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Wiimote Whiteboard

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.

1,023 Comments by Uwe on February 5, 2008

1,023 Responses

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  1. Gwen Toppe says:
    February 5, 2010 at 19:43  (Quote)

    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

    Reply
  2. Uwe says: in reply to Gwen Toppe
    February 5, 2010 at 19:54  (Quote)

    Hi Gwen,

    I was considering giving this a try, but I’m not hearing about many success stories. [...] What application is the easiest and most reliable to start off when using a Mac?

    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

    Reply
  3. Uwe says:
    February 5, 2010 at 23:53  (Quote)

    I just released version 1.0.2 which adds Russian localization.

    Uwe

    Reply
  4. Michiel De Laet says:
    February 6, 2010 at 02:31  (Quote)

    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!

    Reply
  5. H. Hobusch says:
    February 6, 2010 at 10:01  (Quote)

    I try it in Germany. Its a realy simple programm and it works very good. Thank you!
    http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuTPvaoIAU8

    Reply
  6. Arne says:
    February 7, 2010 at 04:39  (Quote)

    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?

    Reply
  7. Uwe says: in reply to Michiel De Laet
    February 7, 2010 at 17:20  (Quote)

    Hi Michiel,

    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 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

    Reply
  8. Uwe says: in reply to H. Hobusch
    February 7, 2010 at 17:34  (Quote)

    H. Hobusch: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vuTPvaoIAU8

    It appears the video is gone and the account is closed…

    Reply
  9. Uwe says: in reply to Arne
    February 7, 2010 at 17:52  (Quote)

    Hi Arne,

    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?

    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

    Reply
  10. Ash says:
    February 8, 2010 at 14:22  (Quote)

    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.

    Reply
  11. ghopi says:
    February 9, 2010 at 09:11  (Quote)

    hey there,
    i also tried this out but i ve got some few probs with the connection between the wiimote and the programm for white board, I´ve connected the wiimote with the bluethoot programm ( bluesoleil) now the wiimote is workin but i am not able to work with the IR stick which we made… so could someone tell me which software would be perfectly compatible with bluesoleil…. waiting for yer help buddies….
    koby

    Reply
  12. kimented says:
    February 9, 2010 at 20:00  (Quote)

    Hello,
    I’m a linux user, and your software works fine (Better than other I’ve tried). The only things is that the installation is hard for beginners.
    I understand that you cannot join the bluecove-gpl library with your software, but create a function that will download and install automatically bluecove-gpl should not be hard to do.
    I think about a install.sh script that download and install bluecove-gpl, and create automatically a shortcut in the menu.
    If you need help, in can try to create this script.

    Reply
  13. kimented says:
    February 9, 2010 at 22:59  (Quote)

    I’ve made an install script, it must be named “install.sh” and placed in the folder WiimoteWhiteboard. I’m not a programmer, then this script should be improved (especially multilingual support, and error handling).
    I’ve tested on Ubuntu (Gnome), i dont know if the shortcut works on other Desktop Environment.
    This is the script:

    #!/bin/bash

#search the script directory, and make it current
fichier=$0
dossier=${fichier/"/install.sh"/}
cd "$dossier"

#Install bluecove-gpl?
echo "This script will download and install bluecove-gpl
Would you like to continue? y=yes, n=no"

clavier="n"
read clavier

#Install bluecove-gpl
if [ "$clavier" = "y" ]
then
    mkdir lib
    wget -P lib http://bluecove.googlecode.com/files/bluecove-gpl-2.1.0.jar
    zip WiimoteWhiteboard.jar lib/bluecove-gpl*.jar
    rm -r ./lib
fi

#Shortcut?
echo "Would you add a shortcut in the menu? (Only for $USER)
y=yes, n=no"

clavier="n"
read clavier

#Install shortcut
if [ "$clavier" = "y" ]
then
    echo "[Desktop Entry]
Type=Application
Encoding=UTF-8
Name=WiimoteWhiteboard
GenericName=WiimoteWhiteboard
Comment=Use a Wiimote to build an interactive whiteboard
Icon=$dossier/Help/pub/WiimoteWhiteboard_128.png
Exec=java -jar \"$dossier/WiimoteWhiteboard.jar\"
Terminal=false
StartupNotify=false
Categories=Application;Utility" | tee "$HOME/.local/share/applications/wiimotewhiteboard.desktop"
fi

echo "

