Wow! I sure have been out of touch with this forum for a while! Lots of things have changed; members, mods, and now I have no idea what most of these threads are even referring to!
However, that's absolutely not a reflection of how I've been with my Xoom. I've had it by my side everyday, and it's all but replaced my behemoth laptop, which was hot $#!+ 8 years ago, but is slow as molasses flowing uphill in January compared go my over locked Xoom 1. Still not a single scratch on her, either.
I'm slipping my flame retardant suit on right now as I type this before I tell you all reading that I bought an iPhone 4s instead of the Razor Maxx.
BUT... both I and my iPhone know it's place next to my Xoom, and that is of a lowly mouse!
My black iPhone 4s is pretty spiffy and compliments my Xoom very nicely. But they don't play all that well together very often.
I'm looking for a mouse app on my iPhone and a server for my Xoom, and I can't seem to find anything. I'm asking here because the iPhone forums I've visited in the past seem to have a lot of trolls who, if they don't know the answer, demonstrate it by bashing Android. (I've always enjoyed more mature discussions here. -hint hint)
So if anyone can help, I'm much obliged. Of course, the Xoom is rooted and the iPhone is jail busted.
You mean, like a trackball type mouse?
Draxin said:
You mean, like a trackball type mouse?
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Click to collapse
Webe++ is an apple app that turns the iPhone into a virtual mouse, like a track pad, I suppose, but with virtual buttons, etc. Supposedly it works via Bluetooth, however you have to download a server to your PC or apple computer (even PlayStation). Of course, Android is left out. I guess the "server" contains their proprietary BTstack (???). My Xoom will "see" it and show me the pairing dialogue asking for the key, but then it never pairs with it.
Why...
I have a Motorola BT keyboard, which I love using with my Xoom at work. I also have a SoundBlade by Altec which delivers fantastic sound. These things all fit very nicely into my bag except for my lumpy little Bluetooth mouse. So I'm on a quest to find a set of apps (or whatever) to make my iPhone act like a track pad for my Xoom. I use my Xoom at work like its a laptop. I have full access to my home computer remotely which greatly expands my tablets capabilities. I also often access and transfer files from my phone to my tablet. Even though it's a touch screen, at work I prefer to set it up like a laptop using a mouse/track pad. While working, trying to touch specific words in a document gets frustrating, and using a stylus means I have to tilt the tablet... then the overhead lights reflect off the screen and it becomes a PITA.
A few other guys in my department carry in their huge laptops every morning. I have to show these guys up!:laugh: I can't have them see me using my tablet as being anything other than effortless and magical!
http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B004N7146U
Why not a Bluetooth keyboard with a track pad? Might want to make sure it would work with Xoom though
Sent from my DROID RAZR using xda app-developers app
hi all,
ive dabbled with quite a few emulators on the android platform, and most are a bit dissapointing, and the paid for ones are the worse of all, totally lacking in features and compatibility.
when i got my jxd s7300 i thought it would rekindle my interest in emulation, with its 7 inch screen and half decent d-pad, but ive now dug out my old psp cos the emulators on that are better than the very basic emulators on android.
whether its snes/amiga/psx/mame, the psp emulators are the complete package, but the android emulators pale in comparison.
for example, every single emulator on the psp has autofire/turbofire options in the input options, cos even back in the psp days emulator authors had the common sense to realise that the cheap tacky psp buttons were not designed to be repeatedly mashed playing some manic old school shootemup.
today, on touchscreen tablets and tablets and phones etc with very cheap and small weedy physical controls, the need to not constantly mash the buttons is even more important, and not to mention making the whole screen shake in ones hands as one stabs the buttons like a demented gibbon playing some old school manic shootemup, which were designed in the day for arcade quality joysticks and buttons which were much easier and more comfortable to repeatedly hammer.
on android, mame4droid reloaded, snes emus, final burn alpha, epsxe, and nearly all versions of various emulators for just about every old school system, AND NOT ONE OF EM has the common sense option of an autofire option in the input options, what the hell is going on ?, are todays emulator authors convinced that modern tablets and phones have arcade quality microswitched buttons on them ?
