Onyx Boox as monitor

[pochopsp]

Originally Posted by mdp

(And I was wondering "how [to support the camera since I had my six extra arms removed]", until I realized that I am the proud owner of a "Stanley multi angle Vice"(TM)! The remaining problem is (besides getting a focus, which appeared to be difficult when I shoot the photos already): is there a way I missed to upload a video here? I would by common sense produce a .webm (or .mp4, or .mkv), but on this phpBB I only see .avi . If you have hints, let me know. Otherwise, I will see if I can create a youtube account. )

I am creating a machine as a "desktop" basis to mirror on the i86 and shoot the video.
Suggestions for contents are accepted and welcome.

Upload it to YouTube and then post the link here?

[mdp]

Originally Posted by pochopsp

Upload it to YouTube and then post the link here?

Of course, of course. I was checking if there are (more direct) alternatives.
Anyway, I am collecting a little material / ideas for the video; I will probably publish something tomorrow. Again, a wish list is welcome.

[SnowRipple]

Originally Posted by mdp

Of course, of course. I was checking if there are (more direct) alternatives.
Anyway, I am collecting a little material / ideas for the video; I will probably publish something tomorrow. Again, a wish list is welcome.

As a programmer I would like to see how it behaves when writing code,scrolling etc.. and switching between different windows/editors (switching with keystrokes and mouse). Which mode does it use by default: A2 or full 16 grayscale? Can you switch between them so we can see the difference in the refresh rate?

Many Thanks!

[mdp]

Habemus.
Please find a youtube upload of a video just shot, available at:
https://youtu.be/aZCjYU9msuA

Description, synthetic:
Sample of a VNC session from a (slow, Atom) linux/xfce machine on an Onyx Boox i86, Android based, with an 8'' 1600x1200 Electrophoretic display (session run at 800x600 for readability). The server is x11vnc, the client com.iiordanov.freebVNC .
Shows: filesystem, LibreOffice Write, settings, calculator, terminal, LibreOffice Calc, qpdfview, ebook-viewer, SciTE, Geany, mahjongg. Control uses keyboard, mouse (core side) and touchscreen (tablet side).

Please note that I configured x11vnc with an option to run at 20fps only - probably too little and a bad idea for this demo. Also, the "humble" and dated Atom-based netbook used was set to a resolution of 800x600: since I had to keep the i86 far from my eyes because of the recording, it would have been simply difficult to use the mouse. But, if you do not consider the vintage effect of the "big interface controls", the rendering is actually quite good - the re-translation from 800x600 to the final 1600x1200 uses a very good interpolation. Please also note that ghosting is, in practice, hardly a problem (though solutions can be implemented).

You will see at the end of the video that also the touchscreen can be used in this configuration.

The demo is very "rough around the edges": the software was not configured for these special conditions. It gives a preliminary idea though.

[Pajamaman]

Is this using standard VNC or Booxter's DesktopSync application?

It would be helpful if you could show typing on the keyboard at the same time as showing the text appearing on the screen. As the video is, it's hard to judge latency. I have experimented with VNC on Windows and I found the delay to be too much. Hopefully it's less under Linux.

[mdp]

Originally Posted by Pajamaman

Is this using standard VNC or Booxter's DesktopSync application?

It would be helpful if you could show typing on the keyboard at the same time as showing the text appearing on the screen. As the video is, it's hard to judge latency. I have experimented with VNC on Windows and I found the delay to be too much. Hopefully it's less under Linux.

Standard VNC (x11vnc). I am eager to try Booxter's solution, as soon as it comes to Linux (I understand it is still alpha)... To see Booxter's solution in a video demo would be nice...

The only context in which I am bothered is using the mouse. I am trying different configurations, but have not yet removed the annoyance.

Of course, I am bending my practice and expectation on the "tool"... I do not expect immediate response (and I do not regulate my action on the response - I kind of pre-empt the expected result, or "I proceed in knowledge that the result on screen will be the expected"). But really, you can get used to it pretty quickly.

[Pajamaman]

Originally Posted by mdp

But really, you can get used to it pretty quickly.

It depends on how you work. I found it to be too slow. I type fast.

[mdp]

First, the nice (to the interested) surprise.

Please find attached a modification of com.iiordanov.freebVNC customized for the EPD displays:
-- bVNC uses the tigervnc features of a "data compression amount" and of a "image quality amount", defaulting to 6 and 6. This version imposes a compression of 9 and an image quality of 3, equivalent to a JPEG compression of 42/100. This is meant to enhance speed;
-- clicking (tapping) on any corner of the screen does an "EPD full screen refresh".

(Mr. Iordanov, incidentally, is informed of these tests, and it seems he regards them as a cool idea.)

It is tested on an Onyx i86.

EDIT: please remove the '.zip' extension that I added to be able to upload the file, then install the .apk as usual - through the console, or uploading it on the device then starting it, etc.

