari
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on August 26, 2009, 11:36:58 am
Thanks!  :D
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: davegravy on August 26, 2009, 03:43:11 pm
and some electromagnetic interference happened to arrange the bits in one of your hard drives to mirror one such distribution...
Errr, what? You been taking something :o
http://lmgtfy.com/?q=msi+wind+u100+osx
Ok, I suppose I asked for that  ::) However 95,300 hits  :-[ I was kind of hoping for a set of instructions that someone had verified worked. (I've followed MANY HowTos that don't work in the end!  >:()Never mind, thanks for the lead - I'll return IF I manage to get something working!

Not sure if you're being sarcastic. As I understand it, it's illegal to install MacOSX on pc hardware (partly due to DMCA). If it happened by fluke however, you'd be off the hook.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wierdbeard65 on August 26, 2009, 04:19:46 pm
Not sure if you're being sarcastic. As I understand it, it's illegal to install MacOSX on pc hardware (partly due to DMCA). If it happened by fluke however, you'd be off the hook.
Oh! I see.

Humm, well looking at various sites (including some of the 95,300) opinion seems divided on that one. Certainly a licensed copy of the OS is required, but once you have this, some posts suggest you're home and dry.

As I can't afford to:-

a) Buy a mac
b) Spend any time in jail / pay hefty fines
c) Spend a huge amount of time and effort (and money) just trying to get a useable build environment up and running. (For me, useable means it MUST be based on my windoze laptop.)

I guess I'd better play safe and back out of the running for this one. Sorry guys.

If things change and I'm able to get a working and useable Mac in the future, I'll re-visit this (or if Apple release an SDK for Windoze).

In the meantime, if someone else manages it and puts it up on AppStore, I'll gratefully download a copy!
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: davegravy on August 26, 2009, 04:44:48 pm
I'm in about the same predicament. My girlfriend's co-worker is an iphone app developer... maybe i'll see if I can entice him.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: hari on August 26, 2009, 04:45:47 pm
It depends where you are located. DMCA is US stuff, and e.g. the EULA in the box that wants to prevent you from installing this on non-apple computers is invalid in germany. Usage of the EFI boot cd can be "special", i did not try that myself, just heard rumors that it shall work fine.

br, Hari
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: davegravy on September 17, 2009, 04:41:24 pm
How much more interest/money is needed to make this enough of a priority that it gets somewhat immediate attention? I see from the svn that it hasn't been touched in 5 months.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Marie.O on September 17, 2009, 05:01:38 pm
How much more interest/money is needed to make this enough of a priority that it gets somewhat immediate attention? I see from the svn that it hasn't been touched in 5 months.

Well, it is not on the top list of priorities. And it won't until after the release of 810. At least from me. Also, I don't own such a device, so for me, it was a pure fun exercise.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: nasmith1985 on September 26, 2009, 08:32:11 pm
Just curious if any headway had been made on this project. I've never programmed for the iPhone before, but am interested in learning. I would definitely be interested in an orbiter for my iPhone.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Marie.O on September 26, 2009, 09:57:22 pm
no
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: mardibloke on September 29, 2009, 06:50:07 pm

Start another thread/vote for Windows Mobile 6.

Andrew

Not only a 'few' Windows Mobile devices already out there, but cheap to pick up a decent Windows Mobile device second hand.  Or even pick up new Windows Mobile devices that have been out of a couple of years, cheap enough.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: wunderfrekk on October 11, 2009, 10:31:39 am
I'll be happy to make the friggin' thing for free...
Adobe just released Flash CS5 and one feature is to generate an Iphone/iPod app automatically.
Shouldn't be too hard to embed a search for linuxMCE on the local network to the source...

But hey... I'll also be happy if someone beats me to it... Hehe
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on October 11, 2009, 12:51:43 pm
I'll be happy to make the friggin' thing for free...
Adobe just released Flash CS5 and one feature is to generate an Iphone/iPod app automatically.
Shouldn't be too hard to embed a search for linuxMCE on the local network to the source...

But hey... I'll also be happy if someone beats me to it... Hehe

Go for it...but don't underestimate the complexity of the job the Orbiter does ;-)

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on October 11, 2009, 02:34:19 pm
Also keep in mind, that mobile orbiters currently REQUIRE that the phone in question support RFCOMM in the bluetooth stack, to transfer all data.

