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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)
- Cross-platform Java version
- Mac application
- Important: Does not work with Mac OS X 10.8 “Mountain Lion” after download. This is due to Bluetooth changes in OS X 10.8 that break compatibility with my application. This may solve the problem.
- Source Code
Video
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.
My set up involved the Wii looking at a monitor to use the pen and monitor as a form of graphics tablet. My initial testing was done on a very bright day and I had similar problems. I discovered that sunlight reflections coming through a window from behind my monitor was the problem – totally confusing the Wii’s infrared camera. Draping a curtain across the window solved the problem.
Look for anything that might be reflecting unwanted light back into the Wii.
The Wii is pointed on a normal wall, where i beam my secondary screen on.
It is a darkened room, with only a table and a chair. I don’t think there’s any reflection involved.
What kind of light pen are you using? You can test the light pen with most digital cameras that can see infrared. Turn all lights out and have someone wave the pen around near your target screen or wall while you observe image from the camera. The camera should show a bright pin point of light without flicker. Any stray reflections might show up as well.
I will test this, i use a generic pen (white product). On camera i see a pinpoint of lighting , i’m not sure how bright it must be.
Hey, also i forgot to tell one thing.After doing the calibration press esc button to exit the calibration screen.We haven’t yet added the cross-hair to aim at during calibration but it works without them.So after lighting up the led on the 4 corners, just press esc and you will have your flat screen working as a touch screen.Please reply with your feedbacks.
Thank you.
Hi Rishi,
I am a computer teacher in Australia, I am happy to test your program I have connected and the wiimote to my windows 7 laptop. Staff issue laptop to all New South Wales schools. I have downloaded your software and it runs. Not sure what else I need to do. The light is continually flashing on the wiimote. I’ve left my pen at school but once I’m connected I will test it with a data prjector.
I use uwe’s software on my Mac without any trouble but am unable to use it on this windows 7 pc. Mainly because it so locked down. You can’t run .exe files on it but you can run jar files. If I test your software and it works you may have given me a solution to get the wiimote working on this laptop.
Samantha Pennington M Ed (Computer Eduction)
Ryde Secondary College
Sydney Australia
Hello Samantha ma’am
Please do reply once you have tested it and share any problems that you come across while doing so.Hope it will work the way you expected, even if it doesn’t give your feedback so that the project can improve.
Thank you.
Hi Rishi. I am interested in testing your app on a MacBookPro. Although you have developed and tested it on Windows, please understand that there is a growing number of Mac users, particularly in the middle and high schools in my area.
I assumed since it is written in Java it should run under Java on any OS but I have encountered a problem even to launch it. If you (or any Mac user) has a suggestion on the steps involved in launching this binary please respond.
Hi Jimandy.
I will definitely test it on Mac OS and will get back to you soon.If it is giving a problem here as well then me and my team shall work on the bug and soon release version 2 of the software.
Thank you for replying and showing interest.
Hi Rishi,
I am unable to get the wiimote to work on the Windows 7 laptop. It is heavily locked down. I can’t get the wiimote to stop flashing. Your software does run ont he machine. Usually once the wii is connected to the computer via bluetooth it stops flashing. Regarding the software it would be great if you could add the callibration cross hairs so you know where to click on the screen. Also I guess it should automatically escape back to the normal screen without having to press the ESC key. I have an older Mac laptop, I’ll run your software on their and see how it all goes.
Sam Pennington (MEd Computing Ed)
Ryde Secondary College
Hello Samantha ma’am
Thank you for the feedback.I think the software is giving some problems on Mac.It may not run under Mac OS.But still I appreciate the fact that you tested the software and replied with your review.
Thank you.
HI Rishi,
Have tried your software on 3 computers.
Desktop running winxp
Mac Running OS10.4.11
Laptop running Windows 7.
It’s not connecting to any of them. Also I don’t see any cross hairs on the calibration page. They are in your screen captures on your website.
I have another Mac I can try it on running Snow Leopard. When I get a chance I’ll give it a try. I like your project. I ran a project with an Information Systems class a few years ago on wiimote. I would have loved to do something like what your doing with a Software design class. One of my students did a project on Webcam whiteboard and that was good also. I think the wiimote is better.
Any ideas on how to get your software working so I can test it further.
Regards
Samantha Pennington
Hello ma’am
I think you are having problems with your Bluetooth drivers.The software requires WIDCOMM.It will not run on Microsoft’s default Bluetooth stack.Here’s what you need to do-
1.)Download “Widcomm 5.0.1.801 bluetooth drivers” for windows xp, just download it and install it.Here’s the link ->http://www.filecrop.com/Widcomm-5.0.1.801-bluetooth-drivers.html. If still it doesnt work then..
2.) Go to “c:/windows/inf” folder select “bth.PNF” and “bth.inf OR bth” file and rename it as “bth.PNF.old” and “bth.inf.old OR bth.old”.
3.)restart ur pc.
4.) Again install “Widcomm 5.0.1.801 bluetooth drivers” .
This should make the software run on MS Win XP and MS WIN 7.
We have not tested it on Mac so at this pint of time i cannot comment on that.Please see if the above instruction work.And if still it doesn’t the we may have to improve our project a lot.
Thank you for replying.
