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Controlling An Embedded Device Using Flash

Posted by Hemos on from the control-'em-all dept.

JimCricket writes "Art & Logic has just released a web server toolkit based on the open source GoAhead WebServer. The cool part is that it can communicate with Flash presentations using XML-RPC. The idea is to create GUI's to control embedded devices using Flash in addition to (or instead of) HTML. They've posted a little demo running on Windows, but in the real world the server would run on a low-power device. Seems like a great idea for the embedded world, given that Flash interfaces _can_ be very low-memory (as long as Flash designers stick to the vector-based graphics and ActionScript)."

6 of 174 comments (clear)

  1. If only Macromedia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Interesting

    ...would listen to its customers. We run one of Germany's largest flash-based web sites. We are happy with Flash and what it can do, but we encounter little bugs and annoyances every now and then.

    Macromedia doesn't fix them.

    To make things worse, the German product manager basically tells us "we don't have to fix this. We don't care. Without us, your site wouldn't exist. You better be grateful."

    If only there was an alternative to Flash to escape this.

    (Yadda, yadda, closed source, I know, I know. Trouble is, there is no alternative to Flash at this time.)

    1. Re:If only Macromedia... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 1, Interesting
      MP3 Audio in sync with Java animations?

      Yes.

      Did you compare the file size of an animation created in Java with a similar animation in Flash?

      Java is as small or smaller, depending on which representation you choose.

      Did you compare the speed?

      The speed of what? Java is generally much faster than Flash scripting.

      Did you compare the authoring tools?

      There are many more Java authoring tools than for Flash, and Java supports many more styles of authoring. Of course, if you have already made up your mind that it has to look like Macromedia's applications, there is nothing that can be done.

  2. We are using flash for HTPC's... by Critical_ · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I am a home theater addict and have been very disturbed by the fact that the home theater industry moves just as fast as the computer industry but you can't upgrade your components unless you get something from manufacturers like Krell, Meridian, Theta Digital.

    So... many of us are using what we call Home Theater PC's (HTPC) to play DVD's in Progressive scan mode to feed our DLP projectors, using MP3/Ogg/Wav files for our home audio collections, HDTV decoder cards, etc. The problem is that all this stuff needs to be easily controlled with a remote. Many people have designed interfaces using flash/webserver and they tie it into an IR controll system. Maybe this will make it easier to hide the computer-ness of our HTPC and make them more appliance-like.

    If interested, avsforum.com has some nice forums for discussion in the realm of HTPC's.

  3. Advantages by neksys · · Score: 3, Interesting

    The real advantages here aren't so much in the "hey neat" category, but in the application of this technology. Not all of us are all that efficient at gathering information from text logs or what have you - many of us are more visual. If I could have a small flash application based on this technology that used images or even sounds to say, help me visualize the load on each of my servers from home, great! Instead of browsing through several megs (or gigs) of logs, I just look for the image of the server on fire. It won't eliminate the need for "down and dirty" work, but I can certainly think of many examples of where it could minimize it.

  4. Take a look at XWT by Insig · · Score: 3, Interesting
    XWT

    For a lightweight interface system that talks XML-RPC/SOAP and is easy to port to other platforms.

    It's written in Java, but natively compiles on Linux/Win32. None of the speed problems of Java (thanks to a different design tack with Box rendering).

    Of course, the obvious advantage over Flash is the fact it's open source (GPL).

  5. Re:That word doesn't mean what you think it means by crisco · · Score: 3, Interesting
    Solution 1: Read the press release. Unless Macromedia has gone into the semiconductor business, they are using that vector animation technology you know and love.

    Solution 2: Yeah we know, it says so right there where JimCricket submitted it and Hemos posted it.

    --

    Bleh!