The MonoBrick Remote is made with MonoBrick and GTK# which means that it runs on Windows, Linux and Mac OS. Besides USB and Bluetooth connection the remote also lets you connect to the brick over a Wi-Fi or internet connection using MonoBrick Tunnel or MonoBrick Tunnel for Android. With MonoBrick Tunnel for Android it is possible to stream video and see what your robot is doing. The remote lets you select between more than 20 different sensors, save sensor values to a file and control motors individually as well as upload and download files, start programs, use the mailbox system and play sound files.
But the coolest part is that the remote let’s you assign keys on the keyboard to read sensor values and control a vehicle that can drive around the house. To control a vehicle simply select the two motors that drives your robot and set the turn ratio to determine how sharp you want your robot to turn.
Running the application
On Windows and Linux the MonoBrick Remote is distributed as a zip file while Mac users have a dedicated DMG installer – use the download link to get the latest version.
- Windows
- Unzip all files from the download to a folder of your choice
- Download and install GTK# for .NET
- Run the exe-file found in the folder where you unzipped the download
- Linux
- Unzip all files from the download to a folder of your choice
- Install Mono Runtime and LibUsb using this this guide
- Use Mono to run the exe-file found in the folder where you unzipped the download
- Mac OS
- Install the Mono Runtime from the Mono website. This guide might be helpfull.
- Install MonoBrick Remote using the Mac OS installer
- Start MonoBrick Remote
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- Mac OS
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- Windows
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- Linux
Very good remote. Very customizable. Sophisticated professional, elegant.
Glad you like it…
I am very interested in this remote but i can not get it to work on my mac powerbook g4 running osx 10.4.11 i have done everything it says on the page. when i try to to run MonoBrickRemote.command it comes up with this /Users/peterphillips/Desktop/MonoBrick/MonoBrickRemote.command; exit
Welcome to Darwin!
Peter-Phillips-Computer:~ peterphillips$ /Users/peterphillips/Desktop/MonoBrick/MonoBrickRemote.command; exit
/Users/peterphillips/Desktop/MonoBrick/MonoBrickRemote.command: line 4: /usr/bin/mono: cannot execute binary file
logout
[Process completed]
It wont run the program please help
thank you
~ Peter Phillips
Hi Peter
Thanks for visiting my website…
You need to update your operating system since Mono does not work with your system. On the Mono website it states that the “This download works on Mac OS X Leopard (10.5), Snow Leopard (10.6), and Lion (10.7)….
Cheers
Anders
thanks for your help!
Windows 7 64 bit computer
Loaded GTK# … in the programs list and appears complete.
Loaded MonoBrick Remote …
Selecting MonoBrickRemote.exe seems to do something … asks for permission to run and sits there with the circle spinning
… then nothing.
I must be missing something in getting the MonoBrickRemote to run.
It looks really good and I would like to use it for a NXT class I have this Saturday.
Any help would be appreciated.
Dennis
Hi Dennis – thanks for visiting my site
From what folder are you executing the program?
Anders
See the post below by David Tsang
Hi, this appears to be a very good program but I cannot get it to run on my macbook pro retina osx 10.7.5. Whenever i attempt to run the chmod it says “cannot execute binary file”. I would really appreciate some help as i am not very familiar with terminal commands. Thank you.
Hi – I am just about to finish creating a dmg installer… I will email you when it is done. How does that sound?
Hi, I have the same problem as Dennis Miller. I am executing the exe from the downloads (no copy). I have downloaded the 2 stable versions of mono but it keeps opening a process called PCremote. Help me!
See the post below by David Tsang
Wow! Thank you sooo much! That would be really great if you could. I am looking forward to it, thank you for the help.
I will let you know when it is done!!
Just uploaded the installer – hope you enjoy!
Hi Anders, I have been looking for such a program for months, and cannot wait to try yours. I also encountered the same problem as described by Dennis and ultimate1112 on one of my computers. The exe was executed but nothing happened. However, the problem is solved when I run the MonoBrickRemote.exe under the bin folder of the GtkSharp. I think there are dlls did not registered properly on some computers.
Anyway, really love your work and passion in NXT and programming!
