Do-it-yourself project to use a Wii remote controller, Wiiscan software and USB powering for a digital interactive whiteboard in classrooms

Do-it-yourself project to use a Wii remote controller, Wiiscan software and USB powering for a digital interactive whiteboard in classrooms

Applies to Windows XP/Home, Vista and W7

Author: Dirk Schouten, schoutdi (at) knoware (dot) nl, Public Primary School Rosa Boekdrukker, Amsterdam, the Netherlands, ict (at) rosaboekdrukker (dot) net, http://rosaboekdrukker.net.

Contents

Under construction

Software update available: wiiscan-09-release-2.1.zip on http://wyxs.net/downloads/whiteboard/

1. Introduction
    1.0 Advantages
    1.1 Buying a set
    1.2 Credits and acknowledgements
    1.3 Warning!
    1.4 Support
    1.5 Skills
    1.6 Conventions

2. What is needed in hard- and software
    2.1 Our setup
    2.2 USB 2.0 and Bluetooth
        2.2.1 Computer
        2.2.2 USB 2.0
        2.2.3 Bluetooth
        2.2.4 Hardware conclusions
    2.3 Software
        2.3.1 Service Packs
        2.3.2 .NET Framework
        2.3.3 Wiiscan

3. Building the USB power module & Wiimote powering
    3.1 Schematics and printed circtuit boards
    3.2 Parts lists
    3.3 Components
    3.4 The building
    3.5 Cables
    3.6 Preliminary tests
    3.7 Datasheets

4. Testing the USB power module
    4.1 Determine the microcontroller version
    4.2 Installing the driver
    4.3 Editing wiiscan.ini: power mode
    4.4 Testing
    4.5 Problems

5. Testing the Wiimote
    5.2 Editing wiiscan.ini: MAC address
    5.1 Connecting
    5.3 Testing
    5.4 Problems

6. Wiiscan
    6.1 WIISCAN_manual
    6.2 WIISCAN -H.rtf
    6.3 Wiiscan.ini
    6.4 INSTALL.rtf
    6.5 Wiiscantray
    6.6 Basic pen software
    6.7 Problems

7. Infra red pen

8. Whiteboards
    8.1. Melamine
    8.2. HPL (High Pressure Laminate)
        8.2.1 Glueing and cleaning HPL
    8.3. Enamel
    8.4. Paint
    8.5. Plastic foil

9. Speakers
    9.1. Speaker in the projector
    9.2. Separate speakers

10. Ceiling mounts
    10.1. Wiimote ceiling mount
    10.2. Video Projector ceiling mount

11. Video projector

12. Installing, connecting and testing
    12.1 Whiteboard
    12.2 Video projector
    12.3 Wiimote
        12.3.1 Distance of Wii to whiteboard
    12.4 Speakers
    12.5 Cables
    12.6 Testing
    12.7 Ready!

13. Software
    13.1. IR pen
    13.2. Pointers
    13.3. Whiteboard software

14. Advanced topics
    14.1 Preventing RF emission
    14.2 Working with the PixArt camera directly

15. Testimonials

16. Concluding remarks

17. Disclaimer

1. Introduction

The Nintendo Wii remote controller is a popular device to construct digital interactive whiteboards. Most of them are based on Johnny Chung Lee's original idea, to be viewed on http://www.ted.com/talks/view/id/245.

Johnny's splendid idea will almost certainly not function in a classroom, crowded with eager pupils and a teacher willing to educate them. Sooner or later one of them would touch the Wii remote controller (Wiimote from now on), causing recalibration and thus the end of the lesson. Or, at the wrong moment of course, the batteries are empty and a pupil has to find fresh ones; unfortunately unavaiable. Or, starting up a program would fail because of some error, somehow during the operation. In classrooms Murpy's law is at its best! What is needed to use Johnnys idea in a classrooms is 'engineering'. The goal was set.

A small group of enthousiasts took up Johnnys initial idea to construct a digital interactive whiteboard that is effectively usable in a classroom. The how to of that first prototype is still available on http://wyxs.net/web/wiimote/digital_whiteboard.html. During a year a teacher of grade 3 and her pupils gained practical experience in the classroom with the prototype and discovered that it needed several improvements and engineering. The engineering involved designing a stable, robust, reproducable, error- and maintenance free, open solution.
In the classroom it means that, after a complete installation, the teacher only needs to power on the PC to start wroking with the pen.

Below is a picture of the hardware:

[ Complete set ]
complete_set-460x613.jpg

and the hardware in action in a real classroom:

[ short throw projector setup]
short_throw.png
Our classroom with an Optoma EX525ST short throw projector with ONSBORD (OURBOARD) http://onsobrd.nl.

1.0 Advantages

OURBOARD: Digital interactive whiteboard for schools
After two years of experiments, research and improvements we have a good alternative for the expemsive commercial digiboards: OURBOARD. Available in  sepember 2009 in three modes: Are you interested in ready made or DIY, mail to info@onsbord.nl. With these three choices we hope to satisfy  every school budget.

Video projector and whiteboard

Of course, for such low prices, you can not expect to get a video projector and a whiteboard. Maybe you already have the projecor, otherwise, read on and buy one. They are availalble in differing brands, models and pirces. For a whiteboard several possibilities exist, please read on.

Software

The software to operate the board and pen is available on the Internet and free.  Besides that we make downloads available so you won't have to search for them.

Comparison

A digital interactive whiteboard, complete in the classroom, does not need to cost  € 3000 - 4000. You can have one in your classroom, including projector and whiteboard surface, under  € 1000. All it needs is reading and labour.

Comparison between our board and commercial boards
OURBOARD
COMMERCIAL WHITEBOaRS
OURBOARD is platform independent, so for Windows, Linux, Mac, BSD, Ubuntu and others. Most whiteboards are Windows only. With such whitebaoards you tighten yourself to Windows for years. That is vendor lock-in [4]. Our gouvernement is against  vendor lock-in in education.
OURBOARD can operate with open standards software. So lessons you made  can be exchanged with other schools. Most whitebords operate with proprietary file formats.  So, lessons you make, are not exchangeable on other board brands. Again vendor lock-in [4]. Our governement prefers the use of open standards to facilitate the exchange of learning materials to reduce costs.
OURBOARD can operate with the enormous amount of whiteboard software that can be found on the Internet: as well  open- as closed source, freeware, shareware, payed and free. With commercial whiteboards you can get 'free' software. That software is closed soucrce; you cannot adapt it yourself.That's also vendor lock-in [4]. Our governement prefers, when open and closed are equally appropriate, the use of open source software.
OURBOARD's TCO (Total Costs of Ownership) is much lower than all other available digital interactive whitebaords. A simple calculation, you can make yourself.
OURBOARD can be made as big or small as you like. You can use it as a second board in your class, next to your chalk board. You are the boss, not the board. All commercial whiteboarden have a fixed format. That's why most times you have to say farewell to   your chalk board, while it is still much needed.
ONSBORD is also writeable with whiteboard felt markers and easy to clean even if you accidentally use a permanent marker. It is not advised to write on digital whiteboards with any marker. Most times boards are not made for that purpose.
OURBOARD is practically undestructable so very classroom and pupil friendly. The digital whitebord is vulnerable; you have to be careful because of electronic conponents in it.
OURBOARD can be, if you do it yourself, assembled in a weekend. You can only once spend your money, and you spend it much faster than DIY. One phone call and paying a lot of money is enough.

[1] A ready made set contains: ceiling mount for Wii, a Wii remote controller wiht external powering, cable between Wii and USB power (10 meters) , Wii powering device via USB, USB cable,  professional IR (infra red) pen (type The Groove) and an installation manual.

[2] A DIY kit has no ceiling mount,  no Wii cont4rolleri, no power cable and no IR pen. We assume you have a Wii controller laying around, make your own ceiling mount for the Wii and make your own IR pen.  The power cable is a normal RJ11 telephone cord, it can be bought everywhere. To make an IR pen is a piece of cake, it costs a few euros and on the Internet many manuals can be found (see also below). The DIY kit contains: the enclosure, a printed ciruit board, connectors, integrated circuit and all other electronic components, as well as the adaption to the Wii controller to power it via cable. There is little to find out yourself. Regarding the complexity of this DIY project: it is fairly simple. You need some experience in soldering electronic components.

[3] The manual? You are reading it!

[4] Vendor lock-in, also known as proprietary lock-in, or customer lock-in, makes a customer dependent on a vendor for products and services, unable to use another vendor without substantial switching costs. Lock-in costs which create barriers to market entry may result in antitrust action against a monopoly.
(Source: Wikipedia)

1.1 Buying a set

When your school wants to buy complete sets for Windows (XP Pro/Home/ Vista or W7), either assembled and tested by the engineer Niels Kooy or as a do-it-yourself kit, please go to Niels's site:
http://onsbord.nl/ (online and available October 2009)
where you can find ordering information and all other details.

A complete set consists of:

For those who already have some of the expensive parts, a do-it-yourself kit without them is available. It contains: the USB power module enclosure, connectors, printed circuit boards, a microcontroller, transistor, crystal, voltage regulator, resistors, capacitors, etcetera. Not included are the Nintendo Wiimote, the infra red pen, the ceiling mount and cables.

[ parts in the DYI-kit ]
diy-kit.png

By supplying the do-it-yourself kit, we assume you have a Wiimote laying around and you can make an infra red pen yourself. Simple manuals can be found on many places on the internet and here: http://wyxs.net/web/wiimote/digital_whiteboard.html.
The cables we use are a standard USB A B cable between the Wiimote and the power module, and a self made cable with 2 RJ11 6P6C connectors and Cat 5 cable. For details, see section 3.5 Cables.

A third option is to read this how to and do everything yourself. The how to describes the construction of a USB power module to power a Wiimote via the USB port of a PC and a microcontroller, a P-Channel MOS FET and a voltage regulator. The microcontroller costs $ 8,-- and is available via Delcom as part no. 902370. The other parts can be bought at most electronic parts stores.
Also the connection of the Wiimote via Bluetooth to the PC is described in detail, as well as an installation guide on .NET USB 2.0, .NET Framework, Bluetooth and the software. The software used to operate the Wiimote is 'Wiiscan',developed as open source software under a General Public License by Carsen Frigaard from Mergeit. The how to also gives suggestions on setting up the videoprojector, on whiteboard materials, speakers, mounts, cursors, etcetera.

1.2 Credits and acknowledgements

A project like this leans on many shoulders. Basic research was done by Carsten Frigaard from Mergeit. Carsten developed the Wiiscan software and the USB power module. We are very thankful for his OSS/GPL contribution to education.
Niels Kooy engineerded Carstens work into robust, stable hardware. The public primary schools Corantijn and Joop Westerweel financed the initial experiments for this project. Peter Fokker, Arnold v.d. Burger and many others contributed with advice and practical help.
Primary education itself thanks you all for your contributions!
Of course, the author of this DIY project is the only one responsable for the text, its typos and errors. Tips and suggestions are welcome.

1.3 Warning!

Please, before doing anyting, read section 13. Disclaimer, the ususal disclaimer.

1.4 Support

When looking for support for the building, please find a electronics hobbyist. She is perfectly able to understand this text and build the devices for your school. As for installation support: please read this how to. It's all we know. Tips and suggestions are welcome.

1.5 Skills

When you have a ready made set, you only need to install software for which you need average computer skills. You should be able to open the DOS box and use basic DOS commands like 'cd', 'dir' and 'copy'. Furthermore you can download from the Internet, save, unzip, move and rename directories and files, install simple software, edit files with Notepad and create directories and links.

For the DIY project of making the USB power module and the conversions to the Wiimote, basic electronic skills are necessary. With the help of the soldering mask on the pc boards and the schematics, you will find your way. Other DIY skills needed are cutting, sawing, filing and soldering.

The most needed skills for this project are precision and patience, patience.

1.6 Conventions

A lot of work is done in Windows. To easily naviagte in this OS we follow the way described in the following example, whereafter the explanation follows.
"Go Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > W: System Properties > T:Hardware > B: Device Manager > W: Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers > + > USB Root Hub.

This means: With your mouse, point to the 'Start' button in the lower left corner of your desktop. Left click with your mouse on the 'Start' button and navigate to 'Settings', whereafter you navigate to 'Control Panel'. Left click on 'Control Panel'. A new window opens: Select 'System'. A window (System Properties) opens, select tab 'Hardware'. The tab opens, click button 'Device manager'. Window Device manager Opens, select USB Controllers, click + to open the list and find 'USB Root Hub.
Using the '>', simple abbreviations and a bit of imagination, you will soon be familiar with this.

When we ask you to click a button, the button name is, for example, written as: [OK], [Next] or [Finish].

The text below is an adaption from one of our other projects: http://serveratschool.net

Part of the workstation setup is working on the command line in a DOS environment. Here are the rules of engagement:

(top)

2. What is needed in hard- and software

This section discusses how to 'upgrade' your hard- and software to the level so that you can make use of the software for the digital interactive whiteboard, i.e. wiisan and pen software.
In this section we assume you alredy have a PC with Winodows XP, without USB 2.0 and Bluetooth.

