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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, 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.
Hi Arun
The problem will be the field of view, the camera in the Wiimote will be unable to see the parts of the board at the widest angle from it.
Dave
I think teh wiimote has +/-20degrees view that means if I place the wiimote parallel or slightly tipping towards teh board, then it should cover the boards from few inches away from the wimmote till the enite boards laterally. isn’t it.
Had I even placed it perfectly parallel to the board, assuming the center of the axis of the camera is say an inch from the surface of the board a 25degree view should intercet the board say at 3 inch and from that point till the end of the bards any IR blob should be visible.
Hi Uwe,
further on installing on Ubuntu: you also need to have libbluetooth-dev installed (at least on 9.10/Karmic). Thanks for the software!
I can only get one wii remote to recognize. I have attempted to connect a second remote for about a week now with no success. Can someone please help me with this??
Arun,
The issue is the width of the board nearest the wii remote. At +/- 20 degrees the width of the field of view at the nearest point of the wii remote would be (using trigonometry):
2 * y * Tan 20
or about
0.75 * y
where y is the distance of the wii remote from the board. So to cover a 40 inch board the wii remote would need to be 53 inches from the board.
I think this means it would be best to have the remote pointing almost diagonally across the board as the width of the board perpendicular to the diagonal is much smaller than traditional xy. I see no reason why your idea of triangulation shouldn’t work in this manner.
Of course the perpendicular distance grows to exceed the xy values but not until you are further into the board which means the wii remote can be placed closer to the board initially.
Landon,
The only time I had problems (though I’ve not tried recently) was when one of the wii remotes was a fake.
Have you connected both wii remotes to the bluetooth computer before launching smoothboard?
Dave
oops…got carried away, sorry Landon – you probably aren’t using smoothboard are you…
I’ve tried to get the thing to work with my macbook laptop and with a Windows XP desktop. Neither with any success. Very frustrating and I’m in the IT industry! I was evaluating for our whole school board to see if we could implement in schools instead of full smart boards to save money.
I know that with early Smoothboard there were problems with bluetooth drivers not talking to the wii remote but this was all solved with the XP service pack 2 when the native microsoft drivers were updated, I’ve no experience with Mac’s though – sorry.
Dave
my biggest problem is that I can’t get 2 remotes set up on either mac or PC at the same time. I can get one remote to install, but I can only get the remote to either hit the top 2 or bottom 2 calibration spots, but never all 4. I am trying to get the second remote set up so the whole board is aliened. Can someone tell me how to hook up multiple wii remotes to same box. Smoothboard has it build into the software to show both remotes, but only one connects. Wiimote Whiteboad and mac I don’t see anything in software to get more than one controller connected to help with new positions.
I normally place the one wii remote by the projector, this usually lets me set it up so it can cover all 4 points. If you use third-party wii remotes then they tend to struggle as you put them further away from the board. I’ve just let my nieces have the Wii back so I’ve only got my sales stock and I’m reluctant to break open a new couple to test so it’ll probably be a couple of days before I can check on the dual connection with Smoothboard. The last time I tested a dual wii set up was last year and had no problems with getting them connected, though I do recall connecting them through Windows before launching the Smoothboard software.
I’ve just tried it with two Mad Catz I had lying aound and got both connected if I connected them to the PC using the bluetooth discovery first, then when Smoothboard launched used the ‘Show Settings’ button to choose ‘two wiimotes’ – needed a restart of Smoothboard
Hi,
There are some cases with certain Bluetooth adaptors where only one Wiimote can be connected at a time.
What Bluetooth adaptor are you using? What is the error/status shown on your computer when you try to connect the second Wiimote?
You may want to try another Bluetooth adaptor or test it on another computer.
If possible, please do send to us a screenshot of your Device Manager with the expanded HID device list. You can reach us at admin@smoothboard.net
Regards,
Boon Jin
Hi, I read your post on how to use this on Ubuntu (although I’m using 9.10).
I followed your commands word by word, and when I ran the final command (java), I came up with this: (This is the debug command)
When I initially ran the “java” command, it said I did not have it installed, so I ran:
sudo apt-get install openjdk-6-jre-headless
Could you tell me what I’m doing wrong? Usually I can figure these things out by looking at the debug info, but I’m completely lost this time.
I’m using our big TV as a “Whiteboard” for the family.