Type ENTER to close."
read clavier
    Reply
  14. Nick says: in reply to Uwe
    February 10, 2010 at 16:11  (Quote)

    I have a G5 PPC and had the same problem like discribed above. The connection is very instable and I lose the connection imidiatly after switching the IRled on…

    First I thought the usb bluetooth is the problem, (ID: 0×0a12 Cambridge Silcon Radio LTd) but now, when i tried it again to copy you the log-text, everything is working fine…

    I changed nothing .

    I also have NOT deleted it in the system prefs, cause everytime i did, the witheboard was shut down…

    Now the only little problem is, when i test the ir camera monitor shows me sometimes two ir pens. but i´m using only one. it jumps between point one and two and sometimes also three during the movement. Sometimes I have two for about a minute with only one led! Could that come from reflections?

    I´m using a standart Ir-LED (IR-LED 3MM TYP L-934F3BT) and its not blinking!
    The Monitor is a iiyama prolite 24zoll

    At least, thanks for that great work and the time you spend for that.

    Nick

    Reply
  15. Nick says:
    February 10, 2010 at 21:57  (Quote)

    OK,
    first, I solved my LED-Points Problem by covering the bottom half part of the LED.
    Seems they emit two lightspot inside one led… at least the wiimote beliefes that.

    Second, sorry for my poor english…

    I think I althoug found something for the different connection problems beyond the bluetooth topic. It might makes a different what kind of wiimote u use.

    I first tried the (original) one with the FCC ID : POO-WC45 with wich I had all the longtime connection problems, specially when trying the IR-Pen. After I had to change the remote because the battery was empty I used the one wich came with the wii (FCC ID: UMB-WCF7) and all my problems were gone (except the two spot led…)

    So, there might be a connection between the kind of remote and the problems…?

    For all the germans outside there:
    I got the LED from Conrad, cheap, strong and a wide angle (50º):
    http://www.conrad.de/goto.php?artikel=154380

    Reply
  16. Anthony says: in reply to Michiel De Laet
    February 10, 2010 at 22:20  (Quote)

    Smoothboard works fine. I am a registered user (perhaps one of the first), but I strongly recommend NOT using the product as it works on your computer until to change computer. Then you need a new licence. They must think that people using this type of technology want to continue using stoneage computers with Vista. You will notice that the tracking with a single wiimote is no better than the original program although it allows use of two wiimotes to give redundancy and is better in that respect. If you never want to change computer then it is the product for you as it has plenty of good features. I used to recommend this product to my students in the faculty, but I don’t think I shall continue unless they have a change of policy. It should have the posibility to uninstall and them reinstall in a new computer. They have solved this with a USB dongle, but that does not help the original users, like myself, who paid for the development.

    Reply
  17. Ade says:
    February 11, 2010 at 01:49  (Quote)

    Hi Uwe,

    I am interested in doing a project which would require interfacing with a wii remote. I found your site while browsing and this is exactly what I was looking for. I can download and run your .jar file on my windows 7 computer, although I have no bluetooth yet, so all it does is give me an error message and close :) However, I have had trouble trying to compile the source code. I am using the IDE Netbeans, and I essentially created a new project and dumped all your source files into the project folder. However, Netbeans cannot find many of the packages. For example, it cannot find org.jdesktop.*, com.*, de.*, wiiremotej.*, etc. I noticed that many of the “missing” packages and source files have corresponding “.jar” files in the lib folder. I am not very experienced when it comes to java, so I was wondering if the error is due to files actually being missing or due to my not putting certain files in the right directory or some similar error…

    Thanks in advance for your help,

    Ade

    Reply
  18. Lisa says:
    February 11, 2010 at 22:45  (Quote)

    I downloaded the mac only program, hooked up the wiimote but it says not calibrated. I tried the button that says calibrate but all that happens is it tells me to make sure the remote can see the screen and press escape to abort. Help! I would love to be able to use this in my classroom as a smartboard is way out of our budget. Thanks.