This is a much bigger task than would first appear.

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on October 11, 2009, 03:17:29 pm
Also keep in mind, that mobile orbiters currently REQUIRE that the phone in question support RFCOMM in the bluetooth stack, to transfer all data.

This is a much bigger task than would first appear.

-Thom

I would suggest that on iPhone/iPod Touch that WiFi is the better route to go.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on October 11, 2009, 03:31:05 pm
You'll lose the presence detection/follow me.

In the end, a hybrid will need to be developed for Mobile Internet Devices (MID), which I also place iPhone in this category, which will use the Bluetooth, talking to the Orbiter PlugIn for presence detection, and using wifi for everyting else.

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on October 11, 2009, 03:50:48 pm
You'll lose the presence detection/follow me.

In the end, a hybrid will need to be developed for Mobile Internet Devices (MID), which I also place iPhone in this category, which will use the Bluetooth, talking to the Orbiter PlugIn for presence detection, and using wifi for everyting else.

-Thom

Sure we loose BlueTooth presence detection...but like the N800 we gain more usability and reliability too.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on October 11, 2009, 03:52:02 pm
again, read what else I put in that paragraph. I have a solution for that.

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on October 11, 2009, 04:49:10 pm
again, read what else I put in that paragraph. I have a solution for that.

-Thom

Yep...Hybrid is cool. But lets get an Orbiter up on the iPhone as the top priority ;-)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: craasch on October 13, 2009, 05:26:46 pm
kinda funny, I did a proof of concept with a friend, sending DCE messages from the iphone. It took us less than an evening to control the lights with a few buttons. Sure, this is no full Orbtier yet, but I really wonder why nobody takes some effort here if so many ppl want this iOrbiter..

br, Hari

Can you share any of the code as to how you formatted the DCE messages, or point me to some docs.  I've just had trouble getting over the initial hurdle of understanding the communication methods.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: colinjones on October 13, 2009, 11:08:49 pm
Using the DCE approach on the iPhone would be nice.... and make for a very nice, fast UI, that's retargetable, etc. However, it isn't just a matter of a few DCE messages, we are talking about a _lot_ ... there are thousands of different messages you can send or receive (commands and events), many of which would be needed to implement the Orbiter on iPhone... and in addition you would need to implement the entire Orbiter UI engine so that all the screens can be generated for it and then it can read these and display them on the device.

None of this is a small undertaking, and really does an iPhone specific Orbiter need to be _that_ retargetable?! By all means, I would like to see such an Orbiter, but compared with the "standard" method of building a Mobile Orbiter which is just a small piece of code responsible for receiving PNG images over RFCOMM/BT and sending back button presses/screen touches, the standard method would be a much shorter learning curve for you and very much quicker to implement! Perhaps start with that, and once you've learned DCE and the screen generation functionality a bit more, move on and implement the "smart" version?

Its also worth noting, that although building a "full" Orbiter for iPhone (or any other device) dealing with DCE messages is a big ask... there is nothing stopping someone using DCE messages over WiFi on such a device to trigger simple tasks... that would be very easy. In other words some simple, preconfigured tools for triggering specific DCE messages, not an Orbiter at all... that's the beauty of DCE, an Orbiter is a rolls royce example of DCE usage, but it is the DCE system that is doing the clever stuff, and you can hook into that using simple DCE commands (perhaps an iPhone app that you install and preconfigure with a couple of lights, so that you can hit the app and turn on an off a few lights around the house, etc) ... porting messagesend would be a good start :)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: hari on October 14, 2009, 01:02:21 pm
check the wiki, DCE messages are explained in the developers guide.

br Hari
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Marie.O on October 14, 2009, 02:25:23 pm
... porting messagesend would be a good start :)

If you look at the iOrbiter source code, there is a small messagesend function in PHP code.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: zekeallmon on October 20, 2009, 04:03:13 am
Well, i would buy an Ipod touch, then pay $25 for the prog.  I would hope that a program after that release, or around the same time, would be available for the blackberry storm2, when it comes out soon.  Thank god that uses wifi..

buying a ipod touch/ paying $25 would be cheaper than buying a 7'' touch screen orbiter that thom uses in his youtube videos, i guess, lol.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on October 20, 2009, 04:51:19 am
hmm. yet another person who underestimates the cost of development.

wonderful..

