COMS Console (aka. The QuackBox)

This repository hosts the software for the COMS Console, a Raspberry Pi-based project with a unique, duck-inspired design owned by the Computing Organization for Multicultural Students.

Features

• Window management of game launcher
  • Automatic fullscreen and focus capture
  • Manages game and launcher screen real estate
• Displays a library of all custom-made games
  • Retrieves and manages all games from a game library directory (varies by OS)
  • Supports multiple game-making platforms (and in the process of adding more!)
    • Pygame
    • Godot
    • Web Games
• Cross platform support
• Automated CD builds for the Raspberry Pi, Mac, Windows, and Debian Linux

Tech Stack

Category	Tool/Language	Icon
Frontend	React
	JavaScript
Backend	Tauri
	Rust
Build Tools	Vite

Installation

Note

It's not necessary to install Homebrew or nvm, but it's highly recommended to install this way if it's your first time using these tools. These package managers will help differentiate dependency versions in between other projects.

macOS

1. Install Homebrew
2. Install Rust

   brew install rustup

3. Install nvm and the latest version of Node.js

   brew install nvm
   nvm install 'lts/*'
   nvm alias default 'lts/*'

4. Run the following commands in the COMS-Console directory:

   source ~/.bashrc

   1. Install Rust and the Tauri CLI

      rustup-init
      cargo install tauri-cli

   2. Fetch all of the cargo dependencies

      cd src-tauri
      cargo fetch

   3. Install all of the package.json dependencies in the COMS-Console directory

      cd ..
      npm install

Windows

1. Install Node.js

2. Install Rustup

3. Install nvm

4. Open a new terminal and run the following commands in the COMS-Console directory:

   1. Install the Tauri CLI

      cargo install tauri-cli

   2. Fetch all of the cargo dependencies

      cd src-tauri
      cargo fetch

   3. Install all of the package.json dependencies in the COMS-Console directory

      cd ..
      npm install

Linux (Debian-based Systems)

1. Update the system package list

   sudo apt update

2. Install the required libraries and tools

   sudo apt install libwebkit2gtk-4.0-dev \ 
   build-essential \
   curl \
   wget \ 
   file \
   libssl-dev \ 
   libgtk-3-dev \ 
   libayatana-appindicator3-dev \
   librsvg2-dev

3. Install Rust

   curl --proto '=https' --tlsv1.2 -sSf https://sh.rustup.rs | sh
   rustup-init

4. Install nvm and the latest version of Node.js

   curl -o- https://raw.githubusercontent.com/nvm-sh/nvm/v0.40.1/install.sh | bash
   source ~/.bashrc
   nvm install 'lts/*'
   nvm alias default 'lts/*'

5. Run the following commands in the COMS-Console directory:

   source ~/.bashrc

   1. Install the Tauri CLI

      cargo install tauri-cli

   2. Fetch all of the cargo dependencies

      cd src-tauri
      cargo fetch

   3. Install all of the package.json dependencies in the COMS-Console directory

      cd ..
      npm install

Game Library Configuration

The Game Library stores all custom games accessible through the COMS Console. Upon running the application for the first time, a games folder will be automatically created in the user data directory.

If you have a zipped collection of games, unpack them into this folder to match the following structure:

coms-console
└── games
    ├── game1
    │   ├── <game source files>
    │   └── game-metadata.json
    ├── game2
    │   ├── <game source files>
    │   └── game-metadata.json
    ├── game3
    │   ├── <game source files>
    │   └── game-metadata.json
    └── game4
        ├── <game source files>
        └── game-metadata.json

Each game should reside in its own folder with the following components:

• <game source files>: All essential files for the game
• game-metadata.json: Metadata file containing information about the game

Default games Folder Locations

The games folder is located within the user’s application data directory, which varies by operating system:

• Linux: $XDG_DATA_HOME/coms-console or $HOME/.local/share/coms-console

• macOS: $HOME/Library/Application Support/coms-console

• Windows: $HOME\AppData\Roaming\coms-console

Note

Make sure to extract the games directly into the games folder to ensure the application can locate and display them properly.

Development & Building

To startup this project's development server run

# In top level of repository
npm run tauri dev

To build this project for your current platform

# In top level of repository
npm run tauri build

Optimizations

• Migrated frontend from Create React App to Vite for improved performance and faster build times
• Cleaned up package.json by removing unnecessary dependencies
• Initialized a Tauri project to replace the previous Python backend, incurring less overhead during IPC and giving more control over window management
• Configured Vite to work seamlessly with Tauri
• Set Tauri to launch in fullscreen mode on startup for a better user experience
• Introduced error handling for file system access that propagates to the front end

Future Project Roadmap

System Runtime

• Simplified Raspberry Pi Deployment: Streamline the deployment process on the Raspberry Pi to make it more user-friendly

• Kiosk Mode: Run with less overhead using a custom kiosk window manager like cage (for pi only)

Backend

• Pause Menu Screen: Implement a general overlay that communicates to the game to pause and give the options to quit out of a game

• Global Controller Key Listening: Listen for certain inputs from the controller globally to manage game runtimes

• Tauri v2 Migration: Transition the backend tauri api from v1 → v2 for easier IPC, further package compartmentalization, and more testing functionality

• Unit Testing: Create unit and integration tests to establish continous integration workflow

Frontend

• TypeScript Migration: Transition the frontend codebase from JavaScript to TypeScript to improve type safety

• Dark Mode: Introduce a dark mode option for user experience and accesibility

• Expanded Controller Support: Increase support for various game controllers to enhance accessibility and user engagement

• QuackBox Design System: Implement a QuackBox-specific design system, to improve user interface and experience

Feedback

If you have any feedback, feature requests, or comments, please reach out to us at [email protected].

License

This software is licensed under the MIT License.