17 replies to this topic

[Rac19]

I have a mini PC on the mount, connected by USB to the mount, cameras, Focuser etc and controlled by RDP from my iPad. It works well but there are issues associated with the on screen keyboard (OSK).

 

The most obvious problem is that the standard OSK takes up almost half of the screen. The is a new keyboard  in Windows 11 called "tabtip" or "touch keyboard" which has a large and a small keyboard but the small one doesn't have modifier keys such as Control etc. Similarly, app switching, which involves holding down the Alt key and pressing Tab until you get the required App, is impossible to emulate with an OSK. Win-Tab brings up the "App Viewer/Selector" but the Win button is also missing from the small keyboard.

 

All of this may sound trivial, but it adds up to quite a bit of frustration during a session. My solution has been to create the VB App, as per the image below.

 

The CPWI, Sharcap, Notebook, Firecapture and Stellarium buttons start these Apps or switch to them if the are already running. Firecapture and Stellarium have fields for the version number because it is needed for some of the coding associated which these two Apps. The Start button brings up the Start Menu and the Task View button provides a visual way of switching Apps. These are useful to run and switch to multiple instances of Sharpcap.

 

EDIT: Stellarium creates a problem of its own because it hides the Task Bar.

 

The larger version of touch keyboard does't occupy half of the screen when used on the PC itself but does does when using RDP.

 

EDIT: The text box above the Select All, Copy, Save buttons shows the contents of the Clipboard.

 

EDIT: The "GoTo 1" button sends "Ctrl 1" to Stellarium. It is enabled only when Stellarium has been selected.

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Edited by Rac19, 19 May 2025 - 05:43 AM.

[dghent]

Stellarium, obnoxiously in my opinion, runs in full-screen mode by default. It is very much capable of running in a regular windowed mode, you just have to turn the full screen mode off and save that state as the default state to start in.

[Rac19]

Stellarium, obnoxiously in my opinion, runs in full-screen mode by default. It is very much capable of running in a regular windowed mode, you just have to turn the full screen mode off and save that state as the default state to start in.

I will check that out, although I don't need to worry so much anymore.

 

Another weird thing with Stellarium is that when you search through the current processes in VB, it shows up as simply "Stellarium". Having found that Stellarium is running, to activate it you have to use the text "Stellarium 0.22.2", whatever version is appropriate. Most applications use the name of tge exe fike as the process name, throughout.

 

Firecapture unzips into a folder structure that had the version number embedded in it. It's not happy if you change that in any way,

[MJB87]

Moving to an appropriate forum.

[ButterFly]

You can resize the On-Screen-Keyboard (OSK) to your liking, as with any other window from its corners and sides.  The Touch keyboard, which has been around as is since Windows 8, has fewer options, but is still useful when it's useful.

 

Consider making a dark mode version.  A bright white window that you use often is ... bright white.  Other than that, tools to increase your own productivity are indeed great.

 

On the plus side, Windows 11 finally included a desktop switcher that linux has had for decades!  It's very nice to have that.

[ButterFly]

Stellarium, obnoxiously in my opinion, runs in full-screen mode by default. It is very much capable of running in a regular windowed mode, you just have to turn the full screen mode off and save that state as the default state to start in.

The 100k+ fps default refresh rate is also rather obnoxious.  They finally included a way to get that down to a reasonable number through the gui, rather than editing a text file.

[Rac19]

The 100k+ fps default refresh rate is also rather obnoxious.  They finally included a way to get that down to a reasonable number through the gui, rather than editing a text file.

Yep, that is a totally unnecessary CPU hog. What I don't understand is why a slower refresh rate (which is essential really) slows down the slew animation. Stellarium is very good in many ways but it does have some strange quirks.

[Rac19]

You can resize the On-Screen-Keyboard (OSK) to your liking, as with any other window from its corners and sides.  The Touch keyboard, which has been around as is since Windows 8, has fewer options, but is still useful when it's useful.

 

Consider making a dark mode version.  A bright white window that you use often is ... bright white.  Other than that, tools to increase your own productivity are indeed great.

 

On the plus side, Windows 11 finally included a desktop switcher that linux has had for decades!  It's very nice to have that.

Thanks, I will investigate resizing the OSK although resizing windows is one of those things that can be tricky, bordering on impossible, with RDP on a touch screen, Apple Pencil adds a little extra precision but it's not a silver bullet. It's not just the iPad, by the way, I had similar problems with Windows Surface.