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: joederp on October 20, 2009, 06:34:06 am
Yes. Put me down for $20.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: nite_man on October 20, 2009, 09:32:47 am
Probably I missed something ... But I think it's pretty easy to develop Orbiter for iPhone :) The iPhone owners with Apple SDK background should do it. As it was done for JavaMO or Maemo Orbiter. Personally I don't have iPhone and won't buy it for sure. I'm Maemo fan. So, I'm working with Maemo Orbiter and trying to improve it just because I have personal interest to do it. Nobody contribute me for it except 'thanks' from the users ;)

So, if you have iPhone, SDK and like LMCE go ahead and implement iOrbiter. Don't wait till somebody will contribute you ;)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on October 20, 2009, 12:18:03 pm
currently the blocker for mobile orbiter support on the iphone comes down to lack of proper RFCOMM support in the stack.

A standard orbiter needs much more work.

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on October 20, 2009, 12:31:15 pm
currently the blocker for mobile orbiter support on the iphone comes down to lack of proper RFCOMM support in the stack.

A standard orbiter needs much more work.

-Thom

I dont think thats true of WiFi...as there are plenty of example iPhone apps doing IP comms out there.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on October 20, 2009, 12:35:12 pm
Andrew... It's not about that. (trust me, I was about to write something a lot more caustic)

The issue is, we have two different orbiter code bases:

(1) Orbiter, which has a ton of code attached to it, we'd need to write at the very least a new rendering class to talk CoreGraphics.
(2) Mobile Orbiter..much simpler, but only works over bluetooth, and RFCOMM is required for the stack.

So please, do not try to incite the argument further!

Somebody needs to write a rendering subclass for Orbiter, or convince Apple to actually do proper RFCOMM support in their bluetooth stack.

I am _VERY_ tired of repeating this ad nauseaum and really wish people would just dig in and help make this possible. I CAN'T DO IT ALL ON MY OWN!

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on October 20, 2009, 12:58:21 pm
Andrew... It's not about that. (trust me, I was about to write something a lot more caustic)

The issue is, we have two different orbiter code bases:

(1) Orbiter, which has a ton of code attached to it, we'd need to write at the very least a new rendering class to talk CoreGraphics.
(2) Mobile Orbiter..much simpler, but only works over bluetooth, and RFCOMM is required for the stack.

So please, do not try to incite the argument further!

Somebody needs to write a rendering subclass for Orbiter, or convince Apple to actually do proper RFCOMM support in their bluetooth stack.

I am _VERY_ tired of repeating this ad nauseaum and really wish people would just dig in and help make this possible. I CAN'T DO IT ALL ON MY OWN!

-Thom

Look you and i have different views on this...I'm not 'inciting' an argument at all. But as I have said before, and I firmly believe, that the MO is not necessarily the right approach for iPhone. We see iPhone as a rich device that has a whole aproach to Apps (and their UI) that is very different. We just dont see that the MO is the right approach on iPhone at all. We'd like to see a nicely crafted iPhone app that feels like an iPhone app to users and exploits the iPhone's UI paradigm fully (and respectfully). In our view doing anything less on the iPhone would not be a great idea. It would be like porting a Windoze style App to the Mac...and not doing a real Mac UI...how many times have we all seen that in the past.

I 100% agree that people need to come forward and put their personal time & commitment into this, and other aspects, of LinuxMCE. No one is asking or expecting you to do everything...it seems that for the most part it is a 'self imposed' state of mind you impose on yourself! By all means encourage people to see your perspective and get involved...but understand that there are other 'perspectives' too and although they may appear to be at odds with yours they can co-exist here.

All the best

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: joederp on October 20, 2009, 07:32:31 pm
So...back to the original premise...Thom, do you want me to set up a ChipIn for this project and all who are willing to contribute can do so to pay for your time?  :)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on October 20, 2009, 07:43:24 pm
I won't be able to work on it, perhaps someone else can take it up. I've got so much other stuff on my plate.