Also we have now added the cross-hairs to the calibration scree.You can go here and download para-iwb -> http://paratechies.weebly.com/downloads.html
hi, im trying to adapt the WiiMoteJ library to my project, but i can’t find the source code, and unfortunatly the oficial page is down. do you have the source code of WiimoteJ library? or maybe you know a page where i can downloaded. thanks for your time:)
Sorry the name of the library is WiiRemoteJ, anyone who could help me find it or maybe send it to my e-mail gran_ed@hotmail.com, i’ll appreciate it
Hi,
I am a little bit confused, browsing through all the postings and on google.
I have a MacBook Pro i7 running OS X 10.7.3.
Also I have a Wii Remote that iI shortly can pair without a pin and that is shown in the Bluetooth Menu as Nintendo RVL-CNT-01-RT.
When I start Wiimote I press 1 and 2 and it do not connect. In the log it keeps showing me:
FINE 15:16:14 WiiRemoteJ: Found Nintendo RVL-CNT-01-TR (2C10C1B67AA2)
FINE 15:16:14 WiiRemoteJ: Nintendo RVL-CNT-01-TR is NOT a known device.
Any Ideas what could cause this. I had to replace my machine and also my remote. So maybe it does not really work. Because the Remote is to new. I am a little bit confused since it worked well on my old box.
Anyone that can point me into the correct direction on the web?
Advance Thanks.
Bye
Michael
Hello,
I have windows 7 and am having connectivity issues. My wii remote shows up under my compuer devices as connected. Upon starting your software, it just keeps ’searching’ and never locates my remote. Any suggestions would be helpful, I would like to use this for a business presentation tomorrow am.
Thank you,
Dusty
One thing that seems confusing in this thread is that we seem to have two different products involved. First, the original software from UweSchmid and then this software from Rishi. Might help to mention which one a post is talking about.
Hi All, Please tell me first thing, When wiimote connect to the PC what blue lights of Remote behaves like? In my project after connected to the PC, it keeps blinking, but Whiteboard software says there is no Wiimote connected. how to proceed further?
Thanks
I’m getting the same message that Michael got. I’m on a MacBook running OS 10.5.8, and I just purchased a brand new Wii Remote Plus. I’m using the Mac-specific WiimoteWhiteboard (also tried the Java version with similar results).
In general the computer doesn’t acknowledge the connection attempts with the Wiimote. However, after *Many* attempts, I eventually got something that said
FINE 15:16:14 WiiRemoteJ: Found Nintendo RVL-CNT-01-TR (2C10C1B67AA2)
FINE 15:16:14 WiiRemoteJ: Nintendo RVL-CNT-01-TR is NOT a known device.
Any help here would be much appreciated.
Hello there,
I’m facing a problem using the java version of the software on my PC running Windows 7 Home Premium 64-bit.
The first time I tried to run WiimoteWhiteboard it wanted me to get bluecove. After I downloaded bluecove-2.1.1-SNAPSHOT.jar and placed it in C:\Program Files\java\jre7\lib\ext\ I tried again and it put out that winsock is not supported. After some google research I found that I had to have a WIDCOMM bluetooth stack installed to make it work. So I downloaded the installer from http://www.broadcom.com/support/bluetooth/update.php and let it install the WIDCOMM Bluetooth Software. Everything went fine and I tried again but it still tells me that winsock is not supported.
I don’t know anything about java programming and everything I wanted to do is using my Wiimote for a pen-based touchscreen.
So is anybody able to help me with my problem?
Hi, I am able to connect my wiimote (Motion Plus) I bought from ebay and the IR LED pen on my windows 7. At the beginning it was a bit confusion on how to add new device (my wiimote). Then I watched a movie on how to do so. So I did click add new divice on my computer and then press 1 and 2 at the same time wait until the computer detect the Wiimote. Then follow the proceduces.
I used wiimote whiteboard from Jhonny Cheung Lee’s website and it detected my wiimote and I also did the calibration. However, I wasn’t able to use the pen to control the cursor. Is there anyone can help me with this problem? Thank you.
Hey, so whenever i search for wii remotes, i get an error message that says, “wiiremote not supported on winsock” im running widows 7. Help?
check this new thing which further connected with wii…
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d869gBvJPjk
i’ve found this software to be extremely easy to install, calibrate and use. no problems what so ever. i didn’t have a IR pen, so i just used a TV remote control. it worked okay. then i used my imac apple remote, and boy that remote works great!! I had to figure out how to unpair it with my mac, but after that works like a charm.
Whenever I launch the application directly from the applications folder, the program starts up and I get the start display, but then even when I press 1 and 2 buttons on the wii remote, it still says searching and can’t find. When I attempt to launch the program through terminal or by clicking on the .jar java script, I get an error saying “either your bluetooth is not supported (but I know it is cuz its the standard macbook pro bluetooth) or something about the API on my computer.” I’ve downloaded the Wiimote application, but do I need additional software. I read that I might need bluecove. If so how do you get this running. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you so much.
I’ve just installed Mountain Lion and, suddenly, whimote whiteboard won’t work any more. It will crash immediately. I’ve tried the Java version which works a tiny bit better: it works long enough to let me know there’s a ptoblem with my bluetooth, which fails to initialize, then it crashes.
Please, tell me you have a solution. Your program is a must have for me and my pupils. Don’t let us down.
Thanks in advance.
I too just downloaded Mountain Lion for my Mac and now it crashes
Please help!!
Same here. So excited to experiment with the software and it just crashes. I’m assuming it’s mountain lion. Please fix. I want to use this in my classroom this fall. Thanks for all of your hard work.