Did an external CAPACITIVE screen just get easier? - Connected Car

I have long since dreamed of a car-puter or workstation that simply my phone expanded. All apps and files would automatically travel with you and the whole system would automatically get upgraded, for free, every time you upgraded your phone.
Mirroring images and sound can be done many ways, but the problem has always been inputs from the larger screen making their way to your phone. There are a few work-arounds with resistive screens, but they look junky, have low sensitivity and don't allow multitouch.
The holy grail has always been full 2-way comm with an external capacitive screen. This is the first time I have ever seen a capacitive screen that lists 10-point capacitive touch as a feature for Android and that has Android drivers downloadable in the 'documents' tab of their product page.
http://lilliputweb.net/capacitive-touch-screen-monitors/7-inch-multi-touch/779gl-70np-c-t.html
Does this really mean what I think it does?!? I know that drivers in android are far from as simple as an executable file in windows. But does this mean that with a little work any of us could make this monitor play nicely with our own devices? Or ideally could a person or two (with more skill than I have) make this monitor plug and play with a common distro like cyanogenmod or the like?
Any thoughts from any of the more experienced minds in these forums would be VERY appreciated. PS. I love this forum and wish I had the time and the chops to add more to it myself, but in the meantime thank you to all contributes. Cheers.

Related

Background trapping mouse events on WinMo.. posibble?

Hey developers,
Believe me, I tried searching quite a lot but couldn't find an answer, never tried this kind of developing ever.
Let's say that my point is to disable part of screen - eg below 400px will not work - my app will catch those mouse events and stop them.
I tried speaking with Chainfire on IRC but he went for gaming or so and he offered me injecting dll's. I'm not sure if that would be the best idea since I'd prefer to do it on background rather than loading it with all apps.
I was thinking another few minutes and how about loading it as driver or some kind of touchscreen filter and running inside device.exe or any other kernel process (or just as background process, doesn't matter those few kB in memory).
Thanks for any push in any way of doing this, believe me, you won't regret the result . OndraSter
Not sure this is possible with the Win32 HWnd stuff, you can catch and handle Window Messages only within the Window said messages are posted to. Never seen a way to do it system wide. Would probably involve replacing some fairly fundamental components. Same sort of thing we are looking at to get multi-touch working correctly on the HD2.
I heard someone got it working with keyboard, but mouse not because of lack LL_MOUSE stuff etc
maybe develop a driver, like i.e. Touch response does.
Yep that was one of two things that came to my mind - driver or service...
But I have no idea where to start with it though...