the only half decent emu with an autofire option is mame4droid, but thats old and runs only a few pre 80s stuff properly. mame4droid reloaded is much better, but the autofire option was removed !! (by mame devs i suppose), but what excuse has the author of final burn alpha, the authors of the various snes emus, amiga emus, psx emus, etc etc,
all pretty good emulators, but lacking in features and compatibility, and in the case of epsxe, not even able to sync the sound correctly.
all these emulators rendered virtually unplayable cos of lack of even the simplest autofire option, and believe you me, there are not many old school games that dont require constant stabbing of the fire buttons.
also, as an aside, ive posted for months on a few forums asking if anyone knew of an android app that could assign an autofire rate to a single button, to be effective whilst using various emulators, and to date, NOT A SINGLE REPLY to any of the posts, so it seems this avenue is not an option, so that makes it all the more important for emulator authors to implement this simple feature.
cheers
mattemat said:
hi all,
ive dabbled with quite a few emulators on the android platform, and most are a bit dissapointing, and the paid for ones are the worse of all, totally lacking in features and compatibility.
when i got my jxd s7300 i thought it would rekindle my interest in emulation, with its 7 inch screen and half decent d-pad, but ive now dug out my old psp cos the emulators on that are better than the very basic emulators on android.
whether its snes/amiga/psx/mame, the psp emulators are the complete package, but the android emulators pale in comparison.
for example, every single emulator on the psp has autofire/turbofire options in the input options, cos even back in the psp days emulator authors had the common sense to realise that the cheap tacky psp buttons were not designed to be repeatedly mashed playing some manic old school shootemup.
today, on touchscreen tablets and tablets and phones etc with very cheap and small weedy physical controls, the need to not constantly mash the buttons is even more important, and not to mention making the whole screen shake in ones hands as one stabs the buttons like a demented gibbon playing some old school manic shootemup, which were designed in the day for arcade quality joysticks and buttons which were much easier and more comfortable to repeatedly hammer.
on android, mame4droid reloaded, snes emus, final burn alpha, epsxe, and nearly all versions of various emulators for just about every old school system, AND NOT ONE OF EM has the common sense option of an autofire option in the input options, what the hell is going on ?, are todays emulator authors convinced that modern tablets and phones have arcade quality microswitched buttons on them ?
the only half decent emu with an autofire option is mame4droid, but thats old and runs only a few pre 80s stuff properly. mame4droid reloaded is much better, but the autofire option was removed !! (by mame devs i suppose), but what excuse has the author of final burn alpha, the authors of the various snes emus, amiga emus, psx emus, etc etc,
all pretty good emulators, but lacking in features and compatibility, and in the case of epsxe, not even able to sync the sound correctly.
all these emulators rendered virtually unplayable cos of lack of even the simplest autofire option, and believe you me, there are not many old school games that dont require constant stabbing of the fire buttons.
also, as an aside, ive posted for months on a few forums asking if anyone knew of an android app that could assign an autofire rate to a single button, to be effective whilst using various emulators, and to date, NOT A SINGLE REPLY to any of the posts, so it seems this avenue is not an option, so that makes it all the more important for emulator authors to implement this simple feature.
cheers
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
Bear in mind though that getting emulation to work- especially on Android, considering its mostly for phones- is a feat in itself. On many emulators, graphics rendering in itself is still a problem. Developers would rather make sure that a game can actually run decently rather than focus on things like autofire which (considering the beta stages of most emulators) would only slow progress down.
Android wan't designed to be a gaming system. The fact that we even have DS and PSP emulators- yes, barely capable, but still- is quite a big thing.
You seriously can't expect miracles when it comes to emulation. The developers work hard as is, trying to make things work. Autofire isn't a "common sense" feature, its an extra. "Common sense" features would include graphical rendering engines and other options such as frameskipping and display options that could help smoothen game performance. Whereas PSPs are meant to render games and the like properly even through emulation, Android wasn't. Again, bearing in mind that this is an OS that was meant to run on a phone or tablet.
End of the day though, entirely at the dev's discretion, but the dev would rather have a playable game than features which make it easier.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk HD
Soryuu said:
Bear in mind though that getting emulation to work- especially on Android, considering its mostly for phones- is a feat in itself. On many emulators, graphics rendering in itself is still a problem. Developers would rather make sure that a game can actually run decently rather than focus on things like autofire which (considering the beta stages of most emulators) would only slow progress down.
