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

[wbradley at bham.rr.com]

Cool!  I tried this with my SA 3250 box and it worked.  This would be a great solution if we could get a script to control this over a USB data link cable.  I have struggled with lirc with a homebrew transmitter and an IR Blaster for months now.  If I am not mistaken, linux supports USB data transfer cables. The question is does it setup as a network device or character device?  If it is character device, shouldn't you be able to modify the serial control script to send the proper commands to the cable box?

bill bradley

----- Original Message -----
From: Khanh Tran <khanh at slc.edu>
Date: Monday, March 22, 2004 6:30 am
Subject: RE: [mythtv-users] USB keyboard control of digital cable box

> Great!  So, then someone must have at least ATTEMPTED writing 
> somethingclose to what I'm looking for, no?
> 
> 
> -Khanh Tran
> khanh at khanh.net
> 
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Ben Scott [benscott at cableone.net] 
> Sent: Monday, March 22, 2004 12:26 AM
> To: Discussion about mythtv
> Subject: Re: [mythtv-users] USB keyboard control of digital cable box
> 
> There is a thing generally called a USB link cable, I think they even
> sell them at places like Best Buy and Comp USA.  Here's a link I found
> on Google for one:
> http://www.usbgear.com/item_102.html
> 
> So it's basically a host on both ends, and a funky little box in the
> middle pretends to be a device for both hosts
> 
> As for getting that to work on linux and then using it to send 
> keyboardcommands, well...
> 
> Ben Scott
> 
> Andrew Jamieson wrote:
> 
> >----- 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
> >
> >_______________________________________________
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> >mythtv-users at mythtv.org
> >http://mythtv.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/mythtv-users
> >
> >  
> >
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> 
> 
> 
> 
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