2.1 Our setup

This project was carried out on a Compq D500 SFF with a Pentium IV 1,8 GHz processor, 512 Mb RAM and 4 USB 1 slots. On the PC Windows XP Pro with Service Pack 3 was installed.

NOTICE:
The amount of memory (512 Mb RAM) is seems rather low. More is better; wich also applies to the processor speed. It seems a full fledged interactive whiteboard with running applications needs a rather fast computer. More info needed.

2.2 USB 2.0 and Bluetooth

2.2.1 Computer

You need a PC with at least two free USB 2.0 slots. One for a USB Bluetooth radio (dongle) that establishes the data connection between the Wiimote and the PC. The other USB slot is used to power the USB power module that powers the Wiimote.
To check if the PC indeed has USB 2.0, proceed as follows:

Go: Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > W: System Properties > T: Hardware > B: Device Manager > W: Device Manager.
In the hardware list, search for 'Universal Serial Bus Controllers'. Click the + to expand the list. Look for the line containing 'XXX USB Enhanced Host controller'. 'XXX' refers to the chip brand.

More details on this subject are in http://www.usbman.com/Guides/checking_for_usb_2.htm, where is written: "If your Device Manager shows an XXX Enhanced USB Host Controller, the system has High Speed USB (USB 2.0) capability".

We did not found 'Enhanced' so we had to upgrade our hardware.

2.2.2 USB 2.0

When the PC, like ours, has USB 1, you have to upgrade the PC to USB 2.0. We installed in the PC a 'Gembird' PCI controller card with 4 USB 2.0 slots. The card has a VIA chipset [1]. It caused problems working in conjunction with our DHCP server. Later on we took Mr. Harsh advice serious and bought a Belkin USB 2.0 Hi-Speed PCI card

Here is how to install and check a PCI controller card:

Check your work. Go: Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > W: System Properties > T: Hardware > B: Device Manager > W: Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers > +. Look for the line containing 'XXX USB Enhanced Host Controller'. 'XXX' refers to the chipset manufacturer.
In the list of USB controllers our 'VIA USB Enhanced Host Controller' was found. So, you now have USB 2.0.

2.1.1 Problems

Everything worked well with the PCI card, but we could not enter the BIOS anymore and we could not enter SABRINE (http://serveratschool.net). The problem was solved with the Belkin USB 2.0 fHigh-Speed PCI card. We also found found usefule info on http://www.usbman.com/Guides/usb_2%20pci%20cards.htm from which we quote: "VIA has entered the USB 2.0 PCI card business. VIA based cards can be troublesome and the driver installation is confusing. I recommend that you choose an NEC based card from the list of tested and approved cards below.". As said, we changed to Belkin. See the site.
Again, see [1]

In the next section we will add Blueooth functionality.

2.2.3 Bluetooth

The Wiiscan software steers the USB power moudle that powers the Wiimote. Wiiscan also takes care of setting up the connection between the Wiimote and the PC. The data transfer between the Wiimote and the PC is done via a Bluetooth connection. The connection is established with a USB Bluetooth device, also known as a 'dongle'. Basic info on Bluetooth can be found on: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth.
Info on the Bluetoot stack (driver software) can be found at: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth_stack

For this project, the USB Bluetooth device must be a Microsoft comatipble USB Bluetooth dongle. In other words, it must be able to operate with the MS Bluetooth stack (driver software).

NOTICE:
Do NOT install the driver that is packed with a USB bluetooth dongle! Wiiscan only operates with the Microsoft BT stack. Do not worry if you already installed BT drivers; this issue is discussed below.
Maybe it's best to buy [1] a USB Bluetooth dongle, of which the spcifications says it needs no driver on Windows XP Pro/Home, Vista or W7. That one will almost surely use the built in MS Bluetooth stack.

The USB BT dongle installation procedure is not, but can be complicated. Three conditions can occur:

  1. Your PC does not have Bluetooth. You have to buy [1] a Bluetooth USB dongle. Buy a MS compatible one and continue with 'Installing a MS compatible USB Bluetooth dongle'.
  2. Your PC has an MS compatible Bluetooth USB dongle, but you already installed a driver. Continue with 'I already insted a driver for my MS BT USB dongle'.
  3. You have a BT dongle built in the PC or separate, but it's not MS compatible and a driver is installed. See below under 'BT USB dongle problems'
1. Installing a MS compatible USB Bluetooth dongle
Your PC has no USB BT dongle and you bought [1] a MS compatible BT USB dongle. Maybe the dongle did not even have a driver. That's fine and a indication that it might be Windows XP compatible. In case the dongle was supplied with driver softeare, do NOT install the driver. Proceed as follows:

  1. Power on the PC and log in with administrative rights.
  2. Choose a USB 2.0 port for the BT dongle. Choose this port carefully and, once chosen, do not change it anymore. An installed stack 'remembers' the port.
  3. With a felt marker, mark the port 'BT'.
  4. Insert the USB BT dongle in the 'BT' USB port.
  5. Several text balloons with 'Found New Hardware' flash on the desktop. The last one saying that it is installend and can be used.
  6. The BT USB dongle is installed.
  7. Reboot, as usual.

We do a test to make sure the BT dongle is properly functioning.

USB Bluetooth dongle test
To check your work, go: Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > W: System Properties > T: Hardware > B: Device Manager > W: Device Manager > Bluetooth Radios > +. A 'Generic Bluetooth Radio' and 'Microsoft Bluetooth Enumerator' are installed.
NOTICE: There are exceptions, we discovered. On an Acer Travelmate 5730 laptop, the generic BT radio was named "%Bluetoot USB BRCM Acer.device desc%'. It worked file.

Also check if the dongle is actually working. You cannot use the USB power module because you are not sure it's built without errors. So you test Bluetooth functionality by using the Wiimote and power it with 2 1,5 Volt AA batteries in stead of the USB power module.

Carefully open the battery lid and remove it from the Wiimote. Insert two fresh 1,5 volt AA batteries in the battery compatiment.
Press the buttons 1 and 2 continuously; or even beetter, use a tie-wrap and a piece fo plastic to press the buttons 1 and 2 continuously. The four leds on the Wiimote will flash.

A permanent solution might be a piece of perspex as on this picture.

[ perspex to keep buttons 1 and 2 pressed ]
perspex_wii_permanent_on.png

On your PC, go Start > Settings > Configuration Panel > Bluetooth > W: Bluetoot-devices > B: Add > W: Add Bluetooth Device Wizard > Check 'My device is set up and ready to be found' > B: Next > Swinging Torch icon ... wait... device is added: NINTENDO RVL-CNT 01.
Select the NINTENDO RVL-CNT 01; it becomes selected > Next > Check 'Don't use a passkey' > Next > W: Add Bluetooth Device Wizard > B: Finish.
Popup messages appear: Found New Hardware. The Wiimote has been found, proving the BT dongle is working. The 4 LEDss keep on flashing. In some cases only one LED flashes. Both are fine.

The window 'Bluetooth Devices' is still open. While you are here, you can do a necessary job of which the result is needed later on: obtaining the MAC (Media Access Control) address. It's a unique identification number that is given to a device in a network.
In the 'Bluetoot Devices' window, select the NINTENDO RVL-CNT 01 > B: Properties > W: NINTENDO RVL-CNT 01 Properties.
There you find the MAC address. It will be something like this example: Address: 00:21:bd:a4;07:ad. Your Wiimote's MAC addrwss will differ from this example.
NOTICE: the letters are in lowercase here. Later on, you will use the MAC address with letters in UPPERCASE, thus the example above will read: 00:21:BD:A4;07:AD.
The MAC address cannot be cut and pasted, so write the MAC address on a piece of paper and double check if it's correct. Wiiscan will not work if the address does not macth with the device.

2. I already insted a driver for my MS compatible USB BT dongle
In this case you probably already had a USB dongle and self evidently you also install the driver. The dongle is MS compatible, and uses, as example, the installed Toshiba stack.
Proceed as follows:

  1. Power on the PC and log in with administrative rights.
  2. First check what you have. Go: Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > Hardware > Device Manager > List > Bluetooth Radio's > +. A lot of Toshiba entries in the list: Bluetooth RFNEP, RFBUS, RFCOMM, RFHID and the Generic Bluetooth readio.
  3. A golden how to from http://www.x-setup.net/forum/showthread.php?p=4762%3Cbr%3E says: "Remove the stack by going: Start > Settings > Control Panel > Add/Remove Programs. Select the Toshiba driver and click [Remove]. Confirm that you are sure by clicking [OK]. The stack is removed".
  4. Remove the stack.
  5. Next, as usual, restart the PC and login with admin rights.
  6. Insert the dongle. Several text balloons with 'Foiund new hardware' appear.
  7. Go: Start > Settings > Control Panel> System > Hardware > Device Manager > List > Bluetooth Radio's > +. You see the 'Generic Bluetooth Radio' and the 'Micorosft-enumerator for Bluetooth'. Ok, case closed, the USB BT stack is properly installed.
  8. In case you only find the 'Generic Bluetooth Radio', you right click on that line. A dropdown menu opens.
  9. Select 'Update Driver'.
  10. New window: update hardware. Check 'No, not now' and click [Next].
  11. In the next window, select 'Install the software automatically (preferred). Click [Next].
  12. In the next Window, click [Finish].

To check your work, perform the above test and click here

3. USB BT dongle problems
When you have a BT USB dongle with a stack, either on a PC with a PCI card, or buitlt in a laptop, it might very well work with the Wiimote with batteries, but with the USB power module and Wiiscan or Wiiscantray it's not.

Help is given by Carsten Frigaard in his CHANGEINGBTSTACK.RTF document, found in C:\wiiscan\doc\. Below is a copy of the text. It's layout is slightly edited for browser viewuing: 

CHANGING the Widcomm BT stack to Microsoft BT stack

[From http://forum.eeeuser.com/viewtopic.php?id=38533]

After making my post in the 1000H post I thought 
it probably best If it here as I don't see why
it wouldn't work on the 901 models either...

Basically it's all to just to change from using
the Widcomm stack for using bluetooth
connections to the built in Windows stack, it's
fairly simple to do and should be a performance
boost as Widcomm runs fairly sloppy.

basically if you follow a guide similar to:
http://www.x-setup.net/forum/showthread.php?p=4762

Open file 'C:\Windows\inf\bth.inf' in notepad, 
(The inf folder is hidden by default so using
Explorer go to Folder Options and change it to
show all hidden folders)

(A good time to back up the bth.inf file if your 
worried about editing stuff wrongly but it's
only like 3 lines worth)

Now you should have the section like this...

[Manufacturer]
%Microsoft%=Microsoft
ALPS=ALPS, NT.5.1
Belkin=Belkin, NT.5.1
Brain Boxes=BrainBoxes, NT.5.1
Cambridge Silicon Radio Ltd.=Cambridge, NT.5.1
Dell=Dell, NT.5.1
FIC=FIC, NT.5.1
GVC=GVC, NT.5.1
HP=HP, NT.5.1
IBM=IBM, NT.5.1
Microsoft=Microsoft, NT.5.1
Motion Computing=MotionComputing, NT.5.1
Silicon Wave=SiliconWave, NT.5.1
Sony=Sony, NT.5.1
TDK=TDK, NT.5.1
TOSHIBA=Toshiba, NT.5.1
Wistron NeWeb=Wistron, NT.5.1
Zeevo=Zeevo, NT.5.1

Now add a line to the that section a line such
as (without quotes of course):  
'Azwave=Azwave,	NT.5.1' 

There should then be sections below this one
that starts with:

;------- Device section - Start -----------

Then insert a section that looks like this
(Please note that you can check that the Vid 
and Pid are the same as your card by using 
device manage and looking at the properties of
the device, and then the details tab, if not 
edit the following values, keeping the same
format):

[Azwave.NT.5.1]
BT253= USB\Vid_0b05&Pid_b700

Then save and close the notepad.

Then just either do a 'I'll choose from a list
of drivers install' or if you haven't installed
the drivers yet do a disable and enable of the
bluetooth and it should install it
automatically. The driver won't be signed so
continue with it anyways.

I've now tested it with receiving a file from a
phone and as such it seems to work absolutely
fine.

Updated due to my own incompetence, don't worry
this fix still works great.

Last edited by Sly (2008-08-30 8:51:54 pm)

Changing the BT dongle seems the most simple solution.

Here are some more links, without guarantees. More tips on USB Bluetooth welcome.
NOTICE: We experienced no problems with 2 'off the shelf' BT dongles.

2.2.4 Hardware conclusions

All hardware requirements seem rather easy to meet. The exception might be the USB Bluetoot dongle. The best way to avoid BT dongle problems is to make sure you have a dongle that is supported by the MS Bluetooth stack [1].