Android wan't designed to be a gaming system. The fact that we even have DS and PSP emulators- yes, barely capable, but still- is quite a big thing.
You seriously can't expect miracles when it comes to emulation. The developers work hard as is, trying to make things work. Autofire isn't a "common sense" feature, its an extra. "Common sense" features would include graphical rendering engines and other options such as frameskipping and display options that could help smoothen game performance. Whereas PSPs are meant to render games and the like properly even through emulation, Android wasn't. Again, bearing in mind that this is an OS that was meant to run on a phone or tablet.
End of the day though, entirely at the dev's discretion, but the dev would rather have a playable game than features which make it easier.
Sent from my GT-P7510 using Tapatalk HD
Click to expand...
Click to collapse
you make some valid points, and i understand android is not the ideal platform for emulation, BUT, the fact that android does have some pretty good emulators, afba (android final burn alpha), mame4droid reloaded, being two of the best, shows what can be achieved,
but its a crying shame that running some classic old school shooters in these emulators is such an awkward and uncomfortable experience due to stabbing away on the cheap and nasty controls of modern tablets and phones, and not to mention the damage visited upon on said controls after a lengthy session of frantic button mashing, thousands of presses on a single button just to maintain a steady rate of ingame weapons fire or whatever.
im not asking for the moon on a stick, just simple autofire options, and those that dont need such a thing can easily choose not to use the autofire option if they choose not to, although why anyone would rather bang away on their expensive phone/tablet buttons thousands of times in a session of flying shark on mame, or whatever, rather than simply toggle autofire on, is beyond my comprehension, yes, the original arcade game did not have autofire (some purists say), but the original arcade game had a fantastic quality joystick and big red buttons !, perfect for mashing away on.
todays phones/tablets have nothing like the dream controls of the original arcade machines, and even if they did, im sure if you were to hold an arcade cabinet in the palm of your hands you would not wish to be stabbing away on the fire button due to shaking the damn thing whilst you did so !
Developers have lives and bills to pay. Honestly alot of the emulators are made as a hobby because there isnt any real money for the amount of work that goes into an emulator. Making an emulator is one of the most difficult things to program on earth , seriously. If there was more incentive we would get better emulators. Also remember the device that the developer is using the emulator might run better than on your device.
hmmmmm
mattemat said:
you make some valid points, and i understand android is not the ideal platform for emulation, BUT, the fact that android does have some pretty good emulators, afba (android final burn alpha), mame4droid reloaded, being two of the best, shows what can be achieved,
but its a crying shame that running some classic old school shooters in these emulators is such an awkward and uncomfortable experience due to stabbing away on the cheap and nasty controls of modern tablets and phones, and not to mention the damage visited upon on said controls after a lengthy session of frantic button mashing, thousands of presses on a single button just to maintain a steady rate of ingame weapons fire or whatever.
im not asking for the moon on a stick, just simple autofire options, and those that dont need such a thing can easily choose not to use the autofire option if they choose not to, although why anyone would rather bang away on their expensive phone/tablet buttons thousands of times in a session of flying shark on mame, or whatever, rather than simply toggle autofire on, is beyond my comprehension, yes, the original arcade game did not have autofire (some purists say), but the original arcade game had a fantastic quality joystick and big red buttons !, perfect for mashing away on.
todays phones/tablets have nothing like the dream controls of the original arcade machines, and even if they did, im sure if you were to hold an arcade cabinet in the palm of your hands you would not wish to be stabbing away on the fire button due to shaking the damn thing whilst you did so !
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Click to collapse
I may be a little off here so bear with me.
Have you tried using an actual gamepad on the device? i'm sure you have seen gamepads with autofire buttons already on them.
I use Retroarch (in my opinion absolutely fantastic bit of software) and i know that a great many differing types of game pad can be used with it, the dev/s update them all the time. All you need is the app to connect the game pad and you are all good.
Take a look at the thread, i cant be sure but i think someone mentioned autofire in there somewhere:
http://forum.xda-developers.com/showthread.php?t=2116468
It also gives a good guide to what you need to do to connect a gamepad.
