Carl Kenner's Blog

New Kinect SDK, new fascist license restrictions

Feb 032012

Microsoft have just released a new version of the Kinect SDK. But now they expect you to buy a new, very expensive, Kinect for Windows sensor that seems the same as the old Kinect sensor. The main selling point of the new sensor is removing the restrictions from their SDK that they deliberately programmed into it, so it no longer filters out any depth values from the depth image less than 80cm. There is no word on whether they will continue to filter out depth values greater than 4m, although I suspect they will (or worse, drop it to 3m).

The new SDK 1.0 does not work with any applications written for the Beta 2 SDK, including GlovePIE. You will need to continue to install and use the Beta 2 SDK, which has moved to here: http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/develop/beta.aspx

Since I haven’t agreed to their fascist license agreement yet, I am still free to point out that:

As far as I can tell, the Xbox 360 Kinect will still work with any programs written for the new SDK 1.0. These programs are required to lie and say they won’t work, but they will, and I encourage you to use the Xbox 360 Kinect with these programs.

The Xbox 360 Kinect is sold not licensed. You can do whatever you want with it, and there’s not a damn thing Microsoft can do to stop you. It is a physical tool, no different from a pair of scissors. If you buy a pair of scissors, the manufacturer can’t tell you what to do with them. The same is true with a Kinect.

It’s illegal for the maker of a monopoly operating system to abuse their position by favouring their hardware products (eg. XInput replacing DirectInput), or their most expensive products.

BTW, the GlovePIE 0.45 download file mysteriously disappeared for a few days, but I reuploaded it, and the download should be working now.

Permanently pair Wiimote on Windows!

GlovePIE 5 Responses »

Jan 182012

Great news! After many days of investigating Toshiba’s Bluetooth stack, and possibly injuring my feet while doing it (long story), I can now permanently pair* Wiimotes on Windows, using the Toshiba Bluetooth Stack! That means, from then on, the Wii Remote will instantly and automatically connect to Windows whenever you press any button on the Wii Remote (except the SYNC button), even after restarting the computer or changing the Wii Remote batteries! Just like it does on the Wii (except that the lights keep flashing instead of changing to show the Wiimote number). And it will PROBABLY even work on the new Wii Remote Plus TR remotes! You can even connect your Wiimote to your Wii like normal, and then after you disconnect it from the Wii it will go back to connecting to your computer automatically.

The only downsides are that Windows itself won’t automatically disconnect and switch the Wii Remote off when you don’t use it for a time period. So if you just bump your Wii Remote walking past without noticing, and your computer is still on, your Wiimote batteries will go flat. And we don’t know how to fully UNDO this. We can probably undo it on the computer end, but the Wiimote will always try to contact your computer whenever you press a button (at least until you connect your Wiimote to 3 different Wiis). And of course you need the Toshiba Bluetooth stack, because it won’t work on the others.

On the other hand, GlovePIE will now be able to confidently switch your Wiimote completely off while you are not running a script, or maybe even while you ARE running a script but haven’t pressed anything for a time, saving your battery life. That’s instead of just switching off the sound, rumble, leds, IR camera, continuous reporting, and accelerometer and nunchuk reporting like it does now when you stop a script.

But the BEST part is… I didn’t sign any NDA with Toshiba, and have never seen their real SDK, so I can tell everyone exactly how to do it without signing anything, and I can add the feature to open source programs such as Dolphin (and of course to GlovePIE)!

So give me a few days to perfect the technique, and to get the other new features working, and then the new GlovePIE version will have this awesome new feature!

And in case you were wondering, it doesn’t matter what your Bluetooth address is, or what your Wii Remote’s Bluetooth address is, it will still work.

* I don’t know if “pair” is the correct term. It still doesn’t show up in the “Paired Devices” list, (unlike my girlfriend’s phone which didn’t actually pair correctly when I tried to transfer music to it, but nonetheless is listed in “Paired Devices” but not the main window).

And don’t forget, you can donate with this button to support cool features like this (that took a lot of hacking):

When donating, please include a message with any feature requests or which features you enjoyed. I make no promises to implement those features of course, but it's good to know what people want.

Wii Remote Plus

GlovePIE 12 Responses »

Jan 032012

an original Wii Remote Plus

There are two new versions of the Wiimote out now that have the Wii Motion
Plus built into the Wii Remote itself. Both versions look like a regular Wii Remote, but with writing in a semicircle around the Wii logo at the bottom of the Wii Remote.

