Sconi Center 1.0 is ready for download! It is a special software for the Sconi, an infrared receiver for the USB port. In contrast to IrDA receivers, which are found in many PCs and laptops, the Sconi can receive signals from almost every standard remote control. In conjunction with the Sconi Center it is possible to control the PC or Laptop in a very convenient way, more convenient than I even thought when starting developing the software.
One item on the task list for the development was that the software would make it possible to use the same buttons for different purposes regarding of the currently active program. Another important task was the absence of the requirement that the controlled application had to be in foreground. Both requirements were met, and also a lot more! :-)
Content overview:
This is the main window of Sconi Center:
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Sconi Center user interface
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In the left part there is the tree structure which shows program groups in the first level, the programmed remote control buttons on the second level and finally the assigned actions on the third level. In the right part of the tree structure information is shown, like the IR code or action details.
If a button on the remote control is pressed, the corresponding entry will flash red in the tree and the assigned action is executed. In this case the mouse pointer will move upwards.
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The LCD display informs about additional information. During a button is pressed it shows the infrared code and the repeat rate. A rate of 21, like in the exmaple, means that the code is sent 21 times per second. This is a brilliant value, it allows very smooth control of the mouse pointer. Most remotes have a rate between 10 and 20. Also the bithlength of the IR code is displayed. This information is not really useful for the average user, but heh, it´s such a nice LCD display! :-)
Currently Sconi Centers of 5 different groups of actions:
- 1. Keyboard actions
- 2. Mouse actions
- 3. Application actions
- 4. Sound actions
- 5. System actions
One group is still missing, the TVTool actions. This will be added with an update shortly.
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In the Keyboard sequence field you can enter one or a set of keyboard characters, which are virtually pressed one after another when the corresponding remote button is used. When adding Control, Alt or Shift option a small icon in the tree structure signals this selection. The special key dropdown list contains keys which couldn´t be selected otherwise like home or win key.
The mouse support in Sconi Center had high priority, because with a good mouse simulation one can control the PC very well already without any additional configuration. This is especially true with a remote control offering a high repeat rate.
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As you can see it is possible to configure the mouse speed (in screen pixels), the acceleration, the acceleration delay and the max. speed. Acceleration means that the mouse pointer move intervall will be increased by this value for each movement. The accel. delay is the number of movements done before acceleration kicks in. Max. speed is just the final speed the mouse cursor will move with.
A nice feature is the options 'change click mode' from the drop down list. It makes it possible to save several buttons on the remote control by giving one button a special function. Normally you had to chose a button for left click, right click, dragging, double click etc. When assigning 'change click mode' to one button, you only need a second button to trigger the click. The kind of click mode selected is shown by the on screen display of Sconi Center. By repeatedly pressing this button one can change between these modes:
- Normal mouse mode
- Double click mode
- One right click
- Drag mode
- and back to normal mouse mode
This kind of action makes it possible to start or close any application with a button on the remote control. Just select the program, maybe add a command line and assign it to a button.
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To close the program just add another button and place it directly under the start option. So Sconi Center knows which application has to be closed. if 'Allow multiple instances' option is not checked, the application can be started one time simultaneously only. Otherwise you can start it several times as lons as it´s supported by the program. However, in this case only the latest instance can be closed through Sconi Center. A task for the next update is to make it possible to start/close a program with the same button. (28-08-04 Update: Meanwhile done already in version 1.1.)
Sconi Center supports two soundcards. You can easily change the playback device, increase or decrease master volume or certain mixer lines. The speed the volume is changed with can be adjusted by the speed slider. All action is reported by the on-screen-display of course. Design enthusiast will probably notice that the OSD doesn´t vanish abruptly but fades out smoothly by the way. :-)
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Finally there are the system actions, which offer fundamental functions like turning the PC off. Important commands will ask for a confirmation through the on-screen-display.
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Sound actions
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A very powerful feature of Sconi Center are the program groups. Sets of buttons can be grouped together and can be assigned to a certain program:
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Program group
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In the example above Zoomplayer has been selected for this group. That means that this
group will only be active when Zoomplayer is the active application. This way you can
use the same button on the remote control for completely different tasks regarding of
the foreground application. If 'Put program window into foreground' is checked, Sconi
Center automatically makes this application active as soon as a button is pressed which
belongs to this group. Program specific groups are displayed by this icon in the tree:
. Of course you can assign
a group to all programs to create a set of commands which have global meaning. These global
groups are displayed in the tree by a different icon: 
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This is the right place for a general info: When a button on the remote control is pressed Sconi Center starts searching the tree structure for the infrared code at the top of the tree. If the code is found the search is concluded. Even if the code is used at a different location it will not be executed anymore. So global groups should be placed at the end of the tree always, otherwise codes, which are also used in other program groups won´t be executed anymore at all. As long as groups are not moved by the user Sconi Center respects this automatically.
There was a lot more to say about the program. This will be done in the help file which comes soon. All in all one can say that even in the first version Sconi Center makes it possible to control a PC or Laptop in a extensive and convienent way. The program can be downloaded freely in the download area. So even users without a Sconi can check it out and see if it is something they might need. Ideas for the next versions are welcome!
Have fun with Sconi Center and stay tuned!
JB 2004
4. Important note for TVTool users:
If you run TVTool 9.x together with the Sconi Center, the infrared support of TVTool has to be disabled before! Otherwise the performance of the infrared control will drop significantly. You can disable the support with a special registry key. Please locate this key:
HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\Software\TVTool8\NoSconiPoll
and set this value to 1. After next start of TVTool the LED on the ir control tab must not flash anymore. If it still does you use an older version of TVTool. In this case please upgrade to version 9.6.4.