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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 
.
Features in a nutshell
- Open source
- Runs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux
- Simple User Interface available in English, Estonian, French, German, Indonesian, 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 (1.0.3)
Some example videos
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 am the technology coordinator for a K-12 school district in central Illinois.
I have tested this on a Mac Mini and my initial tests were positive. (Now, I get to devise a more reliable pen.) Thank you for porting this for the Mac. We have Mac Minis on the teachers’ desks in our K-8 classrooms. We would like interactive whiteboard capabilities in each classroom but can’t afford $1500 for each classroom for a “Smartboard”. I do need to do some more testing before trying this in a classroom.
Thank you for your efforts. Johnny’s project is picking up steam and your Mac port of the project is a huge step for K-12 schools with Macs.
It’s good to hear that my efforts are appreciated and that the program is put to good use. Feedback like yours keeps me motivated to continue working on the software.
I started adding multi-screen support, which is almost done but untested. I assumed this could be helpful when using a projector as second display. I’m always open for suggestions to improve the program.
There is also a dedicated forum for the Wiimote Whiteboard project, in case you didn’t know.
Uwe
Hi, I am also trying to get this set up for a classroom. I am totally lost with how to install/run this. Can anyone help?
Thanks
Hi Uwe
I’m just a casual mac user who likes to play around with gimmicks. Thanks for your work and porting this to the mac. Your the man!
Hi Michael,
I suggest you have a look at the How to use section in the README file. If you run into problems, you can have a look at this thread where people exchange about the program.
Uwe
This is as much a question as a comment. There are two things that I think we need to make this a productive classroom tool. The first is a way to “click”. I am thinking that the teacher would have the LED pen in one hand and maybe a wireless mouse in the other – or nearby – to use for “clicking”. The other tool that would be needed would be a soft keyboard. I am sure they already exist. I just have to find the right one.
Hi Jim, “clicking” is already implemented.
Whenever the LED pen is on and detected by the software, the mouse is moved to that position and a left button mouse-press is executed. The mouse button is released when you turn off the LED pen.
I actually implemented right button mouse-clicking today. A right click is executed when the LED pen remains on at the same position for a certain amount of time (e.g. 1 second).
Concerning software keyboards: KeyStrokes and VirtualKeyboard are two that I found with a quick search.
Uwe
Hi Uwe
Nice job! Please keep developing this application. I am lecturing in a university setting. I am using the Wii with Remote Buddy and Keynote on may Macbook to capture the mouse while I am taping my presentations with iShowU.
I was searching for a solution to tape my drawings during my presentation. This is the right tool!
Keep doing this great job!
Tomas
Thanks a lot for your job !!! For the moment I just tested with Apple remote as IR pen and it’s working.
I’m working on MBP C2D 2,33Ghz / Leopard
The image on the right is the current state of the new user interface. What do you say?
I also want the new version to be better integrated into Mac OS X. I thought that might be a good idea since most users are on a Mac so far. It would be great if someone could make an Icon for the program…
Feedback is as always appreciated.
Uwe
I never thought of using the Apple remote as an IT pen. We have BOXES of those remotes. I am definitely going to test that in the morning when I get back to school.
I spent a chunk of the weekend building an IR pen so I could test this better,
I have not gotten it to work with Vista – can’t get Johnny’s code to work with Vista either. But Uwe’s Mac code works well with our Mac Mini’s (Intel). I have only tested it on the workbench. I will test it in a classroom tomorrow.
BTW. The Math captcha questions are getting harder. Good thing I have a degree in Mathematics;)
Uwe
I will download the newest version immediately. The interface looks very “Macish”. Also, I tested the Apple Remotes (the small white ones that come with the Mac Mini and other Macs) and it works very well. Take off the dispertion bar at the top of the remote and the LED is in the right corner. I will test some more, but this looks great.
Thank you for your efforts.
Do you have the new version posted? I tried the download link but got the same one I already had.
Great job.
I’m sorry but the new version is not ready yet. I just wanted to show the current state.
I recognize that I didn’t really make this clear, now that I read my last comment again.
It will take me probably another week or so. Stay tuned…
Uwe
I had tested this with the Apple Remote as the IR pen on an LCD screen and it worked well.
I then to the Mac Mini to one of our conference rooms and tested it with a projector onto a whiteboard. I had a bit of trouble getting the Wiimote placed so that:
1) The entire screen was recognized.
and
2) The Wiimote was not too far away to “see” the IR source.
Once I found the right place for the Wiimote, it worked well.
I’m not ready to roll this out to all of our classrooms. (Not sure I could get that many Wiimotes:) But I am ready to test it with one of our teachers.
I may try the IR pen that I made. I suspect that the IR LED in my pen is a bit stronger than what is in the Apple remote. (I used the same LEDs that Johnny used in his demos.)
Exciting times.
