[Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

I just finished the first prototype of QZeeControl.
In a nutshell, QZeeControl enables controlling your Harmattan/MeeGo based smartphone via a Zeemote bluetooth remote control.

QZeeControl is still in a very early stage and is missing some essential features like configurable key-bindings.
Nonetheless, I want to announce it here and on the MeeGo forum in order to get some feedback.
So far I tried it with EmuMaster and it worked quite well.

For more information on where to download QZeeControl etc. please see the garage web site:
http://qzeecontrol.garage.maemo.org/

Ovi store link:
http://store.ovi.com/content/271543

Direct download link:
http://qzeecontrol.garage.maemo.org/releases/

Link to my repository:
http://repo.pub.meego.com//home:/wonko/

Link to garage site (There you get the source code.):
https://garage.maemo.org/projects/qzeecontrol


For those of you interested in the technical aspects:
QZeeControl is a rewrite from scratch in Qt/QML.
The bluetooth connectivity and keyboard event triggering is done via Qt C++ classes while the UI and some "gluecode" are done in QML.

I hope you like QZeeControl and can for now overlook its premature status.

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

I just uploaded version 0.3.0 to my repository and the web site.
This version adds many improvements like:
- configurable key bindings,
- an own logo (many many thanks for this to my fiancée :D),
- improved UI,
- improved user guidance,
- improved startup time,
- a splash screen,
- and it is now aware whether Bluetooth is enabled or not.

I hope you like it. :)

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

Really interested in this software, since i wanted to use some kind of joystick for my N9 for a long time.
I'we already even ordered a Zeecontrol.
I would like to see sourcecodes and see if i can collaborate in this project.
I think of making it a daemon+gui app, with gui used to configure keybindings and toggle daemon on/off, and daemon, once enabled, catch events

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

Just installed it and seems to work as it should. Haven't tried it in a game yet.
My zeemote has been collecting dust since i shifted from the N900 back in november 10. Must dig out some games to try it on.
Anyway thanks for the port mate, will return with feedback when i get some time to test it out on some games.

Regards Dousan...

e: Nice costum app icon ;)

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

The source code can be found, as usual, on the corresponding page at garage.maemo.org:
https://garage.maemo.org/projects/qzeecontrol
Maybe I should reconsider the way I place the link there. ;)

Just to add some more details:
In the main window you see the "test" box and letters for checking the general functionality.
Note that these are only active when the QZeeControl window is active, i.e., once the window is inactive these testing elements become inactive and only key presses are triggered when the remote control is utilized. Consequently, there is no (or very very few) additional overhead of leaving the QZeeControl window open in the background.
Overall, this version should perform much better than the "old" python version as very much of the performance critical code paths are implemented on the C++ side. Well, I actually dunno how QML code performs in this scenario but the amount of QML involved in the actual forwarding of key presses is really minimal.

With respect to having a sophisticated "daemon solution". Well, I for myself have nothing against it. On the other side I have no real reason for implementing it, except maybe the technical aspects of implementing it. Anyone is invited to hack on the source code himself and I will for sure accept patches etc. :) In the worst case you can as well fork it if you like. After all the entire code is open source. ;)
I can also upload the code to github or gitorious if there is interest. This way collaboration should be eased even more. Just let me know.

@Dousan
Thanks :) I also already forwarded the compliment.

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

@Wonko
Thanks for the sources!
Those feels really neat :)

Will check if I can do anything ineresting about them when I'm back home.

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

Well, there was some issue with the enabled state of the buttons in 0.3.0.
I uploaded 0.4.0 which should be available in my repository by now and also shortly on the web page.
This version also adds support for a second Zeemote remote control. So you _should_ be able to use two remote controls at the same time.

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

@Wonko
Where did you get X headers? I am using QtSDK for windows, and i think I dont got those packed.
I am thinking about making virtual cursor with direct drawing on root window, something along with http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=1291380

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

Well, I am doing all my development in Linux. Additionally, for actually building the package I use scratchbox.

With respect to the QtSDK: if I recall correctly, I used QtSDK/Madde/bin/mad-admin to extract some *-dev.deb packages to get the headers in the QtSDK. However, I don't know if this will suffice to actually build and run it.

Re: [Announce/WiP] QZeeControl - Control your Harmattan Phone with a Zeemote
 

Alright, I am not amused, to say the least.

My intention is to make this app as easily accessible as possible for anyone. Hence, I try to get this thing into Ovi store since about one week. I do this not to please Nokia, not out of some "ego reasons", but only to offer users the best usage experience, which in my opinion includes a convenient way for installation.
Unfortunately, I got told that some strange rule forbids me to place links to my very own application (nothing more, nothing less, a simple link to a *.deb file of the very application) on my support website and instead I should point the links to the Ovi site of my application. Which of course does not exist yet as my proposed application gets not included due to said "reasons". Some might see a hen and egg problem there.

I wondered quite some time if I should simply boycott Ovi then. However, I've come to the decision that it would not be nice to let users suffer for some strange issues that are decided somewhere else.
Hence, I remove all the direct download links from the support webpage. For you I will place up-to-date download links here in the first post. Which of course increases the work I need to do on each release.

Well, dunno if this app will at all attract so many users. Nonetheless, it is a little inconvenient getting put stokes in ones wheel while trying to release some app for free.