[1] The cocluding remark is from Harsh J: "P.S. Next time, don’t buy a cheap hardware [...]. Its better and easier to use a known and popular device even if they cost a few bucks extra. Or you can consider going in for Ubuntu OS rather".

We followed his advice and did not use a cheap USB 2.0 adapter card but bought a Belkin USB 2.0 Hi-Speed PCI card.

2.3 Software

For the USB power module and Wiiscan to work, you need Windows XP Pro/Home, Vista or W7 with at least Service Pack 2 and .NET Framework version 3.5 SP1. To check if the OS has these components, proceed as follows:

2.3.1 Service Packs

Go Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > W: System Properties > T: General.
You should see under 'System' a line: 'Service Pack 2'. Of course Service Pack 3 is also fine. Upgrade to at least SP2 and get all bugfixes and patches from MS. This can take a lot of time.

2.3.2 .NET Framework

Open Windows Explorer and type in the address bar: %systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework

The directory might be empty, or you might see directories like: v1.1.4322, v1.0.3705, indicating the .NET Framework versions already installed on your OS.

Go to the MS site and download a version of .NET Framework 3.5 SP1 or abopve. Obey to MS rules. After downloading and installing, check if the version is properly installed by typing in the address bar in Explorer:%systemroot%\Microsoft.NET\Framework

Update your OS if necessary before proceeding any further with this project.
NOTICE: We upgraded to .NET Framework Version 3.5 SP1.

You also need the Wiiscan program and the pen software. These are discussed in the next section below and section 6.6 Basic pen software. Do not install that software now since a basic pen version is already in Wiiscan. The installation of the right version of the pen softwar is discussed in section 13.1 IRpen

2.3.3 Wiiscan

The unzipped and renamed directory contains the following directories and sub-directories: 

C:\WIISCAN>tree /f
Map PATH-lijst
The volume number is 4A69-73E7
C:.
+---redist
¦       usbiods.inf
¦       usbiods.sys
¦
+---src
¦   ¦   wiiscan-0.9.zip
¦   ¦   wiimotelibpoll-0.9.zip
¦   ¦   wiiscantray-0.9.zip
¦   ¦
¦   +---wiimotelibpoll-0.9
¦   ¦   +---wiimotelibpoll-0.9
¦   ¦       ¦   WiimoteWhiteboard.sln
¦   ¦       ¦   wiimotelibpoll.csproj
¦   ¦       ¦   Form1.cs
¦   ¦       ¦   Form1.Designer.cs
¦   ¦       ¦   wiimotelibpoll.cs
¦   ¦       ¦
¦   ¦       +---Properties
¦   ¦               Settings.settings
¦   ¦               Resources.Designer.cs
¦   ¦               Settings.Designer.cs
¦   ¦               AssemblyInfo.cs
¦   ¦               Resources.resx
¦   ¦
¦   +---wiiscan-0.9
¦   ¦   +---wiiscan-0.9
¦   ¦       ¦   wiiscan.vcproj
¦   ¦       ¦   wiiscan.sln
¦   ¦       ¦
¦   ¦       +---Debug
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiscan.ini
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiscan.exe
¦   ¦       ¦       WiimoteLib.dll
¦   ¦       ¦       DelcomDLL.dll
¦   ¦       ¦       wiimotelibpoll.exe
¦   ¦       ¦       USBm.dll
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiuse.dll
¦   ¦       ¦
¦   ¦       +---Release
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiscan.ini
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiscan.exe
¦   ¦       ¦       WiimoteLib.dll
¦   ¦       ¦       DelcomDLL.dll
¦   ¦       ¦       wiimotelibpoll.exe
¦   ¦       ¦       USBm.dll
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiuse.dll
¦   ¦       ¦
¦   ¦       +---src
¦   ¦       ¦       funs.h
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiscan.cpp
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiuse.h
¦   ¦       ¦       templatefun.h
¦   ¦       ¦       exception.h
¦   ¦       ¦       args.h
¦   ¦       ¦       process.h
¦   ¦       ¦       configfile.h
¦   ¦       ¦       reg.h
¦   ¦       ¦       usbm.h
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiscan.h
¦   ¦       ¦       stringfun.h
¦   ¦       ¦       DelcomDLL.h
¦   ¦       ¦       toolsfun.h
¦   ¦       ¦       file.h
¦   ¦       ¦
¦   ¦       +---Lib
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦   DelcomDLL.lib
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦   wiiuse.lib
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦   DelcomDLL.dll
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦   USBm.dll
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦   wiiuse.dll
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦
¦   ¦       ¦   +---Debug
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦       WiimoteWhiteboard.
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦       WiimoteLib.dll
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦       wiimotelibpoll.exe
¦   ¦       ¦   ¦
¦   ¦       ¦   +---Release
¦   ¦       ¦           WiimoteWhiteboard.
¦   ¦       ¦           WiimoteLib.dll
¦   ¦       ¦           wiimotelibpoll.exe
¦   ¦       ¦
¦   ¦       +---Doc
¦   ¦       ¦       MANUAL_wiiscan.rtf
¦   ¦       ¦       INSTALL.rtf
¦   ¦       ¦       CHANGEINGBTSTACK.rtf
¦   ¦       ¦       CHANGELOG.rtf
¦   ¦       ¦       LICENSE.rtf
¦   ¦       ¦       README.rtf
¦   ¦       ¦       wiiscan.1
¦   ¦       ¦
¦   ¦       +---Tools
¦   ¦               disable_all_usb.sh
¦   ¦               popup_disable.reg
¦   ¦               enable_all_usb.sh
¦   ¦               no_error_report.reg
¦   ¦               popup_enable.reg
¦   ¦               wiitest.sh
¦   ¦
¦   +---wiiscantray-0.9
¦       +---wiiscantray-0.9
¦           ¦   wiiscantray.sln
¦           ¦   wiiscantray.vcproj
¦           ¦
¦           +---Debug
¦           ¦       WiimoteWhiteboard.exe
¦           ¦       wiiscan.ini
¦           ¦       WiimoteLib.dll
¦           ¦       DelcomDLL.dll
¦           ¦       wiimotelibpoll.exe
¦           ¦       USBm.dll
¦           ¦       wiiuse.dll
¦           ¦       wiiscantray.exe
¦           ¦
¦           +---Release
¦           ¦       WiimoteWhiteboard.exe
¦           ¦       wiiscan.ini
¦           ¦       wiiscan-release.ini
¦           ¦       WiimoteLib.dll
¦           ¦       DelcomDLL.dll
¦           ¦       wiimotelibpoll.exe
¦           ¦       USBm.dll
¦           ¦       wiiuse.dll
¦           ¦       wiiscantray.exe
¦           ¦
¦           +---src
¦           ¦       systemtraysdk.h
¦           ¦       resource.h
¦           ¦       wiiscantray.cpp
¦           ¦       systemtraysdk.cpp
¦           ¦       wiiscantray.rc
¦           ¦
¦           +---Lib
¦           ¦   ¦   DelcomDLL.lib
¦           ¦   ¦   wiiuse.lib
¦           ¦   ¦   DelcomDLL.dll
¦           ¦   ¦   USBm.dll
¦           ¦   ¦   wiiuse.dll
¦           ¦   ¦
¦           ¦   +---Debug
¦           ¦   ¦       WiimoteWhiteboard.
¦           ¦   ¦       WiimoteLib.dll
¦           ¦   ¦       wiimotelibpoll.exe
¦           ¦   ¦
¦           ¦   +---Release
¦           ¦           WiimoteWhiteboard.
¦           ¦           WiimoteLib.dll
¦           ¦           wiimotelibpoll.exe
¦           ¦
¦           +---Doc
¦           ¦       INSTALL.rtf
¦           ¦       CHANGEINGBTSTACK.rtf
¦           ¦       CHANGELOG.rtf
¦           ¦       LICENSE.rtf
¦           ¦       README.rtf
¦           ¦
¦           +---res
¦                   wiiscan_06.ico
¦                   wiiscan_07.ico
¦                   wiiscan_01.ico
¦                   wiiscan_03.ico
¦                   wiiscan_05.ico
¦                   wiiscan_04.ico
¦                   wiiscan_00.ico
¦                   wiiscan_08.ico
¦                   wiiscan_inv.ico
¦                   wiiscan.ico
¦                   wiimote.bmp
¦                   wiiscan_02.ico
¦
+---doc
¦       CHANGEINGBTSTACK.rtf
¦       wiiscan.1
¦       license.rtf
¦       readme.rtf
¦       MANUAL_wiiscan.rtf
¦       CHANGELOG.rtf
¦       install.rtf
¦
+---bin
    +---Release
    ¦       WiimoteWhiteboard.exe
    ¦       wiimotelibpoll.exe
    ¦       WiimoteLib.dll
    ¦       USBm.dll
    ¦       wiiuse.dll
    ¦       wiiscantray.exe
    ¦       WiimoteWhiteboard_v0.3.exe
    ¦       wiiscan.exe
    ¦       wiiscan.ini
    ¦       DelcomDLL.dll
    ¦       calibration.dat
    ¦       wiiscan_log.txt
    ¦       xerror.txt
    ¦
    +---Debug
            WiimoteWhiteboard.exe
            wiimotelibpoll.exe
            WiimoteLib.dll
            USBm.dll
            wiiuse.dll
            wiiscantray.exe
            WiimoteWhiteboard_v0.3.exe
            wiiscan.exe
            wiiscan.ini
            DelcomDLL.dll

C:\WIISCAN>

NOTICE: The tree is boringly long, but in several directories you can find documentation! So it's a good idea to unzip all directories.

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3. Building the USB power module & Wiimote powering

In this section we discuss the do-it-yourself version of the digital interactive whiteboard project. First we will discuss the electronic schematic and then the actual building and testing.

3.1 Schematics and printed circuit boards

Below are the schematics and PCB's to build the USB power module and the powering of the Wiimote.

NOTICE: In later models pin 1, 2 and 3 are connected as well as pin 4, 5 and 6, due to power loss. See also the 3.5 Cables section.
In the next section you find the electronic parts list for the USB power module and the Wiimote.

3.2 Parts lists

Wiimote
The powering inside the Wiimote has no electronic parts, it just contains: 

===+ Parts List for Wiimote power +====

J1			   1  RJ11, TYPE  ......
H1, H2         2  Batery clips,  TYPE NUMBER ...??

For further information on Registered Jack (RJ) see: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Registered_jack

You also need some glue to fix the RJ11 (6P6C) connector to the battery cover. The place of J1 is rather critical. See picture and measures below.

USB power module
Below is the parts list for Wiiscan_sch.pdf. 

===+ Parts List for USB power module +====

D1             1   Light Emitting Diode (LED) 3 Volt
U1             1   LM317
U2             1   CY7C63723-PC, Delcom Item#: 902370 
T1             1   BS250
X1             1   6 MHz crystal

C1             1   4,7 uF 
C1, C2, C5     3   100 nF 
C3, C4		   2   22 pF
C6			   1   1uF, 16 Volt

R1             1   680 Ohm 	 5 % 1/4 Watt
R2             1   560 Ohm 	 5 % 1/4 Watt
R3             1   10 k Ohm  5 % 1/4 Watt 
R4             1   60 Ohm 	 5 % 1/4 Watt
R5             1   6,8 k Ohm 1 % 1/4 Watt 
R6			   1   680 Ohm 	 1 % 1/4 Watt

J2             1  USB B, Type HDR_4 
J3			   1  RJ11, TYPE  ......

ANY REMARKS HERE? NIELS?

3.3 Components

Below are the data and layouts of the main components.

[ USB connectors ]
USB_conectors.png

[ PDIP-18 ] [ CY7C63723 ]
PDIP-18.jpg CY7C63723.png

[ BS250 ]
BS250.png

[ LM317 ]
LM317.jpg

[ Light Emitting Diode (LED) ]
symbol_led.jpg

3.4 The building

Here are some pictures that may be helpful:
FIrst, a picture of the DIY-kit.

[ parts in the DYI-kit ]
diy-kit.png

A picture of the battery lid of the Wiimote. The place of the holes is rather critical, specially the hole for the cable because its distance is determined by the clips that replace the batteries. The RJ11 hole measures 12x13 millimeter. The hole for the ball head ceiling mount is 7 millimeter.
The RJ11 connector is glued to the battery lid.

[ Wiimote powering with 4P4C connector, pcb and battery clips ]
wiimote_power.png

[ some parts ]
battery_lid_outside.png

[ some parts ]
battery_lid_inside.png

What you have constructed, when built from sratch, could look like:

[ parts on printed circuit board ]
pcb_ready.png

Some general advice:

3.5 Cables

Two cables are used for this project:
- To feed and send data to the power module, a plain USB2 A B cable is used.
- Powering the Wii is done with two RJ11 (6P6C) connectorsors and plain Cat 5 networking cable. 2 wires of the cable are not used. Wiring:

RJ11 connector ---Cat 5 network cable---RJ11 connector
pin 1, 2 and 3                          pin 4, 5 and 6
pin 4, 5 and 6                          pin 1, 2 and 3

The wire colors are not important, nor is the wiring between 1 and 4 etc. In the Wii and the power module 1, 2 and 3 are connected as well as 4, 5 and 6.

