opinion/poll: keyclone w/ wow-maximizer functionality

[keyclone]

i have been contemplating whether or not to add wow-maximizer functionality to keyclone. it would be fairly simple and would help people layout their screens.

so i am basically looking for feedback.

(going to try the poll for the first time :) )

FYI: the added functionality would enable the user to easily split-screen or quad screen their setup. technically, i could do any layout, any resolutions i want.

[unit187]

if you can do it with easy interface, liek a few mouse clicks to make some layout, that would be cool

[zanthor]

It would certainly need to support multi monitors to be useful for me, but it would certainly be useful.

Profiles would be handy as well...

Launcher:
Profile 1
- 1280x1024 Display 1, KeyMap: new_master.kcl
- 640x512 Display 2, 640 right margin, 512 bottom margin, KeyMap: bazan.kcl
- 640x512 Display 2, 640 right margin, 512 top margin, KeyMap: cazan.kcl

Profile 2
- 1280x1024 Display 1, KeyMap: darke_master.kcl
- 1280x1024 Display 2, KeyMap: gnusmas_slave.kcl

That sorta thing, lets you launch a process, size and margin it, and associate a keymap all at once...

[Fortis]

I think this poll is a bit fruitless. What would be the reason to say "OMFG PLEASE, no maximizer functionality, it would ruin my day!"? The more the better. I use Maximizer at the moment and I am quite happy with it. What kind of annoys me, is that I have to start the client 5 times, so some sort of "start those clients and maximize them" would really be appreciated.
On a sidenote: I still get this bug where some of my toons run of to nowhere when I move the mouse to another display. Please fix this first :-)

[zanthor]

On a sidenote: I still get this bug where some of my toons run of to nowhere when I move the mouse to another display. Please fix this first :-)

Keep in mind that Maximizer is open source, so implementing it would be a matter of throwing a GUI into KeyClone for it.

Tracking down a bug of this nature can take quite some effort, can you duplicate it with 100% accuracy? If not, it's even harder.

[keyclone]

actually, i wouldn't use the source for wow-maximizer, as that would be unethical and/or illegal (depending on the license)... but the technique is trivial (considering everything else keyclone is doing, this would be fairly easy)

[Wilbur]

I think having functions similar to Multibox/Synergy would be far more useful, Mouse control over several computers, etc.

[Blokus]

Yeah. What Wilbur said!

[keyclone]

so... are you guys saying to add a maximizer AND a synergy capability to keyclone??

[Wilbur]

That would be ideal. Expanded capabilities to do everything a Multiboxer needs gets TWO thumbs up from me :-)

[And0]

The maximizer function would rock! I'm setting up two dual-core systems to 5-box with three systems, and any extra screen positioning stuff would be a great help. :D

[The IT Monkey]

I don't know this maximizer from Joe but here is my wish list:

Broadcast Keystrokes to multiple clients on multiple machines and multiple clients on single machines. (It does this beautifully now, thanks)

Broadcast Mouse Clicks and Mouse Movements to those same clients. This feature should have a separate toggle key. (Different then the toggle for keystroke broadcasting.) This would only work for me if it broadcast the mouse movements to the windows and not just the machine. I play with two clients tiled, one corner over the other, in non-maximized windows. If I am broadcasting mouse movements I would like to see TWO cursers on the screen, one on each client, in the same place on each window. Does that make sense? Is that even possible? I don't know, but it is on my wish list.

Auto Connect Feature (A setting that will automatically connect the "slave" keyclones to the "master" keyclone. Should be able to turn this off on and on via a check box.)

Auto Start Keyclone at bootup. (again, should be able to turn this off)

Combine with synergy type functionality. (Don't for get clipboard functionality. I use this a lot when doing multiple macros across machines.)

Set up Game Profiles. WoW Profile (Start Clients on specific machines. Auto enters at least the username for each client. Places those clients where you want them on each of your screens. Should be able to save multiple configurations for different games or same game but different layouts.)

What I am really looking for is a single software solution for multiboxing (whether it be multiple machines or multiple clients on a single machine).

Keyclone is a HUGE part of my setup now... I couldn't do what I am doing without it. But you did ask about improvements... so there is my wish list.

If you could also incorporate some sort of "I WIN" button that would be great ;)

[Garm]

hmmm is my understanding of Maximiser that it doesnt do any good for windows on one monitor? sounds like a cool idea though.

[Lost Ninja]

I don't know this maximizer from Joe but here is my wish list:

...snip...

Add to that an offline macro editor. :D

I'd buy some just for that. :)

[Otlecs]

One of the nice things about KC is that's it's a well focussed tool with a fairly small footprint.

If you decide to extend it, I'd rather see those extensions added in the form of a pluggable architecture so that the core functionality isn't compromised by problems with the enhancements (which I don't necessarily want :) ).

