I feel I’m a little over due on an update with where MerQury’s development is. So here is the whole bag of beans.
Qloud becomes MerQury
I posted several months ago about an application idea called ‘Qloud.’ That project has offically been renamed MerQury. It turns out Qloud is already a product.
Development thus far:
Today MerQury is in alpha testing at Shakespeare Theatre Comapany in Washington, DC (I happen to be an engineer there). The application is being used to “sync” two macs running Qlab together over a network connection. It still works like I described in my December 13th post.
I also have a native iPhone remote working. Its still very basic. Here’s the sneak peak video I released to youtube. It’s going to get quite complex.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F89-njYzVVs
A lot of work has been going into debugging code and refineing the UI. Here is a an image of the latest build.
Logo / Icon
I have to give a big shout out to Tom Hayward for creating the MerQury logo. If you need graphics work…he’s your guy.
ToDo Before Release:
There are still several bugs to chase down before I can release to the public.
I would also like to implement MIDI and OSC support for the beta release. Its getting close, a month or two I hope.
Features to come:
There is a rather long list of functionality I would like to add. Once the basic desktop version is working, my focus will shift heavily to finishing the iPhone / iPod Touch versions…which I imagine will lay the goundwork for a iPad version.
Development continues as fast as possible. 60+ hours a week at work is really slowing me down. Go figure. More to come!
Oh…and thanks for stopping by!
Just a quick update. Coding and testing continues. If you haven’t heard, I have a working prototype of MerQury on the iPhone. No release date set yet….but it’s getting close.
“Messenger of the cue gods.”
MerQury
MerQury is my second application for use with Figure 53’s Qlab 2. MerQury was developed as a simple way to implement a redundant Qlab system over an easy to use network setup.
Admittedly, it’s not the best solution. There is a bit of latency between the pressing of “Go” on one system and the cue going on the second system. MerQury cheats by pushing the load time on the backup computer forward a fraction of a second to compensate until it’s called into show duty.
It is, however, the cheapest, fastest, easiest solution. No matter what hardware configuration you have on either machine, as long as they have the same Qlab 2 file and a network port, you’ll have a parachute.
MerQury is easy to setup. Simply make sure your Macs are on the same network, and MerQury will use Bonjour to automatically find copies of itself running online. After that, a few clicks on each computer and you’re set.
MerQury is currently in the alpha testing phase. The image below is an early build to test the underlying code.
Look mom, I’m ugly!
In the coming weeks, MerQury will be available for beta download and testing.
BUT WAIT!!!
..there’s more. It turns out the networking code will theoretically let many Qlab systems to talk to each other. Hot on the heels of the 1.0 release, I’ll be working to add a multitude of features.
Stay tuned!
QAutoSaver 1.2 Bug Fix Released
Closed Published by jason September 19th, 2009 in General, Software.QAutoSaver has been updated to version 1.2
This is a minor bug fix.
-Fixed an issue where QAS did not save correctly to directories with spaces. Example: “This Folder”
-Fixed an issue with the self updater crashing on install. This should be fixed for future updates beyond 1.2.
Ok…so the name is still a working title. The “secret code name” so far has been QServer but, Qloud is kind of great in its own way.
Server Data View
So what is it? Well…lets start at the beginning.
Originally this application started out as a paperwork solution for Qlab 2. I have had several Qlab projects on the drawing board for sometime. One problem that has persisted is, if I want to run an application for Qlab, like QAutoSaver, it needs to run on the machine hosting Qlab.
Now..if I’m designing a show it would be a major drag to have to open a paperwork app…make a pdf…put it on a disk…then run it to another computer with a printer. Lets face it…machines running Qlab are usually off the grid and locked away in a booth somewhere.
So what if there was a server you could run on the Qlab 2 machine that let the designer have apps and scripts on his laptop that would work as if they were actually on the control computer? “Qloud” aims to add this functionality.
People have been asking for a native iPhone app. Well…again…the missing ‘link’ has been something for the iPhone to talk to. “Qloud” aims to add this functionality as well.
So WTF is with the name “Qloud” then? The name is essentially borrowing from the internet term Cloud. To sum it up.. Wikipedia explains it:
“Cloud computing is a paradigm of computing in which dynamically scalable and often virtualized resources are provided as a service over the Internet. Users need not have knowledge of, expertise in, or control over the technology infrastructure in the “cloud” that supports them.”
So lets say we have (10) machines running Qlab 2, (1) Sound Designer Laptop, (1) Asst. Sound Designer Laptop, and (1) Video Designer laptop all running “Qloud” and a few people with iPhones.
All 10 Qlab 2 machines will be able to send a receive AppleScript Cues to each other. The Workspace data models and scripting features on all 10 machines are available to the laptops and iPhones.
Example: One instance of a new “Qloud” aware version of QAutoSaver could make periodic backups on all machines from the Asst. Sound Designers Laptop.
It’s really all sorts of crazy when you start thinking about all the possibilities.
The “Qloud” server itself will also feature:
-Bonjour (Zero-Config Networking)
- Adjustable Computer Usage and Data Safety Options
- Scripting Hooks for Server features
There is no official release date as I am one guy with a full time job (not coding) and a computer. Progress is moving fast, thanks to Apple and Cocoa. I would like to see this out in the next 6 months tops…but there are several hurdles ahead.
Updates to follow…
PS. For the ultra nerd: Yes…I realize that calling this a Cloud may not be exactly accurate and that it might be closer to Grid Computing. I think this is somewhere in the in between.