    Reply
  19. Nick says: in reply to Lisa
    February 12, 2010 at 00:33  (Quote)

    Hey lisa,
    when this screen appears (“…it tells me to make sure the remote can see the screen and press escape to abort.”) you have to use a IR-LED light to calibrate. You can by them or built one on your own.
    Check this link for more information:
    http://www.wiimoteproject.com/ir-pens/

    Reply
  20. Lisa says:
    February 12, 2010 at 22:24  (Quote)

    Thanks Nick. It seems to be working but now all I see on the screen is the screensaver picture. No icons. Nothing. I can make the little arrow move around but I have no programs I can click on. I know I am not very techy but I am determined.

    Reply
  21. Ade says: in reply to Ade
    February 13, 2010 at 01:42  (Quote)

    Never mind — Netbeans simply wanted me to add the Libraries individually, instead of as a folder.

    Reply
  22. Uwe says: in reply to ghopi
    February 13, 2010 at 13:28  (Quote)

    Hi ghopi,

    I´ve connected the wiimote with the bluethoot programm ( bluesoleil) now the wiimote is workin but i am not able to work with the IR stick which we made… so could someone tell me which software would be perfectly compatible with bluesoleil….

    my software doesn’t work with BlueSoleil (see this); you’d need the WIDCOMM stack (see this thread). The Smoothboard application does work with BlueSoleil, but isn’t free.

    Uwe

    Reply
  23. Uwe says: in reply to kimented
    February 13, 2010 at 14:16  (Quote)

    Hi kimented,

    The only things is that the installation is hard for beginners. [...] I think about a install.sh script that download and install bluecove-gpl, and create automatically a shortcut in the menu. [...] I’ve made an install script, it must be named “install.sh” and placed in the folder WiimoteWhiteboard. [...] I’ve tested on Ubuntu (Gnome), i dont know if the shortcut works on other Desktop Environment.

    I totally agree and this has actually been on my TODO list for quite some time. I never got around doing it, so thank you for your effort! Also saw it at http://doc.ubuntu-fr.org/wiimotewhiteboard.

    I’m not a programmer, then this script should be improved (especially multilingual support, and error handling).

    I’ll see what I can do for some future release.

    Thanks,
    Uwe

    Reply
  24. Uwe says: in reply to Nick
    February 13, 2010 at 14:32  (Quote)

    Hi Nick,

    I have a G5 PPC [...] I also have NOT deleted it in the system prefs, cause everytime i did, the witheboard was shut down… [...] After I had to change the remote because the battery was empty I used the one wich came with the wii (FCC ID: UMB-WCF7) and all my problems were gone (except the two spot led…)

    I guess you read the advice for PowerPC users at the bottom of this page (right before the comments start), 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)“. So maybe it’s because you changed Wiimotes?

    OK, first, I solved my LED-Points Problem by covering the bottom half part of the LED. Seems they emit two lightspot inside one led… at least the wiimote beliefes that.

    This could also come from the LED’s reflection on the display surface, especially when you hold the IR pen at some distance.

    Uwe

    Reply
  25. Uwe says: in reply to Anthony
    February 13, 2010 at 14:45  (Quote)

    Hi Anthony,

    Smoothboard works fine. I am a registered user (perhaps one of the first), but I strongly recommend NOT using the product as it works on your computer until to change computer. Then you need a new licence. [...] I used to recommend this product to my students in the faculty, but I don’t think I shall continue unless they have a change of policy. It should have the posibility to uninstall and them reinstall in a new computer. They have solved this with a USB dongle, but that does not help the original users, like myself, who paid for the development.

    thanks for letting us know. I personally have no experience with Smoothboard…

    You will notice that the tracking with a single wiimote is no better than the original program although it allows use of two wiimotes to give redundancy and is better in that respect.

