P2P Whiteboard Platform

A terminal-based peer-to-peer whiteboard collaboration platform built with OCaml, featuring real-time synchronization.

Overview

This project creates a collaborative whiteboard that allows multiple users to connect over a network and draw together in real-time. The application runs entirely in the terminal using text-based graphics.

Prerequisites

Before running the application, ensure you have the following installed:

• OCaml (version 4.13 or later)
• OPAM (OCaml package manager)
• Dune (build system)

Required OCaml Packages

The following packages are automatically installed when you build the project:

• notty - Terminal graphics library
• nottui - Terminal UI framework
• lwd - Lightweight widgets
• luv - Async I/O library
• yojson - JSON handling
• lwt - Asynchronous programming
• cohttp-lwt-unix - HTTP client/server
• uri - URI handling
• cmdliner - Command-line parsing
• sqlite3 - Database support

Installation & Setup

1. Clone or navigate to the project directory:

   cd /path/to/peerboard

2. Install dependencies:

   opam install --deps-only .
   eval $(opam env)

3. Build the project:

   dune build

Running the Application

Basic Usage

Run the application with default settings:

_build/default/bin/main.exe

This starts the whiteboard with:

• Port: 8080
• Canvas size: 80x30 characters
• Multicast group: 239.0.0.1

Command Line Options

View all available options:

_build/default/bin/main.exe --help

Available Options:

• -p PORT, --port=PORT (default: 8080)
  Network port for P2P communication

• -w WIDTH, --width=WIDTH (default: 80)
  Canvas width in characters

• --height=HEIGHT (default: 30)
  Canvas height in characters

• --bridge-mode
  Enable bridge mode for external communication

• -c FILE, --config=FILE
  Specify a configuration file path

Example Commands:

# Custom port and canvas size
_build/default/bin/main.exe --port 9000 --width 100 --height 40

# Large canvas for detailed drawings
_build/default/bin/main.exe --width 120 --height 50

# Different network port
_build/default/bin/main.exe --port 8081

Usage Instructions

Controls

Once the application is running, you can use these controls:

Navigation:

• Arrow Keys - Move cursor around the canvas
• Tab/Shift+Tab - Switch between panels (Canvas/Chat/Menu)

Drawing:

• Space/Enter - Draw with current tool at cursor position
• 1-5 - Select drawing tools:
  • 1: Pen
  • 2: Line
  • 3: Rectangle
  • 4: Circle
  • 5: Text

Colors:

• F1-F8 - Select colors:
  • F1: Black
  • F2: Red
  • F3: Green
  • F4: Yellow
  • F5: Blue
  • F6: Magenta
  • F7: Cyan
  • F8: White

General:

• h - Toggle help display
• Ctrl+L - Clear canvas
• Ctrl+Q - Quit application

Chat Commands:

• /help - Show help information

Network Features

The application automatically:

• Broadcasts your presence to other peers on the network
• Synchronizes drawing actions in real-time
• Maintains a list of connected peers
• Uses multicast for peer discovery

Troubleshooting

Common Issues:

1. "Nested calls to Lwt_main.run are not allowed"

   • This is a known issue that has been addressed in the latest version
   • The application should still start and function properly

2. Network connectivity issues:

   • Ensure the port (default 8080) is not blocked by firewall
   • Check that multicast is enabled on your network
   • Try using a different port with --port

3. Build errors:

   • Make sure all dependencies are installed: opam install --deps-only .
   • Update your environment: eval $(opam env)
   • Clean and rebuild: dune clean && dune build

4. Terminal display issues:

   • Ensure your terminal supports UTF-8 encoding
   • Use a terminal with good Unicode support for best results

Getting Help:

• Press h in the application to see built-in help
• Use --help flag to see command-line options
• Check the terminal output for status messages

Development

Project Structure:

peerboard/
├── bin/           # Main executable
├── lib/           # Core library modules
├── lib/ui_module/ # User interface components
├── docs/          # Documentation
└── _build/        # Build artifacts (ignored in git)

Building for Development:

# Clean build
dune clean

# Build with verbose output
dune build --verbose

# Build and run tests
dune runtest

Notes

• LLM/Ollama integration has been disabled in this version for simplicity
• Storage features are currently simplified
• The application is designed for terminal use - no graphical interface needed
• Supports multiple simultaneous users on the same network

Version

Current version: 0.1.0

For more information or issues, check the project documentation or source code.