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on October 21, 2009, 10:11:58 am
So...back to the original premise...Thom, do you want me to set up a ChipIn for this project and all who are willing to contribute can do so to pay for your time?  :)

The reason I kicked off this thread was to measure peoples interest in the iPhone as an Orbiter and also to start a discussion about what an iPhone Orbiter should be... and hopefully to find a group of Forum members who could run with it and develop it. The objective was not to load Thom up with yet another piece of code to develop :-)

We need to find people have the skills to develop for iPhone... or have the motivation to learn that skill. It seems that there are a few Forum members who may have that interest...hopefully they will step up and run with this.

All the best

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: joederp on October 22, 2009, 03:59:00 am
Sorry, that was totally my bad, I should've clicked back to the OP & seen it was you, Andrew, not Thom. With all the cool stuff Thom's been crankin' out, I assumed it was him while reading the n-th page of replies  :-[

I'll come right out & state my caste...Linux programming know-how is an infant skill on my end, but I got plenty-a-dough to help you guys out.  ;)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: dlewis on October 22, 2009, 05:13:33 am
Motivation to get the iPhone/iPod application created sooner? http://appsfire.com/appstar
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on November 15, 2009, 05:43:28 pm
Andrew,

The reason I kicked off this thread was to measure peoples interest in the iPhone as an Orbiter and also to start a discussion about what an iPhone Orbiter should be... and hopefully to find a group of Forum members who could run with it and develop it.

I have bought the SDK for this, and started learning cocoa. Already got a (very stupid) app which allows me to execute scenarios (via the web gui). Yes, I know it is not the right way, but one needs to start learning somewhere. And I find it very useful already. I am willing to contribute some time (I don't have a lot) this winter to learn more and build a nicer solution.


Does anyone have the skills, time and desire to make the server-side of mobile orbiter work with bonjour/TCP instead of RFCOMM ?
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on November 15, 2009, 06:43:05 pm
Andrew,

The reason I kicked off this thread was to measure peoples interest in the iPhone as an Orbiter and also to start a discussion about what an iPhone Orbiter should be... and hopefully to find a group of Forum members who could run with it and develop it.

I have bought the SDK for this, and started learning cocoa. Already got a (very stupid) app which allows me to execute scenarios (via the web gui). Yes, I know it is not the right way, but one needs to start learning somewhere. And I find it very useful already. I am willing to contribute some time (I don't have a lot) this winter to learn more and build a nicer solution.

  • I agree with Thom that a full orbiter would be WAY too complicated for newbies like me to implement. LinuxMCE would run on quantum computers before I get close.
  • I also would love a fast, native iphone app, even if it has less functionality than a full orbiter. (e.g. text only)
  • Using mobile orbiter could be a great first step though, and I am ok with that, if we could run it over TCP instead of RFCOMM

Does anyone have the skills, time and desire to make the server-side of mobile orbiter work with bonjour/TCP instead of RFCOMM ?

Great to hear your digging into how iPhone apps are built... great news.

However we believe there maybe some significant gains to be had from separating the Orbiter UI from the way it connects/interacts with the backend DCErouter etc. We definitely feel, and in that sense agree with thom, that implementing the monolithic Orbiter on the iPhone (or any other platform) id not the ideal approach at all. Separating the Orbiter UI from the backend seems the right approach to us as it then makes the UI frontend something that can be built in almost any language you choose to use.

Separating the two is not a trivial task as they are totally intertwined currently...the current Orbiter is somewhat of a 'hack' in that respect. Anyway this needs some more discussion and planning but this approach is one we feel is 'right'.

All the best


Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: vato4ever on November 15, 2009, 08:09:34 pm
i say thats a yes $20 to $25, no arguments, i'll gladly go for it.

i'm still on symbian phone, but few others would be happy lot many others.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: chrisbirkinshaw on November 23, 2009, 02:12:35 pm
How about adding a REST interface onto the web site? It would be easy then to make client devices on all platforms.

Regards,

Chris
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Marie.O on November 25, 2009, 11:08:27 am
How about adding a REST interface onto the web site? It would be easy then to make client devices on all platforms.