The first version is the original “Wii Remote Plus”, which behaves almost exactly like a normal Wiimote with a Wii Motion Plus extension plugged in the bottom. It is compatible with all the PC and Wii software that supported the original Wiimote. The gold Skyward Sword Wii Remote Plus is one of these, and so (for now) is the one that comes with WiiPlay Motion. Ones bought before November also tend to be this version, including some that came with Wii consoles. They come in all different colours. When you connect it to a computer it says “RVL-CNT-01″. If you open the battery compartment and look inside, it has a code like this: “LMB RVL WR/H-C0″, “LMA-RVL-WR/M-C0″, “LMB-RVL-WR/M-C0″, “LMA-RVL-WR/M-C2″, or “LMB-RVL-WR/Z-C2″. I think the important part is the last digit has to be less than 4.

Inside a Wii Remote Plus TR

The second version is the newer “Wii Remote Plus TR”, which doesn’t work with most PC software or with Wii Homebrew Channel, but works fine on all Wii Games, no matter how old. The packaging and outside is identical to the older version. This newer version came out in November. It seems to come in every colour EXCEPT GOLD. When connected to your computer, it says “RVL-CNT-01-TR”, and the PID will be 330H instead of 306H. If you open the battery compartment it has the code “LMB-RVL-WR/Z-C4″, or “LMB-RVL-WR/Z-C6″. A FEW (but not most) of these have a SYNC button on the OUTSIDE of the battery case.

If you have a Wii Remote Plus TR then GlovePIE 0.45 won’t work for you. But I made some modifications to use the new Product ID and the new Bluetooth name. I don’t know if that will be enough to make it work or not. Please test this new EXE file (you’ll need to put it with the contents of the GlovePIE 0.45 zip file too):

TestWiimotePlusTR.zip

and let me know how it works.

Happy New Year, happy new GlovePIE version

Uncategorized 6 Responses »

Dec 312011

GlovePIE 0.45 Free is now available for download in the GlovePIE download section. It supports Kinect, using the official Microsoft drivers here: http://www.kinectforwindows.org/download/

GlovePIE 0.45 coming in 2011

GlovePIE 7 Responses »

Dec 312011

I’m finally going to release GlovePIE 0.45. I had some other stuff to take care of, and I get distracted easily. For example I decided to quickly write a Turbo Pascal decompiler when I was supposed to be writing GlovePIE. So sorry for the delay.

I’m planning on a 2011 release, which means tomorrow, whether it’s ready or not.

And it will be free!

It will support Kinect via Microsoft’s Kinect for Windows Beta 2 SDK (no other Kinect SDKs are supported in this version, sorry). Kinect support is working, but still a bit preliminary.

And I’ve updated the TrackIR emulation. GlovePIE is now completely 100% free of bad Haiku “poetry”, (not even any encrypted or generated poetry), which should get NaturalPoint off my back. Of course, neither GlovePIE, nor anyone else in the world has ever used any of the terrible “poetry” by NaturalPoint, nor would they want to. But NaturalPoint aren’t genuinely interested in protecting the income they make from the sale of poetry books, they are just trying to trick lawyers into forcing competing (or cooperating) software not to supply the correct password to their TrackIR API.

And GlovePIE can now get past the new encrypted TrackIR protocol in some new games such as DiRT 3, without the use of TrackIRFixer. Not all encrypted games are supported yet though, and some of the old TrackIR games that worked in previous versions of GlovePIE might not work anymore until I perfect my new method of getting in without a signature. But many games are working.

So get ready to look around naturally in driving games while steering an imaginary steering wheel, using the Kinect. Or using Halo Anniversary voice commands in Halo 2, while pointing your gun, swapping weapons, and picking things up with natural gestures. Or whatever else you can imagine.

PPJoy Source Code

Uncategorized 2 Responses »

Sep 212011

Deon van der Westhuysen

Back in May 2011, Deon van der Westhuysen made PPJoy open source under the GPL 3 license. It supports 64 bit operating systems (but isn’t signed). He didn’t ever get around to posting a link to it though.

Here is the PPJoy source code: PPJoy source code

The latest couple of versions of PPJoy have been detected as a virus or trojan by most virus scanners (older versions were not). I don’t know whether the installers really had a virus or not. But hopefully someone will be able to build it from source with a different installer that isn’t detected as a virus.

You can visit his PPJoy blog, which is updated about as often and as reliably as mine.

Talk Like a Pirate Day

GlovePIE, website 1 Response »

Sep 202011

Ahoy mateys! Now that me site be lookin’ shipshape again, I have a post for ye. And, as you wish, I’ll be workin’ on a new GlovePIE version.

Today be September 19, which be International Talk Like a Pirate Day. But ye don’t need to be speakin’ Somali, and I’d ne’er be infringin’ any land-lubber’s copyright. For ’tis a day when we be rememberin’ a time long ago. A time when to be bravin’ the torrent and surf and be up loadin’ pirated wares into the net and tradin’ them from pier to pier at random ports, meant somethin’ completely different. A time when a pirate did hackin’ with a sword, and when a softwear patch covered their eye. Savvy?