Hope this helps,
Creamy
I find GBA.emu, MD.emu, Snes9x Ex+, N64oid/Mupen, nds4droid, FPSE and PPSSPP to be quite good actually
Granted I use a Sony Dual Shock 3 to control them
The object of emulation is to replicate the original experience
If the original hardware didn't have autofire why would an emulator have it
That wouldnt be true to the original game/hardware
i dont think connecting a pad of some sort to a 7 inch tablet is feasable ?, does such a thing even exist, and if it did i doubt a physical autofire switch would be on it.
ive never seen a decent clip on pad for 7 inch (or 10 inch tablets), i think one is maybe due on some kickstarter project, but thats pie in the sky right now.
also, could someone help me contact the author of afba (android final burn alpha), ive tried to pm him but my message will not go through.
afba is the best emu ive seen on android so far, but how i would love a simple autofire option in the input menu.
cheers
mattemat said:
i dont think connecting a pad of some sort to a 7 inch tablet is feasable ?, does such a thing even exist, and if it did i doubt a physical autofire switch would be on it.
ive never seen a decent clip on pad for 7 inch (or 10 inch tablets), i think one is maybe due on some kickstarter project, but thats pie in the sky right now.
also, could someone help me contact the author of afba (android final burn alpha), ive tried to pm him but my message will not go through.
afba is the best emu ive seen on android so far, but how i would love a simple autofire option in the input menu.
cheers
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Click to collapse
Of course its feasable, i wouldnt have suggested it otherwise. At least try the suggestion and read the thread..........why so negative?
I run Retroarch (containing most of the popular emu's) on my Samsung galaxy Beam (the one with the 50" Projector onboard) and i use the six axis controller app to connect a ps3 pad to the phone. POW!! instant gaming on a huge screen.
Furthermore, I was in the local Tesco yesterday and saw a ps3 type wireless pad, it has autofire switches all over it and was little more than £15........Bargain.
So i think i have covered all of your needs there, you just have to see if it works for you.
As i mentioned before, you may get a little further if you read the thread i linked.
Best of luck,
Creamy
Yeah, full-featured emulator would be good (like SNES)
creamy said:
Of course its feasable, i wouldnt have suggested it otherwise. At least try the suggestion and read the thread..........why so negative?
I run Retroarch (containing most of the popular emu's) on my Samsung galaxy Beam (the one with the 50" Projector onboard) and i use the six axis controller app to connect a ps3 pad to the phone. POW!! instant gaming on a huge screen.
Furthermore, I was in the local Tesco yesterday and saw a ps3 type wireless pad, it has autofire switches all over it and was little more than £15........Bargain.
So i think i have covered all of your needs there, you just have to see if it works for you.
As i mentioned before, you may get a little further if you read the thread i linked.
Best of luck,
Creamy
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Click to collapse
ive had a look at that thread, but what i would be after is a way to physically attach ps3 pad to the tablet.
ive had a look at the 'gameclip', but it only supports certain phones, and one of the few 7 inch tablets it supports is the nexus 7, but that device is getting slagged off big time in current reviews (hardware problems after a years use)
and anyway, for comfort a tablet needs dpad on left and face buttons on right (like the jxd gamepad), and sticking a ps3 pad under a tablet is not ergonomically comfortable for long periods (the tablet overhangs the pad and its weight is not evenly distributed for comfort in the hands)
anyway, i should not need hotch potch solutions like that, the jxd has decent controls built in, but i can not enjoy them cos every single amiga/arcade/psx/cps/neo geo emu on android insists on making the player furiously stab away like a loon cos of lack of auto/turbo fire options.
I just use my psp 1000 for emulators since I hate playing oldschool games with a touch screen it just takes the fun out of oldschool games but with the psp you have actual buttons which makes it more fun to play Sega Gen games like street fighter or Atari 2600 games but I know some people Actually like touch screen for emulators I was just pointing that out
Sent from my psp 1000 and kindle fire hd
mattemat said:
ive had a look at that thread, but what i would be after is a way to physically attach ps3 pad to the tablet.
ive had a look at the 'gameclip', but it only supports certain phones, and one of the few 7 inch tablets it supports is the nexus 7, but that device is getting slagged off big time in current reviews (hardware problems after a years use)
and anyway, for comfort a tablet needs dpad on left and face buttons on right (like the jxd gamepad), and sticking a ps3 pad under a tablet is not ergonomically comfortable for long periods (the tablet overhangs the pad and its weight is not evenly distributed for comfort in the hands)
anyway, i should not need hotch potch solutions like that, the jxd has decent controls built in, but i can not enjoy them cos every single amiga/arcade/psx/cps/neo geo emu on android insists on making the player furiously stab away like a loon cos of lack of auto/turbo fire options.