NOTICE:
Since 2009 we use plain networking cable with 8 pn RJ 45 connectors.

3.6 Preliminary tests

It makes sense to extensively test your work before going any further. We can assure you from self gained experience that a Wiimote will not survive 5 Volt. For the preliminary tests you need a volt meter. CHeck the following points:

Close the USB power module enclosure and take a break. After the datasheet section below we will test the USB power module with the Wiiscan software.

3.7 Datasheets

wiihardware.pdf. This is Carsen Frigaards description of his USB power module schematic. One might wonder why we did not simply copy his schematic. The reasons is that we wanted all parts to be as simple as possible and enlarge the availability of parts. One part was difficult to get in the Neterhlands, so we expected similar problems elewhere.
- CY7C637xx.pdf. Datasheet for the CY7C637xx microcontroller
-BS250.pdf. Datasheet for the BS250 P-Channel MOS FET
-LMx17.pdf Datasheet for the LM317 voltage regulator.

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4 Testing the USB powre module

Now that the USB power module and the Wiimote powering are ready, the next step is to test them. We can only test the USB power module by installing a driver (optional, see below) and editing a file. Both procedures are described below. The Wiiscan software is already downloaded and installed on the PC.

4.1 Determine the microcontroller version

Before we can use the USB power module and Wiiscan, we have to determine which Delcom microcontroller version is used in the USB power module. Is unlikely that it's a Delcom 'Generation 1' with part number 802370. If it is the case, then it will need a dirver.
When a Delcom 'Generation 2' with part number 902370, it is a 'Generation 2' micro controller which does not need a driver.

The test procedure to check the version of the microcontroller is as follows:

4.2 Installing the driver

The driver is in C:\wiiscan\redist\. To install the driver, proceed as follows:

  1. We assume you are still on the window: New hardware found. Check the 'No, not this time' option and click [Next].
  2. In the next window, you check 'Install from a list or specific location (Advanced)'. Click [Next].
  3. In the next window, the option 'Search for the best driver in these locations' is already checked. Also check 'Include this location in the search'.
  4. The [Browse] button becomse selectable. Click [Browse].
  5. The 'Browse for Foler' window opens. Navigate to C:\wiiscan\redist\.
  6. Click 'redist'. The [OK] button becomes visible and is clickable.
  7. Click the [OK] button. The window closes.
  8. Window: Found New Hardware Wizard: the location is specified: C:\wiiscan\redist. Click [Next].
  9. Window: Wizard new hardware found: Hardware Installation: the 'Delcom USB IO Dirver' is found.
  10. Also the Window 'Hardware Installation' opens. You get a warning that the driver does not meet the Windows Logo specification. Ignore the warings to end the installation and click [Continue Anyway]. The window closes.
  11. Window: Found New Hardware: The installation of the soteware for the following device is finished. Delcom USB IO driver. Click [Finish].
  12. You get a text balloon 'Found New Hardware'. The new hardware is installed and can be used.
  13. As usual, reboot.

Check your installation by going: Start > Settings > Control Panel > System > W: System Prperties > T: Hardware > B: Device Manager > Universal Serial Bus Controllers > +. You should find a line with 'Delcom USB IO Driver'. The driver for your USB power module is successfully installed.
NOTICE: When you have the normal distribution of the USB power module, you have a Delcom chip with part No. 902370. This 'Generation 2' chip needs no driver and installation is not necessary.

4.3 Editing wiiscan.ini: power mode

Before you can test the USB power module, you have to initialize wiiscan to use the Delcom microcontroller. This is done by editing the wiiscan initialization file. The file is located in C:\wiiscan\bin\Release and it needs 'option 3'. Use Notepad to edit the initialization file. Browse trough te file to get familiar with it. The % sign indicates that the line is either a comment, or an option that is commented out, i.e. not working.
Proceed as follows to edit wiiscan.ini:

Now we can do the first test on the USB power module.

4.4 Testing

In the previous steps the version of the Delcom microcontroller was established and eventually a driver was installed. Also wiiscan.ini was edited to use the Delcom microcontroller.
Now we can test the USB power module. Proceed as follows:

Great! The USB power module functions correct. If its not working, go to the next section.

4.5 Problems

What to do when the LED does not light. There is little help we can offer here. Just a few hinst and questions in the hope it helps:

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5. Testing the Wiimote

In a previous section the USB power module was tested. In this section the Wiimote is attached and tested. To perform the test we have to tell Wiiscan which Wiimote to use by editing the MAC (Media Access Code) address in wiiscan.ini. You alredy noted the MAC address on a piece of paper when you were in section USB Bluetooth dongle test

5.1 Editing wiiscan.ini: MAC address

To enter the MAC addrss in wiiscan.ini, proceed as follows:

  1. Open the wiiscan.ini file again with Notepad and look for the lines: 

    % a list of allowed wiimotes in the form xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, wildcard match is 00:00:00:00:00:00
allowed_wiimote_adr=00:00:00:00:00:00

  2. In the line allowed_wiimote_adr=00:00:00:00:00:00, replace the string '00:00:00:00:00:00 with the MAC address of your Wiimote, for example: 00:21:BD:A4:07:AD. Use uppercase letters!
    Save the file.
  3. Check your work. Open the file again and look for allowed_wiimote_adr=00:21:BD:A4:07:AD
You are now ready to connect the Wiimote to the USB power module.

5.2 Connecting

If necessary, remove the batteries, replace the lid and connect the Wiimote to the USB power device with the cable with the two RJ11 6P6C connectors. At this point you have everything connected. The Wii has its buttons 1 and 2 continuously presed with a piece of plastic and a tie-wrap. See section 12.. Wiimote for details.

A permanent solution might be a piece of perspex as on this picture.

[ perspex to keep buttons 1 and 2 pressed ]
perspex_wii_permanent_on.png

5.3 Testing

The basic test is the same as with the USB power module. We assme you have done the pevious test and the USB power module functions.

  1. Open a DOS box and cd to C:\wiiscan\bin\Release\.
  2. On the command line type: wiiscan -usbup
  3. The 4 blue LEDs on the Wiimote should blink.
  4. On the command line type: wiiscan -usbdown
  5. The 4 LEDs should go off.

Great! Both the USB power module and the Wiimote get power. We now can make use of all the fine features of Wiiscan.

5.4 Problems

Reported problemss:

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6. Wiiscan

In the previous two sections the USB power module and the Wiimote were tested for powering capabilities. We now take up the final steps: connecting and fine tuning. First we discuss some files, and finally a small section about problems.

6.1 WIISCAN_manual

This is the best starting point, in other words RTFM (Read the Fine Manual) 

wiiscan(1)                                                          wiiscan(1)



 NAME
        wiiscan  - a connection utility for wii console remotes


SYNOPSIS 
       wiiscan  <-a  <device> | -c <device> | -d <device> | -r | -s | -usbup |
       -usbdown> > [-cf <file>] [-lf <file>] [-b  <sleep>]  [-t  <sleep>]  [-u
       <sleep>]  [-p  <sleep>]  [-w <sleep>] [-q <usbradio>] [-f <removemode>]
       [-m <powermode>] [-l <wiilibrary>] [-wb] [-v]


 OVERVIEW 
       wiiscan  is a canvas function for a number  of  different  scanning and
       connection utilities. It can detect build-in bluetooth radios, scan for
       nearby bluetooth devices, connect to a specific device and remove  that
       device again from the hardware.

       The main feature of wiiscan is to automatically connect to a wii remote
       (wiimote). This can be quiet cumbersome on a Windows  system,  and  the
       nesseccary steps for doing a robust, working connection is done by


        Delete wiimote hardware HID bluetooth entry: 
               delete old entries of the wiimote in the bluetooth hardware. On
               some windows system the wiimote is readily detected, after  the
               first  manually  installation.  Pressing  the  "1-2"  makes the
               wiimote discoverable. On other systems  (including  mine),  any
               attempt  to connect to the wiimote, after one successful or un-
               successful connection attempt, will always fail!  Removing  the
               HID  and wiimote registry entries before the next attempt cures
               this feature.


        Cycle USB bus: 
               the wiimote can be switched automatically to discoverable mode,
               if  the  power is briefly cut from the device. This can be done
               on a wiimote powered by the USB +5 volt (with a proper  voltage
               regulator to bring it under +3 volt). This step hence turns the
               USB hub off, killing the power, and  turns  it  on  again.  The
               "1-2" buttons on the wiimote must be pressed at all times, done
               by say some tape or gaffa!.


        Scan for wiimote: 
               now comes the main part  of  the  connection;  scanning  for  a
               wiimote.  This includes bringing up the bluetooth radio device,
               initialize seek parameters, scanning and matching for a  device
               name or address, connecting to a matched device, installing the
               HID interface (that was removed in the first step), and finally
               trying  to  open the wiimote and reading some data from it. All
               steps involve a time variable, meaning that say installing  the
               HID  causes some windows registry fiddling, that takes a rather
               variable amount of time, and the next step is critically depen-
               dent  on the former step to be finished. Hence a number of tun-
               able waiting variable is introduced, Important is to being able
               to  reach the final connection step before the wiimote goes out
               of the discoverable mode and automatically turns off.


       A note on USB voltage cycling:
               This software solution is able to restart the wiimote  in  dis-
               coverable mode automatically. But this require that the wiimote
               is powered by a USB cable to the PC and that the  "1-2"  button
               combination  is  permanently pressed. Cycling the power for the
               wiimote with the "1-2" buttons pressed enables the discoverable
               mode,  and  the  continuously pressing "1-2" does not interfere
               with wiimote operations hereafter.

               So this is a non-intrusive fix to the so called  "Ladder  prob-
               lem" (http:wyxs.net/web/wiimote/digital_whiteboard.html).

               Power  control over USB hubs is dependent on the particular hub
               devices, and disabling the power may not be possible for a sin-
               gle  USB  port  only. wiiscan uses a trick of disabling all USB
               hubs and then only enable and disable a singe hub.

               Disabling all hubs is a precondition to running  wiiscan and it
               can be accomblised by either going into "Control Panel | System
               | Hardware | Device manager", and manually disable all USB hubs
               or by using "devcon", say (careful, these commands applies only
               to my system)

                 devcon           disable            "@PCIN_8086&DEV_293*&SUB-
               SYS_20F117AA&REV_033&B1BfB6*"

                 devcon            disable           "@PCIN_8086&DEV_293*&SUB-
               SYS_20F017AA&REV_033&B1BfB6*"

               being careful that the pattern matches only our USB hubs!.  You
               can test this by

                 devcon            status            "@PCIN_8086&DEV_293*&SUB-
               SYS_20F117AA&REV_033&B1BfB6*"

                 devcon            status            "@PCIN_8086&DEV_293*&SUB-
               SYS_20F017AA&REV_033&B1BfB6*"

               A single USB now may be enabled or disabled by

                 devcon disable @PCIN_8086*DEV_2934*SUBSYS_20F017AA*

               again with the particular address for your system as a variable
               you need to lookup. The voltage on  the  USB  bus  can  now  be
               checked     Using     a     voltmeter     (see    details    in
               http:wyxs.net/web/wiimote/digital_whiteboard.html).


       NOTE: The configuration file of wiiscan contains the particular  system
       dependent USB hub pattern matches.


       NOTE: be careful of connecting other devices to the USB bus, since  the
       power cycle may cause severe interfere with the device.


 DESCRIPTION 
        -a <device> 
               auto-connect to a device.


        -c <device> 
               connects to a device.


        -d <device> 
               deletes a device, clears HID and bluetooth registry entries.


        -r      looks for active internal bluetooth radio devices.


        -s      scans for external bluetooth devices.


        -usbup  turn the USB hub on.


        -usbdown 
               turn the USB hub off.


       Default mode: wiiscan -a " Nintendo RVL-CNT-01"


       Note: "nintendo" is a shortcut for "Nintendo RVL-CNT-01"


 OPTIONS 
        -cf <file>
               load a specific configuration file.


        -lf <file> 
               specify a distinct logfile.


        -b <sleep> 
               auto-mode bluetooth connection sleep in milliseconds.


        -t <sleep> 
               bluetooth scanning interval in milliseconds.


        -u <sleep> 
               auto-mode USB connection sleep in milliseconds.


        -p <sleep> 
               automode usbm post-connection sleep in milliseconds.


        -w <sleep> 
               timeout for wiimote in milliseconds.


        -q <usbradio> 
               use bluetooth radio with this address. Note, this functionality
               is not working yet.


