Fully working FingerWorks software in a virtual machine

[folkie]

Hi,

i found a way to manage my TouchStream with a Win XP VM in VMWare Fusion 4 on my Macbook Pro.
Just follow this KB article:

When you start your VM afterwards your Fingerworks device shows up in the standard USB devices menu. When you connect it, it will be recognized by the MultiTouch Utilities (but you can't use it on your host until you disconnect it again).
The transfer to the device might fail the first time while the driver for the DFU mode is installed. Just reconnect your Fingerworks device and everything works fine.

HTH
Matthias

[ivanw]

Smart move, thanks.

Maybe an alternate solution to the disconnect-reconnect operation, at least under MS-Windows, could be going through:

- Computer ... Manage ... Device Manager ... Action - Scan for hardware changes

- And if this is not enough: Disable-Enable the related USB Entry

...while tweaking your Network adapter TCP params, this can spare you the recommended reboots!
...well, that's if you had a chance to ID you TS ... I could not, it must be one of those "USB Composite Device" that won't let you do this

[TorbenGB]

Hey all,
I'm currently setting up a VirtualBox installation using Windows XP, with the explicit purpose of creating a FingerWorks maintenance image. if you're interested.

Regards,
Torben

[petercooperjr]

It's all Java based under the hood, isn't it? So it should be possible to get working on a Linux VM Image (which would avoid licensing issues) or repackage it for the newest versions of Windows & Mac. I've been meaning to figure it out, but haven't found the time to do so yet.

[TorbenGB]

Yes you're right, it is "just" Java. But the problem is that the FingerWorks software was written to work on a (now) very old Java version, so the software won't run on modern Java's anymore. What's worse, the old (FW-compatible) Java won't run on newer OS versions like WinVista, Win7, and newer Linux kernels (including newer Mac OSX versions). This is why we need to run it on either Windows XP, or on a very old Linux version. There was an old Knoppix distro mentioned earlier (you could search the forum for it) but I haven't been able to find a download of that to install. If you can help with this, it would be great!

[buserror]

PM sent. thanks for that, thats a VM image I shall treasure

[eve]

[TorbenGB]

I'm reminding myself that I wanted to publish something about a WinXP disk image for this purpose. I got some new infrastructure that can help me, so I hope to deliver something soonish!

[Max]

I have a VM set up with Windows XP. How do I get the correct version of Java to get the utilities working?

[dongadoy]

I always install Java that is included with the Touchstream utilities. Maybe it's included in the package on this site:
viewtopic.php?f=23&t=2821

[Max]

Ok, I have a OracleBox VM running with a Windows XP image. I can map my keyboard through to the VM and see it in the Multitouch utilities. But I have multiple issues:

1) The only version of the utilities I can find which includes Java is V1.5.3. This runs and can locate my keyboard, but this runs V1.6 of the firmware.
2) If I try and install V1.6 from the download link on this site it complains that it 'Could not find a Java VM to load'.
3) If I use the utilities to upgrade the firmware it complains that the keyboard is running a more recent version (I stop at this point).
4) Trying to change the layout in feature selector does nothing.
5) Trying to change the layout in the My Gesture Editor using 'Transfer to device' causes issues with USB and the VM when the device resets. The process fails - not sure what to do about this.

So, I am stuck. I want to change the layout of the DVORAK keyboard I purchased back to DVORAK from QWERTY, which it came with. Nothing has worked so far.

How can I get the V1.6 utilities installed? If I can do this, is it likely to fix the issues I am seeing trying to change the layout using V1.5.3 with a keyboard with V1.6 firmware?
If I can't get V1.6 installed, can I use V1.5.3 to change my layout? If so, how do I handle the reboot issue?

One slight concern is that this is the first time I have been able to run the diagnostics on this keyboard and it has a block of permanent high/noisy sensors in the top left quadrant. A bit worrying....

[TorbenGB]

[The00Dustin]

[TorbenGB]

Our download center (download/) has this PDF (download/TouchStreamBooklet.pdf and the four-corner touch is described on pages 16-19: four-corner touch + Shift-V switches to Dvorak, and four-corner + q gives you Qwerty. And yes, do this in Notepad or some other editor so you can see the confirmation message that the keyboard delivers.

There are many, many other choices after the four-corner touch, so be sure to check the manual when you try this out.

[Max]

Thanks for all the help. I have tried the four corner touch and setting the keboard to DVORAK. It claims it has changed the layout, but the keyboard mapping does not change (it remains mapped go QWERTY). Does this work for anyone else?

Also, I am unable to install the V1.6 utilities, even if I have a working version of Java installed (as part of the successful install of the V1.5.3 utilities). The installer quits (so I can't copy across the Java runtime to the V1.6 files). I therefore need to find a standalone version of Java that will satisfy the V1.6 installer. Very annoying.

[Max]

Ah, there is an old Java archive, so perhaps this might work:

http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/ ... 39210.html

[TorbenGB]

[The00Dustin]

[Max]

Progress, but still no good.

I can install V1.6 of the Fingerworks utilities if I download the JRE6 from Oracle. During the install I can select the JRE from the 1.5.3 install. I can then run the utils. However, I still cannot apply changes to the keyboard because of the USB issue when the keyboard is rebooted. So, no go. I think the VM is the issue here. I need to install XP on a real system.

Note, using the four finger gesture allows me to switch to QWERAK. However, selecting DVORAK just gives me QWERTY. Odd.

So, still stuck. My only option is to install XP onto a real hard disk and then repeat.

Thanks once again.

Max

[TorbenGB]

[Max]

The problem is that when the FW software reprograms the device it disappears from the VM (goes into DFU mode). The VM software can see this USB device but it cannot map it to the VM OS, it says it's busy. The FW software on the VM then times out because it never gets to detect the keyboard. I've now given up on the VM route. My other problem is that I'm trying to install XP on a real machine here, but the hardware has moved on and they all blue screen! Beware everyone, that new motherboard or HDD might not work with XP any more.

Totally get the no time thing. I have a 3 month old daughter and I no longer have any ambition for achieving anything once I get home!

[TorbenGB]

[Max]

[TorbenGB]

[Max]

That's a shame.