How did you guys get the black cover off the Apple Remote!?
I just want to point out that a remote control is no good substitute for a “real” IR pen. The problem is that most remote controls (including the Apple remote) emit flashing IR light. This causes a constant press and release of the mouse button when used with my program. While remotes are good to do some initial testing they are definitely not suitable for “productive” use.
Uwe
Uwe is correct about the Apple remote. I did test it thoroughly. (I have about 100 of them and it would have been nice to use them instead of building pens.) They worked well when I tested on a 17″ LCD monitor. But when I moved the test to a real whiteboard with a projector, the Wiimote did not “pick up” the remote nearly as well as the pen that I built with the LED’s that Johnny suggested. Even my crude pen – LED soldered to a switch soldered to a Radio Shack batter holder (AA) held together with electricians tape – worked far better than the Apple remote.
I have since made a pen out of the dry erase marker housing. It works much, much better.
I have it in a 5th grade class now being tested by one of our teachers.
I’m posting here as well as on wiimoteproject.com. I am using this in my classroom, and I am having the Apple built-in bluetooth problem. It seems to get a bad signal, and I’m sure it has to do with the builtin bluetooth module. I think another guy had this problem too.
Also, what kind of bluetooth dongle works with this on my macs that don’t have built-in bluetooth?
That’s too bad. But there is nothing I can really do about it.
That depends on the BlueCove library. I asked about it in the bluecove-users group.
One thing you can do is to start the program with enabled debug-mode for BlueCove:
java -Dbluecove.debug=true -jar WiimoteWhiteboard.jar
That will cause BlueCove to print out lots of debug messages on the command line.
Record them (first for the built-in and then for the external module) and send it to me.
Uwe
I am using the built-in Apple Bluetooth without any problem.
Try this:
Delete the Wiimote from the Apple Bluetooth devices.
Run Uwe’s program.
Press buttons 1 and 2 on the Wiimote
Wait for it to “sync”.
OK, now I am intrigued. I am going to try this over the next few days. Jim, I have been reading on the other list, as well (I don’t respond on that one).
Have any of you tried this to work with pens for more flexibility?
http://www.filewell.com/iRedLite/
Mike (Illinois Tech Director, as well)
BlueCove works with any device supported by Mac OS X.
Uwe
OK, my story so far: I have a MBP with built-in BT, and a TiBook without BT, but a dongle. I got it to work with the TiBook with the Kensington dongle finally, by repetition. I kept deleting it from devices and re-running the jar file. Eventually it took. Boy, that was a pain.
Sadly, however, I still don’t have any more success than I did before. The pen picks up a little better than it did on the MBP, but it’s still unusable. This is odd, because it works on the MBP under Boot Camp/Windows XP with Johnny Lee’s software.
So the only hardware change is still the BT adapter. Windows uses the Logitech one, while OSX can’t. I’ll have to test the Kensington dongle with XP, but I’d really like to pair the WiiMote to the Apple Built-in BT under XP. I haven’t been able to do that yet.
If anyone else has some more ideas on what I could try I’d love to hear it.
It works with the Mac Intel and 2 flashlights. I have a special kind with led light that I place under the Mac, then I use the flashlight instead of the pen. It’s hard to callibrate though, so I will have to get or make an IR pen for more accuracy.
Hi,
Nice job !
I work as a technology teacher in France (12-16 years old childs). As my school is quite poor
, I have to find different ways not to waste the money, and this software is a good one !
)
Several things are locked by our administrator, I hope that java will allow me to run the whiteboard. I was using the original software, but I think your job is full of promises (I’m waiting for the right click implement
I’m running on XP SP2 with a F8t012 belkin dongle on a toshiba laptop (home) and I’ll try with xp/2K at school.
One question : Java 6 is installed one my computer, but I had to add “Java Advanced Imaging” in the jar archive to make it work. Is it normal ?
Thanks, see you soon.
Julien
Hi Julien, it’s nice to hear that someone is actually using it on Windows
Which Bluetooth stack did you use?
I never got it running on my PCs but I borrowed another Bluetooth dongle from a friend to do some further testing.
I’m using Java Advanced Imaging (JAI) to do the transformation from the position of the IR light the Wiimote sees to the position of the mouse cursor on the screen. I thought JAI was bundled with all JREs. Thanks for pointing out that this is not the case!
Uwe
The new version of the software will be available as Mac application bundle and “generic version” that will run on all platforms.
I’m currently trying to figure out which license I can use. Don’t worry, the program will stay free to use.
I also want to include some help that covers the basics.
Uwe
Hi,
I use Widcomm stack.In fact, I left everything set to default (except my JAI problem).
Thanks again for your job.
Julien
I tested your software this morning with my MacBookPro and Leopard 10.5.2 and it works fine !
Thank you very much
Francois from Grenoble, France