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Click to collapse
Looks like you are at the mercy of the developers then pal, i doubt you are the only one who would like this feature so you could just ask the teams that make the Emu's.
I would reitterate however, as previously mentioned.....its is exactly that....a feature, and one that appears to hold low priority (otherwise it would already be there) It is also worth noting that autofire was always considered 'cheating' when these consoles were initially around, so this may be another reason that the feature isnt there.....i do however get your point about the devices getting bashed during emulation.
I also dont understand why you have to physically hold the tab instead of using it as a screen, but hey your preference is your own.
One final tip, your are coming across as frustrated and a touch miffed. I can understand that you are looking for help and that you have posted in a fair few places without response, however if someone who can help reads one of your posts (and it does read as if you consider them incompetent for not including this feature) They may be a little less willing to help you or funish you with the feature you require.
Again Best of Luck,
Creamy
creamy said:
Looks like you are at the mercy of the developers then pal, i doubt you are the only one who would like this feature so you could just ask the teams that make the Emu's.
I would reitterate however, as previously mentioned.....its is exactly that....a feature, and one that appears to hold low priority (otherwise it would already be there) It is also worth noting that autofire was always considered 'cheating' when these consoles were initially around, so this may be another reason that the feature isnt there.....i do however get your point about the devices getting bashed during emulation.
I also dont understand why you have to physically hold the tab instead of using it as a screen, but hey your preference is your own.
One final tip, your are coming across as frustrated and a touch miffed. I can understand that you are looking for help and that you have posted in a fair few places without response, however if someone who can help reads one of your posts (and it does read as if you consider them incompetent for not including this feature) They may be a little less willing to help you or funish you with the feature you require.
Again Best of Luck,
Creamy
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Click to collapse
point taken !
but i really do not like stabbing away on the fire button on handheld devices, its noisy, bad for the hardware, uncomfortable, not ergonomic, and ultimately pointless, and the small screens shake whilst doing so.
Seems that custom ROMs are nonexistent, and things have come to crawl around here. I thought for sure we would have been further along by now. Anyone?
What sort of custom development would you like to see for this device? Anything in particular?
Not sure how it would work out, but I think it would be interesting to see a port of Ubuntu Touch for SHIELD myself.
CM, Miracast games to TV, more hmdi options such as screen off while stream movies without 3rd party apps. I really don't care for PC to shield, a waste of time in my book. Hope Nvidia presses devs to add Shield controls to their games. Need a better option for games+data to SD card. Their apk fix is an [email protected]@ joke.
Ubuntu is a joke theses days, they force feed their eco system. Their vision in mid 2000s was great now just lost. That's what happens when outside sources fund your business. Slackware is what really makes me enjoy Linux. Stays true to its roots despite what others say. Mark my words CM will be lost now that its a business with funding only a matter of time. Thxs
shawnchalfant said:
CM, Miracast games to TV, more hmdi options such as screen off while stream movies without 3rd party apps. I really don't care for PC to shield, a waste of time in my book. Hope Nvidia presses devs to add Shield controls to their games. Need a better option for games+data to SD card. Their apk fix is an [email protected]@ joke.
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Click to collapse
so many problems with this device that affect a lot of the trivial functions for the main reasons i bought it for (GAMING?!?!).
im not trying to come off as a "hater" on these Shield forums here as im actually somewhat of a nvidia fanboy but, ive been wanting this device since before it was even a idea on Nvidias dry erase board. now after owning it since launch i barely use it because of all these issues...
- horrible D-pad (which may never have a fix since its hardware)
- SD card limitations
- 0.5 second audio lag in 100% of emulators i use
- noticeable input lag in 100% of all the games ive played (not streaming)
- sleep/wake performance issues
- stripped screw holes (also a hardware thing).
all in all im just really disappointed and i think its sad that my Xperia play is still my main Android gaming device and my Shield is just collecting dust
really close to listing this thing on eBay and it breaks my heart. :crying: but i just cant see myself using this thing until all the issues are fixed. looks like ill get burned on this Tegra just like i did on the ZuneHD...
I am getting really close to selling mine for the same basic reasons.