 

As say, having developed this tool, having developed this keypad, it does a level of convenience that I find quite satisfying. I am thinking of adding a Stop Slewing (for CPWI)  button and a double click button.

 

The latest Notepad has a tabs feature which I initially disliked but I now find quite useful. I can open Notepa with the relevant config files etc open in different tabs.

 

Anything that makes controlling things from a touch screen during a session is worthwhile.

Edited by Rac19, 19 May 2025 - 03:25 PM.

[ButterFly]

My SPen helps out a whole lot on my tablet.  One used to be able to change the border sizes in Windows (for better grabbing), but they got rid of that feature - just in time for our sausage fingers to be the primary input.  Even when one goes to "size" from the context menu in the top right corner of the window, it starts off as a << move >> in the middle of the window.  Very helpful ... .

[Rac19]

You can resize the On-Screen-Keyboard (OSK) to your liking, as with any other window from its corners and sides.  The Touch keyboard, which has been around as is since Windows 8, has fewer options, but is still useful when it's useful.

 

Consider making a dark mode version.  A bright white window that you use often is ... bright white.  Other than that, tools to increase your own productivity are indeed great.

 

On the plus side, Windows 11 finally included a desktop switcher that linux has had for decades!  It's very nice to have that.

Thanks, it can be reduced to a reasonable size, I'm not sure why I hadn't tried it before. I can only think that I tried at sometime and was unable to do it. One advantage of OSK is that it doesn't require elevated credential as dies the Touch Keyboard.

 

The attached image shows both my keypad and the OSK open. I am going to try using the MiniKeyPad as my main tool as it gives me app switching with a single tap. I have removed Select All, Copy, Paste as they are available with OSK.

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[ButterFly]

You can also hide those nav buttons at the rightmost column, through the "options" button.  I haven't found then helpful ever, though leaving "fade" on can be nice for some.  They just takes up space for me.

 

As a last resort, if you can't grab corners you are trying to resize, the Windows App (formerly known as Remote Desktop App) in Android has an option for your finger to control the mouse cursor, so anywhere you click on screen is a click where the mouse cursor is right now.  Perhaps the iOS version has that too?  That would drive me nuts in everyday use, but it's helpful for things like resizing, when needed.  It should remember the window size the next go around, unless the programmer forces a size at restart.

[Rac19]

You can also hide those nav buttons at the rightmost column, through the "options" button.  I haven't found then helpful ever, though leaving "fade" on can be nice for some.  They just takes up space for me.

 

As a last resort, if you can't grab corners you are trying to resize, the Windows App (formerly known as Remote Desktop App) in Android has an option for your finger to control the mouse cursor, so anywhere you click on screen is a click where the mouse cursor is right now.  Perhaps the iOS version has that too?  That would drive me nuts in everyday use, but it's helpful for things like resizing, when needed.  It should remember the window size the next go around, unless the programmer forces a size at restart.

Hiding the nav buttons is a good idea, I never use them in this context, Anything to minimise screen real estate used by the OSK.

 

Thanks for reminding me about the mouse pointer mode. I the iOS App was updated and also renamed Windows sometime ago. I had been using the pointer mode but I think that maybe it was reset to finger mode during the update. After searching around for somewhere to change it, I finally noticed the two icons at the top left of the Devices page. It's a bit sneaky though, because they only appear if you go back to the Devices page while there is an active connection, something that I do.

 

i agree that the pointer mode is much better than finger mode, I just couldn't figure out how to change it the mode. It even makes double click possible.
 

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Edited by Rac19, 20 May 2025 - 07:30 PM.

[Rac19]

There is always a catch. For some reason, it's either difficult or impossible to move windows around the screen in pointer mode. It is important to be able to move things (MiniKeyPad, OSK etc) around quickly, so I will probably use finger mode most of the time but pointer mode will be very useful for text editing.

[Rac19]

I had my first clear night in weeks so I tried it all out in a real session. I found a really simple solution to the finger mode/mouse mode conundrum. If you connect a mouse to the iPad (which is possible these days) the RDP client (aka "Windows" app) makes the decision for you and the choice, as seen in post #12) is no longer available. The mouse operates completely "normally" in Windows making everything really easy (double click, click drag etc).

 

Touch/Apple Pencil mode still seem to work, which is important when standing outside, next to the 'scope. When sitting indoors, the mouse is best.

 

I think that I am developing a preference for the "Touch KB" over the OSK, just a personal preference. I will continue to use my MiniKeyPad for the convenience of one tap (click) app switching and to get out of trouble quickly when Stellarium hogs the entire screen.