There is already a feature request ticket open for something similar.

http://svn.linuxmce.org/trac.cgi/ticket/354 (http://svn.linuxmce.org/trac.cgi/ticket/354)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: cirion on November 30, 2009, 10:35:05 am
Look you and i have different views on this...I'm not 'inciting' an argument at all. But as I have said before, and I firmly believe, that the MO is not necessarily the right approach for iPhone. We see iPhone as a rich device that has a whole aproach to Apps (and their UI) that is very different. We just dont see that the MO is the right approach on iPhone at all. We'd like to see a nicely crafted iPhone app that feels like an iPhone app to users and exploits the iPhone's UI paradigm fully (and respectfully). In our view doing anything less on the iPhone would not be a great idea. It would be like porting a Windoze style App to the Mac...and not doing a real Mac UI...how many times have we all seen that in the past.
I agree that MO should not be used as is on iPhone.

I have been using XBMC for a while now (Still using my LinuxMCE Core as a NAS and dualbooting my MD's as XBMC/MD exept for the diskless ones).
There is a iPhone/iPodTouch remote app for XBMC and it works very well for XBMC.

I'm not saying that this is the only way to do it, just that it is a good indication on how it can be done...

They have 2 videos on their site, showing off both XBMC and the remote:
http://remote.collect3.com.au/
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: totallymaxed on November 30, 2009, 02:49:35 pm
Look you and i have different views on this...I'm not 'inciting' an argument at all. But as I have said before, and I firmly believe, that the MO is not necessarily the right approach for iPhone. We see iPhone as a rich device that has a whole aproach to Apps (and their UI) that is very different. We just dont see that the MO is the right approach on iPhone at all. We'd like to see a nicely crafted iPhone app that feels like an iPhone app to users and exploits the iPhone's UI paradigm fully (and respectfully). In our view doing anything less on the iPhone would not be a great idea. It would be like porting a Windoze style App to the Mac...and not doing a real Mac UI...how many times have we all seen that in the past.
I agree that MO should not be used as is on iPhone.

I have been using XBMC for a while now (Still using my LinuxMCE Core as a NAS and dualbooting my MD's as XBMC/MD exept for the diskless ones).
There is a iPhone/iPodTouch remote app for XBMC and it works very well for XBMC.

I'm not saying that this is the only way to do it, just that it is a good indication on how it can be done...

They have 2 videos on their site, showing off both XBMC and the remote:
http://remote.collect3.com.au/

Yes I agree that XBMC iPhone remote looks nicely crafted... and is pretty much in line with what I would think we need from an iPhone Orbiter UI.

Andrew
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: davegravy on December 16, 2009, 04:35:30 pm
Any updates, Caiman?
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Viking on December 16, 2009, 09:34:20 pm
Just to fill in ;) - I would also pay 25$ (or more) for an iPod orbiter if it were available.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: davegravy on January 22, 2010, 05:49:32 am
Bump
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on January 22, 2010, 08:46:35 am
Any updates, Caiman?

Yes, this is still going on with the architecture, feature list defined and the main individual features tested separately. Now I need to put it all together :)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Philosophy on January 28, 2010, 08:43:27 pm
[Disclaimer:  total noob to both LinuxMCE and iPhone/touch apps] 

any complications / possibilities now that the iPad has been announced? 
Or,
does everyone expect the LinuxMCE web interface on the iPad to be much more usable?
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on January 28, 2010, 10:41:46 pm
Once/if I get the iphone version running the way I want, I will probably make an ipad variant, replacing the navigation controllers with a split view controller.

But the ipad is a different beast altogether, and IMHO the perfect platform to run a full-blown orbiter. I won't be able to code that though, and I hope some brave souls will give it a go.

The web interface should work well too, I'll try in the simulator to get a first feeling. But nothing like a native app on the wonderful apple devices ;)

Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: jeffr76 on January 29, 2010, 05:52:12 pm
I am game to help with the IPad, i will be getting one when they go on sale
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: marrandy on January 30, 2010, 08:06:58 pm
Don't forget that Android is not just phones but other device like tablets.

2009 was the main start for android phones and pretty much every manufacturer will produce at least one, bar Apple of course, in 2010.  Motorola is pushing to be the Android leader.

Various online commentators think that over 50% of phone sales in 2010 will be smartphones and of those, 50% or more are likely to be Android based phones.

MSI Android tablet was released, but not yet available, before the iPad and Haleron iLet 10 is coming.  Archos already runs Android.

Its going to be an exciting year.  Running Android based systems as orbiters and MD's needs to be addressed as well as the Iphone/iPad.

Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Tred on February 01, 2010, 12:38:59 am
I think you'll really have to jump through some hoops to get it on the app store; from what I understand Apple won't allow any apps that use unix or ssh (look into why there are no emulators on the app store; it's more than just licensing problems with game companies).
Maybe the better way would be to host a non-flash website from the core with the appropriate resolution--then when the iPad comes around it would be very easy to create a dedicated version for it as well. That or host a Cydia repository for jailbroken iPhones.

I have an iPhone and an iPad emulator with Safari (available in the new sdk for free- you can torrent it too) so if anyone wants me to help I can certainly handle some testing.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: los93sol on February 02, 2010, 06:20:59 am
Caiman:  I've got a jailbroken device that is waiting to test you're progress.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: fastie81 on February 02, 2010, 07:50:23 am
Hi
I also have a JB iPhone.
Would love to get it tested.
C
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: niz23 on February 06, 2010, 05:55:50 pm
Well if anyone wants to develop a locally hosted HTML version of the orbiter I can make a simple app to open straight into the web page full screen... Safari takes up about an inch of screen space and has auto rotate which is kinda a pain considering orbiters are in landscape all the time.

you have code for to activate fullscreen?
Please post it. or send it as a pm to me.
I´m researching how to enable bi directional communication with from lmce <-> browser.

/niz23

Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: los93sol on February 06, 2010, 09:08:17 pm
Caliman, can you post your code somewhere, I've been wanting this for a long time and would like to take a look at what you've got so far and see if there's anything I can do to help.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: niz23 on February 07, 2010, 10:44:19 am
Well if anyone wants to develop a locally hosted HTML version of the orbiter I can make a simple app to open straight into the web page full screen... Safari takes up about an inch of screen space and has auto rotate which is kinda a pain considering orbiters are in landscape all the time.

you have code for to activate fullscreen?
Please post it. or send it as a pm to me.
I´m researching how to enable bi directional communication with from lmce <-> browser.

/niz23


Answer is. Add the line below to your html code.

<meta name="apple-mobile-web-app-capable" content="yes" />

Browse to webpage from iPhone and save it as a homescreen bookmark.
Launch from homescreen(is launched in it´s own process) and webpage is displayed in fullscreen except for top
graphics in iPhone like 3G, wlan status etc that is still shown.
Don´t know if it´s possible to hide that part too.

/niz23
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Tred on February 07, 2010, 11:19:48 pm

you have code for to activate fullscreen?
Please post it. or send it as a pm to me.
I´m researching how to enable bi directional communication with from lmce <-> browser.

/niz23


Sorry I didn't mean get rid of the menu bar I just thought I'd use the WebView UI and just open right into the web page:
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://192.168.80.1/Orbiter_iPhone"];


Or something like that...
If we need any more then that I'm really not your guy I just didn't realize anyone else had experience with SDK; not that it's that hard, gotta love apple's function names!
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: maxwellb on February 08, 2010, 03:18:58 am
Bit late to this thread, but I'd be happy to pay $50.00 for a functional LinuxMCE orbiter.  :)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: los93sol on February 13, 2010, 05:43:40 pm
Someone please show something, I've seen a few people claiming to have started on this, but then they disappear.  As I've said before I can help with this, but I don't want to double up on work, and don't have the time to put into the whole project.  If you've really started please host code somewhere or show something tangible so we know you aren't just wasting everyone's time.  The android orbiter seems to be in the same state, and there is allegedly code to use the PS3 as a MD. but that never surfaced either.  IF YOU HAVE CODE HOST IT SO IT DOES NOT GET LOST!
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: jimbodude on February 16, 2010, 04:23:26 pm
With almost 8,000 views, this is now the 9th most viewed thread on the forum.  This is clearly attracting a lot of attention... Please document your work on the wiki, share your code if you have some, and clearly document the build and setup procedure so people can play with it.

Publishing your work will encourage more people to get involved with this effort so we can have something finished.  No one wants to duplicate work - anyone who says they have something running, but doesn't document or share it is discouraging others from contributing, which is counterproductive on many levels.

This is an open source project - share your work, please.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: bobbshields on February 16, 2010, 09:59:03 pm
I'd buy that iphone app too! I'd even help code and test to the best of my abilities...
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on February 28, 2010, 10:14:18 pm
LmceRemote (not an orbiter) is almost there. See http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LmceRemote (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LmceRemote)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on February 28, 2010, 11:32:35 pm
I sure wish you would have worked with us on this...

