[mythtv-users] low-cost low-grief remote

[Rod Smith]

On Tuesday 27 March 2007 15:17, jedi at mishnet.org wrote:
>
>     The only real "shenanigan" is the relatively crude daemon
> associated with lirc. Everything else is stuff that you really
> can't get away from. You're going to need device drivers, a
> layer to map what's on the remotes and another layer to map to
> what exposed functions in the apps.

This is mostly true, but misleading. MythTV responds to keyboard input with no 
special configuration. Thus, if you're using an IR keyboard (or a remote 
configured to emulate an IR keyboard) and its receiver, MythTV will just 
plain work with no special Linux or MythTV configuration required. That said, 
MythTV does rely on device drivers for the keyboard, but the Linux keyboard 
device drivers are so universal that most people can just plain ignore them. 
The two mapping layers you mention are configured in your distribution's 
setup process and by MythTV defaults (or by your tweaks to them). You 
probably want a keyboard working on your MythTV box, whether or not you use 
an IR keyboard, so so all of this pretty much has to be configured, whether 
or not you use LIRC. In sum, compared to using a keyboard for MythTV control 
(wireless or not), using LIRC adds complexity.

As a practical matter, if you want to use a remote with a wireless keyboard 
configuration, you shift much of the remote setup task from LIRC to your 
remote, which has to be flexible enough to send the same IR codes as your IR 
keyboard. Not all remotes -- even "universal" remotes -- can do this. Thus, 
your overall configuration task might not be any easier if you go this route 
vs. using LIRC; however, it's not a Linux or MythTV configuration task, 
unless you need to change MythTV keybindings to avoid multi-stroke mappings 
(Ctrl+keystroke, etc.). I had to change about three or four for the functions 
I wanted, IIRC.

Of course, if you move into other non-LIRC realms, such as a remote with a 
matching USB receiver that's recognized as a USB HID device, you're likely to 
add complexity. I'm unfamiliar with such devices (I don't even know if any 
exist), so I can't comment on them in any detail.

-- 
Rod Smith
http://www.rodsbooks.com