        -f <removemode> 
               pre-remove   mode  of  device,  0=remove  if  not  connectable,
               1=always remove, 2=never remove


        -m <powermode> 
               choose USB powercycle mode, 0=no power cycle,  1=use  USB  hub,
               2=use USBm IO hardware, 3=use USB Delcon IO hardware.


        -l <wiilibrary> 
               use    specific    wiimote   library,   lib   can   be   one-of
               (wiiuse,wiimotelib).


        -y      scan retries in automode.


        -wb     start whiteboard in auto-mode

		
        -v      enable extra debugging printouts


 FILES 
       wiiscan looks for a file names wiiscan.ini when executing in the auto-
       mode. See detail in the file.

 TIMING 
       Various  timing  parametes  can  be  set  on the command line or in the
       inifile. The process of connecting is


       1: USB power down


       2: Delete old HID entries


       3: Sleep at least option_usbsleep (from 1) before commencing


       4: USB power up


       5: Sleep at least option_usbmsleep (from 3) before commencing. Sleep is
       only nesseccary for USBmicro devices, since step 4 is much faster using
       this device compared to the USB hub.


       6: Find and  wiimote  and  connect.  Scan  bluetooth  the  duration  in
       option_timeout.


       7: Sleep option_btsleep before commencing; waiting for HID entries  and
       new-hardware-found to finish in windows.


       8: Connect to  the  wiimote,  Scan  for  wiimotes  using  the  duration
       option_wiitimeout.


 EXAMPLE 
       Scanning for devices nearby:

         wiiscan -s

       Auto-connect to a nintendo device, scan  bluetooth  for  four  seconds,
       verbose  on, and enable start of whiteboard software after a successful
       connection

         wiiscan -a nintendo -t 4000 -v -wb

       Cycle USB bus voltage

         wiiscan -usbdown

         wiiscan -usbup


 COMPILING 
       The source code can  be  compiled  with  MS  Visual  C++  Express  2008
       (http:www.microsoft.com/express/vc/)  or  similar. It also needs wiiuse
       dlls (http:www.wiiuse.net/). If wiiuse is to be compiled by it self  it
       needs  Windows  SDK  and  DDK, but running wiiscan with just the wiiuse
       binaries is the easiest option.

       It does not work on Windows 2000, and has not been tried out on a Vista
       system.


 TESTED SYSTEMS 
       The wiiscan  has been tested on a Lenovo Thinkpad R500, XP professional
       (without build-in bluetooth) with a Trendnet TBW-102UB  bluetooth  don-
       gle, and on a ASUS eeePC 1000H with XP home.

       Only the MS bluetooth stack was tested.


        Lenovo setup 
               Windows XP professional, version 2002, SP2 USB dongle: Trendnet
               TBW-102UB  bluetooth(Broadcom  Ultimate  Low   Cost   Bluetooth
               2.0+EDR  USB),  date 24-02-2004, driver 5.1.2535.0 Microsoft BT
               stack: date 03-08-2004, driver 5.1.2600.2180


        eee setup 
               Windows XP home, version 2002, SP3 USB dongle:  buildin  Azware
               BT252,  date  13-04-2008,  driver  5.1.2600.5512  Microsoft  BT
               stack: date 13-04-2008, driver 5.1.2600.5512


 BUGS 
        1: restart pop-up (FIXED) 
               Installing new hardware causes windows to require restart. Hap-
               pens  once  in  a while, balloon pop-ups reports hardware, that
               where installed but not  working  properly.  A  restart  pop-up
               wants  to  reboot the PC. Small fix: just delete the device and
               re-run "wiiscan -c nintendo".

               FIX: the 'Change of systemsettings ... Do you  want  to  reboot
               now?' popup, happens only when the program runs for longer than
               19 seconds. Keeping the connection time within 19 sec seems  to
               cure the problem, Adding a sleep at the end of the program, say
               Sleep(20000) will eventually bring up  the  dialog  again.  The
               dialog can anyway safly be ignored!


        2: discoverable mode fast shutdown (FIXED) 
               Sometimes the wiimote goes quickly out of discoverable mode, it
               takes it only about 3 seconds from turn-on  to  turn-off.  This
               makes  it  hard  to obtain a connection to it. Both my wiimotes
               does this once in a while, after failed connection attempts.

               Pressing one button only "1" or "2" makes the wiimote blink for
               a short time, but it is not really discoverable.

               FIX:  Initialization  of  wiilib  has been rewritten, making it
               recall the HID  inialization  routine.  Code  for  testing  the
               wiimote connection has also been introduced.


        3: buttons not working (OPEN) 
               Pressing  the 1-2 button combination sometimes fails to turn-on
               the wiimote, pressing sync or power makes it  work  again.  The
               the  "1-2  button  freeze"  happens  after  a failed connection
               attempt. See also bug-2.


        4: radio null (OPEN) 
               Sometimes the BT  radio  fails  to  reinitialize  after  a  USB
               down/up     flip,     this    means    that    "RadioInfo(time-
               out,true,dbg)"return NULL. Can be fixed by  placing  the  blue-
               tooth radio device on another bus than the USB.


        5: keep blinking (OPEN) 
               Sometimes  the  wiimote is found and connected OK, but the LEDs
               keeps blinking (normal connect mode:  LEDs  are  turned  perma-
               nently  on).  This  does however not affect connectability, and
               the wiimote does not turn off again automatically.


        6: failed to find wiimote (OPEN) 
               Wiimote failed to find devices. This may be a  non-fatal  error
               or   an   error   caused   by   an   undervolted  wiimote.  The
               "wiiuse_find(0x0,4,2/4/6)" keeps returning 0.


        7: remove failed (OPEN) 
               Sometimes the remove steps fails, but this may be non-fatal

                Removing device <Nintendo RVL-CNT-01>
                ** error: failed to find device
                Done [FAILED]


        8; balloon-tips (FIXED) 
               Balloon-tips are annoying when connecting new  hardware.  Small
               fix: do

                Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

                [HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Windows\CurrentVer-
               sion\Explorer1]
                "EnableBalloonTips"=dword:00000000


        9: double delete (FIXED) 
               Double delete of nintendo device may cause  BluetoothFindFirst-
               Device()  to return null Fixed by removing the throw, replacing
               it with a "if (hbf()==NULL) then return false"


        10: BSoD (OPEN) 
               The "Blue Screen of Death" was encountered a number  of  times,
               indicating  a errorneous device driver. The cause may be in the
               MS bluetooth stack or  in  the  wiiuse  lib.  The  BSoD  mainly
               occured in the first phase of this project and havent been seen
               for a while with the current version (v0.7).

               Only happens for  MS  bluetooth  stack  version  "Microsoft  BT
               stack: date 03-08-2004, driver 5.1.2600.2180" (Lenovo version).


        11: New Hardware found wizard (OPEN) 
               Sometimes the wizard appears out of the blue, when deleting the
               HID entry and trying to reinstall it. It is the call Bluetooth-
               SetServiceState(...) that messes the  Window  system  up.  Dis-
               abling  the wizard or disabling the Plug and play system do not
               seem to be an option, since the HID then newer  get  installed,
               and  ends up in a failty state. A reboot of the system does not
               cure this defect.


        12: Devcon hangs (FIXED) 
               The devcon commands sometimes hangs at the diable USB  command.
               The  state of the USB controllers, and BT devices are undefined
               (some BT devices disabled, others not) and manually  trying  to
               disable  or  enable  the USB constroller fails. A status on the
               USB device gives a strange result.

               FIX: reboot the machine.


        13: Open Device fails to find a Nintendo (PARTLY FIXED) 
               When opening  a  named  nintendo  device,  say  'Nintendo  RVL-
               CNT-01',  the  bluetooth fails to get the name from the device.
               This results in an empty name, and hence matching on  the  name
               fails.

               FIX:  use  a  device  adresss  instead  of  a  name.  Put,  say
               'allowed_wiimote_adr=00:19:FD:CC:60:61  00:19:1D:D6:65:E5'   in
               the ini file.


        14: Wiiscan fails to run (FIXED) 
               Running wiiscan in a dosbox makes it terminate immidiatly. Run-
               ning the tray version, or under MS VS Express causes it to dis-
               play an missing DLL dialog (msvcp90.dll and friends).

               FIX:  this  is  a  MS  bug,  but can be fixed by setting the MT
               library in the project setting to use static libraries  instead
               of dynamic DLLs.


        15: BluetoothFindFirstDevice() stalls (FIXED) 
               The BluetoothFindFirstDevice() sometimes newer returns. Happens
               only for MS stack version "Microsoft BT stack: date 13-04-2008,
               driver 5.1.2600.5512" (eee stack).

               Code stalls here:

               DeviceAutoClose<HBLUETOOTH_DEVICE_FIND,BOOL> hbf(BluetoothFind-
               FirstDevice(&bdsp,&bdi),&BluetoothFindDeviceClose);

               FIX: start the BluetoothFindFirstDevice() function in a thread,
               terminate the thread if it has run for longer than, say 2+time-
               out.


        16: Wiimote drops connection after scanning (PARTLY FIXED) 
               If a connection attempt goes well until the last  part,  it  is
               most likely due to low-power batteries. The final stage of con-
               necting draw extra power, that might cause the wiimote to shut-
               down.


 SEE ALSO 
        wiiuse Wiiuse  is  a library written in C that connects with several
               Nintendo Wii remotes. Supports  motion  sensing,  IR  tracking,
               nunchuk,  classic controller, and the Guitar Hero 3 controller.
               Single threaded and nonblocking makes a light weight and  clean
               API.

               Licensed  under  GNU  GPLv3  and GNU LGPLv3 (non-commercial) by
               Michael Laforest,

               (http:www.wiiuse.net/)


        Wiimote Whiteboard 

               Whiteboard software by Johnny Chung Lee.

               (http:www.cs.cmu.edu/~johnny/projects/wii/,
               http:www.wiimoteproject.com/)


        devcon(1) 

               USB management software.

               (http:support.microsoft.com/kb/311272)


 VERSION 
       Version 0.9 NDEBUG


 AUTHOR 
       Carsten  Frigaard,  Mergeit  ApS,  Kongsvang  Allé 37, DK-8000 Århus C,
       www.mergit.dk


 COPYRIGHT 
       Copyright © 2009 MergeIt, Aps. License LGPL3 : GNU lesser GPL,  version
       3, <http:www.gnu.org/licenses/lgpl.txt>. This is free software: you are
       free to change and redistribute it. There is NO WARRANTY, to the extent
       permitted by law.



                                  26 Mar 2009                       wiiscan(1)

6.2 WIISCAN -H

Below is the output of 
wiiscan -h
on the command line: 

C:\WIISCAN\BIN\RELEASE>wiiscan -h
Usage: WIISCAN <-a  | -c  | -d  | -r | -s | -usbup
| -usbdown> [-cf ] [-lf ] [-b ] [-t ] [-u  ] [-p ] [-w ] [-q ] [-f ]  
[-m ] [-l ] [-y] [-wb] [-v]
  VERSION: 0.9 NDEBUG 32BIT LITENDIAN
  modes:
    -a : autoconnect to device
    -c : connect the device, that matches this name
    -d : deletes the device, that matches this name
    -r: lookup and list bluetooth radio devices
    -s: scan external bluetooth devices
    -usbdown: disable usb hubs
    -usbup: enable usb hubs
  options:
    -cf : specify a distinct configurationfile, default=wiiscan.ini
    -lf : specify a distinct logfile, default=cout
    -b : automode bluetooth connection sleep in milliseconds, 
			  default=2000
    -t : timeout for bluetooth stack in milliseconds, default=2000
    -u : automode usb connection sleep in milliseconds, default=500
    -p : automode usbm post-connection sleep in milliseconds,
	default=3000
    -w : timeout for wiimote in milliseconds, default=2000
    -q : use bluetooth radio with this address (not working),
	default=any device
    -f : pre-remove mode of device, 0=remove if not connectable,
	1=always remove, 2=never remove, default=0
    -m : choose  USB powercycle mode, 0=no power cycle, 1=use USB
	hub, 2=use USBm IO hardware, 3=use USB Delcon IO hardware
    -l : use specific wiimote library, lib can be one-of
	{wiiuse,wiimotelib, default=wiimotelib
    -y : scan retries in automode, default=1
    -wb: start whiteboard in automode
    -nowb: do not start whiteboard in automode
    -v: enable extra debugging printouts
  default mode: -a "Nintendo RVL-CNT-01"
  note: "nintendo" is a shortcut for "Nintendo RVL-CNT-01"

C:\WIISCAN\BIN\RELEASE>

6.3 Wiiscan.ini

For lay out in a web page we show the content of wiiscan.ini slightly modiefied. The % sign indicates a comment line; it's not code. 

