Why you should develop your plugin for nGhost3 - Page 2

matt11601 · 08-06-2009, 08:31 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kev000

I just reworked the animation sublayer in the nghost3 libraries to allow more advanced effects. This is a short demo featuring the "dialer" example and the new click effect:

ng3 button demo

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Very nice demo. I think the pop-up effect upon selection is more than eye candy because it will give the user visual confirmation of key presses if they're using a touch screen. Will users have the option to adjust the amount of "pop-up time?" Are other effects planned such as the numbers spinning or fading/re-appearing upon press?

kev000 · 08-06-2009, 08:46 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by matt11601

Very nice demo. I think the pop-up effect upon selection is more than eye candy because it will give the user visual confirmation of key presses if they're using a touch screen. Will users have the option to adjust the amount of "pop-up time?" Are other effects planned such as the numbers spinning or fading/re-appearing upon press?

I want to make things like effect, mode, and duration configurable via the theme. That won't come until the theme engine is locked down though. Mode really defines how the effect looks. This is an elastic-out mode and that's why you see the bouncing.

I've got animation "presets" already created:
-fade to 20%
-fade-out
-fade-in
-grow to 50% (default button behavior)
-spin 360 on the x-axis
-spin 360 on the y-axis.

Of course, you can also mix multiple animations together like what you see in the keyboard demo on the first post.

kev000 · 08-10-2009, 11:29 AM

Here's another demo, this time in the form of an actual functioning application. Indeed the first "real" application to use the new ng3 framework:

icepanel3

icepanel3 demo

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what's new in icepanel3 over icepanel2?

-Better integration with window manager
-Integration with compiz's scale plugin (the window selector feature)
-Integrates with ng2 through ng2's dbus plugin (will do the same with ng3).
-Replaces the window title bar functionality (notably the "X" close button).

New concepts:

-A touch-friendly dock allows you to use any application without having to Embed-The-World (TM) in a frontend. It allows you to maintain persistent controls across all windows, and maintains the same look/feel. With proper integration, you won't even know that your apps aren't embedded and are running in their own window space...
-The dock/panel replaces the window boarder/title bar. This enables the maximum screen area to be dedicated to actual content.
-Volume: click = mute/un-mute, drag adjusts the volume up/down. While this is only a concept in the video. I hope to work out the details soon so it actually works.

theBeachBoy · 08-20-2009, 09:23 PM

complete mobile but only runs on linux and macs? I think you'd need windows to get the most interest.

Also, first thing I noticed when looking at the first post (demo of keyboard) is that the keyboard changes the numbers to their "shift" alternative (!"/$%?&*())when hitting caps lock. That's not how a keyboard works, you should be able to type in caps and still have the numbers above the keypad. This is very NOT intuitive.

Punky · 08-20-2009, 11:58 PM

i have a question, does nghost require a complete restart everytime? any sort of hibernation/standby mode?

kev000 · 08-21-2009, 12:18 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by theBeachBoy

complete mobile but only runs on linux and macs? I think you'd need windows to get the most interest.

Also, first thing I noticed when looking at the first post (demo of keyboard) is that the keyboard changes the numbers to their "shift" alternative (!"/$%?&*())when hitting caps lock. That's not how a keyboard works, you should be able to type in caps and still have the numbers above the keypad. This is very NOT intuitive.

I agree with you that a Windows target would attract the most interest. I realize that there are many, very good frontends for windows. But my interest is not in creating a very good frontend. Instead, my interest is in creating a very good mobile system. I don't call nghost a frontend anymore. To me a frontend is something that sits on top (or in front :P) of the operating system's shell and replaces normal shell functions with touchscreen/mobile friendly functions. For me, this seems to be the wrong way to go. Creating an actual "frontend" begs the question: if you have to cover up and replace core OS functionality, why are you using that OS? The answer is: because it does everything that you want it to. AND/OR, it wasn't designed to be used for such purposes.

Linux is an operating system with no specific target (mobile, desktop, etc). This means that it is extremely modular and can be tweaked to target just about anything (including toasters). Community members looking to target smart phones, pda, mobile devices, etc have build window managers, drivers, and core systems that allow for us to create Linux systems for our cars. The only issue has been that no specific IVI UI has been created. So in effort to solve this problem nGhost was created. So instead of replacing/covering your original OS UI, nGhost becomes the ONLY UI. To this date, it's the only system that allows users to create an appliance rather than a carpc. For the end user, it means less tweaking, and more using.

I agree that the numbers above the keyboard should persist when caps is hit. I would point out that the keyboard demo is only a demo. The final on-screen-keyboard for nghost3 has not been written yet.

kev000 · 08-21-2009, 12:41 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by Punky

i have a question, does nghost require a complete restart everytime? any sort of hibernation/standby mode?

nghost expects you to use the operating system's hibernate/suspend functions. But you can configure it to remember playback positions of specific audio files/genres if you do exit and reboot.

theBeachBoy · 08-21-2009, 05:04 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by kev000

I agree that the numbers above the keyboard should persist when caps is hit. I would point out that the keyboard demo is only a demo. The final on-screen-keyboard for nghost3 has not been written yet.

there should be a "big" version too, like the garmin zumo has, where you only have a few letter on each screen, so you can really type without staring at the screen to see where you finger will click. really neat.

This ensures that nu button is smaller than x*y parameter, where all current front ends have super tiny buttons,

having a mobile system, not a frontend is a great idea, but I think support for apps will be very limited. let's say I want to add a card with I/O to control other stuff, I will likely have to play 49823 hours to get it working, where windows will likely have bundled software for it.

kev000 · 08-26-2009, 12:12 PM

I wouldn't count Linux out. Hardware support is excellent and getting better all the time. Ever try the latest ubuntu? Likely than not, all your devices work out of the box without ever thinking of installing any driver.

I generally follow the rule of never buying hardware that doesn't have Linux support. When I do follow that, I spend actually less time getting it to work than I would with windows and the driver install process.

But yes, if you buy hardware that only works with windows, then you are better off using windows with it.

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