Project ROME

Archive
1

I’ve been absent from the forums for awhile working on the next big set of Skewworks offerings, including a brand new site, the merging of Clix & Tinkr and 2 completely new areas for us.

Slate
We’re going to start offering a la carte solutions that address specific issues and low prices (0.99 - 9.99), we’ll also offer price breaks for buying multiple pieces at once. I’d love some feedback on the proposed offerings as well as suggestions for others.

Packager & Installer
[ul]
Create single file installs for entire applications
One line of code installs
Support for creating directories, files, etc
Customizable install display
Great for installing updates[/ul]

Firmware Updater
[ul]
Support for GHI & Microsoft flavors
Customizable display
Intergration with Packager & Installer[/ul]

Serial File Transfer
[ul]Support for multiple forms of file transfer over UART[/ul]

SMTP/POP3 full client
[ul]
Send & Receive
Full attachment support
Image support[/ul]

NETMF/Gadgeteer BIOS
[ul]
Reserve and allocate pins on-the-fly at start-up
Pure NETMF support for Gadgeteer modules
Load modules from file based drivers
Require specific assemblies at startup
Firmware, RAM, free space detection
Shell full applications after boot
Customizable display[/ul]

Console
[ul]
Full console application for NETMF/Gadgeteer
USB Keyboard support via GHI Premium libraries
Integrated on-screen keyboard
Flawless tokenizing
Customizable display[/ul]

On-Screen Keyboard
[ul]Tinkrs OSK (the fastest NETMF OSK around) as a stand-alone[/ul]

EzXML
[ul]
Read and Save XML files from Objects[/ul]

Touch Screen Configuration
[ul]
Calibrate/Restore touch screen in 1 line of code
Customizable display[/ul]

EmbeddedIdea
[ol]
Sell your hardware/software solutions
Keep your latest firmware online
Integrate with Packager/Installer to keep all your devices up-to-date
Integrate with Firmware Updater to keep devices on latest firmware
Gather information from devices in the field to one central location
4GB storage (expandable)[/ol]

3 Likes
2

Very nice project indeed…

I’m wondering about the driver on the file loading… how does this work? Are we talking about gangster drivers, or is this based on your own interface?

Thanks…

Jay

3

There are multiple ways for loading drivers at runtime since, in the end, it’s really all about loading the assemblies into the AppDomain and then consuming them properly.

Gadgetos actually laid the ground work for this. It was able to run on any GHI device before Gadgeteer was ever released, because it loaded the proper assemblies as needed and then integrated them into Input/Network/Display managers that knew how to consume them.

Slate’s job (as part of project ROME) is to make all of this extremely simple for the user. To that end, I’ve ported a majority of all the available Gadgeteer modules to pure NETMF along with pin and port assignments for all the major motherboards.

So you can either shell a normal Gadgeteer application or user a pure NETMF system that dynamically loads modules based on the system you’re using, etc. The use case for this would be a single app that needed to run on multiple devices. It could morph it’s functionality based on the motherboard it detected.

Slate itself is the a la carte portion of project ROME and uses a license key to unlock various features. I’ve just completed the first and hope in the next couple of days to a week to be able to have touch, calibration, on-screen keyboard, console applications, and IFU available.

Once those features are up, I’ll start looking for people to beta test.

4

When?

5

Hmmm… GameO app sharing?

6

I’m hoping to accept beta testers for the first set of features next week. Touch, calibration and On-Screen Keyboard (OSK) are already done. And the OSK might actually even be better than Tinkr’s. Still super fast, but also includes smartphone style key preview.

Sharing, selling, automatically updating and installing. :wink:

7

I couldn’t resist sharing a couple of pictures.

Man this keyboard is ultrafast. Even on Hydra/CP7

Oh and how about a commandline utility that tokenizes for you and has an on-screen keyboard?

8

one word.

L U M I A

:slight_smile:

The only thing I noticed :wink:

9

Its worth noticing :wink:

10

920?

11

The Verizon version: 928 w/ 8mp camera. It’s a pretty slick device, I’ve been enjoying it. Also have it registered as a dev phone, so at somepoint I’m sure I’ll have some WP8/Gadgeteer cross-over apps. :slight_smile:

1 Like
12

I knew it wasn’t the 920 because the LED flash on mine was nothing like that one :slight_smile: Personally I’ve been drooling over the 925 here in AUS, lovely looking phone, but gee the 1020 is getting some good press - just can’t wait for it’s release here since I think SWMBO might get an upgrade to her current 920.

13

Supposedly a new generation of more powerful WP8 phones are coming out soon. If not, I’m probably getting a 1020.

14

Not to be a party killer, but Skewworks actaully had some really cool stuff going on.

I need some more details about the Rome project. Do you have a product page or something?

15

I try not to have product pages up before I’m at least in beta phase. The entirety of ROME is actually pretty daunting. There will be a restructure of namespaces, the 2 biggest projects are getting merged (since they share a core anyway) and since there will now be subscription and a la carte offerings (something we haven’t done before) the entire website along with backend will need to be rewritten.

If you’re interested in joining the beta as it becomes available drop me a line through the Contact page: http://skewworks.com/contact

Let me know if there are particular pieces of ROME or Slate that you’re interested in so I can be sure to get you in on that. Package/Install will be done by end of tomorrow, so I think a weekend start to the beta might actually happen.