This is why open-source rules. Collaborating with Ian Rickard, Hiroaki has been able to further tweak DarwiinRemote to do a little bit more this time around, and it's interesting to see how far this new Wii-Mac mod project will go.

DarwiinRemote is a Mac application that lets you use the Wiimote on the Mac for specific programs. While the current set of things you can do with it is limited, making it a rather nifty toy or virtual mouse, it does show the potential for further use in everything from games to presentations.

For instance, imagine doing a slideshow on Mac using your Wiimote to direct the flow of your presentation. You can keep your presentation fluid without prompting someone to move to the next segment of your show or having to go back to the mouse every few minutes after stating your point. That's the kind of cool future we can envision from DarwiinRemote. It might not be immediate, but we're sure that Hiroaki, Rickard, and other members of the open source development community will make it happen.

In related news, Hiroaki's thinking of expanding the code for others to use:

I plan to divide Wii Remote Framework from DarwiinRemote.app. By using the framework, you might be able to use Wii Remote in your projects easily. It will include some additional functions such as various analyzing method like gesture recognition.

If PC users want to see a combination of DarwiinRemote and WiinRemote in the future, then this would be the best way to see the project expanding beyond its original scope into becoming something everyone can use for just about anything they feel like doing on their computers. Enjoy the download, and give the two guys some props for what they're doing, alright?

Download: [DarwiinRemote v0.3]
Download: [DarwiinRemote v0.3 (sources)]

If you want to see the changes in v0.3, click on "Full Article".

Let's say that you want to use your Wiimote on your PC, so you can play games on it or what-not. Well you can get the GlovePIE, but that sort of only lets you use the Wiimote's tilt sensing to handle mouse movement. This makes playing FPS games a bit awkward.

Alternatively (although it's Mac only), you can use Hiroaki's DarwiinRemote on your Mac. IR-based mouse movement might be a bit easier for you (if you're the FPS kinda guy), as the DarwiinRemote involves a lot of pointing. And pointing would be a natural motion for all you twitch-action FPS shooting addicts out there. Now if only there were more games of that type on the Mac.

Although there are no reports yet of this being used in a game (unlike the GlovePIE), at the very least this is a good sign. We wonder how soon it will take for people to figure out how to get home computers to sense both tilt and pointing capabilities of the Wiimote?

Anyway, here's what Ian Rickard, the guy who tweaked this app called the DarwiinRemote, had to say:

Still kinda buggy with the setup but once it's working it works good. If you have problems getting mouse mode to work, try turning the IR sensor off and on a few times and make sure you're pointing at a strong enough pair of IR sources AND you're far enough away from them (but not too far - 5 to 10 times the distance between them should work good). I worked a little bit on the random crashes, but couldn't come up with much. At least it shouldn't crash when it quits now.

To get started:
1. turn your Wii on with the Wii Remote (to power up the sensor bar)
2. start DarwiinRemote
3. Open the Wii Remote's battery compartment and hit the sync button, DarwiinRemote should report "Wii Remote Found".
4. Turn on the IR sensor (click the button)
5. Turn on Mouse Mode
6. Point the Wii Remote at the TV, as if your were controlling the pointer on your Wii
7. If the mouse doesn't start moving around, try turning the IR sensor off and back on (click the button twice).

Download [ DarwiinRemote 0.2a ]

Download [ DarwiinRemote 0.2a Source ]

General rule of thumb: if it doesn't work, quit it and re-open it.