Arrgh. I know what ye be thinkin’: “Avast me hearty! Pirates be a cruel and evil bunch of bilge-sucking scurvy dogs, who’d best remain in Davy Jones’ Locker.” And I do not be disputin’ that. But it be fun to talk like them once a year.

I’ve also been playin’ a game with controls like “shake” and “wiggle”, but not like ye be thinkin’. ‘Tis Fold It, a science game where ye solve real protein foldin’ problems for fun and science. Which do be why this post’s a bit late.

Hey, I finally updated the blog!

Uncategorized 7 Responses »

Aug 202011

I finally updated the blog! Sorry about disappearing for about a year. I’ve been busy, and I’ve been procrastinating, especially since this website started acting up and I’ve been scared to try to fix it. I have moved house though. And I’ve been busy with my girlfriend. And I’ve been re-examining some of my politics. And I’ve been studying, and I just got a new qualification in Certificate III in Police Studies. Strange, I know.

Anyway, I just invested in a new Toshiba Windows 7 x64 laptop (with 3D). So now I can try to get GlovePIE fully supporting 64 bit and Windows 7.

By the way, there’s a bug in the smooth function in the latest version of GlovePIE, so I’d better get the updated version out quickly. I’m not good at managing releases yet though, especially since I haven’t decided yet what financial model to use. But I’ll put out a free version soon.

I’ve also been working on writing my own Virtual Reality system. So far it supports Direct3D 9, a few different stereoscopic 3D modes, automatically detecting the size and shape of any monitors or TVs you have plugged in, and VR920 stereoscopic 3D and head tracking. And I made an example application which loads levels from Wolfenstein 3D, Spear of Destiny, Blake Stone, Corridor 7, Operation Body Count, and Super 3D Noah’s Ark (actually quite a good game despite being made by fundamentalist Christians). The VR system is designed to unify Virtual Reality and ordinary PC First-person (or even third-person) gaming, so that there’s a continuum between them. The idea is that in the VR manager you could choose WASD+mouselook keyboard controls and a fixed FOV and use an application like a normal FPS, or you could set up a HMD, or fixed screens and head-tracking, and hand or full body tracking (perhaps with Kinect). I also want to make it support motion controllers that only offer partial tracking.

Now that Penumbra Overture is open source, I’d really like to get that ported to Virtual Reality.

Update!

Uncategorized 15 Responses »

Nov 122010

Sorry the website was down for a few weeks. It’s because the PPJoy installer I was hosting got detected as a trojan by my hosting company, so my websites got shut down. So I will no longer be hosting that file. Don’t worry, all the old versions of PPJoy don’t have that problem, just the new one. I also didn’t have internet access for a few weeks while I moved house (I still don’t have proper internet access, my computer is currently plugged into my mobile phone and using my small mobile quota).

There still seem to be problems with the forum, I don’t have a clue what’s going on with that.

Playstation Move is out now, and Kinect (Project Natal) is out in some countries, but not in mine.
My unreleased development version of GlovePIE is reading both the Move and the Navigation Controller here perfectly, as well as doing other things like emulating an Xbox 360 controller. The Move works a lot better than the Wii Remote for orientation and acceleration tracking, since it has a compass, and it’s gyros seem to work better than Wii Motion Plus. I haven’t got the Move’s position tracking via the Playstation Eye working yet, but it’s on its way.

I’m also working on the open source project MoveOnPC.

I don’t have a Kinect until the 18th of November, so I haven’t added support for it yet. But I have been participating in the Open Kinect open source project. And Kinect IS working on the PC (except the audio)! There’s no skeleton tracking yet, since that is done in software on the Xbox 360, and it will take quite a while to write our own software for that. But we can read the 640×480/bayer colour camera and the 640×480 x 11 bit depth camera, at 30 fps. And we can control the Kinect’s motor to move it up and down, and we can change the LED colour. And we can read the accelerometers. Yes Kinect has accelerometers just like a Wii Remote!

So, expect to be using both Playstation Move, and Microsoft Kinect on your PC very soon, and stay tuned.

Forum is malfunctioning… please ignore banning

Uncategorized 10 Responses »

Jun 162010

The GlovePIE forum is malfunctioning and is banning everyone as spammers, including me. I apologise, and I assure you, I did not ban anyone. I will attempt to fix it.

In the meantime, don’t forget to visit my Xbox Project Natal Blog which has been updated with lots of new information coming out of E3, and will be updated more over the next few days.

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