Much appreciated. (I’ve gotten Johnny’s vanilla program to work on my Windows box, but the PC connected to the TV is running Ubuntu.)
Hi David,
thanks for letting us know. I’ll add it to the README when I get around to make a Linux-specific version…
Uwe
Hi Landon,
does that mean you can’t even get a single Wiimote calibrated? Or can you successfully connect both Wiimotes, but can’t calibrate them?
Also you need to be clear which software you are using, since my app and Smoothboard connect quite differently to Wiimotes (under the hood).
My app automatically searches for two Wiimotes, even after you connect one.
Uwe
Hi Andy,
the error message says that an Java AWT library couldn’t be loaded, which suggests to me that this is a GUI problem.
Why did you install the headless variant of Java? The package descriptions says:
I’d assume that it works with the “regular” Java JRE, i.e. package openjdk-6-jre:
Uwe
Egh. Sorry to be a bother.
I’ve switched to the regular version as you suggested, and now I’m getting a new error message:
I’ve put bluecove in the /home/pham/WiimoteWhiteboard/lib and ran
zip WiimoteWhiteboard.jar lib/bluecove-gpl-2.1.0.jar
And it says I don’t have BlueCove?
(I already have BlueZ installed. I’m pretty sure it’s standard on all Ubuntu installations)
Again, sorry to be a bother, but I really want to get this to work.
Hi Andy,
it looks like you did everything right. I don’t have a Linux machine for testing right now…
Did you take a look at David’s comment?
Uwe
Me and the teacher next door are using your great software everyday all the time, but in the morning when we connect the wii to the macbooks, we both get in trouble sometimes. His wii connects to my computer or mine to his and we had to shut the connection and restart all over until it finally works. Is there a way for closing the bluetooth connection after the wii finds the computer?
I know many other teachers want to try the software but this little problem can become a big one if everyone around our hall will have the same situation.
Hi John,
this issue has been pointed out to me by several teachers already. It’s one of the top priorities on my TODO list for a new version of the application.
In the meantime, you can use one of these “runtime options” (please see the wiki):
Hope that helps,
Uwe
Hi Uwe,
Yes, I saw that post. I might try again with a fresh install and see what happens. (It’s a “disposable” box – non-essential).
Hello!
Thanks for your great software! Unfortunately I just can’t fathom how to install/run it either on XP or Ubuntu…. I downloaded and read the readme.txt, but not enough info to get there… Is there a tutorial for dummies somewhere in the wiki pages or somewhere else?
Thanks a lot!
Cyrille
Hi Cyrille,
is my application even starting? That’s obviously the first step; please see this post for more information on Windows, and this wiki page for Linux.
After doing that, these step-by-step instructions should explain how to use the app. If not, please let me know what is unclear.
Uwe
Thanks Uwe!
Well for XP ir’s running, but I have a trouble with BT… I guess I’ll fid a solution.
For Ubuntu, a trouble with BT api or stack… I guess it’s because there is no bluecove gpl for arm machines ;-(
Hello again!
Here is the error message from Ubuntu…
Do you have a piece of advice to share
Thanks!
Cyrille
Hi again!
Little info: I used the bluecove 2.1.1
We are trying to test the java version with wii remote and bluetooth in two different rooms. Here is the problem in one classroom:
When the bluetooth connects to the wii, and the screen for calibration appears, the mouse is frozen, and I cannot move it. Sometimes the first point for calibration is already checked even though I have not done anything. Sometimes it says that the calibration is already completed, even though I have not calibrated at all. I cannot move the mouse to re-calibrate, and the only way to get out of this is to turn the Wii off with the power button.
In this room, we are using an ceiling mounted projector, with the screen in front of a window that is letting in outside light around the screen.
The wii is on a tripod pointing directly on the screen, just underneath the mounted projector.
I can use this equipment in another room and it is not a problem. Has anyone experienced this problem? Could there be interference in the room?
Your help would be greatly appreciated.
Hi Helen,
The outside light that you have mentioned should be the one causing your issue. For example, if sun light is coming in, the Wiimote will register the IR source to be always on and thus disrupting the calibration and the usability of the software.
A possible solution is to place the Wiimote closer to the screen avoiding the Wiimote from capturing the exposed window. Or you may have to cover the Window. If you are using Smoothboard, depending on the amount of infrared coming in, you can reduce the sensitivity of the Wiimote until these stray IR sources is undetected.
Regards,
Boon Jin