
Brought to you by
UW CSE and the UW Student Technology Fee.
New Styles of Computing and Collaboration
Two Microsoft Surface computers are available in the Allen Center,
for CSE and UW students to explore alternative models of computing
devices, and to explore and develop new collaboration environments.
The Surface is essentially a "digital coffee table" - an embedded
computer taking the form and function of a familiar "gathering spot",
so that several people can cluster around a familiar object and
interact with the object and with each other in natural ways. The
Surface has a horizontal screen that incorporates a multi-touch
interface to manipulate multi-media content, along with embedded
sensors (five infrared cameras) to interact with people, and embedded
interfaces (Bluetooth, barcode reader) to interact with other devices
such as cameras, phones, laptops and special bar-coded objects.
One Surface is located in the Atrium and is available to all UW
students; a sceond unit is located in the third-floor breakout space
(development login of the third-floor unit is limited to CSE
students). Both are "Developer" models, so you can both use
the Surface, and develop your own applications for this
alternative digital device.
Another type of collaboration device available for use and
experimentation by all UW students is a digital whiteboard.
A SMART
Board—also provided by UW CSE and the UW Tech Fee—is
available for check-out by any UW student, for use in the Allen Center
break-out spaces. Perhaps you can think of some great way to combine
these two devices!
Getting Started with the Surface
The Surface can be used in "presentation" mode simply by tapping on
the screen to activate the touch-sensitive home screen and the
installed apps. Access to the underlying operating system is
available through the XXX button, which allows you to log in with your
UW NetID, using a virtual keyboard or an attached physical keyboard.
We have Version 1.0 of the Surface.
Development
To develop your own applications for the Surface, you will use a
separate machine, and a special Surface SDK which includes a visual
Surface simulator.
- Development Software Tools
You will use a separate computer with a special software kit
installed, which is based on Visual Studio (C#), and includes a
Surface simulator for testing and debugging. Once you have
debugged your application, you will log into the Surface itself
to load and run your application. You can use the development
kit on any operating system, since it is a virtual machine (VM)
that has been pre-configured with all the necessary
packages.
Download the UW Surface VM
Installation
instructions (includes VM player download)
- Test your application on the Surface
To test your application on the Surface, bring a flash drive
containing your application, or store it in a network directory.
You can then use the attached keyboard to log on to the Surface
using your UW NetID (it runs Vista). Mount your network drive if
that is where you stored your application, or plug in your flash
drive to the USB port. You can copy your app
to C:\HomeBrew (create a new folder for yourself
under that directory, but be aware it goes away upon logout!) In
your new folder create an XML file for your application,
using sample.xml as a template. Copy
your XML file to the folder, to replace the file named
"Copy XML file here". Double-click the icon on the
desktop for "Surface input" and then "Surface shell". Your
program should now be on the Surface menu!
- Share your app
If you would like to share your app with others, you can
ask
to have it installed in the Surface image. Include a
description of your app and a network path to it, and we will
evaluate it and consider it for installation in the Surface main
menu.
Alternative Development Scenarios
If the Surface VM is not suitable for your purposes, you can
install and run the development kit directly on your own Windows
machine, or try some experimental environments.
- Natively on your computer
To run the development kit natively on your own laptop or
desktop machine, you will need three things: Microsoft Visual
Studio C# 2008 (XXX Edition or Express Edition), and the
Surface SDK, which requires XNA 2.0. Note that the Surface SDK
is only compatible with Visual Studio 2008. If you have a
newer version of VS, you will want to use the UW Surface VM,
described above.
Visual C# 2008 Express (Select the 2008 Express tab, the Surface SDK is not compatible with newer versions)
XNA Game Studio
Surface SDK
NOTE: Currently, x64 operating systems are not supported with
the Surface SDK. If you have a x64 bit workstation, you can try
one of the experimental methods described directly below, or you
will want to use the UW Surface VM, described above.
- x64 and VS2010
-
While it is not supported (meaning you can't ask anyone for help
about it, Microsoft or CSE), there are some people who have gotten
the Surface Workstation SDK to work with x64 OS and/or Visual Studio
2010. Try these links, or search for more - and USE AT YOUR OWN
RISK:
x64 (grumpydev)
Dev with C# 2010
(alternate)