• Registered: 2010-05-19
  • Posts: 50

Topic: Sideshow/computer updates

I think I've figured out what I've wanted the chumby to be able to do all along. Even though in it's present software configuration it isn't suited for it, the chumby would be perfect for displaying information from other computers. Windows Sideshow was made for this purpose and if we could find some way to get the chumby to work with Sideshow, either over bluetooth or wifi, we could make some awesome stuff happen. Heck, even over usb would be nice. Perhaps, if we can't make sideshow work there is another way to get a similar experience? The chumby could display photos from a neighboring bluetooth laptop or network storage device. It could show the email on said laptop. Battery power of the laptop, current status, etc, etc, etc. So you see where I'm going with all this? I think not only does the chumby need to take our internet information and distribute it into out lives but it should also absorb the information around us and display it as well. Anyway we can make some of this happen? Love the chumby, keep up the awesome work.

  • Registered: 2010-05-19
  • Posts: 50

Re: Sideshow/computer updates

any thoughts???

  • Duane
  • Duane
  • Blue Octy
  • Offline
  • From: San Diego, CA
  • Registered: 2006-08-24
  • Posts: 8,197

Re: Sideshow/computer updates

Wow, does anyone actually use SideShow?  I thought that was long dead.

Duane's Website

  • Registered: 2010-05-19
  • Posts: 50

Re: Sideshow/computer updates

Duane wrote:

Wow, does anyone actually use SideShow?  I thought that was long dead.

Lol, yea, I'm pretty sure it is. Even when I was writing it I was thinking like shouldn't I have been writing this two years ago? lol. I still think that it'd be great for the chumby to know what's going on around it; for it to not only be a device that receives information but also seeks it. It should know things about your local environment and other machines. Idk, pie in the sky maybe but it would be cool. Is there anything that already exists that we could use to pull information about say maybe a laptop and put it into a widget? Perhaps if the laptop was running a server type app made to send the info to the chumby or something. Like cpu speeds and such. Might be a good way to monitor a server even. Idk. What do you think?

5 Reply by joltdude (edited by joltdude 2010-06-11 17:12:26)

  • Registered: 2008-02-21
  • Posts: 526

Re: Sideshow/computer updates

Sideshow development has slowed to a crawl but still is supported in Win 7.. (Looks at the Sideshow display on his Dell XPS420 desktop)

I think something among the lines of being able to use the chumby display as an emulated external LCD similar to LCDSmartie or Pertillian as a mode would have a few  uses then sideshow at this point

  • From: Bethesda, MD USA
  • Registered: 2007-11-15
  • Posts: 124

Re: Sideshow/computer updates

I really like the idea of Sideshow.  But as yet I've not seen anything that truly takes advantage of it.  Or anything that really makes it seem like a compelling enough solution for users to want it. 

That and it's a bit cumbersome to jump directly to a given widget on the Chumby.   So it'd be a bit of hassle trying to jump directly to a Sideshow widget (should one ever exist) and then back to others.  The new BesyBuy Infocast makes it a little easier to jump between Channels, so there's that.