Cheers,
David
Hi David
Glad that you like my software/website… also nice of you to post a solution to the problems encountered by Dennis and ultimate1112… As I am not able to reproduce the problem it would be nice if you could try to reinstall GTK# and see if that helps…
Again thanks for the nice words…
Anders
Yes, I’ve tried many times of uninstalling and reinstalling. it must be our 64-bit computers.
But are you able to get it working when moving it to the bin folder of the Gtksharp ?
Anyone using wtih the Mono 3 beta?
… on a Mac.
I Am using/developing this on a Mac
Hi, Could you please make it compatible with ios devices or android tablets, please.
Thanks
It is on my todo list… so maybe
Anders, this remote is great. I am running it on a windows 7 64-bit computer and it works fine.
Thanks for the kind works — please subscribe to get any news on software updates
Anders
It did not work for me, I am running windows 7 32 bit, I downloaded Mono with GTK#, I tried it with both stable and beta versions. When I tried to load monobrick remote nothing happened. I moved the monobrickremote.exe file into the bin folder of mono, but it still didn’t work?
This is something that I will look into… but I think that the solutions already posted here is to move it to the bin folder of GTK#
I can’t find the bin folder for GTK# only the mono folder bin, I’m not even sure how to open up the mono application or what it does, all I want is for the monobrickremote to work? You should make a tutorial on how to do this.
Hi Matt
It is hard to make a tutorial on something that I am unable to reproduce. Most of the time the exe file works fine. Therefore I rely on people like you to help me make the program better. So maybe you could try to uninstall mono and GTK#… after a reboot install only GTK# (found on the mono website) then reboot … that is how I test on my windows machine…
Thanks
Anders
Could this possibly work with the Gtk# integration package for Visual Studio?
I am unsure how to install only the gtk#, can it be found under the downloads section? or possibly here http://www.mono-project.com/GtkSharp
You can find it here http://download.xamarin.com/Installer/gtk-sharp-2.12.20.msi… Also I ran the exe file from my desktop
Thanks it finally worked after I put the monobrickremote.exe in the gtk# bin folder!
Hi
I have downloaded the program and it´s running with the USB but every time i try to connect with bluetooth the program freeze
What system are you on? If you are on windows are you using the correct comport?
it was the wrong comport… so now it´s working fine …
thanks
Great – glad I could help…
One thing I need to mention, I kept downloading Mono from the download page, and the remote would not work. Then I realized that the GTK# was actually the GTK# for .NET, after downloading this the remote works fine!
Sooooo.. cool!
I used the Library in my NXT-Management-Program “NXT-Dash” on http://www.timo.schwarzer.serv-gis.de (German)
THANKS FOR WORK!!
Thanks a lot – please spread the word – I think there is an error in the link you provided.
Anders
Yes, I mean
http://www.timo.schwarzer.iserv-gis.de
Hello! Anders, I have been running very well but Monobrick Remote does not understand “Read Tacho” then · “Move to” please can you explain what to do with this function. Thanks a lot. From Dominican Republic
Read tacho will update the tacho field with the position from the motor. When you press move to you have to enter the position that you want the motor to move to. Hope this helps
Anders
Is there a remote for windows 8?
Have you tried to download and run the remote on windows 8?
I have Windows 8, and it works great!
Thanks for the update…
How do you get the GPS and Text to Speech features to work with the MonoBrick Remote software? For the life of me I can’t figure it out.
Hi Frank
Thanks for visiting my site. At the moment the GPS and text to speech is not supported by the MonoBrick Tunnel for Android… but it will be added in the near future.
Anders
Thank you for updating the website and programs I think that the new features are very great, but were can I find the Windows Mobile app?
Hi
Glad you like the website – do you mean the Bluetooth remote for windows CE?
Yes, the Bluetooth remote for Windows CE, it was a .cab file.
I have chosen to remove the Windows CE remote since I thought that no one was using any more…but I might have to reconsider. Do you want me to send it by mail?
help i installed mono framework but dont know how to install remote on mac osx
Download the installer and copy/move the MonoBrick Remote to the applications folder. Then go to the applications folder from finder and locate the MonoBrick Remote. Then run the application by right clicking and selecting open. That is it…
Anders
Mono Brick Remote is just what I was looking for ! Thank you.
Can you email me the source code as I would like to make some modifications. Thanks in advance.
Glad you like the remote. What modifications do you need – maybe it should be added…