What's new at Avatron
The App Group Blog
Tech Talk
Our favorite tech gear
-
Air Display on the Third-Generation iPad
If you’re like us, you haven’t slept since March 16 because you’ve been enraptured by your new iPad with its stunning 264-DPI Retina screen. And you may have been wondering when Air Display will support the 2048x1536 resolution.
Performance Tuning
After Apple announced the new iPad on March 9, we worked like mad to add Retina resolution to Air Display. We got done in time, but of course we couldn’t ship the Air Display update until we had tested on a real iPad. Just in case.
It worked like a charm in the iPad simulator. Unfortunately when we got our new iPads and tested performance, we realized that the 4x increase in pixel count was killing our frame rates. So our engineers rushed back to the laboratory to experiment with codec settings, image filters, color spaces, threaded decompression, and god-knows-what-else.
Frame Rates
Finally we’ve got it working with good speed. What’s more, through all of this performance tuning and profiling, we’re delivering dramatically better frame rates on other devices as well. Especially the iPad 2 and iPhone 4S, which have dual-core CPU like the new iPad.
Not only that, but this update will let you take advantage of Retina resolutions on iPhone 4 and 4S as well. And by the way, you can
HiDPI
So you will be able to use your new iPad as a 2048x1536 computer monitor. But that’s not all! On Mac OS X Lion or Mountain Lion, you’ll be able to turn on HiDPI mode. HiDPI is a hidden feature in Mac OS X that renders with double-resolution on a double-density screen.
Here’s what it looks like:
To turn on HiDPI, you just go to the Displays Preferences and select 1024x768 (HiDPI).
HiDPI has been shipping with Mac OS X for some time. But it isn’t enabled in the System Preferences, because until now there hasn’t been a mass-produced computer display with high enough pixel density (DPI) to do it justice. That’s where Air Display and the new iPad come in.
So, stay tuned. We need to wait through another Apple review cycle before this goes live but we think it’s going to be worth the wait.
UPDATE: Air Display 1.6 is live in the app store now. Response has been fantastic. It’s the #25 top-selling app in the iPad App Store today, ahead of Words with Friends and Angry Birds HD.
-
Air Display on Lion with NVIDIA 9400/9600
When the first Lion previews came out, we discovered a bug in the Mac OS X Event Manager. The bug was very specific, affecting only certain Mac models with NVIDIA 9400M video chipsets, only on Lion, and only when a third-party video driver (like Air Display’s) was installed. Apple’s fixed the bug to some degree over the course of a few Lion updates, but it still affects three Mac models.
Here’s the current status: IF you’re running Lion AND if you have an NVIDIA 9400M/9600M chipset AND you have a third-party video driver installed, THEN you will not be able to release the mouse button while drag-dropping something.
This only affects these Mac models:
- MacBookPro5,1 (15-inch, Late 2008)
- MacBookPro5,2 (17-inch, Early or Mid 2009)
- MacBookPro5,3 (15-inch, Mid 2009)
Until Air Display 1.6, we intentionally disabled Air Display on these Macs, so that people would not find that drag-and-drop was broken. Of course we tried to clearly describe the hardware requirements in our app description and web site.
Well, it turns out that the drag-drop bug only manifests itself if you haven’t done a Wake From Sleep since your last Log In or Restart. So there’s a workaround: After each Log In or Restart, close your MacBook Pro, wait for it to sleep, and then open it again to wake it. It’s a little bit of a pain, but it’s there as a workaround if you want to use Air Display on one of these Macs.
Given that workaround, we have now enabled Air Display on all Macs on Lion. If you have one of those three MacBook Pro models, you might want to decide whether the sleep/wake workaround is worth the hassle for you before purchasing Air Display. But at least now it’s your choice, and if you already own Air Display, you can continue to use it on Lion.
-
Kernel Panics, Mountain Lion, and Bluetooth
UPDATE: We isolated the bug and implemented a workaround in Air Display Connect version 1.6.5. If you’re running Air Display on Mountain Lion, please Check For Updates. All will be well.We discovered a fascinating obscure bug in Mountain Lion. Fortunately there’s an easy workaround. Here’s the bug:- Sleep your Mac (either explicitly or by closing a laptop).
- Turn off all of your Bluetooth devices.
- Wake your Mac.
- Watch helplessly as your Mac goes into a Kernel Panic.