The fact is that WoW Maximiser does a good job for those who want it.

I'm still running a combination of KC, Multibox and Multiplicity to meet my personal broadcasting needs. I see more synergy between those functions than between KC and WoW Maximiser to be honest, although I can see where the idea came from.

[Steph]

A software solution that combines both broadcasting and maximizing would be awesome. Being able to save as much of the 'setup' as possible would be extremely good. Such as clients autoconnecting, windows going to the last used positions. Anything that saves time getting the team running basically.

I am not too sure about synergy-link functions. Considering that keyclone is flexible as far as the number of computers and clients per computer goes, this is likely to create a mess and confuse many people. Ensuring that keyclone and synergy work without conflict should do the trick.

[keyclone]

ok... poll is still open but the weekend is about here.

18 to 4 in favor of adding maximizer-like functionality. unless there is a surge tomorrow, i'll start on it this weekend.

it was pretty funny... after i thought about it... putting an option like 'more is always better' on this site with people that multi-box is pretty much a rhetorical question :)

this week i added multi-language support (in a modular way... 1 DLL per language) and i am waiting on some translations.
first languages in the pipe: russian, danish
if there is anyone that can help add more to the list, please send me a PM

i am looking specifically for: german, spanish, chinese, korean, japanese

not sure how i am going to handle the far east languages, but we'll see how it goes.

[Jezebel]

nice idea.

[Los]

Could hook you up with dutch, if you'd want to have it, but please dont do it! Hate non english software ever since w95 ;) (j/k)

[keyclone]

oh wow.. you brought up an interesting point... what if someone has some language set chosen for their OS but would rather run the app in english mode?? the way its (trying) working now is that the language is automatically selected from system language settings as it runs...

that's an interesting problem...

(and no... its not quite ready yet... being a p.i.t.a)

[keyclone]

keyclone has always been able to link multiple machines together (each with multiple clones). the 'connect' button on keyclone is used to connect to other keyclones via the IP:port

see pictures of the keyclone setup towards the bottom of the setup tuturial:
http://solidice.com/keyclone/tutorial/

the 'WoWMaximizer' feature is basically whether or not i embed the ability to start up the program of your choice (wow), strip off the titlebar/frame, and tile the windows on the screen (giving a very nice split screen or quad screen look)

i have placed the maximizer capability to the to-do list:
http://www.solidice.com/keyclone/dev_notes.html

my current major upgrade/task is multi-language support

[keyclone]

wow-maximizer feature has been added.
also added commands

in order for windows to be maximized, you must start them with keyclone. in order for keyclone to know which apps you are trying to run, i added 'commands'

keyclone/setup/command editor
type in your command string (don't use spaces)
type in the program name or hit the 'program' button and find it

hit apply

keyclone/setup/maximizer
by default, maximizer has 1 region... the full screen.
left click in the center of the region and it'll go to quad screen layout.
right click to remove the grid points.

enable maximizer

hit apply

hit ok

type your command into the connection edit field at the bottom of keyclone
hit enter or click the 'connect' button

keyclone will analyze what you typed... if it can find that string in the command list, it will run the program... otherwise it will connect to other machines as normally.
if you have maximizer enabled, it will look for an open region to place the new app.
if no region is found, you will hear a 'ding' and 'no region available' will appear in keyclone

currently, the maximizer does not support multi-monitors.
keyclone will not change the resolution of your screen

let me know what you guys think.

[keyclone]

wow-maximizer feature has been added.
also added commands

in order for windows to be maximized, you must start them with keyclone. in order for keyclone to know which apps you are trying to run, i added 'commands'

keyclone/setup/command editor
type in your command string (don't use spaces)
type in the program name or hit the 'program' button and find it
hit the '+' to add the command
repeat for as many commands as you'd like

when done, hit apply

keyclone/setup/maximizer
by default, maximizer has 1 region... the full screen.
left click in the center of the region and it'll go to quad screen layout.
right click to remove the grid points.

enable maximizer

hit apply

hit ok

type your command into the connection edit field at the bottom of keyclone
hit enter or click the 'connect' button

keyclone will analyze what you typed... if it can find that string in the command list, it will run the program... otherwise it will connect to other machines as normally.
if you have maximizer enabled, it will look for an open region to place the new app.
if no region is found, you will hear a 'ding' and 'no region available' will appear in keyclone

currently, the maximizer does not support multi-monitors.
keyclone will not change the resolution of your screen

let me know what you guys think.

[zanthor]

Regions are slick - I look forward to you supporting multiple monitors.

Can you add a default keymap with the commands?