*hmm*

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on March 01, 2010, 12:05:18 am
Hi Thom,

I sure wish you would have worked with us on this...

I sure did try. Asked for help on the IRC channel (to get the list of scenarios via DCE protocol) and chatted with you about this. Didn't really get the warm welcome I expected for someone who does his best to contribute.

In any case, I coded this for my own use (and it's really handy). I hope others will find it useful.

I am eager to work with anyone that is motivated to move this forward. The webservice in particular is just a hack, and would benefit from the team's combined experience to be more robust and feature rich.

And yes, a full fledged orbiter would be nice to have, specially on ipad, and it will take more than little me to code it ;)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: davegravy on March 01, 2010, 04:58:39 am
I sure wish you would have worked with us on this...

I sure did try. Asked for help on the IRC channel (to get the list of scenarios via DCE protocol) and chatted with you about this. Didn't really get the warm welcome I expected for someone who does his best to contribute.


Frustrated to read this, especially since this is such a high-demand feature which it's been very difficult to find willing contributors for.

I realize the devs are insanely busy, but they're probably going to stay that way unless those that want to help are given the assistance they need.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: dlewis on March 01, 2010, 05:35:35 am
I'd have to disagree with the lack of help. People have asked for the source code in order to provide support and caiman has not responded to those posts.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: los93sol on March 01, 2010, 05:40:26 am
Caiman: I have to disagree with you.  You had plenty of opportunity for support that you did not accept, on the previous page of this thread I asked twice for you to post your code so I could assist.

I've been working with the "core developers" for several months now and have always been, at the very least, pointed in the right direction so that I could find the answer I was searching for.

Need to check my references for contributions: worked with Thom on VistaICM, HAI Omni Series automation panels, Email/SMS, dozens of wiki edits and, assisting members on the boards here.

I don't really care what you do, but coming out rogue like this, making claims that you haven't gotten support from the developers here is quite frustrating when I, while not a core developer, offered to help.  Not only that, iOrbiter has incorporated the same functionality as your application for quite awhile and is free.  It really comes off as a slap in the face to the spirit of a community driven project for new prospective developers to introduce themselves in this manner.

Hi Thom,

I sure wish you would have worked with us on this...

I sure did try. Asked for help on the IRC channel (to get the list of scenarios via DCE protocol) and chatted with you about this. Didn't really get the warm welcome I expected for someone who does his best to contribute.

In any case, I coded this for my own use (and it's really handy). I hope others will find it useful.

I am eager to work with anyone that is motivated to move this forward. The webservice in particular is just a hack, and would benefit from the team's combined experience to be more robust and feature rich.

And yes, a full fledged orbiter would be nice to have, specially on ipad, and it will take more than little me to code it ;)
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: MANDINGO on March 01, 2010, 05:42:50 am
I'd have to disagree with the lack of help. People have asked for the source code in order to provide support and caiman has not responded to those posts.

I have to agree with dlewis on this,  if help is what your after and its for the good of the whole project every and any one in the IRC will try to help you as much as they can including myself, now on another issue i find this to be very UPSETTING "At the moment, the app is in a functioning state (for the features mentioned above). It is however not yet available to the public. Expect it on the app store soon for a small fee. "   :'( wow !!!!! This is not MICROSOFT and we are not here for a profit, but for the love of the project  ;D,  Think about the big picture and lets get LinuxMCE there one community step at a time...

Thanks

Mandingo
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on March 01, 2010, 10:02:12 am
All,

I think we're on a wrong start here. I did not claim one cannot get help from the developers, not about the fact I didn't get help. Over the past years, I have received tons of help form the team, specially Hari and others. I did find Thom's comment disappointing though as he was the first person I talked to about this, and the same who almost completely discouraged me from getting started. Then to say I did not try to work together came as a surprise ;-)

This being over, I do appreciate all the offers for help on this thread. Please keep in mind that I have started real coding only about two weeks ago so there wasn't much code to share. Everything before was buying the SDK and learning from scratch how to use it through very basic little experiments. Yes, the multiple requests to share progress in the past few days gave me a push to get started, and here we are.

I am more than happy to share the code. What is the best place? A directory on CVS, or a separate hosting solution? I do not have experience with this, suggestions welcome.