The workaround:
- Don’t do that. At least not in that order.
If you turn off your Bluetooth devices before sleeping, you’ll be fine. If you don’t turn off the Bluetooth devices at all, you’ll be fine. It’s only if you turn off the devices while the Mac is sleeping that this happens.
Some people have also noticed that they can make the kernel panic go away by uninstalling certain third-party kernel extensions. Among them is Air Display. But don’t remove Air Display! It’s awesome!
We’re expecting that Apple will fix this soon. It’s probably related to the half-finished work on Power Nap, which still (as of right now anyway) isn’t enabled on the Retina MacBook Pro. Since the bug appeared in the Mountain Lion GM, and since Power Nap still isn’t really finished, we’re guessing that the bug is the results of some stressful late-night code thrashing in Cupertino, and that Mac OS X 10.8.1 will address this.
UPDATE
We have more information. The above description is accurate if you have this option enabled on your Mac: Allow Bluetooth Devices To Wake Your Computer. It’s on by default. If you turn that option off (in System Preferences > Bluetooth > Advanced), the system will kernel panic even if you don’t turn off the Bluetooth devices.
So if the above workaround isn’t effective for you, make sure this option is turned on.
RADAR
If you’re at Apple, you can see more details at rdar://11977211.
-
Accelerated Windows Driver
NOTE: THIS POST IS OUTDATED. OUR ACCELERATED DRIVER IS NO LONGER IN BETA. See this more recent post for details.
Air Display is now compatible with Aero and Direct X, and is GPU-accelerated by screaming performance and hardware-quality visual effects.
Version 1.6.4 of the Air Display Connect software for Windows includes an optional beta installer for the new patent-pending accelerated video driver.
OBTUSE TECHNICAL DETAILS
Let’s introduce some concepts here:
XPDM Mirror Drivers: This is the Windows XP Driver Model. The regular install of Air Display Connect for Windows implements a mirror driver. This is how most virtual-display products extend your desktop. One advantage of these is that they work on Windows XP, which still sports a large installed base in the Windows world.
WDDM Drivers: Modern Windows video drivers use the Windows Display Driver Model, which was introduced in Windows Vista. These drivers talk directly with the video hardware to use the GPU for special effects.
WDDM Filter Drivers: Some other products implement “WDDM filter drivers.” Filter drivers fools a real WDDM driver into thinking that a hardware video display is connected to a video card’s secondary video output, and then redirect the pixels to the virtual frame buffer. These drivers offer some of the benefits of real WDDM drivers—they do support Aero and Direct X—but they come with some serious limitations, which is why we didn’t go this route. For example:
- WDDM filter drivers are deprecated by Microsoft as unsafe
- They aren’t reliable on cards with only one output
- They can’t be used as a third or fourth display
- They don’t work on SLI configurations (multiple video cards on one machine)
- They don’t work in virtual environments like VMWare and Parallels
- They are not very resilient to changes in the physical video drivers, and often require emergency updates when those drivers are updated.
Virtual WDDM Drivers: The new beta Air Display Connect implements real WDDM Drivers, using patent-pending virtualization methods. None of those limitations of WDDM filter drivers apply to the Air Display Connect accelerated drivers. Since this is still in beta, it is an optional install. But so far feedback for the new drivers has been great!
HOW TO PARTICIPATE IN THE BETA
Everybody on Windows 7 or later can try the new accelerated video drivers in Air Display Connect. But please understand that this is beta software. As such, you should be sure to exercise caution. Back up before installing the beta. Back up frequently while trying it. And please send lots of feedback (good and bad) to support@avatron.com.
Here’s how to install the beta:
- First, make sure you’ve updated to at least Air Display Connect 1.6.4
- Select Start menu > All Programs > Air Display > Install Accelerated Beta Drivers
- Install and reboot
If you decide you don’t want to use the beta any more, you can select Start menu > All Programs > Air Display > Uninstall Accelerated Beta Drivers. If you encounter serious issues, reboot in safe mode and then uninstall.
Enjoy!
-
Bug fix for kernel panic on Mountain Lion
We’ve isolated a bug in Mountain Lion’s power manager that can kernel panic on wake from sleep when a third-party video driver is installed.
We implemented a workaround that makes the crash go away. If you’re on Mountain Lion, please Check For Updates as soon as you can, to update to Air Display Connect 1.6.5.
