Java Development

[marchywka]

I just grabbed my Storm thinking it was a mouse but now I'm curious if it would work

via bluetooth with the accelerometer? I guess 18mg would be sensitive enough for most

gestures, not sure though. Wouldn't be hard to use the keys or touch screen for cool

buttons and custom features but it slides better upside down. Putting those tabs on the back

makes it stick and also harder to use as a level ( if senstivity allowed it).

[rcmaniac25]

That's an interesting idea. I unfortunately don't have a Bluetooth receiver so can't do any testing.

[marchywka]

Not sure if MSFT still gives away their driver development kit but not sure if there are bluetooth mouse drivers.

That could be a probject in itself but imagine a 3D accelerometer with a touch screen. Not quite a game console but you could do something versatile. Are the game controlls accel based and limited to 18mg?

I guess if the idea works you could get a cradle to make it slde better. I had one phone that I coated

in dabs of silicone bath caulk to guard against dropping and bumping.

[rcmaniac25]

MSFT still gives away there Driver Development Kit, I recently downloaded the one for Win7 (http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/DevTools/WDK/WDKpkg.mspx).

I remember using something similar to what you might be thinking of, you hold the mouse at a certain angle which is "neutral" then tilt it forwards to go up, backwards to go back, left and right to go in the appropriate directions.

Add support for gestures like shake and flick (the motion not the touchscreen) and support for multitouch and you have a pretty interesting controller. In the game area I'm thinking "extra function keys." There is a lot that could be done, I work with 3D and programming so I could use it like a 3D mouse or shader display. For programming I could have the variable information show up on that while I debug something.

I really have not looked into accelerometer accuracy so I have no idea what you are talking about when you say 18mg.

[marchywka]

I guess you could leave the BB stationary and use finger motions to move the mouse but I thought that would

just be a fancy set of buttons and the accelerometer measures scrolling. 18 is 18 milli-g's or .018 g-forces.

I made a level but the resolution is a bit low fo that. If you do this, please try to write drivers for linux. I'd have a great system here but I need to run wireless card through ndiswrapper and it seems to have quirks.

[rcmaniac25]

I didn't mean leave it stationary, I meant in addition to using it as an actual mouse. Thanks for the information on the accelerometer, it seems like most other smartphones operate to about the same level. Unfortunately I don't have any plan to write a driver, I feel lucky enough to be able to write an extremely basic driver let alone a cross platform one.