    Btw, my app also offers to use two Wiimotes for redundancy.

    Uwe

    Reply
  26. Uwe says: in reply to Ade
    February 13, 2010 at 14:56  (Quote)

    Hi Ade, I’m glad you figured it out.

    Uwe

    Reply
  27. Uwe says: in reply to Lisa
    February 13, 2010 at 15:03  (Quote)

    Hi Lisa,

    I suggest you start by watching Johnny Lee’s video, then have a look at the How To Use at the wiki.

    Uwe

    Reply
  28. Nomis says:
    February 15, 2010 at 16:29  (Quote)

    Hi,
    Thanks for this great apps !
    I’m trying to make it work on Ubuntu.
    I just follow this post : http://www.uweschmidt.org/comment/303
    to add bluecove and it’s done !
    But when i’m launching WiimoteWhiteboard, i just go debug msg and the apps didn’t show up :

    simon@laptop:~/Bureau/WiimoteWhiteboard$ java -jar WiimoteWhiteboard.jar
Exception in thread "AWT-EventQueue-0" java.lang.NoClassDefFoundError: javax/bluetooth/BluetoothStateException
	at org.uweschmidt.wiimote.whiteboard.WiimoteConnector.connect(WiimoteConnector.java:48)
	at org.uweschmidt.wiimote.whiteboard.WiimoteDataHandler.(WiimoteDataHandler.java:84)
	at org.uweschmidt.wiimote.whiteboard.WiimoteWhiteboard.startup(WiimoteWhiteboard.java:99)
	at org.jdesktop.application.Application$1.run(Application.java:171)
	at java.awt.event.InvocationEvent.dispatch(InvocationEvent.java:226)
	at java.awt.EventQueue.dispatchEvent(EventQueue.java:602)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpOneEventForFilters(EventDispatchThread.java:275)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForFilter(EventDispatchThread.java:200)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEventsForHierarchy(EventDispatchThread.java:190)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:185)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.pumpEvents(EventDispatchThread.java:177)
	at java.awt.EventDispatchThread.run(EventDispatchThread.java:138)
Caused by: java.lang.ClassNotFoundException: javax.bluetooth.BluetoothStateException
	at com.simontuffs.onejar.JarClassLoader.findClass(JarClassLoader.java:602)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:319)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClass(ClassLoader.java:264)
	at java.lang.ClassLoader.loadClassInternal(ClassLoader.java:332)
	... 12 more

    I don’t know what’s happen …
    Could you help me ?

    Thanks ;)

    Reply
  29. Dan Pastusek says:
    February 18, 2010 at 08:03  (Quote)

    Using Ubuntu 9.04 I downloaded the bluecove-gpl module and tried running your program with:
    java -jar WiimoteWhiteboard.jar

    That didn’t work, so I tried using:
    java -cp bluecove-gpl-2.1.0.jar -jar WiimoteWhiteboard.jar
    And
    java -cp bluecove-gpl-2.1.0.jar:WiimoteWhiteboard.jar org.uweschmidt.wiimote.whiteboard.WiimoteWhiteboard

    all with sudo and without, yet they keep giving the error: “Bluetooth failed to initialize. There is probably a problem with your local Bluetooth stack or API” or simply won’t run.

    Any ideas on what I could be doing wrong?

    Looks like an awesome program… if I could get it working :-p

    Reply
  30. Dan Pastusek says:
    February 18, 2010 at 08:34  (Quote)

    Disregard.. after a bit of digging I found that I needed to install the libbluetooth3 and libbluetooth-dev packages within ubuntu… My fault for not reading your post on the wiki.

    Now the application starts, however it sits at “searching…” forever. I believe it could have something to do with the off brand “NYKO” Wiimote I am using. I am also using a Ubuntu 9.04 live CD I had sitting around. I will try actually installing 9.10 tomorrow and see if I have better luck with that. Windows XP was just giving me fits and didn’t seem to work at all.. even with Johnny Lee’s program.

    Reply
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