Display Wall Cluster Control Software
Description:
The display cluster computers are controlled from a multicast client-server setup. There is a server "DwallRunner" which runs on each display node. There is a client "DwallGui" or "DwallCon" which runs on the control computer. DwallRunner currently supports process control (spawn/kill applications) and receipt of mouse/keyboard input from the control machine. This allows for all basic control of the display nodes including rebooting, using the mouse or keyboard, starting and stopping processes.
Software Overview:
DwallRunner:
DwallRunner is a server which run on each node in the
display cluster. It accepts requests to start or stop applications and will
forward mouse and keyboard input from the client machine. Each request is
multicasted to the group but includes a node selector which can limit which
nodes respond to the request.
DwallGui:
DwallGui is a GUI application for controlling the display
cluster. It has the following components:
 | sending keyboard and mouse input |
| starting and stopping processes |
| rebooting the computers |
| mounting common drives |
| controlling the projectors (i.e. on/off) |
| doing common tasks such as running the image viewer and showing images |
DwallCon:
DwallCon is a console application for controlling the display
cluster. It allows starting and stopping applications.
Using Cluster Control Software:
DwallGui requires a config file such as "config.txt" supplied in the zip file. To specify the config file use "dwallGui -config /path/config.txt". This file specifies many of the common applications names and paths which DwallGui uses. It also specifies the displaywall configuration file such as "screen24.cfg" (which is how it determines the members and positions of the display nodes).
Multicasting must be enabled in the network.
DwallRunner currently expects the display node hostnames to end in a number (i.e. wall-1). This is how it determines its node id.
Compilation notes
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You must have the following SDK's installed to compile
- Microsoft Platform SDK (latest version)
- Microsoft DirectX 7 SDK (or newer)