% Configfile_begin
	% config file for wiiscan

	% all usb device ids, not used yet in the scanning 
		all_usb_hubs=""

	% single power controlling usb hub, only nessesary when powerering
    % over usb, for automatic resetting. If not used, put ""
	% active_usb_hub="@PCI\VEN_etc.etc._03\3&B1BFB68&0&E8"
		active_usb_hub=""

	% a list of allowed wiimotes in the form xx:xx:xx:xx:xx:xx, 
	% wildcard match is 00:00:00:00:00:00
		allowed_wiimote_adr=00:00:00:00:00:00
	% my set of wiimotes
		%allowed_wiimote_adr=00:19:?D:??:6?:?? 00:1F:C5:??:??:??

	% launching exe file have a problem with spaces, hence renamed exe,
    % replaced space with underscores
	% The original Johnny Chung Lee wb software version 0.3, downloaded
    % from [http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/]
		% whiteboard_software="d:/WiimoteWhiteboard/WiimoteWhiteboard_v0.3.exe" 

	% same stuff, but binary build from sources and redistributed in this
    % package
		%whiteboard_software="WiimoteWhiteboard.exe"
		
	% and finally, a custom build v0.3 version, with fixed 
	% calibration.dat write
		whiteboard_software=WiimoteWhiteboard_v0.3.exe

	% Boon Jin's wb software version 0.6
		%whiteboard_software="d:/wsb/WiimoteSmoothboard.exe" 

	% wiiscan parameters
		%option_device="Nintendo RVL-CNT-01"
		
	% number of bt scanning attempts in a autoscan, timout is
    % increased for every scan as retryattempt*option_timeout
		%option_scanretries=3

	% long time (4000 and above, or increase option_scanretries) when
    % matching name, short (1000-2000) when matching address
		option_timeout=4000      
		
	% wiimote scanning time, only applicable used for wiilib	
		option_wiitimeout=1000   
		
	% delay bewteen powerdown/up, see man for details
		option_usbsleep=1000     
		option_usbmsleep=1000     
		%option_btsleep=2000      
		
	% output verbose flag, 0 or 1
		option_debug=0  
		
	% start wb at successfull connect, 0 or 1
		option_startwhiteboard=1
		
	% logging output file, typical wiiscan_log.txt , put nothing if no
    % logging is wanted
		option_logfile= 

	% wiimote connection library, use none, wiiuse, or wiimotelib
		option_wiilib=wiimotelib 
			
	% 0=no power cycle, 1=USB hub control, 2=USBm IO, 3=USB Devcon
		option_usbpowermode=0
	
	% 0=remove if not connectable, 1=always remove, 2=never remove
		%option_forceremove=0    
		
	% bt radio to use, not working yet
		%option_btradio=00:50:B6:A0:48:8C 		

	% wiiscantray options
		% number of connection attempts before autoscan i restarted
		option_tray_pool_retries=2 

	% retry sleep, keep it low (<1000) to catch an open connection
		option_tray_sleep_between_pool_retries=250

	% sleep bewteen polls, when wiimote is succeful connected, keep it
	% hight (>2000) to avoid to much CPU usage
		option_tray_sleep_between_pool_loops=1000 

	% final connection step reqires some sleep before windows PnP is ready
		option_sleep_before_final_connect=1500

	% delay after launch of wb software, keep it at a medium value
	% (2000-10000)
		option_sleep_after_startwhiteboard=4000
% Configfile_end

When editing this file it is recommended to write slashes the Unix way i.e. '/' (omit quotes).

6.4 INSTALL.rtf

We simply follow Carstens INSTALL.rtf in C:\wiiscan\bin\Release. We added notes in the text between square brackets. 

INSTALLATION 

 Version: 0.9
	
 Procedure for wiiscan or wiiscantray:
	
 Prerequisites
	
  1a: unzip the wiiscan zip file(s).[1]
	
  1b: if you are not running a Microsoft
  Bluetooth stack, then change it from 
  Widcomm, Bluesoleil or whatever you are
  using. See the file CHANGINGBTSTACK.rtf.[2]
	
 Running
		
  1a: GUI version, run "wiiscantray.exe" in
  bin/Release or bin/Debug directory.[3]
		
  1b: CLI version, run "wiiscan.exe" in
  bin/Release or bin/Debug directory from a
  command prompt.[4]
	
 User optimizations:

  Tune scan speed by giving wiiscan your
  specific wiimote address. Run "wiiscan -s
  nintendo" from a prompt to find the address,
  or use the windows system setting.[5]

  Replace the
  "allowed_wiimote_adr=00:00:00:00:00:00"
  by our specific addres in the wiiscan.ini
  file, and lower the value of
  "option_timeout" to 1000 or 2000.[6]

  Avoid annoying baloon tips by running:
  "popup_disable.reg" found in
  src/wiiscan-0.9.zip, under Tools.[7]

  Avoid annoying crash reports from the
  Wiimote library by running:
  "no_error_report.reg" found the same place
  as above.[8]

ENJOY
 Mar 26 2009

 Carsten Frigaard,
 MergeIt ApS, Kongsvang  Allé  37,  DK-8000
 Århus  C, www.mergit.dk

[1] Done in the Software section
[2] Done ih the Bluetooth section
[3] This is the ideal mode for teachers. Make a shortcut in the 'Start Menu' and the teacher only has to power the PC to start the digital interactive whiteboard.
Remember, we did not use the 'debug' directory, so use C:\wiiscan\bin\Release for the shortcut
[4] See section 'Wiiscantray' below.
[5] Done in the Bluetooth section
[6] That's not a problem. You have already edited the Wiiscan.ini file. Do this as last step when you know everything is working fine.
[7] That's a matter of opinion. It could also serve as a assurance for the teacher that her beloved whiteboard is functioning (or not). Another good reason to not (yet) edit this option is that you cannot test Bluetooth functionality well enough.
[8] This is a rather drastic measure. First try a more specific and reversible way as described in http://personal-computer-tutor.com/abc4/v34/vic34.htm "Disabling Error Reporting in Windows XP" by Vic Ferri. Go Start > Settings > Control Panel > Sytem > W: System properties > T: Advanced > B: Error Reporting. Check 'Disable error reporting' and uncheck 'But notify me when critical errors occur'. Click [OK], W: System Properties, click [OK].
This prevents a 'wiimotelibpoll' error which is unimportant but annoying.

Mr. Ferri also suggests other ways of disableing error reporting and here is another good link: http://www.windowsnetworking.com/articles_tutorials/Disable-Error-Reporting-Windows-XP-Server-2003.html. Experiment with the settings until you have only disabled whiteboard stuff.

This is the content of the .reg file: 

REGEDIT4

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SOFTWARE\Microsoft\PCHealth\ErrorReporting]
"AllOrNone"=dword:00000001
"IncludeMicrosoftApps"=dword:00000001
"IncludeWindowsApps"=dword:00000001
"IncludeKernelFaults"=dword:00000001
"DoReport"=dword:00000000
"ShowUI"=dword:00000000

6.5 Wiiscantray

Wiiscantray is the ideal program for a busy teacher in a classroom. It permits her to just 'press the button' and, about 60 to 90 seconds later, to have her digital interactive whiteboard fully operational.
This is done by having a shortcut to wiiscantray.exe in the Start Menu or on the desktop. After powering up the PC, wiiscantray is automatically executed. It powers up the Wiimote and establishes teh Bluetooth connection between the PC and the Wiimote.

When you have made the shortcut to Wiiscantray.exe, either on the desktop or in the Start Menu, and the USB power module and the Wiimote are started with wiiscantray.exe, you find the icon in the taskbar notification area and you find the pen software on on the desktop.

6.6 Basic pen software

Finally, we should now examine the basic whiteboard software that steers the infra red pen. It's also started by wiiscan. The whiteboard software is C:\wiiscan\bin\Release\WiimoteWhiteboard_v0.3.exe. The line that starts the whiteboard software is in wiiscan.ini and reads: 

% and finally, a custom build v0.3 version, with fixed calibration.dat write
whiteboard_software=WiimoteWhiteboard_v0.3.exe

When you look around in wiiscan.ini, you see other whiteboard IR pen software versions, located in D:\. This gives you an indication how you can put your version of the IR pen software on the PC. This subject is further elaborated in section 13.1 IR pen software.

6.7 Problems and tips

When, for some reason, the complete set (either ready made or DIY) is not working, try to locate the error. Here are some tips:

Another tip from Carsten 

Many thanks for you feedback, let me see if I can help you. The
logfile points me in the direction of either an undetected
Bluetooth radio (adapter) or missing bluetooth link to the wiimote.

Try to scan for bluetooth radios using wiiscan.exe in a commando 
prompt:

  > wiiscan -r

and then try to scan for external bluetooth devices like,

  > wiiscan -s

The error 

  ** error: BluetoothFindFirstDevice() returned null hbf

means that the software does not detect any bluetooth devices, the
scan function ("wiiscan -s") should reveal any nearby devices and 
list them. You could try to put the wiimote into "discover" mode by
pressing the "hard-sync" button (the internal red button) and then 
running "wiiscan -s".
You should then be able to see an wiimote adr. and perhaps the 
"Nintendo" name of the mote. 

A short optimization would be to put the wiimote addres (00:XX:YY 
etc.) into the wiiscan.ini file instead of 

	allowed_wiimote_adr = 00:00:00:00:00:00 


This would allow wiiscan to find devices based on adr. and not on
 names only, and this mode is far more robust, when scanning for
motes (the name part in the BT protocol takes a long time to 
transfer, and is in some cases missing when scanning....)

(top)

7. Infra red pen

The infra red pen replaces the mouse when using the whiteboard. Basically it consists of a LED (Light Emitting Diode), a 1,5 Volt battery and a momentary switch.

An abundance of infra red pens can be found on the Internet. Ready made, as well as do-it-yourself projects. A comprehensive how to on making an infra red pen for about € 4,-- can be found on http://wyxs.net/web/wiimote/digital_whiteboard.html.

In a year of experimenting, we have gained some experience with infra red pens. Here is our humble opinion:

  1. The best infra red pen looks like a normal pen, feels like a normal pen and performs like a normal pen.
  2. When lightly pressing the tip of the pen to the whiteboard surface, an internal momentary switch should put the LED on.
  3. Manually operated switches make cheap pens, but are not easy to use.
  4. A 1,5 Volt battery, type AA or AAA, is the best power source. It's available everywhere and cheap.
  5. Use a VISHAY TSAL6400 high-power infra red LED. It has the right wavelength, lightning angle and power.

At this moment our school uses 'The Groove' from http://www.irpensonline.com/. A reasonable good pen. Not so good on the first point in the list.

(top)

8. Whiteboards

There are a lot of possibilities to get a whiteboard which is both a good projection surface and a good writing surface for an IR pen and being able to write with felt markers (both for whiteboards and 'normal' makrers which are sometimes accidentally used). We looked at reflective properties, ease of cleaning, cost effectiveness and last but not least the 'hot spot, which is exmplained at http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Projection_screen.

And finally, we wanted a whiteboard like this example:

[ Blackboard ]
blackboard.jpg
The blackboard at about 13.00 PM.

[ applying the foil ]
whiteboard_ready.jpg

It took about an afternoon to make this whiteboard. The teachers like this one because they can still use the chalkboards left and right, fold them to use the backsides and have a perfect projection surface, that is easy to clean, even when someone uses the wrong felt makrker.

Here is an overview of our experiences with whitebord surfeaces up to november 2011.

8.1Melamine

We started our experiments with a chipwood board, covered with a Melamine layer, costing about € 11,-- (eleven) for a size of 244 x 122 centimeter. We just put it in front of the classical green blackboard. For testing purposes it's a perfect and cheap solution. Advantages: very cheap, reasonable reflective qualities and hot spot, can be sawn to any size.

Disadvantages: a bit difficult to cean. Do not use an abrasive (Jiff). A mild detergent will do. One can expect the Melamine layer to become thin over time, requiring replacement of the board. We do not use this solution any more.

8.2 (HPL) High Pressure Laminate

HPL, often misnamed 'Formica' (a brand name) has a very hard and smooth surface and is available in various shades of white, also dull to reduce the hot spot. It's about a millimeter thick, it can be glued on the blackboard and is easy to clean. It's our favorite material.

DUROPAL
Duropal: HPL U 1026 SM. Dimensions: 4,10 x 1,30 meter. Thickness 1 millimeter. Price per m2 € 17, ex VAT. Very good projection quality and no hot spot, cleans well. This is up till now (september 2013) the best non-magnetic surface. In the Netherlands we bought it at: Baars en Bloemmof, Rijshoutweg 12, 1505 HL Zaandam, tel. 075 6120099, Mr. Remko Uljee. They also supply MDF plywood and 2 sided glued foil which we strongly advice in stead of glue.

RESOPAL
Resopal: white-dull No. 0179-20. Available in 365 x 132, 305 x 132 and 218 x 102 centimeter, thickness 0,7 millimeter. No hot spot, very good projection quality, Cleans well. Price about € 20 per m2 including VAT. This is a very good surface. Difficlut to obtain because you must take a minimum of 6 pieces.