How should manufacturers differentiate

Hi Folks,
I wanted to share a concern of mine here.
Now that Microsoft governs EVERY aspect of hardware, how should manufacturers differentiate their offerings?
Will it just be by price and color of the case?
Price, design and storage capacity.
Unfortunately, they didn't tell them how to design their phones. Look at that LG crap, it's soooo ugly... that's not how they will be able to compete with the iPhone, which is what are apparently trying.
(granted, the iPhone's design is getting stale, but at least it's not ugly)
Screen size, type and quality, quality of camera, storage size, battery... But yes, there won't be much left for differentiation, although I personally find it great.
Keyboard or not keyboard.
Though it seems the OS doesn't work in landscape mode. Sucks, I hope they figure this out (though I doubt it).
You doubt that WP7 will have landscape mode?
It doesn't have it now.
And yes, I doubt that it will have it.
(I mean FULL landscape mode, not only messages and browser)
It doesn't work in the emulator but I've seen it in videos. It doesn't move the application bar but rotates the buttons. I'd say it makes sense on widescreen displays...They would have to do something with the homescreen though.
I've seen it in my own apps. But I want it to work in the whole system, INCLUDING the homescreen and every other place.
C:Sharp! said:
I've seen it in my own apps. But I want it to work in the whole system, INCLUDING the homescreen and every other place.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Hi,
this is an interesting direction this discussion is going.
I would think that they will have to support it somehow - lest manufacturers like LG will be unhappy.
On the other hand: the Pre has the exactly same issue. On it, many apps are portrait only and it has no issues with that.
How often do we really see someone (non poweruser) use the QWERTY? Be honest!
How often do we really see someone (non poweruser) use the QWERTY? Be honest!
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
That's why I doubt WP7 will support it.
Microsoft is copying Apple's approach, which means they're not adding anything, unless lots of people want it.
I've written some apps for WP7 and landscape worked. But unless it works in the whole system, this OS is of no use to me.
TAMHAN said:
Hi Folks,
I wanted to share a concern of mine here.
Now that Microsoft governs EVERY aspect of hardware, how should manufacturers differentiate their offerings?
Will it just be by price and color of the case?
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
I think they should differentiate by telling MS to screw their "specs" to some degree and put a d-pad/trackball/optical mouse on the front of the device where they belong. I like minimum hardware specs, but number of button specs and screen hardware is nonsense imo. Basically I want a device with multitouch resistive screen tech, and some sort of up-down-left-right control on the front of the device. Honestly, what would MS do if Samsung put an optical mouse and camera on the front of their device? Would they sue? I highly doubt it.
Let to OEM take care of their controls, and MS should just focus on making the software experience nice. I just upgraded to the Omnia II, and I'm missing a physical dpad in a HUGE way. I don't miss the kb all the much with swype, but this dpad thing was killing me. I remapped my volume rocker to up and down so it's not as bad...but if I couldn't do the same on a wp7 device <cringe>.
But to answer your question more directly...right now they'll have to focus on things like ergonomics and style. But I hope that the late success of the HD2 under t-mobile shows MS that people actually like the openness of WM they just didn't like the default device experience and that makes an impact on what wp7 will actually turn out to be.
gom99 said:
I think they should differentiate by telling MS to screw their "specs" to some degree and put a d-pad/trackball/optical mouse on the front of the device where they belong. I like minimum hardware specs, but number of button specs and screen hardware is nonsense imo. Basically I want a device with multitouch resistive screen tech, and some sort of up-down-left-right control on the front of the device. Honestly, what would MS do if Samsung put an optical mouse and camera on the front of their device? Would they sue? I highly doubt it.
Let to OEM take care of their controls, and MS should just focus on making the software experience nice. I just upgraded to the Omnia II, and I'm missing a physical dpad in a HUGE way. I don't miss the kb all the much with swype, but this dpad thing was killing me. I remapped my volume rocker to up and down so it's not as bad...but if I couldn't do the same on a wp7 device <cringe>.
But to answer your question more directly...right now they'll have to focus on things like ergonomics and style. But I hope that the late success of the HD2 under t-mobile shows MS that people actually like the openness of WM they just didn't like the default device experience and that makes an impact on what wp7 will actually turn out to be.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Metro UI is perfect for d-pad use, and I think it's ridiculous that they don't seem to be supporting it.
gom99 said:
