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This program allows you to use the Wii Remote (Wiimote) to turn any surface into a Low-Cost Interactive Whiteboard. It is based on Johnny Lee’s original WiimoteWhiteboard program that is written in C# and available for Windows only. My program uses Java to allow for (some) platform-independence. I also provide a Mac-only version since I’m a Mac user and this is, up to my knowledge, currently the only such program for the Mac.
For Windows only, Boon Jin has enhanced Johnny’s software and created the shareware program Smoothboard. There is also a SourceForge project that provides other implementations, but it is not getting much attention.
Check out the video and the other cool projects at Johnny Lee’s page if you have no idea what I’m talking about 
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Features in a nutshell
- Open source
- Runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
- Simple User Interface available in English, Estonian, French, German, Italian, Polish, Portuguese, Russian, Slovene, and Spanish
- Camera Monitor and Calibration Details for better Wiimote placement
- Auto-connects up to 2 Wiimotes
- Right-click support, double-click assistance
- Mouse cursor smoothing
- Screen selection
- Touchpad Mode
- Update notification
- TUIO/OSC support for multitouch applications
More details in the Wiki.
Download (1.0.2)
Documentation & Support
You can post your comments, bug reports, feature requests, etc. at the bottom of this page. The latest documentation is available in the Wiki. You can also find out how you can help.
The wiimoteproject.com forums are a great resource for everything Wiimote. You may use this subforum to discuss everything related to my software. The Smoothboard Wiki also contains useful information for setting up your interactive whiteboard.
Infrared pens
You need a source of infrared (IR) light to use the software. Many people build their own IR pens for that purpose, usually by retrofitting some sort of marker. You’ll find all you need to know here. I started with a simple IR pen made from a battery clip.
There are also IR pens for sale if you don’t want to build one yourself. Several vendors sell different models, the IR Pen marketplace is a good place to get an overview.
You can use the coupon code uwe if you buy from IRPensOnline.com. This will give you a discount of $2 and I’ll get $1.
Compatibility
I only heard of few problems on Mac OS X, using the built-in stack. I also got reports from users who got the program running on Windows using either the Widcomm or BlueSoleil stack. It seems like Widcomm works better, see this post about BlueSoleil. You need to use the BlueZ stack on Linux, see the Wiki or this post for further instructions.
Issue on PowerPC Macs (excerpt from the WiiRemoteJ-README):
Note for Mac OS X PowerPC (PPC) users: you will have to delete the Wii Remote from your previous devices list in System Preferences->Bluetooth->Devices after each connection (every time you connect a given Wii Remote). Even then, the outgoing connection will still fail every other time. There is some sort of bug relating to HCI devices and Apple’s library. Luckily, it was fixed for the Intel Macs.
Further details can be found in the Wiki or the help files bundled with the application.
I was considering giving this a try, but I’m not hearing about many success stories. All of the instructions sound so simple, but apparently it is all a software issue that is causing all of the problems. What application is the easiest and most reliable to start off when using a Mac?
Thanks
Hi Gwen,
I guess most people who get it to work simply don’t write a comment here. Have you actually tried my program? Also, I’m not aware of any alternative application for the Mac…
Uwe
I just released version 1.0.2 which adds Russian localization.
Uwe
I’m desperately looking for a Wiimote Whiteboard app that works on Win 7 64 bit.
I tried yours, but it says “WiiRemote failed to connect! Not Supported on winsock’.
Could you help me with this?
I tried Johnny Lee’s version, and it connects, sees a dot, but the mouse pointer doesn’t respond to it. Also it says on his website it’s a 32 bit version.
I’m not going to buy smoothboard: I think it’s too expensive, and not built to my taste. Yours and Johnny Lee’s is.
So if you have a solution to this, I would be very grateful.
Thanks!
I try it in Germany. Its a realy simple programm and it works very good. Thank you!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuTPvaoIAU8
hey there,
is there any software support für the multytouch trackpad für mac os? so i coult use all the gestures with two ir-pens like zoom and turn?
Hi Michiel,
I think there are two components to this problem. First, my app doesn’t work with the Winsock stack, see this previous comment. Second, concerning 64 bit issues, please see this post and my reply to it.
Uwe
It appears the video is gone and the account is closed…
Hi Arne,
my software doesn’t do this and probably never will. The clean solution would be to write a TUIO bridge that connects TUIO to Mac OS X’s multitouch capabilities.
I doubt that I’ll ever write something like that but somebody else might.
Uwe
Just a comment to say thanks, it works perfectly. Just need to build an IR pen to use instead of a remote control and I’ll be using it for future meetings on my macbook.