HOMAPAL
Homapal (No. 8217). A pseudo 'HPL'. Maximaum size 305 x 130 centimeter, thickness 1,1 millimeter. Price per m2 around € 40 ex. VAT . In fact a steel sheet covered with a white layer. The steel sheet is an advantage of this brand -one can use magnets on the whiteboard- but it has a bit of a hot spot.

8.2.1 Glueing and cleaning HPL

NOTICE:
april 2013: Duropal can also be bought with an adhesive foil. Since a school used the wrong type of glue, we STRONGLY advise you to buy DUROPAL with foil.

Everything you always wanted to know about HPL, but were afraid to ask, can be fond in this .pdf from the International committee for the Decorative Laminate Industry

Some general remarks on glueing were found on Woodworkingtalk.com which are cited WITHOUT any warranty:
" To make it easier to apply the HPL, once the glue is dry, use small strips of wood placed about 8-10 inches apart placed all the way across. Make the sticks longer than the top is wide so one end of the stick will extend out the front so it will be easy to remove. Lay the HPL onto the sticks, position the HPL and start by pulling a stick at a time out. The HPL will stick down and you can continue until all sticks are removed."
"I use 1/2" dowel rods...less wood contact. I would add, before positioning the sheet on top of your sticks/dowels, check the substrate and the back of the laminate for ANY debris. Anything present can leave a bump once laminated. Before pulling any sticks/dowels out, make sure the piece is aligned where there's overhang (I usually leave 1/4", but you can leave what makes you comfortable), and gently pull out the middle stick/dowel first, and press down. this will fix the sheet. as you pull out from the center, press down from the center out to remove any air that can get trapped."

When using a texotrope glue like BisonTix, read the manual and wait before bonding the materials.

Cleaning

HPL can be cleaned with hot water and common non abrasive household cleaners. The only precaution: avoid using strong acids and bases. http://www.arpausa.com/hpl_arpa/_pulizia.asp .
When you accidently have used a permanent felt marker, you can remove your writing with a whiteboard marker and tissues.
On http://www.skovby.dk/showpage.php?lang=NL&pageid=7031526 is a Danish, English and German extensive PDF document on maintenance. Also available here
Duropal gives cleaning instructions on http://duropal.b-onweb.de/care-cleaning

8.3Enamel

These boards are made of a layer of enamel on a sheet of metal. This is the 'whiteboard' as most of us know it.

Advantages: easy to clean, small magnets can be used to attach paper etc. to the board

Disadvantages: expensive, reasonable reflection, can have a big hot-spot, heavy.

We tested an example from Smit Visual Supplies who claims excellent reflective and hot spot properties. Reflective properties are good, but the dull enamel coating produces a rather big hot spot; bigger than those of HPL and the EGAN foil below.

8.4Paint

Whiteboards based on a hardened paint on steel exists. We have no experience with this type of whiteboard. Please send us an example.

8.5 Plastic foil

We tested EGAN Visual Surface Technology's self-stick adhesive material. It can be used as whiteboard and projection surface and can be cut to the size of the blackboard you are using now. It may sound vulnerable, but it's not. Our Belgian colleague Kurt (http://digitaleschool.be) tested the surface with ballpoints, permanent felt markers and a knife. Tt proved not knife-resistant. In our experience, over time the surface detoriates a bit due to pupils using ballpoints, et cetera.

Advantages: excellent reflection and low hot-spot, easy to clean, can be cut to any size (maximum length 32 meters(!)x 137 centimeters). Disadvantages: VERY expensive, 2 x 1 meter is about € 400 (four hundred euro), not that classroom resistant. Our first board produced a few tiny and almost invisible air-pockets. This was due to the material we attached the foil to. When using a chipwood or MDF board you get a flat surface.

OUR CONCLUSION:
Duropal and Resopal are our favourites.

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9. Speakers

Simple speakers are good enough. Hi-Fi quality is not needed even not desirable. The low frequencies in the audio spectrum lessen the intelligibility of the sound.

9.1 Speaker in the projector

There are projectors with built-in speaker. That saves you work. A small disadvantage may be that the sound is not coming from the screen but from the ceiling of the classroom. With short throw projectors this disadvantage is minimised because the projector is near the screen.

We have now about a year experience now with the built in speaker in our short throw beamer and we absolutely prefer this way of working over separate speakers. The sound volume is controlled with the beamers remote control.

9.2 Separate speakers

You can use a speaker set that is normally used with the PC. Attach the speakers on top or next to the whiteboard. Fixing the speakers near the whiteboard improves the impression of the sound coming from the screen. Use extension cables to get the sound signal from the PC to the speakers.
A disadvantage can be that the volume control is near the whiteboard. One can also see it as an advantage; standing next to the whiteboard.

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10. Ceiling mounts

There is an abundance of ceiling mounts. We go for simple and cheap. Most times the ceiling mount that comes with the video porjector is quite expensive. The chosen mounts are universal and in use at our school.

10.1 Wiimote ceiling mount

The wiimote weights virtually nothing, so any cheap ceiling mount will do. You can use the same mounts that are use for surveillance or Closed Circuit Tele Vision (CCTV) cameras. The mount must have a ball head for precise adjustment of the viewing area. Ceiling mounts cost between € 6 and € 10. Below is the easy mount we use, the SEC-BRACK50 (Google is your friend):

[ Wiimote ceiling mount ]
wiimote_ceiling_mount_SEC-BRACK50.jpg

It can be be taken apart ...

[ SAC-BRACK50 taken apart ]
wiimote_ceiling_mount_SAC-BRACK50_pieces.png

... and easily extended when the classroom has a high ceiling. Go to an ironmonger and buy an 'extended nut', diamter M8 (8 millimeter).

[ SAC-BRACK50 taken apart ]
extended_nut1.png

Also buy a meter of M8 thread bar (is that the correct name?). Total costs about € 3.

[ SAC-BRACK50 taken apart ]
extended_thread.png

If you want, you can cover the thread with a chrome pipe.

10.2 Video projector ceiling mount

We found a simple, cheap, universal and sturdy video projecor ceiling mount at http://www.extreme-shop.nl/. The type to order there is the BEAMER-P20.

[ Video projector ceiling mount ]
video_projector_ceiling_mount.gif

They sell between € 30,-- and € 50,-- inc. VAT, depending on quantity.

11. Video projector

The most expensive part of your setup, so give it a lot of attention.

We have good experiences with the OPTOMA EX525ST: short throw, maintenance free, built in speaker, VGA out.

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12. Installing, connecting and testing

We have installed a couple of digital interactive whiteboards now. We have a bit of experience and want to share our successes, failures and errors in the hope you can do better. About one advice we are pretty convinced: test before you dril, cut and saw.

12.1 Whiteboard

No matter what kind of surface you choose, the place of the whiteboard in the classroom is important. The classical blackboard is installed on a place where it can get good daylight. In theory that's not the best place for a digital interactive whiteboard.
Furthermore, the sun radiates a lot of infra red light; direct sunlight on the whiteboard might spoil correct pen tracking. Make a calulted guess about what the sun does during a year.
Curtains or Luxaflex can help to dim the light a bit, but a classroom in the dark harms pupil/teacher interaction.

12.2 Video projector

Fixing a video projector to the ceiling is easy with a ceiling mount. The difficult part of the job is finding the right place. Do some real life experiments with the projector to find the right spot for the projector before drilling holes and cutting ceiling tiles.
Be aware that the lens (and not the projector) should be exactly in the center of the projection area. A carpenter's square can be of service.

12.3 Wiimote

The buttons 1 and 2 need to be pressed permanently. One can use a piece of plastic and a tie-wrap or glue. Tape is easy but the risk is that, over time, the button pressure releases the tape. So, to your surprise, after hours of looking why your whiteboard is not working, you discover that the buttons are no longer pressed enough. Maybe it's a better idea to take a piece of white plastic and glue it over the buttons or tighten it with a tie-wrap. Do not glue the buttons themselves because glue may leak into the Wiimote.

A permanent solution is a piece of perspex as seen on this picture:

[ perspex to keep buttons 1 and 2 pressed ]
perspex_wii_permanent_on.png

The wiimote can be attached to the ceiling via a mount, preferably with a ball head for easy positioning the Wiimote to the whiteboard. The middle of the desktop area, the lens of the projector and the Wiimote should be in one line if poosible.
You have to test what is the best location for the Wiimote. Too near the whiteboard increases tracking resolution but you risk incomplete coverage of the desktop area and, if you use the 12 IR sensitive spots, the area around the desktop. Too far away results in low resolution. This is demonstrated in http://wyxs.net/web/wiimote/digital_whiteboard.html#h6.1

Fine tuning the position of the Wii takes some patience and can best be done with 2 persons; one behind the PC to start the calibration procedure and calibrating, the other person on a ladder to fine tune the position of the Wiimote.
When using BoonJin's software, the image of the camera is visible:

[ Wii not properly aligned to PC ]
wii_not_aligned.png

The white part is the PC image as seen from the Wii IR camera's perspective. Black is what the camera sees. When you see somthing like this pictuere after roughly positioning the Wii, you have to adjust te Wii by moving the camera up and to the right, until yuou see someting like:

[ Wii properly aligned to PC ]
wii_aligned.png

Around the image of the PC is still surface on the whiteboard that is visible for the IR camera. The Smooth Board 0.2 BETA software permits 12 'hotspots' around the PC image that can be used for all kinds of purposes, i.e. starting programs, double clicks, etc.

12.3.1 Distance of Wii to whiteboard

What is the exact distance between the Wiimote and the whiteboard in your classroom?You can find it out by trial and error, or do some calculations to get an idea of the right spot. Anyhow, before drilling holes, test the found position on the ceiling with the Wiimote.

Thanks are due to work done by Eyucel and Stefan van Aalst.

The IR camera in the Wii has an aspect ration of 4:3. The camera has a horizontal viewing angle of 40 degrees and a vertical viewing angle of 30 degrees.
NOTICE:
The caculations below assume the Wii is positoned under an angle of 90 degrees of the whiteboard, on the crossing of the diagonal lines of the rectangle formed by the desktop and eventual sensitive areas around the desktop, i.e. a test position.

[ theoretical distance of Wiimote ]
wiimote_distance.png

The distance of the Wiimote to the screen can be calculated with the following formulas where:
d = distance
h = total horizontal screen size
v = total vertical sreen size

For horizontal screen size:

    h : 2
d = ------
    40 : h

And for the vertical screen size:
, 

     v : 2
d = ------
    30 : v

A classroom example: The projected horizontal width of the desktop image on the wihteboard is 130 cm. We also want a 10 cm area around the desktop as clickable areas. So, the total horizontal width becomes 130 + 10 + 10 = 150 cm. 

    h : 2       150 : 2         75
d = ------  d = --------  d = ------  d = 281,32cm. 
    40 : h      40 : 150      0,2666

UNDER CONSTRUCTION!!

An example:
The screen size horizontal is 130 cm. The result of tan(radians(20))=0.36397

x= (130/2)/0.36397=178.50 cm.

But, if the screen size vertical is also 130 cm, 
then x=((the screen size-vertical)/2)/tan(radians(15))

 tan(radians(15))=0.267949

x= (130/2)/0.267949=242.50 cm.

These are approximate distances, but very close to 
the true numbers.

We now can calculate the distance of the Wiimote to a whiteboard when we know the total width of the projected desktop and clickable areas. However, bear in mind, the Wiimote is mounted to the ceiling, thus projecting downward. So, the IR camera sees a trapezoid like image of the desktop, where the bottom of the trapezioid is the widest.

The cable from the Wiimote to the USB power module can be led over the ceiling if possible. The cable is long enough to place the compter where you (or your pupils) need it. The cable can also be led to the video prjector mount and led through it's pipe.

12.4 Speakers

12.5 Cables

You need quite a few rather long cables. Because they are long, the risks of signal loss and noise exist. Buy good quality audio and vidoe cables.

NOTICE:
Observe local electricity regulations concerning earthing the projector, leading cables in a cable trough, and separation of mains and other cables.

12.6 Testing

No need to say that extensive testing and a try out period are necesary before giving the infra red pen to the puils and their teacher.

12.7 Ready!

Here is our first setup with an old fashioned video projector with ONSBORD Wii setup http://onsobrd.nl and a formica whiteboard.

[ ONSBORD ready front ]
ONSBORD_1_ready_front.jpg

The program to write with 'ONSBORD' (OURBOARD) is Jarnal, see http://www.dklevine.com/general/software/tc1000/jarnal.htm

[ ONSBORD ready rear ]
ONSBORD_1_ready_rear.jpg
The projector and Wii on the ceiling

[ short throw projector setup]
short_throw.png
Our other classroom with an Optoma EX525ST short throw projector with ONSBORD (OURBOARD) http://onsobrd.nl.

[ short throw projector on heigh ceiling ]
short_throw_high_ceiling.png
A short throw projecor on a high ceiling.

