4 ms·

OpenBoard – An interactive whiteboard for schools and universities

115 points by buovjaga 9y ago

ifoundthetao 9y ago
Anyone used this? I'm looking for a solution at home, but I think I'm looking for something a little more interactive, as in an open source style SmartBoard.
- sirspacey 9y ago
  Check out Mural
- lbotos 9y ago
  If you can live with a very basic solution you could build a Wii Smartboard: http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/ http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/ I did for a few years :) Was great!
  - saganus 9y ago
    A short time later after I found out about Johnny's work I tried to build my own as well and it was great indeed. When doing research on how to build one, I was having issues with the methodology I was using ( a very naive one), so I actually emailed Johnny asking him for pointers and he actually responded! His very short email just said (and I quote): "it's called a planar homography" After digging a lot and tracking some research I found an explanation of the algorithm and things kinds just clicked. It was amazing. So... if someone reads this and is figuring out how to do something similar, search for that :) Edit: I actually found the paper! http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=67258 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=6725... Very interesting read if you want to figure out how to warp coordinates from a camera to the screen
  - timlod 9y ago
    Thanks for sharing, what a fun and clever solution!
- rscho 9y ago
  If you just need basic writing/drawing functionalities, there is xournal on Linux. It is extremely good at what it does. You can overlay images and PDFs too!
- JoeDaDude 9y ago
  Only if money is no object... : https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/23/15680250/google-jamboard-digital-whiteboard-hands-on-video https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/23/15680250/google-jamboard-...
- epse 9y ago
  They use this in my uni, if the Prof feels like it. Seems to work nicely
- neoati 9y ago
  http://crossnote.io/ http://crossnote.io/ should be out next year (it's still in development)
krisives 9y ago
What is the chalkboard software that some mathematics and programming folks use on YouTube or when streaming?
- c3534l 9y ago
  You mean like Khan Academy? MS Paint. Seriously.
  - krisives 9y ago
    Like these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvB-mhkT0w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvB-mhkT0w There are some other ones where the presenter isn't on screen but it's the same software (or looks identical in writing style)
    - tga 9y ago
      It's hardware, not software :-) "The lightboard itself is made up of a heavy duty frame, a 3/8” sheet of low iron glass (commercial name starphire,) and a string of LEDs to wrap the edges of the glass to shoot light inward to make the neon markers pop on camera." https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/lightboard-lessons-behind-the-scenes https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/lightboard-lessons-behind...
      - krisives 9y ago
        Love that he does it in shorts with a formal shirt up top.
- rmbeard 9y ago
  This I think: http://lightboard.info/ http://lightboard.info/
- jjeaff 9y ago
  It's actually not software at all. They use a glass surface between themselves and the camera with lights piped in the edges of the glass. They then use fluerescent markers to get the bright text effect. Mirror the video image (or learn to write backwards) and viola.
eggy 9y ago
I was using a feature in Skype where I could do video and have an interactive sheet open with a choice of red, blue or green ink to see who was drawing at the same time. I think this was 2007. I was overseas and was doing homework with my kids. It's still in Skype, but I believe only the business version or with Office 365. It was free then. I don't see many options now that are free and are interactive.
franga2000 9y ago
Annoyed by Promethean's software, I was about to start working on something like this. Not because their software is completely bad, but because an update removed something that many professors relied on and there's nothing even a school full of programmers and computer scientists can do about it. I don't understand how workflow-critical software like that isn't open-source (not even saying free software, just accessible source code). I will be taking a close look at this and possibly throwing some dev time your way if I think I can get our school to use this.
mkesper 9y ago
Previously I used https://github.com/Sankore/open-Sankore--install- https://github.com/Sankore/open-Sankore--install- (on windows for my employer, successfully), but the project seems to be dead. So I'm glad there is something active.

115 points by buovjaga 9y ago

Anyone used this? I'm looking for a solution at home, but I think I'm looking for something a little more interactive, as in an open source style SmartBoard.

sirspacey 9y ago
Check out Mural
lbotos 9y ago
If you can live with a very basic solution you could build a Wii Smartboard: http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/ http://johnnylee.net/projects/wii/ I did for a few years :) Was great!
- saganus 9y ago
  A short time later after I found out about Johnny's work I tried to build my own as well and it was great indeed. When doing research on how to build one, I was having issues with the methodology I was using ( a very naive one), so I actually emailed Johnny asking him for pointers and he actually responded! His very short email just said (and I quote): "it's called a planar homography" After digging a lot and tracking some research I found an explanation of the algorithm and things kinds just clicked. It was amazing. So... if someone reads this and is figuring out how to do something similar, search for that :) Edit: I actually found the paper! http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=67258 http://research.microsoft.com/apps/pubs/default.aspx?id=6725... Very interesting read if you want to figure out how to warp coordinates from a camera to the screen
- timlod 9y ago
  Thanks for sharing, what a fun and clever solution!
rscho 9y ago
If you just need basic writing/drawing functionalities, there is xournal on Linux. It is extremely good at what it does. You can overlay images and PDFs too!
JoeDaDude 9y ago
Only if money is no object... : https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/23/15680250/google-jamboard-digital-whiteboard-hands-on-video https://www.theverge.com/2017/5/23/15680250/google-jamboard-...
epse 9y ago
They use this in my uni, if the Prof feels like it. Seems to work nicely
neoati 9y ago
http://crossnote.io/ http://crossnote.io/ should be out next year (it's still in development)

krisives 9y ago

What is the chalkboard software that some mathematics and programming folks use on YouTube or when streaming?

c3534l 9y ago
You mean like Khan Academy? MS Paint. Seriously.
- krisives 9y ago
  Like these: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvB-mhkT0w https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dCvB-mhkT0w There are some other ones where the presenter isn't on screen but it's the same software (or looks identical in writing style)
  - tga 9y ago
    It's hardware, not software :-) "The lightboard itself is made up of a heavy duty frame, a 3/8” sheet of low iron glass (commercial name starphire,) and a string of LEDs to wrap the edges of the glass to shoot light inward to make the neon markers pop on camera." https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/lightboard-lessons-behind-the-scenes https://devcentral.f5.com/articles/lightboard-lessons-behind...
    - krisives 9y ago
      Love that he does it in shorts with a formal shirt up top.
rmbeard 9y ago
This I think: http://lightboard.info/ http://lightboard.info/
jjeaff 9y ago
It's actually not software at all. They use a glass surface between themselves and the camera with lights piped in the edges of the glass. They then use fluerescent markers to get the bright text effect. Mirror the video image (or learn to write backwards) and viola.

eggy 9y ago

I was using a feature in Skype where I could do video and have an interactive sheet open with a choice of red, blue or green ink to see who was drawing at the same time. I think this was 2007. I was overseas and was doing homework with my kids. It's still in Skype, but I believe only the business version or with Office 365. It was free then. I don't see many options now that are free and are interactive.

franga2000 9y ago

Annoyed by Promethean's software, I was about to start working on something like this. Not because their software is completely bad, but because an update removed something that many professors relied on and there's nothing even a school full of programmers and computer scientists can do about it. I don't understand how workflow-critical software like that isn't open-source (not even saying free software, just accessible source code). I will be taking a close look at this and possibly throwing some dev time your way if I think I can get our school to use this.

mkesper 9y ago

Previously I used https://github.com/Sankore/open-Sankore--install- https://github.com/Sankore/open-Sankore--install- (on windows for my employer, successfully), but the project seems to be dead. So I'm glad there is something active.