 

It all worked quite well tonight.

[phototech]

I had this issue and solved it by getting an iPad that could take the external keyboard (11” iPad Pro in my case) and got a Logitech case with keyboard. I also got a pencil as my finger often wasn’t small enough

[Rac19]

I had this issue and solved it by getting an iPad that could take the external keyboard (11” iPad Pro in my case) and got a Logitech case with keyboard. I also got a pencil as my finger often wasn’t small enough

The only reason that I don't use an external keyboard with the iPad is that I spend some time standing next to the 'scope, using an on screen keyboard. Another issue can be that, with a Bluetooth keyboard connected to the iPad, the iPad on screen keyboard is inaccessible, but I imaging that this would not affect the Windows on screen key board. I will give it a try.

 

Also, as I said, with a mouse connected to the iPad,  the Windows RDP Client (aka Windows App) seems to pass all mouse actions straight through to the PC, including double click, click drag etc.

 

EDIT: I forgot to say, if the Logitech key case has a touch pad, it may work well too, when connected to a PC via RDP.

 

Also I have confirmed that the Windows on screen keyboards are still available when an external keyboard is connected to the iPad.

 

A strange thing, a hardware keyboard connected to the iPad (Bluetooth) doesn't seem to send spaces to Windows. In fact touching the space bar seems to activate some sort of magnify mode in the RDP window.

 

EDIT: Space bar problem solved. It was an obscure setting in iPad Accessibility settings. The mystery is why it hasn't been a problem until now.

 

EDIT: A mouse mystery solved. The scroll wheel seemed to be reversed. This is because Apple considers to be "natural" scrolling, with your finger on the screen. Turn "natural" scrolling off in Mouse settings and you get "natural" scroll wheel scrolling.

Edited by Rac19, 26 May 2025 - 04:41 AM.

[phototech]

The only reason that I don't use an external keyboard with the iPad is that I spend some time standing next to the 'scope, using an on screen keyboard. Another issue can be that, with a Bluetooth keyboard connected to the iPad, the iPad on screen keyboard is inaccessible, but I imaging that this would not affect the Windows on screen key board. I will give it a try.

 

Also, as I said, with a mouse connected to the iPad,  the Windows RDP Client (aka Windows App) seems to pass all mouse actions straight through to the PC, including double click, click drag etc.

 

EDIT: I forgot to say, if the Logitech key case has a touch pad, it may work well too, when connected to a PC via RDP.

 

Also I have confirmed that the Windows on screen keyboards are still available when an external keyboard is connected to the iPad.

 

A strange thing, a hardware keyboard connected to the iPad (Bluetooth) doesn't seem to send spaces to Windows. In fact touching the space bar seems to activate some sort of magnify mode in the RDP window.

 

EDIT: Space bar problem solved. It was an obscure setting in iPad Accessibility settings. The mystery is why it hasn't been a problem until now.

 

EDIT: A mouse mystery solved. The scroll wheel seemed to be reversed. This is because Apple considers to be "natural" scrolling, with your finger on the screen. Turn "natural" scrolling off in Mouse settings and you get "natural" scroll wheel scrolling.

The Logitech keyboard is magnetically attached so can be easily pulled off for those occasions where you just want to sit the iPad on the ground and say and adjust screws to polar align.

No Bluetooth connection. There are contacts on the side of my iPad that match the keyboard so no fiddling, it just clicks together and pulls apart. The iPad powers the keyboard when connected. The keyboard closes over the screen when not used, magnetically sticking to the iPad screen and protecting the screen.

The pen magnetically attaches to the iPad and charges by induction. The keyboard/cover has a gap for the pen.

Pulling the keyboard off the iPad, the screen keyboard appears and then disappears when reattached. (I think this may be configurable)

[Rac19]

The Logitech keyboard is magnetically attached so can be easily pulled off for those occasions where you just want to sit the iPad on the ground and say and adjust screws to polar align.

No Bluetooth connection. There are contacts on the side of my iPad that match the keyboard so no fiddling, it just clicks together and pulls apart. The iPad powers the keyboard when connected. The keyboard closes over the screen when not used, magnetically sticking to the iPad screen and protecting the screen.

The pen magnetically attaches to the iPad and charges by induction. The keyboard/cover has a gap for the pen.

Pulling the keyboard off the iPad, the screen keyboard appears and then disappears when reattached. (I think this may be configurable)

I had not noticed the three contacts on the "bottom" of my iPad Gen 10. Thanks for pointing this out.