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13. Software

13.1 IR pen software

We use Boon Jin Goh's Wiimote Smooth Board version 0.2 BETA, dated 13th July 2008. This version has enough features, right-click, double-click and 12 clickbable areas outside the desktop area are available. Our primary schools need no more.
You can download the 0.2 BETA version at http://wyxs.net/downloads/whiteboard/, where you find Wiimote_Smooth_Board_0.2.zip 02-Jul-2009 06:36 267K .
NOTICE:
Use this version when you have tested everything with Boon Jin Goh's Smoothboard version which is included in Carsten Frigaard's Wiiscan software.

When you have everything working with the pen software included in Carsen's Wiiscan you can take the final steps: make a 'one click' solution by again modifying wiiscan.ini and creating a batch file. Proceed as follows:

Open Notepad and create a batch file, for example c:\startwb.bat. In it the following content: 

start /D C:\wiiscan\bin\Release wiiscantray.exe
wait -s 90
start  /min /D C:\WiimoteSmoothBoard-0.2 WiimoteSmoothBoard-0.2.exe

Explanation:
The first line starts wiiscantray.
The second line gives wiiscan time to start and create the BT connection. Ninety seconds is good for our setup; experiment with the time until you have no errors and a reasonable short start time. Be aware that Carsten chose the safest connection method, not the fastest.
The third line starts Wiimote Smooth Board version 0.2 BETA.

NOTICE:
Because BJG's software is started with the batch file, the software should not be started with wiiscan via wiiscan.ini. To eliminate the starting of board software with wiiscan.ini, open wiiscan.ini and search for the line: 

% start wb at successfull connect, 0 or 1
		option_startwhiteboard=1

Set option_startwhiteboard=1 to option_startwhiteboard=0 (zero). This does not start the whiteboard software in Wiiscan and prevents the .NET Framework error in BJG software version 0.2 BETA.

To put this file in the Start Menu, right click on 'Start' > Open > Programs > Startup, and move the batch file there. The only thing a teacher has to do is to switch the PC on and log in. Of course you can also start some application with this batch file.
Both programs, 'wait' and 'WiimoteSmoothBoard' can be found on

Boon Jin Goh's Wiimote Smooth Board is now also available in a paid version as trialware with a nag screens. His latest version has lots of features, see http://www.smoothboard.net/home/.

12.3 Mouse pointers

An underexposed subject in digital interactive whiteboards. The pointer we normally use on the computer is created to be manipulated by the mouse. So there is nothing between your eyes and the pointer.
On a digital interactive whiteboard most times the pen is always where the mouse pointer is, thus the pen is hampering the view on the pointer. When you also are, like most people, right handed, you have difficulties viewing the pointer.

For these resaons you could use a pointer that is bigger, to improve visibility. When it's also poining from a different angle (pointing towards the bottom right corner of the screen), we have a better view on the pointer.

Use 'Icon Edit' freeware and part of 'Icon Suite', created by Mike Bouffler. Google or see: http://freewareapp.com/mb-icon-edit_download/. We use version 2.1.9 which enables us to create every pointer we want.

A few mouse pointers can be downloaded at http://wyxs.net/downloads/whiteboard/.

13.3 Whiteboard software

There is an abunance of whiteboard software; commercial, freeware and paid, open- and closed source, of differing quality and created for differing purposes. The list below is mainly for our purposes and reflects our views on software in education: preferably it should be open standards and open source.

The Wiimote Forum http://www.wiimoteproject.com/ offer valuable information, ideas, solutions for problems and help. On this site at Wiimote Project » Forum » Wiimote Projects » Wiimote Interactive Whiteboard » Wii remote digital whiteboard with IR LED pen for schools HOWTO can be found.

Loose ends:
Magic Whiteboard http://www.magicwhiteboard.co.uk/
Static whiteboard foil

SubEthaEdit http://www.codingmonkeys.de/subethaedit/
Kin of collaboration tool. Closed, Costly.

Jabber clients http://xmpp.org/software/clients.shtml
Good list of Jabber clients. Coccinella is just one.

Zengobi Curio, http://www.zengobi.com/products/curio/
Unclear site, unclear pricing, unclear ..

General Electric: imagination at work http://www.imaginationcubed.com/
Online drawing, looks good. Where to download?

MSN Messengeers whiteboard, instrutions on: http://www.computeruser.com/todaystip/tip_view/f27dd29ee797453e3a78bdaa285bbca8 says:
MSN Messenger has a built in Whiteboard has a useful and inactive feature that allows you to share pictures and drawings in real time on an MS-paint like application window. MSN Messenger must be downloaded and installed to utilize any features. To use the whiteboard feature: * Open the Actions menu and choose Start Whiteboard * You will send a request to the other party, and if accepted, the shared session window will appear. Choose Whiteboard to begin the whiteboard session Download: http://messenger.msn.com/download/getstarted.aspx

Notatelt: http://www.notateit.com/
Commercial licenses from € 25 to € 65 per license.

PhotoNote: http://www.softpedia.com/get/Multimedia/Graphic/Graphic-Editors/PhotoNote.shtml
Process images of your whiteboard? Freeware $ 50

Whiteboard Reviewer Edition: http://wareseeker.com/Business-Finance/requirements-whiteboard-reviewer-edition-1.0.0.zip/326690
"Requirements Whiteboard is a system for structured requirements management, authoring, review, documentation, discussion and publication. The Reviewer Edition can be used standalone, but is intended for use alongside the comprehensive Author Edition". Freeware.

Firedoodle: https://addons.mozilla.org/nl/firefox/addon/4651
Firefox add on turns any website into a whiteboard. To save you need to register to a server.

ClearBoard: http://www.softtouchit.com/xpe/portal/674eef30-1119-1000-8121-46648aa451c5
commercial, € 77, needs a photo camera, sort of note taking software?

VirtualBoard 1.11, http://lightools.fredisland.net/index2.htm
"VirtualBoard was at the beginning a tool created for professional needs, to teach people how to use Windows, with projection on large screen: instead of using big explanations in an incomprehensible technical jargon for a newbie (example: " Click on 'Start' Menu on the left side of the taskbar, at the bottom of Windows desktop " ), it was more enerigizing and motivating to SHOW what must be done ( " look at the red arrow I've drawn on the screen, and click at the place the arrow indicates " ) ! All that with one imperative : minium of mouse clicks".

Bluechillies :http://www.bluechillies.com/list/whiteboard.html
A collection of whiteboard stuff. Freeware, shareware.

FaceTop: http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2004/07/64129
"...a new system that cleverly blends a video-conference feed with a transparent image of a computer desktop into one full-screen window".

Transparant video overlay over desktop: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/audio-video/TransparentDesktopVideo.aspx
Article and code as follow up on FaceTop.

CapTrue: http://www.batchconverter.com/CapTrue-download-73132.shtml
Screenshot capture, also video.

Desktop Pen: http://www.download3000.com/download_46770.html
"Desktop Pen is a free tools that allows you draw directly on desktop. You may mark or highlight what you see on desktop immediately with different colors".

Annotate Pro V2: http://www.annotatepro.com/
A kind of Jarnal, commercial, expensive.

Ritepen3.0: http://www.ritescript.com/Products/ritePen.aspx
"Write anywhere on your screen in continuous words and phrases, in smooth electronic ink. Watch your handwriting converted into text and entered into any application". Kind of Jarnal, commercial.

Scientific Calc: http://my.hrw.com/math06_07/nsmedia/tools/Sci_Calculator/Sci_Calculator.html
Exactly what it is.

Cochinnella documentation: http://www.linux.com/articles/58326
Modest.

v2Whitebaord: http://www.version2software.com/v2whiteboard.html
"...sketch out how your computer network looks ... instead of trying to describe it. Or, what if you wanted to collaborate with a co-worker on the UI design of your next great piece of software".

http://lightools.fredisland.net/index2.htm
Looks great!

Links van Matthijs:

KlasCement.net http://www.klascement.net/

Crickweb | Flash Page http://www.crickweb.co.uk/assets/resources/flash.php?&file=Toolkit%20index2a

Digibord :: digibord.Yurls.net - Your Favorite Websites http://digibord.yurls.net/

Leidster -- Leidsterstartpagina.jouwpagina.nl http://leidsterstartpagina.jouwpagina.nl/

Digitaal schoolbordonderwijs: Leermiddelen http://www.digitaalschoolbordonderwijs.nl/materialen/

Jouw Wereld Mijn Wereld http://www.jouwwereldmijnwereld.nl/

Digitaal schoolbord? Digibord op School http://www.digibordopschool.nl/default.asp?target=1

- - - ALLES OVER VERKEERSBORDEN - - http://proto.thinkquest.nl/%7Eklb019/

JigZone.com Jigsaw Puzzle Games http://www.jigzone.com/

Welcome to MirandaNet http://www.mirandanet.ac.uk/index.htm

Kent NGFL ICT Website http://www.kented.org.uk/ngfl/index.htm

kleuters http://www.nldata.nl/laurentius/piramide/cgi-oic/pagedb.exe/show?no=627&fromno=506

SMART Board Podcasts ? RedbridgePrimaryICT http://redbridgepict.wordpress.com/category/smart-board-podcasts/

PO 34 | Groep 3-4 in de praktijk | Wereldori?ntatie http://digischool.kennisnet.nl/community_po34/indepraktijk/pagina

END LINKS MATTHIJS

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14. Advanced topics

14.1 Preventing RF emission

Bluetooth operates with high- and low band RF signals, thus emitting RF energy. We have some ideas on omitting RF signals. These might be interesting for those who want to use our digital interactive whiteboard in environments like radio astronomy, or where regulations are against wireless communication. When interested, contact us.

14.2 Working with the PixArt camera directly

Johnny Chung Lee provides an interesting but complex solution on

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15. Testimonials

We received an e-mail from Aaron Johnson from the Jordan catholic school USA, from which we quote:

Anyways, it's awesome to hear that you're excited to see what we've done with your ONSBORD system in our school! We have your system set up in a 7th/8th grade classroom at our Middle school and it is the epitome of interactive whiteboards in our opinion! We plan to put the 3 additional systems in three more of our Middle school classrooms and will eventually bring the system to our 4th, 5th, and 6th grades.
[snip]
We really appreciate everything you have done to help improve free and open source technologies in education!

Aaron C. Johnson, Catholic School

[ Jordan school classroom ]
Jordan_school_classroom.png
Aaron also sent us this picture of his classroom. His whiteboard has a bit of a hot spot.

Aaron also sent us this picture of his classroom. His whiteboard has a bit of a hot spot.
We recommend visiting Aarons Technoly Center at http://www.jordanschool.com/technology-center/wiiboard-resources/. Many useful links and a quote:

"ONSBORD – The ultimate WiiBoard implementation! ONSBORD is what Jordan Catholic School is using in their classrooms to create a high-tech learning environment also known as the Interactive Whiteboard – we like to call it the WiiBoard! :~) ONSBORD has taken the original Wiimote Interactive Whiteboard idea (founded by Johnny Chung Lee) and has perfected it by making it work seamlessly in the modern day classroom. Once installed properly ONSBORD can and will function better than the commercial products provided by SMART and even Promethean! Please note that their main website is in Dutch so be sure to copy and paste the URL into Google Translate in order to be able to read it! Be sure to check out their DIY guide located here."

[ Barbaraschool school classroom ]
onsbord_complete_overview.png
Aaron also sent us this picture of his classroom. His whiteboard has a bit of a hot spot.

Two pics of the RC school 'Barbara' in Amsterdam. 2 whiteboards

[ Barbaras school classroom close-up ]
onsbord_whiteboard_live.png

André Duijzer, teacher at the Ostrea Lyceum in Goes (The Netherlands) visited our school in July 2012. He made a smill video in which the complete processs, from starting up and old PC [*] to drawing on the whiteboard, can be seen. The explanation is in Dutch. It can be found on http://wyxs.net/downloads/media/video/OnsBord.avi.

[*] Compaq D500, Pentium IV 1,7 GHz, 500 Mb Ram, Windows XP.

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16. Concluding remarks

We have tried to put all we know about digital interactive whiteboards using a Wii in this how to. Comments and suggestions are welcome. Please write to ict [at] rosaboekdrukker [dot] net or schoutdi [at] knoware [dot] nl.

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17. Disclaimer

Although we have tested every part of this project and many eyeballs have seen the texts, neither the author(s), nor the Public Primary School Rosa Boekdrukker or other schools or companies mentioned in this DIY project can be held responsable for any damamage, neither direct, nor inirect, neither consequential, nor accidental or whatsoever, when using the hardware, software, materials, advices or suggestions we write about or refer to.

This project is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but WITHOUT ANY WARRANTY; without even the implied warranty of MERCHANTABILITY or FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE.

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Copyright © 2009, 2010, 2011, 2012 Dirk Schouten
Creative Commons License
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 Netherlands License.

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Author: Dirk Schouten <schoutdi at knoware dot nl>
Last updated: 2013-08-05