[skarlot]

keyclone, I gues you havnt finished this. Run menu item does not work. How I would want it would be, auto connect checkbox checked on clients, never have to type into client connect field, it just connects. Server pc can send commands to clients which would run 1 copy of wow per command or maybe even 2+. Atm having shortcuts to Maximizer is an easier way than to use keyclone, even if it is buggy. But I'm sure you have plans :)

[keyclone]

@zanthor
multi-monitors are on the list... no plans currently, unfortunately (3 weeks out+.. delay due to not having multi-monitors on one machine myself... i could try implementing, but i would need a guinea pig...)
default keymaps would be pretty sweet for commands... i could just add it to the commands panel. look for that

@skarlot
actually.. the run menu works with v1.7f... i just hadn't released it yet (released today)

also in v1.7f ... multi commands separated by semicolons
for instance, lets say you have maximizer checked and want quad screens... run this command on the local or remote keyclone
wow;wow;wow;wow

and all 4 will run, be positioned as per maximizer, and added to keyclone.

also... not sure people noticed... you can rename a program added to keyclone and it's name will be placed in the titlebar of the application (in parenthesis)... AND that name is now sent to remote keyclones. So now, if you run wow and rename that clone to 'MahKilla'... you will see 'MahKilla' on the remote clones instead of the ip and port

[zanthor]

I'm more than willing to be part of a dev cycle for dual monitors.

You can e-mail me any builds you would like to be tested, I am sure you have my gmail.

[Ping]

maybe you could add an "overlay" to the maximizer? would make my life WAY easier

[zanthor]

maybe you could add an "overlay" to the maximizer? would make my life WAY easier

Overlay? I'm not sure I understand what you are asking for... (not that I matter, but Keyclone may not either).

[keyclone]

i'm guessing he would want to 'overlay' a window on top of the others... so you could have 4 behind in a 2x2 and a 5th centered.

that would be possible... but since maximizer is workable now, and multi-language support is not... it would fall behind the multi-language in priority (sorry)

[Sun]

ok im lost.

do I find the wow.exe and put this in the editor...then w0w command?

i did this and get nothing

[Anonymous]

Hi

Just picked up keyclone and have a little issue with the maximizer.

I start my clients with shortcuts such as

c:\windows\system32\cmd.exe /C start /affinity 2 q:\clones\wow2\wow.exe

and that doesn't seem to work with the maximizer.

Any easy solution?

[keyclone]

yes... a much simpler answer...

keyclone/setup/command editor

command: wow
click 'program' button ... find wow.exe within the warcraft folder
click the '+' button to add the command to the list
click ok

keyclone/setup/maximizer
enable maximizer
configure your region settings... by default it will be full screen
if you want 4 running, then just left click in the center and you will end up with 4 regions in a 2x2
click ok

now you can run the command, wow, by just typing it in the combo box at the bottom of the keyclone main screen. (hit enter or 'connect' afterwards of course)

the program, wow, should appear in the first available region (this depends on your region settings)

let us know how that works for you. good luck

[sojolly]

Keyclone;

I went to a class today on IP and incorporating open source software into your project makes your project open source (for most open source licenses). This includes source code.

You may want to look into this.

Sojolly

[keyclone]

you are correct, Fursphere. i didn't have to incorporate any code... the technique is fairly straight forward (for maximizer)

in the near future, i may be adding a synergy-like functionality... but i won't be using any of the synergy code... there is no need. i'm already doing far more with keyclone.

oh... and BTW... you only need to open source software that incorporates open source directly into the binary. so... if i wanted to use some open source toolkit, i would wrap it in a DLL, open source the DLL, and use the DLL as a plug-in to my main application.

you do realize that big corporations love open source, right? it's their way to get work for nothing while keeping competition from forming... thereby maintaining their dominance in the space.

[Anonymous]

yes... a much simpler answer...


Not sure if this was aimed at my question or another but doing this doesn't solve my problem.

It starts the clients alright and put them in regions but then I have to set the processor affinity manually in the task manager, hence the need for the shortcut.

[keyclone]

ahhhhh... so, what you are really asking for is whether or not there is a way to set affinity via the commands... no.

but i'll put that on the list, no problem

check the bottom of the OP on this thread to see up coming development...

http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=883

[Anonymous]

ahhhhh... so, what you are really asking for is whether or not there is a way to set affinity via the commands... no.


Either that yes, or have the maximizer catch daisy chained programs (like the launcher or a shortcut)

I'm not familiar with the Windows API but I presume there's support for setting the affinity so it should hopefully be pretty straight forward =)

Thanks

[kayb]

ahhhhh... so, what you are really asking for is whether or not there is a way to set affinity via the commands... no.

but i'll put that on the list, no problem

check the bottom of the OP on this thread to see up coming development...

http://www.dual-boxing.com/forums2/viewtopic.php?t=883

Holding my breath for this one. Thanks alot!