-
Blatant Piracy in the App Store
NOTE: Apple has already resolved this by removing the offending apps. Thanks Apple!
(Seriously, I reported it over the weekend and got a note Monday morning from our partnership manager explaining that he had escalated the issue to his management. Upon checking the iTunes App Store, I saw that most of the offending apps were already gone.)
(an open letter to Apple Legal)
Dear Apple Legal:
We’ve discovered a number of counterfeit apps in the app store, all of which violate US Copyright law.
The developer is AicooSoft Co.,Ltd (developer ID 557881855).
AicooSoft has six apps in the store. Each of them is a direct, blatant rip-off of another successful app by another developer:
- iFileSharing is a counterfeit of Air Sharing
- FastSSH is a counterfeit of iSSH
- WEB2PDF Universal is a counterfeit of WEB²PDF
- VNC Remote Desktop is a counterfeit of Mocha VNC
- iDocs+ is a counterfeit of ReaddleDocs (documents/attachments viewer and file manager)
- iDrawStudio is a counterfeit of ArtStudio
AicooSoft has copied our various app descriptions verbatim, co-opted quotes about our apps from the press, and pasted screen shots of our apps pixel-for-pixel into their own screen shots.
I haven’t downloaded any of AicooSoft’s apps but I wouldn’t be surprised if they either don’t do anything at all or if they’ve just pirated our apps, maybe replaced an image asset or two, and then resigned with their developer ID.
Can you PLEASE remove all of these apps and ban this developer? This is the sort of offense you’re only supposed to find on Android. After all, we jump through a lot of app review hoops in an effort to ensure a quality, safe shopping experience in the App Store.
Thanks,
Dave at Avatron
(Yes, we reported this directly to Apple too. Just thought other developers and users might be interested.)
-
Air Connect: software as a service
I’d like to introduce you to Air Connect. You, Air Connect. Air Connect, you. There, with the pleasantries out of the way, here’s some background on our new service.
AIR CONNECT
Air Connect is the software-as-a-service platform that backs our Air Login app. At the heart of Air Connect is a sophisticated service called Avoxy (from AVatron prOXY), which lets one of your devices find and connect to one of your other devices, even if one or both is behind a firewall or has a dynamic IP address. Avoxy does this by employing technology similar to that used by Skype and other peer-to-peer services. It also implements enterprise-level encryption and is backed by the stability of Amazon’s EC2 (Elastic Compute Cloud).
Besides Avoxy, Air Connect is our first subscription service. It lets you purchase subscription time via either Apple’s In-App Purchase or through a payment service called FastSpring. FastSpring is nice because it is more flexible and lets us give provide free time as an promotion, but on the other hand IAP makes it easy to purchase quickly and painlessly.
LAUNCHING AIR CONNECT
We had a couple of hiccups with our Air Connect launch. Of course we engineered everything for scalability and stability, but like most newly launched Internet services, we ran into snags we didn’t anticipate. First, our ISP limited the number of emails we could send out in a day to 500. We ran into that limit pretty quickly. We got them to bump it up to 10,000 per day but that only bought us a few more hours before the Air Connect validation emails started getting blocked again. So now we’ve moved to SendGrid, which can send millions of emails a day without breaking a sweat.
Then we started noticing that Air Connect would shut down periodically due to the high usage. That one was due to a simple programming error, but it brought Air Connect to its knees several times in the first few days. We’ve fixed it and haven’t had any more problems like that since. But if you were affected by one of those outages, we apologize! Let our support guys know, and they’ll make it up to you.
FUTURE APPS
We generally don’t pre-announce our future apps. So I won’t give hints about exactly what we’re up to. But we’re thrilled about Air Connect because of the powerful remote-access apps that it will enable in the future. More about those later. For now, if you’ve seen the breadth of remote services offered by our older, more established colleagues at LogMeIn and Citrix, you can see that there’s a lot of room for Avatron to spread its wings with Air Connect.
I can say that we plan to release a Windows host for Air Login, and clients for Mac, Windows, and Android. Stay tuned!