Let to OEM take care of their controls, and MS should just focus on making the software experience nice.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks but no thanks. First you allow d-pad and next you see programs (games mostly, but not only) that don't function well without it. You allow OEMs to add non-standard controls and they start making drivers themselve, mucking up OS-wide conventions and standards (like HTC is doing with hardware keys left and right).
A d-pad might be a nice feature but if it's there it should be on all devices.
vangrieg said:
Thanks but no thanks. First you allow d-pad and next you see programs (games mostly, but not only) that don't function well without it. You allow OEMs to add non-standard controls and they start making drivers themselve, mucking up OS-wide conventions and standards (like HTC is doing with hardware keys left and right).
A d-pad might be a nice feature but if it's there it should be on all devices.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You and your fragmentation ...optional keyboards already exist...you don't think that will come into play on games and applications? You can't keep a uniform xbox experience for a phone like you can for a console...people like different control. Heck even consoles are fragmented control wise, controllers, joysticks, steering wheels, guns, etc.
Let the people choose their controls they want for the task at hand.
We've had this discussion before, you fix this issue by having good sdks that allow you to easily create an application where you can set your controls based on your device.
I defintely need hardware buttons so I won't buy one unless it has a hardware keyboard. But we've seen tons of Windows Mobile devices and they all look different. Other then buttons and UI I'm sure that will follow to WP7. 3" to 5" screens, 8GB,16GB,32GB,64GB space. Color, material, qwerty. These will all be differentiaters.
gom99 said:
We've had this discussion before, you fix this issue by having good sdks that allow you to easily create an application where you can set your controls based on your device.
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Click to collapse
Absolutely. You can also require fallback controls for applications that require directional buttons - in the shape of on-screen d-pad, or other mechanisms, anything.
The problem is, there are no sdks and no requirements. Therefore I say - no, it should never be just up to manufacturers. It has to be delivered by the OS, with proper infrastructure in policies in place.
By the way, I've never seen any official requirement that the number of hardware keys is limited. There are mandatory keys, but nothing says there can't be more. Or does it? I know it's a popular idea in forums for sure, but there's no definitive source for this.
vangrieg said:
By the way, I've never seen any official requirement that the number of hardware keys is limited. There are mandatory keys, but nothing says there can't be more. Or does it? I know it's a popular idea in forums for sure, but there's no definitive source for this.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
They're looking for the uniformity of the device, especially what the front of the device looks like with it's 3 buttons and the big mistake here is the lack of a d-pad-type control.
Also Microsoft issued a response saying that the hd2 had "too-many" buttons at MIX. So they seem to be sticking to their enforcement of device hardware key uniformity. But in my opinion it's silly...I honestly don't know how people Tolerate using the iphone with 2 buttons and a rocker.
Personally, I like D-pads/optical & physical trackballs, an ok/enter button, some kind of home key, and voice command buttons. I use the physical keys to control my device more than the touch screen, alot of my phone usuage is "one-hand" usage...primarily just thumb use.
Well, I'm not sure the wording used by MS meant exactly that, but anyway. I've used two devices without d-pad, the HD and the HD2, and also prefer one-handed operation with my thumb as the primary control. I must say that I miss d-pad occasionally, but exactly because some software developers didn't think about ways of handling their control elements without it. And therein lies the problem - relying on d-pad is just easy. Therefore if you know that some devices won't have it, you must force developers to write software that will work using other control mechanisms.
vangrieg said:
Well, I'm not sure the wording used by MS meant exactly that, but anyway. I've used two devices without d-pad, the HD and the HD2, and also prefer one-handed operation with my thumb as the primary control. I must say that I miss d-pad occasionally, but exactly because some software developers didn't think about ways of handling their control elements without it. And therein lies the problem - relying on d-pad is just easy. Therefore if you know that some devices won't have it, you must force developers to write software that will work using other control mechanisms.
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Like you said I don't ever really miss the D-Pad until I use old applications that don't have good touch input set up. This is when I slide to landscape with my Touch Pro2 and use the arrow keys.
To differentiate themselves from other OEMS, they should produce better hardware. Hopefully this will drive the build quality of there devices thru the roof.

