Introduction

Offhand is basically a GUI that allows you to control a computer using an On-Screen Menu and a very limited set of commands, such as those provided by a TV remote control. The system is expected to be operated at a distance of several meters from the screen using wireless devices (remote controls, Bluetooth PDAs, cellphones etc.). Although the primary aim is to eventually create a comprehensive Media Center / Digital Entertainment Hub solution, the core framework can also be useful in other scenarios (such as providing accessibility to the disabled).

How it works

A simple configuration file (plain-text, eventually XML) populates a tree hierarchy of menu items associated with actions. These actions can then be executed by browsing and choosing menu items. Actions can range from simple OS commands to complex interactions heavily integrated with the core framework (plug-ins). Some actions can be combined for enhanced functionality (e.g. an ImageViewer can be plugged into a FileChooser to allow the user to browse pictures within a directory tree).

What you need to run it

The project is writen in Java for various reasons (I aim for code reuse in Java-capable control devices such as PDAs and cellphones) so a JVM is definitely needed. Other dependencies include or will include:

• Swing, Eclipse SWT or other GUI toolkit (Swing at present)
• LIRC (via jlirc), a Bluetooth stack, other input libraries as needed
• an XML processor for configuration management (JAXP, XMLBeans, Jelly?)
• an SVG processor (batik)
• various external programs, depending on what you want to do (xawtv, mplayer and xmms at present)

Where to get it

The project is not ready for public distribution at this moment (see the Status Haiku at the top of this page). Please register your interest in the forum.

Planned features

• newbie-friendly documentation covering external software (lirc, xawtv)
• a wealth of plugins including games, weather, movie listings etc.
• ability to run MythTV plug-ins
• full PVR functionality (Java-based scheduling, native recording)
• SVG graphics
• a Swing app for configuring the menu structure

Similar projects

The present open-source projects in the general Media Center / Digital Entertainment Hub arena that I'm aware of (MythTV and freevo, including KnoppMyth) are quite heavyweight and complicated to install and configure. By contrast, this project serves mainly to provide comfortable access to capabilities provided by other programs. It is up to the user to choose which capabilities are actually wanted and to ensure their availability (this will change as more multimedia capabilities are incorporated into the framework itself but strong modularity will remain).

I found a substantially similar Sourceforge project called Java Media Center which is pretty much dead (no updates since March 2003, mail to project lead bounces, CVS snapshot fails to compile). I decided not to apply for a takeover as I don't intend to use any JMC code or design. This project is thus intended to supersede JMC rather than replace or continue it.