-
Air Display Windows Drivers: Windows 8 beta
A lot of people ask us about Windows 8 support in our software. We have a few different Windows 8 efforts going on now:
- The Air Connect app, which is the host software for our new Air Login remote-access app, will support Windows (including Windows 8), but that will come a few months after the Mac version. (If you haven’t heard of Air Login, check out our demo video or see Air Login in the App Store)
- The Air Display for Windows client app runs well on Windows 8 now (although not on the new Windows Surface RT, which has a different hardware architecture and would require a complete rewrite).
- And Air Display Windows Drivers, the host software that runs on your main computer when you connect to an Air Display client app, is the one that is in beta now. Supporting Windows 8’s video driver spec has entailed a major rewrite of our video driver. We even have a patent pending for our hardware-accelerated virtual graphics driver.
We completed a first beta release a few weeks ago. We found and fixed one issue in this beta, but we’re going to have to do another beta to gather more information about another possible issue.
So we’re trying to gather more beta testers for the Windows 8 version of our Air Display Windows Drivers. If you’re interested, just send an email to notify-win8@avatron.com and we’ll send you beta instructions.
Thanks!
-
Air Display for Windows 8
GREAT NEWS: Air Display’s Windows 8 support is no longer in beta.
As of version 1.8.7, the Air Display drivers for Windows includes our patent-pending accelerated video driver. This means Air Display now supports Aero and Direct X, and is GPU-accelerated for screaming performance and high-quality visual effects.
The new driver is active on both Windows 7 and Windows 8.
OBTUSE TECHNICAL DETAILS
Let’s introduce some concepts here:
XPDM Mirror Drivers: This is the Windows XP Driver Model. The regular install of Air Display Connect for Windows implements a mirror driver. This is how most virtual-display products extend your desktop. One advantage of these is that they work on Windows XP, which still sports a large installed base in the Windows world.
WDDM Drivers: Modern Windows video drivers use the Windows Display Driver Model, which was introduced in Windows Vista. These drivers talk directly with the video hardware to use the GPU for special effects.
WDDM Filter Drivers: Some other products implement “WDDM filter drivers.” Filter drivers fools a real WDDM driver into thinking that a hardware video display is connected to a video card’s secondary video output, and then redirect the pixels to the virtual frame buffer. These drivers offer some of the benefits of real WDDM drivers—they do support Aero and Direct X—but they come with some serious limitations, which is why we didn’t go this route. For example:
- WDDM filter drivers are deprecated by Microsoft as unsafe
- They aren’t reliable on cards with only one output
- They can’t be used as a third or fourth display
- They don’t work on SLI configurations (multiple video cards on one machine)
- They don’t work in virtual environments like VMWare and Parallels
- They are not very resilient to changes in the physical video drivers, and often require emergency updates when those drivers are updated.
Virtual WDDM Drivers: The new beta Air Display Connect implements real WDDM Drivers, using patent-pending virtualization methods. None of those limitations of WDDM filter drivers apply to Air Display’s new accelerated drivers.
-
Unveiling our partnership with Citrix Ready Worx Verified
Today at its Citrix Synergy™ conference in Anaheim, California, Citrix launched its new Citrix Ready Worx Verified program. We’re delighted to announce that Avatron has partnered with Citrix to deliver Worx Verified editions of our most popular mobile productivity apps: Air Display®, Air Sharing®, and Air Login®. The apps will be available in Citrix’s new app marketplace, called Citrix Worx App Gallery, along with other Worx-enabled apps.
With the Worx-enabled editions of these three apps, enterprise professionals will be able to use Air Display to turn an iPad into a wireless computer monitor with touchscreen, view documents on the go in Air Sharing, and to use Air Login to connect back to a home or work computer from an iPad or iPhone.
Citrix’s MDX technology centralizes all of the IT configuration and device management, allowing employees to use our apps within a controlled, secure environment. The Worx App SDK magically adds such features as data encryption, password authentication, secure lock and wipe, inter-app policies and micro VPNs to mobile apps.
Citrix’s Worx App SDK made it possible for us to wrap our apps in enterprise-ready goodness, without having to implement our own IT configuration tools. As a Citrix Ready Worx Verified program partner, Air Display, Air Sharing, and Air Login will soon be available to over a quarter million existing Citrix enterprise customers.
To date, Avatron has concentrated primarily on the professional consumer and small-to-medium business markets. Our partnership with Citrix Ready Worx Verified will help us get our foot in the Enterprise door without having to hire our own enterprise sales force or even, frankly, to dress respectably.