A 'can the Desire/Android do this?' question from newbie

I just got a Desire last week having had a N900 for the last six months and I'm loving both the device and the OS. The speed, the screen, the sense UI, it's all mobile goodness.
But I do want to ask if it is possible to screencast my Desire's screen while providing a voice commentary. I work as a teacher and I wanted to be able to provide video how-to guides of certain educational apps for my students. My first thought was to physically video my phone's screen using another camera, but I discovered that my hardware isn't really up to the task.
So I thought I might be easier to somehow connect my phone to the computer via USB, display the phone screen on my computer and then use software like Camtasia to do the screen capturing.
I've searched on the net to find out if this is possible but struggled to find an answer. There was a lot of stuff about SDKs and rooting and command lines and while I have some tech knowledge, a lot of it was way over my head.
If anyone can tell me if this is possible and how I'd go about doing it in fairly simple terms I'd be grateful. I am willing to chance my arm with the strange world of rooting if I have to, though I am afraid of messing up my lovely new device. All advice and help gratefully received..
dreadnought001 said:
I just got a Desire last week having had a N900 for the last six months and I'm loving both the device and the OS. The speed, the screen, the sense UI, it's all mobile goodness.
But I do want to ask if it is possible to screencast my Desire's screen while providing a voice commentary. I work as a teacher and I wanted to be able to provide video how-to guides of certain educational apps for my students. My first thought was to physically video my phone's screen using another camera, but I discovered that my hardware isn't really up to the task.
So I thought I might be easier to somehow connect my phone to the computer via USB, display the phone screen on my computer and then use software like Camtasia to do the screen capturing.
I've searched on the net to find out if this is possible but struggled to find an answer. There was a lot of stuff about SDKs and rooting and command lines and while I have some tech knowledge, a lot of it was way over my head.
If anyone can tell me if this is possible and how I'd go about doing it in fairly simple terms I'd be grateful. I am willing to chance my arm with the strange world of rooting if I have to, though I am afraid of messing up my lovely new device. All advice and help gratefully received..
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
You're definitley going to need to root your phone but even at that no app like that exists for Android (Yet). It's fairly doable but you would need to get the help of a developer.
There's an app called AndroidScreenCast, search for it in the G1 forums. This will show your screen on the PC and then use a desktop recording tool to record it (I think it may actually have an inbuilt record video function though).
brummiesteven said:
There's an app called AndroidScreenCast, search for it in the G1 forums. This will show your screen on the PC and then use a desktop recording tool to record it (I think it may actually have an inbuilt record video function though).
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Thanks for that, sounds awesome and could be exactly what I need. Don't have pc access at the moment but will try it out as soon as I get home. Much appreciated!
Just tried it. Has a really slow refresh rate but works fine for basic functions i suppose!

Looking for an app that will display my screen on a PC

I came from PalmOS, and I miss two apps that I can't find - one is a voice recorder that records both sides of a phone conversation (one that works) and the other is the ability to display my Android's screen on my PC.
Being able to see my phone's screen on a PC helps me with organizing and I miss it alot. If there is an app like that could anyone please give me a link or the proper search terms to find such an app. Android apps have such weird names sometimes and some don't even make sense, or at least to me.
I mean I use a program that I search forever for called "Shoot-Me", I mean really? Can't you simply say Screen Capture?
I had a palm befoe my epic! What one did you have? And you could install a vnc server...I don't think there's anything like pdareach for android
Sent from my SPH-D700 using XDA App
I had a few Palms, but my last Palm was a 755p, which really did everything I needed but not as polished or powerful in some functions as Android, but it is lacking in what I consider basic function of the two apps that I need.
Call Record and PDAreach. Bummer, I was afraid of that. Your saying that if I install VNC server I will be able to see my Android screen and have the same functions as PDAreach? It seems like I am looking for the opposite - I want to see my Android screen on my PC, NOT my PC on my Android screen cause I can do that, i.e., PC remotely controled from my Android.
If so, can you suggest which VNC server is preferred?
Edit nvrmnd
http://code.google.com/p/androidscreencast/
or
https://market.android.com/details?id=org.onaips.vnc&hl=en

Aviation Heads Up Display (HUD)

Hey guys! I was paging through the forums and had what could be an awesome idea. I'm by no means a aerospace engineer nor a computer scientist, but I was trying to figure out how hard it would be to take a standalone Attitude and Heading Reference System (AHRS) system like the iLevil 3 Sport, and display it on something like the EPSON BT-300. Im sure it would have to be a simplified display, but in theory couldn't we get something like a fighter jet HUD directly in front of your face?!
The reason I have chosen these two pieces of hardware (iLevil 3 Sport and EPSON BT-300) is to try and simplify the problem at hand. Through programs like ixGyro, AHRS Utility by iLevil, and Xavion, to name a few (all of which are compatible with the iLevel, and available to download directly to any Android system), you already have all of the information in tablet form.
The AHRS device has all of the hardware required and outputs the information via WiFi. These programs have already proven that this information can be successfully displayed. It seems as through that the only problem now is the GUI. I don't have either of these two products so I can't say for certain, but I'm willing to bet that the BT-300, running Android 5.1, can display this information almost the exact same as on your phone or tablet! I propose that we simply delete the background so you have a true augmented reality while you fly!

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