Haiku iPad tips with Haiku

Guys I just got my iport installed and finally got the ipad shuffle completed so I can use HAIKU as a replacement for my omnitouch. I noticed that the iPad will go to sleep and then takes some time to reconnect. Anyone have any tips on how they keep their iPad configured for the best performance or iPad as a keypad situation? I am ok with jailbreaking if need be and running a screen saver app. Let me know what you guys are seeing for the best performance.

Thanks!

Neil

The next update to Haiku (should be out any day) has an option to disable screen locking/dimming.

Right I guess that is good so it just stays up and running but is that the best situation for an iPad all the time? I mean I would prefer the screen go black or some screen saver - but ultimately the program is running all the time? Does that make sense?

I'm sure there are jailbreak type solutions that exist. But, we can always add a screensaver type effect too -- what would you prefer it did? Any ideas from our users here?

This a little different and I don't know if it's possible, but I would love to see something like this:

Haiku running on iPad in background and keeping up with stuff
Some other app running in foreground, but if some event happens in Haiku, like a specific zone violated, or any alarm, then Haiku would come to foreground

A usage scenario for this is: IPad in a dock on nightstand in Master Bedroom. Another app, like an alarm clock app is running in foreground overnight. If anything important happens Haiku comes to life automatically and is up to date, instead of having to go Home, reload Haiku and wait for update.

Another similar scenario could be same as above but iPad is acting as a digital photo frame displaying pictures.

I don't know if it's possible to set something like that up but it would truly make the iPad more flexible. Haiku running dedicated as a full time console is certainly nice but in other areas it would be great to use the iPad for other functions yet have Haiku bring itself up and accurate in case of some trigger.

@Steve: unfortunately staying connected in the background isn't allowed by Apple. It would also drastically reduce battery life, likely. However, you can get similar functionality when using HaikuHelper with Haiku, via Push Notifications -- when received (nearly instant), you can tap to quickly switch to Haiku and it will automatically connect to the controller that the event was received for. You also get the notification banner which is less distracting than instantly switching the user to Haiku. Just tapping the banner takes you to Haiku.

The battery life I don't think would be an issue in this scenario because these devices would be connected to power full time. But if Apple doesn't allow it I guess that would be a showstopper. I wanted the running in the background so you don't have to wait for refresh. If say an alarm went off in the middle of the night you would want Haiku up and showing the violated zone instantly. You can't afford to wait 15 seconds for the system to refresh.

The push notification method may be doable but again you have the issue of waiting to refresh. But assuming you do the push notification method, I think only the alert type is feasible. If you do the banner it just flashes for a few seconds and goes away. If you don't catch it right away its gone and hence nothing to press - unless I am missing some config option there. Also as an idea for the push notification, would it be possible to somehow specify a parameter for what screen to go to? For example in an alarm you may want to go to status screen. For motion in a certain room you may want to go to a camera view of that room. In some other scenario you may want to go to the control screen or button screen?

That is a good point, unfortunately Apple doesn't allow it even when the device is charging. It may be doable on a jailbroken device, but that is quite unofficial.

You can select to receive either an alert or a banner for Push Notifications in the iOS device's Settings (Under Notifications and Haiku), it will also play an obnoxious sound if the sound is on. With HaikuHelper you can even send multiple notifications, with more detail, etc. Its not currently possible to set what screen to go to for a push notification, just the correct controller. But that's something we can add.

You could always pull down the notifications screen which will have the notifications and can click it there. Would be good to select which screen to go to for which notification. Also how is audio going with having some sort of metadata showing.

Yeah I think we want omnitouch behavior without the crappy hardware

I guess I don't know if I leave haiku running will I ruin the screen after days of it not changing? Just wondering. Also can haiku helper work with multiple iOS devices in a home?

Lastly I wonder if I run a screensaver is haiku will still be running in the background.

Here was another question that isn't clear to me: there is an option for keypad mode - what is this and how does it make haiku perform differently?

Thanks!

Neil

heffneil said:

I guess I don't know if I leave haiku running will I ruin the screen after days of it not changing? Just wondering.

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I don't think it's possible to burn the screens on iDevices, at least not easily. I often leave same screen on and don't see any issues.

heffneil said:

Also can haiku helper work with multiple iOS devices in a home?

Click to expand...

Yes. I am using it with several devies.

heffneil said:

Lastly I wonder if I run a screensaver is haiku will still be running in the background.

Click to expand...

It is still 'running' but it does not do any I/O, so it will not be tracking changes, etc. This is an Apple limitation - see post #6 above.

heffneil said:

Here was another question that isn't clear to me: there is an option for keypad mode - what is this and how does it make haiku perform differently?

Click to expand...

It will make it behave more like an alarm keypad. For example it will 'beep' for entry/exit delay and say you are armed in away mode when you open an entry/exit zoor the keypad will pop up automatically for you to disarm.

heffneil said:

Yeah I think we want omnitouch behavior without the crappy hardware

I guess I don't know if I leave haiku running will I ruin the screen after days of it not changing? Just wondering. Also can haiku helper work with multiple iOS devices in a home?

Lastly I wonder if I run a screensaver is haiku will still be running in the background.

Click to expand...

Just leaving it running with the screen on may burn in the image, I've personally seen an iPad screen with burn in (not from Haiku, but Safari).

We are working on adding a "screensaver" type feature in Haiku, so that you can just tap the display to return to normal mode and so Haiku can undim the display when events occur. It should be available in the next update.

lupinglade said:

Just leaving it running with the screen on may burn in the image, I've personally seen an iPad screen with burn in (not from Haiku, but Safari). We are working on adding a "screensaver" type feature in Haiku, so that you can just tap the display to return to normal mode and so Haiku can undim the display when events occur. It should be available in the next update.

Click to expand...

If it has a screen saver built in would that mean it is continually update? I dont know and i am sure I am not the first to ask but if you need beta participants let me know

Thanks

Neil

Yes it would continually update when in Keypad Mode and the screensaver goes on.