iPhone Orbiter

[Hesty]

I've started working on an iOS orbiter; basically it will be a full screen version of the web orbiter like it was loaded through Safari except without
the Safari toolbars, menubar,  multitouch zoom and autorotate as I think they're both a pain to work with when in UI1.
Unfortunately I'm away from home so I can't show the project with the proxy orbiter loaded into it but here's some screen shots...

Here's a web page loaded full screen- the URL is defined by a String that the user can change in settings (below) so that you can use any IP range or DNS server, also you can choose between portrait and landscape modes.

Because this really isn't ideal(Interface is clunky and reloads every 5 seconds) I would like to say that I wouldn't be too opposed to creating a custom interface with the Interface builder if someone can tell me how to send DCE commands to the core with objective-C. Then the app wouldn't have to rely on the web orbiter at all... Also if I do this then I would have to add this app as a specific linuxMCE/Plutohome app instead of a simple browser which makes me wonder about getting a license from Pluto (I'd like to charge a dollar or two to cover the cost of actually getting it onto the app store)...
Any help with the Objective-C, Comments (insults...), Feature Requests, or clarification for the legality issue would be greatly appreciated!

[totallymaxed]

I've started working on an iOS orbiter; basically it will be a full screen version of the web orbiter like it was loaded through Safari except without
the Safari toolbars, menubar,  multitouch zoom and autorotate as I think they're both a pain to work with when in UI1.
Unfortunately I'm away from home so I can't show the project with the proxy orbiter loaded into it but here's some screen shots...

Here's a web page loaded full screen- the URL is defined by a String that the user can change in settings (below) so that you can use any IP range or DNS server, also you can choose between portrait and landscape modes.

Because this really isn't ideal(Interface is clunky and reloads every 5 seconds) I would like to say that I wouldn't be too opposed to creating a custom interface with the Interface builder if someone can tell me how to send DCE commands to the core with objective-C. Then the app wouldn't have to rely on the web orbiter at all... Also if I do this then I would have to add this app as a specific linuxMCE/Plutohome app instead of a simple browser which makes me wonder about getting a license from Pluto (I'd like to charge a dollar or two to cover the cost of actually getting it onto the app store)...
Any help with the Objective-C, Comments (insults...), Feature Requests, or clarification for the legality issue would be greatly appreciated!

You should look at the Web orbiter 2.0 - see the wiki page for it here; http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Web_Orbiter_2.0

This is already running full screen on iPhone, iPod Touch & iPad and uses completely re-written javascript code & an improved proxy_orbiter that sets a flag when a screen update has happened so that the Web Orbiter can detect when to do a double buffered update only when needed. The new Web Orbiter does away with the updates every 5 secs and really runs very nicely on the iOS.

There are also several threads in the 'Users' section of the Forum eg http://forum.linuxmce.org/index.php?topic=10396.0 on the new Web Orbiter - check these out.

All the best

Andrew

[Hesty]

Wow that definitely simplifies things!  I still think not having the toolbars, menus and zoom will help... I guess I'll work on being able to keep your login in a string instead of logging in manually every time- any other features anyone can think of? Anyone know if I can put the app as paid on the app store and advertise it as a controlled for LinuxMCE without a license from Plutohome?

[los93sol]

I would highly suggest you get involved with us in the dev channel and not even consider any type of paid development until you have made significant contributions to the codebase.

[totallymaxed]

Wow that definitely simplifies things!  I still think not having the toolbars, menus and zoom will help... I guess I'll work on being able to keep your login in a string instead of logging in manually every time- any other features anyone can think of? Anyone know if I can put the app as paid on the app store and advertise it as a controlled for LinuxMCE without a license from Plutohome?

We already run Web Orbiter 2.0 full screen on the iPhone, iPod Touch and iPad. I'm not sure that Zoom would make much sense for the overall Orbiter...it might in the Floorplan screens or possibly the security camera screens though. Work is already underway to make login permanent for a given device for Web Orbiter 2.0.

Pluto licenses are no longer available. The best route would be to take los93sol's advice to get involved, say 'Hi' in the Dev channel on irc (linuxmce-devel) so you can understand LinuxMCE in more detail and then think about how the iPhone app might be commercialised...if it can be at all. There is every chance that free alternatives may appear in the App store so you would need to make sure your App was way better to charge for it.

Looking forward to seeing you in the Dev channel :-)

Andrew

[chrisbirkinshaw]

Just a thought: maybe multitouch gesture support would be one differentiator for a paid product?

eg. Scroll up and down lists of media (ok, this isn't multitouch - granted)
Double swipe up and down - control volume
Double swipe left and right - ff/rw
etc

[totallymaxed]

Just a thought: maybe multitouch gesture support would be one differentiator for a paid product?

eg. Scroll up and down lists of media (ok, this isn't multitouch - granted)
Double swipe up and down - control volume
Double swipe left and right - ff/rw
etc

Those are all very good suggestions and they are all on our 'wish list' in a generic sense... as they apply now not just to iPhone/iPad but also to Android too and probably to Windows 7 'pads' too.

However having an Orbiter for those devices that allows these UI elements to be displayed is actually the easy part. The big challenge is buildin out and enhancing the backend system at the Core to allow for these richer UI's. All while not breaking the existing UI....believe me a lot of thought and debate is going on around these issues.

All the best

Andrew