Minimal UI For Embedded Systems, Mobile computing and Kiosks
Last updated at 2:02 am UTC on 11 March 2008
Mentor
Tansel Ersavas (Google: tanselersavas) Blue Plane Pty Ltd
Project Outline
This project is about creating a minimal UI in Squeak suitable for embedded systems, kiosks, mobile phone platforms such as "Android" and internet devices such as Nokia N810 and Chumby.
Technical Details
During a project we discovered that many complex looking UI functions can be developed using a minimal set of tools and some simple code using Squeak. This UI only requires basic Squeak graphics and text support and doesn't use MVC or Morphic. A lot of code can be harvested from an existing system Blue Plane put into public domain about a year ago (Can be downloaded from http://www.squeakonline.com/downloads/cedemo.zip). This code needs to be refined and used as the basis of the minimal UI. Furthermore the system lends itself to code generation. The best way to create such interfaces is through intreactive creation of such UIs and in the tradition of WindowsMaker the projet includes a UI construction kit to be developed.
Benefits to the Student
The student will learn how to develop basic UI functions through a minimal interaction with the underling system and a UI generator.
Benefits to the Community
This system will enable Squeak to work with ease in systems that require small memory footprint, limited amount of memory and small screen size. Considering there is a flood of such systems into the market now with mobile computing becoming popular and open platforms becoming available such as Google's Android,and Nokia N810. Another group of devices such as the "Chumby" are also among the candidates that will benefit from such a system. Embedded systems is another area and newcoming minimal VMS such as Spoon would also be good candidates for having a basic UI that is simple enough to run with minimal code but sophisticated enough to create complex looking UI.