Regarding the fact I intend to ask a few bucks for the app store version, my goal is only to recover some of the development costs. Anything beyond that goes to research against cancer. I fully support open and free software, yet wouldn't mind recovering for the initial SDK costs. I have tried myself to compensate for development efforts done by the LMCE team through some small gifts when I could. And let's face it, the very first message of this thread is about how much people would pay for an iPhone orbiter. This isn't one, but is a first step in the learning process.

I am sorry if anyone felt offended by my modest contribution, or how I introduced it. Now let's not spend so many cycles arguing and get constructive building together the best home automation system on the planet.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: chrisbirkinshaw on March 01, 2010, 06:40:00 pm
I was hoping for something more fully fledged as the web service, ie. a full rails app with relevant models defined and a fully restful API. I am still really keen to do this. I have a reasonable knowledge of ruby and rails.

Unless anyone has objections I'll propose something and make a start with a project up on git hub.

Did anyone start modelling the lmce database in rails BTW?

Chris
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: dlewis on March 01, 2010, 06:44:18 pm
All good. I think we're all on the same page now...

Caiman, please create a trac ticket and upload your code. Please provide as much detail as possible around the code as well:

http://svn.linuxmce.org/trac.cgi/newticket

Everyone, please begin tracking your dev work on the new ticket Caiman will create. Thanks!
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on March 02, 2010, 12:15:26 am
Caiman, please create a trac ticket and upload your code.

I have tried, trac seems to limit file upload size to 200k or so, the zipped project (without builds) is 590Kb. Shall I setup a svn on google code?
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: tschak909 on March 02, 2010, 04:25:16 am
Can you email it to me? I'll talk with hari and possy, and figure out how to proceed.

-Thom
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on March 03, 2010, 10:46:53 am
Can you email it to me? I'll talk with hari and possy, and figure out how to proceed.

Hi Thom,

you have it in your email.

As a next step I'm thinking of adding support for scenarios. Let me know if you want to host on cvs, or if a separate hosting is preferable.

chrisbirkinshaw, great to hear you are attacking the challenge of building a web service. This will create a lot of new possibilities, and I'll be eager to use it in this app when it's available.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Marie.O on March 03, 2010, 04:12:56 pm
Re web service: hari started a rpc_plugin to provide web access to the innards of LinuxMCE. Maybe that could be a start?
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: sonicwind on March 10, 2010, 04:43:09 pm
What's the status for this? I'm in for $20 if the features are rich. In other words nothing like the web orbiter. I'm interested in working on one myself, a smart phone AJAXy solution that would work on the finger touch screens on the iPhone like devices. That would be more bang for the effort. No app store, no device specific, except for possibly what's necessary for streaming. By that's for a media center not an orbiter.   
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: caiman on March 10, 2010, 06:27:40 pm
Re web service: hari started a rpc_plugin to provide web access to the innards of LinuxMCE. Maybe that could be a start?

That would be great indeed. A quick search on wiki and the forums didn't give results. Any pointers to this? I'd be happy to adapt my code to work with this plugin. I have also tested the rails version by chrisbirkinshaw: http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=9740.0  (http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=9740.0)

Desired features for a webservice in this particular use case would be:
- authentication
- possibility to return only the data needed, in a very lean format to ensure speedy response even on 3G links

By the way, after chatting with Thom offline, the source code for LmceRemote is now available on googlecode for now. You can find the link and more infos on the wiki page: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LmceRemote (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LmceRemote)
If anyone feels like testing it, feedback welcome (and you can use the tracker on googlecode to report issues).

I have also added some preliminary info on how to use the application remotely.
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: Marie.O on March 11, 2010, 08:53:38 am
Re web service: hari started a rpc_plugin to provide web access to the innards of LinuxMCE. Maybe that could be a start?

That would be great indeed. A quick search on wiki and the forums didn't give results. Any pointers to this?

The code is in svn under src/RPC_Plugin
Title: Re: iPhone/iPod Touch Orbiter?
Post by: jimbodude on March 11, 2010, 03:25:04 pm
You can find the link and more infos on the wiki page: http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LmceRemote (http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/LmceRemote)

The reference on your google code page to www.lmce.com is incorrect.  It's www.linuxmce.org.

I'll try this out in a couple weeks, looks interesting.