[mythtv-users] USB keyboard control of digital cable box

[Andrew Jamieson]

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Khanh Tran" <khanh at slc.edu>
To: "Discussion about mythtv" <mythtv-users at mythtv.org>
Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 12:29 PM
Subject: [mythtv-users] USB keyboard control of digital cable box


I've got a Scientific Atlanta 4200 digital cable box.  It's got a USB
port on the back and interestingly enough, I can plug any USB keyboard
into it and change channels by entering the numbers.  Is there any way
to make MythTV or Linux output the keyboard commands to control the
cable box?  I've heard of serial port control of satellite receivers, so
it's not too far off I suppose...

Thanks!


-Khanh Tran
khanh at khanh.net



Not easily.  USB is a master / slave system (actually Host / Device is the
official nomenclature) - a keyboard is a Device and a PC is a Host, as would
be your cable box.  Communication is not possible Host <-> Host or Device
<-> Device.  To do what you ask you would need some way to control an
(external) USB device from the mythTV box that then presented itself as a
USB keyboard to your cable box.  This is perfectly achievable with a custom
micro-controller design (say RS232 serial -> micro-controller / USB -> cable
box) but can't be done without such custom hardware.  I know of no
commercial products that do this.


Andrew Jamieson