EDIT (30 Aug 2017): to set the compression to 9 was in, hindsight, a bad idea. In fact, as expressed later in these pages, the effort of the tablet to decompress costs four times the standard Onyx CPU (the i.MX 6SoloLite) capacity... I wanted to place controls in the software for the user to modify these parameters by hand, but cannot find the time. On the other hand, Iordan has also queued implementing these controls himself. I uploaded another file (... _c1q5.apk), which sets the "data compression amount" to 1 and the "image quality amount" to 5. Now, the maximum load on the tablet is 2, which is already better than the other setting.

[mdp]

During my recent tests of using VNC on Onyx devices cable connected to personal computers, I met the obstacle of seeing the connection between the two USB interfaces (rndis0<->usb0) potentially crash frequently.

I managed to stabilize the connection by chocking the network speed, like through:

wondershaper enp0s29f7u5 2400 2400

(the interface may be called usb0, or enp0s29f7u5, etc. depending on your system).

The highest most stable speed I experimented on the i86 is 2048 kilobits per second (2Mb/s); also 2400 is quite stable but I did manage to crash it by playing "frantic" animations etc. - consider that value (or even reasonably higher ones) stable for normal use.

(By the way: again for network stability, Linux users having "Network Manager" on their desktops may want to disable it - unticking "Enable Networking" - if they are setting the network manually: it may attempt to effectively manage your local interface and disconnect it)

This limitation on the speed that the i86 can handle does have an impact on the experience using the VNC remote desktop. The best compromise I found up to now is displaying a 1600x1200 desktop through the modified bVNC client I posted earlier (that uses "compression 9 and quality 3): if the whole screen changes, it is updated in 1.5s. Same configuration but displaying an 800x600 desktop, 0.8s.

I also tried the same set-ups by using a standard high-end device, and that was effectively jaw-dropping (though not EPD). But I recorded peaks of 16Mb/s and an average of 6Mb/s, stress testing through animations such as Forrest and Tilley's work for Grace Jones' cover of 'Love is the Drug' (taken as a parameter for a "messy movie"). That's a few times what the i86 seems to bear. If it could reach those speeds (say, double or four times the current limit), it would probably go from "usable" to "fully suitable for work".

I tried to verify the capability of the interfaces through `adb push`, and got consistent results: loading a 20 MB file in the sdcard revealed a speed around 1.5 Mb/s for the i86 and 5.5 Mb/s for the high-end tablet.

A kind request: would any owner of the Onyx Boox Max be able to post the speeds of its USB interface? As written above, you may test the speed of loading a file on the device, through `adb push` (example below):

adb push some-file-of-yours /sdcard/   # result on the i86 below
1328 KB/s (19172116 bytes in 14.096s)

adb push some-file-of-yours /sdcard/   # result on the high-end tablet below
5773 KB/s (19172116 bytes in 3.242s)

[tracey1]

what about the monitor version of the Onyx ? It's coming in september I heard ? Anybody Any link for that ?

[mdp]

Originally Posted by tracey1

what about the monitor version of the Onyx ? It's coming in september I heard ? Anybody Any link for that ?

I think the big questions there are
-- which technology it uses
-- how fast is the link
or also
-- how well do the current distributed beta software works...

EDIT: unless they built the actual ability to directly and literally use it as a monitor, through an HDMI port, but I am not sure this is going to happen... It would be nice to have further info

[mdp]

VNC is not the only alternative for duplicating a desktop. Apart from RDP (which I am not testing since is not used on my systems), there is actually NX - which is known to do miracles.
So, the promising part: one can download NoMachine for his personal computer and the client, com.nomachine.nxplayer, for Android. Tested first on a high-end tablet, the results are very impressive. Bandwidth wise,
-- a most "frantic" 1920x1200 movie (Matt Forrest and Bruno Tilley, "Grace Jones - Love is the Drug") is transmitted with an average below 2Mbit, and peaks below 3Mbit (corresponding to the i86 capability);
-- a very slow 1920x1200 movie (Nicolas Lelièvre, "Kangding Ray - OR") is transmitted with an average around half a Mbit, and peaks around 1.5Mbit (well within the i86 capability).
Those values are very encouraging.

UNFORTUNATELY,
I tested on an i86 the three client versions I could find - com.nomachine.nxplayer 5.0.63, 4.4.12, 4.2.25 - and they would not work, just crash (just as a note, the latest version with a Could not find class 'android.hardware.input.InputManager', referenced from method org.qtproject.qt5.android.bindings.QtActivity.onCr eate error).

So, maybe better luck with Android 4.4, which should be just around the corner?

EDIT: if somebody could test it with a Max, that would be great...

[desk7]

Anyone tested Onyx alpha desktop mirror solution? Is it usable? I know there isn't mouse pointer, but nothing else.
Thanks

[underscore]

Originally Posted by Booxtor

for those of you, who own a Max or N96, you can try the alpha version of our DesktopSync solution. Installation is a little bit complicated but is possible..
It is possible to extend or mirror your monitor with our devices and use it as second monitor.

Will you digital sign the final version?
I can't do this black magic on my work win7/64 station.

[nahte]

https://github.com/nahtethan/dxg-dis...master/BOOX.md
https://github.com/nahtethan/dxg-dis...er/BOOX-mac.md

Great on win and mac.