Android Touch Orbiter

[totallymaxed]

Will see if I can replicate your results in the emulator (using 2.2) - might just be related to different API.

I developed it using the 1.5 API so it would potentially be usable by all devices.

If I can't replicate then I will try and contact you more interactively to see if we can work out what is happening...

Great to see all this activity around your Android Touch Orbiter. Hopefully we'll have a feature complete version soon...I will see if one of my team here can do some testing next week.

All the best


Andrew

[darrenmason]

Just got my droidx and will be testing this if needed...

Richard

P.S. darrenmason Have you ever looked further into the android on the webdt? I have android 2.1 running but no touch screen functionality.

Hi Richard,
Regarding TouchOrbiter: It looks like I need to do some changes for both 2.1/2.2 - hope to have a new version by the end of the week. In the meantime give it a try - it may not work right now that's all.

Havn't done much regarding Android on the webdt lately. Sort of stopped because I was struggling with getting a reliable Wifi connection to work with the card I have in it.
I got the touchscreen working with a modified kernel so that should also be doable with 2.1 as well. Did you just use the Android-x86 image?
When I last tried 2.x there was a problem with the video performance that made the UI effectively unusable on the webdt. I have noticed that latest builds are supposed to fix that. What was the UI performance like? Might be time to put some more effort into it.
Additionally, when you ran 2.1 did your network card work? If so, which card is it - the airnet one? Also, did sound work. I am yet to see sound work but havn't investigated much as it was lower priority than network.

Regards
Darren

[rperre]

DarrenMason i downloaded the apk and it's not starting at all. my droidx has 2.3.15 installed btw.
"The application Android Touch Orbiter (process com.linuxmce) has stopped unexpectedly. Please try again. (only option is force close)

I'll try in a vbox too.

Richard

[mackindesouza]

I think the channel will be hard with the align time zone.
but maximum part will be done by the server and its device, but if you are working in the old version then you need for the upgrade version.

[darrenmason]

Hi,

New version to test.

http://filebin.ca/pkcprg/AndroidTouchOrbiter.apk or http://filebin.ca/pkcprg

Should work on 2.x versions now. Havn't done anything about the screen size problems yet - can't seem to replicate.

There is a known issue with this version.
When the device is rotated it restarts the application - which is starting a new comms thread - but it seems like the old ones aren't finishing.
Will look at when I can - but doesn't affect functionality.

Let me know how tests go..

Regards
Darren

[kyfalcon]

Darren,

Works great. The only things I can see that need improvement are the constant need to hit the refresh, and the scaling issue. One thing you may want to do is force it to stay in landscape mode.

I have the original Motorola Droid, running Android 2.2. The response time is excellent!

I will continue to test this!

Kevin

[darrenmason]

Good stuff. Are you able to elaborate on the refresh problem. Under what circumstances do you need to refresh? I noticed a problem on first startup (which also applies to each time you rotate) but other than that it should be OK.

For screen scaling I coded it so that it scales the image received to the current resolution and fits the whole image on screen. This allows it to work for devices with different native resolutions and more importantly allows it to handle the resolution change when the device is rotated. Perhaps an option to not react to rotations (and stay in landscape) would be useful.

The other option is to not squeeze the whole image in, perhaps scale vertically and preserve the aspect ratio. Open to suggestions - perhaps they can all be menu options.

Keep up the testing, will try and keep the versions coming.

regards
Darren

[kyfalcon]

Darren as far as the refresh, mine works just like you describe. have to refresh on beginning and any rotation, which basically means anytime I set the phone down and pick it back up. Not a deal breaker, but forcing the app to landscape only would be great.

As far as the scaling, it probably is more the aspect ration as you point out. One thing I did notice is the blue used for the playlist and the yellow used for lighting, makes it difficult to read what is going on.

Does this work for other UI themes?

I'll try and mess with it some more this evening.

I found this for the landscape only place this in the manifest file.
android:screenOrientation="landscape"

Kevin

[los93sol]

Darren,
RE: Refresh problems after screen orientation changes...you may want to try this in your manifest file for the orbiter's activity definition

android:configChanges="keyboardHidden|orientation"

By default Android will reset your Activity when the screen orientation changes, but setting the above will prevent that from happening.  The other option is to handle this scenario directly in code which you probably don't need to do since I assume the only thing really being reset is your socket connection.

Just a quick tip, hope it helps.

-Adam

[Enigmus]

Is a new version coming out soon?

[darrenmason]

Yeah was planning to do some work on it this weekend but just turned the computer on for the first time Sunday night at 9:30pm and don't think I'll get much done tonight.

Should get some time tomorrow evening. What feature are you waiting on?

Regards
Darren

[darrenmason]

New version available

http://rapidshare.com/files/428289131/AndroidTouchOrbiter.apk
or
http://www.megaupload.com/?d=18HIJLP1

Please test. No known issues currently - I have fixed the problem with the threads not closing on rotation and also the first screen refresh problem. I also simplified a couple of areas.

Let me know how it goes. Also open to feature requests.

Regards
Darren

[Marie.O]

Just a quick note. Next time, just attach the file to your post. That way, people don't have to put up with rapidshare nerve wracking site

[rperre]

Can you attach it here, both sites do not work..

Thanks,

Richard

[darrenmason]

Sorry guys, usually stick it on filebin but it was down last night so I went with a couple of alternatives.

Try this one, it is taken from a backup of my phone. If there are problems will upload the proper one tonight.

Regards
Darren