Truly independent multi-zone

**justchat_1** · 11-01-2010, 09:21 AM

Currently all modern operating systems (as shipped) suffer from the same limitation. They all assume a single user will be operating the system. Virtualization has been used successfully to overcome this in some cases but traditional applications rarely can take advantage of it. For multi-zone carPC front ends (including OM 0.8) this leads to a problem some call cursor fighting. Each mouse or touch screen controls the same cursor, so if someone begins to drag a list on screen one and a user presses a button on screen two, the mouse jumps to screen two. The more screens present in a system, the more prevalent the problem becomes.

Enter openMobile 0.9....

OpenMobile communicates directly with each input device eliminating operating system overhead and allowing each device to be paired with an individual screen.

The end result is truly independent zones, a more responsive feel (due to the elimination of the OS overhead) and an even wider range of supported input devices (including haptic feedback mice and multitouch panels).

**jmullan99** · 11-02-2010, 06:27 AM

In my future scenario (building zone 2 in the rear seats), usually a keyboard won't be present, but the user could plug in a usb keyboard on occassion. Will OM be able to distinguish that after many plug / unplug events that this keyboard belongs to zone 2?

John

**RipplingHurst** · 11-02-2010, 11:39 AM

That is very cool.

**jmullan99** · 11-03-2010, 03:35 PM

Another question: can zone 1 force-feed audio to other zones?

Not a requirement for me, but as I build up multi-zone, and start with additional audio zones, they will have no screen for a short bit. So wondered if I can pick something for them.

If not, no worries.

Cheers,
John

**CraziFuzzy** · 11-06-2010, 10:47 AM

Originally Posted by jmullan99

In my future scenario (building zone 2 in the rear seats), usually a keyboard won't be present, but the user could plug in a usb keyboard on occassion. Will OM be able to distinguish that after many plug / unplug events that this keyboard belongs to zone 2?

John

This is an interesting concept - one that might be potentially useful for more than just keyboards. It would be possible to map out what USB port (via what hubs/etc) a device is connected to. I can see this being advantageous for the keyboard situation mentioned here, but also for thumbdrives/ipod/etc. If certain USB ports could also be classified to a particular zone, then perhaps all these features could be feasible. So when, say, a thumbdrive with music is inserted into a port, OM first checks which port it is attached to - if that port is a zoned port, then it will pop up the auto-insert prompts on that zone's screen only. (though that media would still be accessible from other zones)

**Punky** · 11-06-2010, 11:56 AM

this is an awesome idea, but wouldn't your cpu take a massive hit if >2 screens are playing videos? Reminds me of the plane's entertainment back in the days when the system would be super slow and unusable.

**RipplingHurst** · 11-06-2010, 12:10 PM

I think it would depend on the CPU and the file. Are we talking about an m1000, Atom, Core2Duo or Core2Quad, or i7?

Are we talking about Avi (big, no cpu transcoding) or h.264 files (small files, heavy cpu load)?

Years ago I remember being able to play four mpeg files in four windows (same screen) in my core2duo, with media player classic, divx encoding, about 300mb each. No lag, but never tested h.264 since.

**Punky** · 11-06-2010, 12:24 PM

i guess i don't actually know, because most media player (WMP mostly) does not play more than 1 video at a time. Most of the forum are probably using atom 330 with a few having the ION in it. Assuming i'm right with my statistic, i'd say most atom processors would have problem keeping up with running 3 avi video (center console + 2 rear screens).

I doubt this is any problem with any desktop running i7 + GTX460 or something. I see this is a great piece of software for future carpc, but with current carpc spec it seems rather tough to run smoothly.

**RipplingHurst** · 11-06-2010, 12:38 PM

I think there's a lot of notebook installs out there with core2duo with dedicated (laptop type) graphic card that smoke atoms. I don't think anyone running atoms would be really interested in true 2+ multizones, so I'm guessing the developers have that in mind.

Also, running flash heavy FE+nav can be worse than decoding h264 with a gpu assistance I fear, like the newest chipsets are capable of.