[mythtv-users] Is Nvidia Shield the future for Mythtv Frontend??

David Engel david at istwok.net
Thu Dec 27 03:40:16 UTC 2018


On Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 05:06:53PM -0600, Greg Oliver wrote:
> On Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 4:49 PM David Engel <david at istwok.net> wrote:
> 
> > On Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 04:16:24PM -0600, Greg Oliver wrote:
> > > On Wed, Dec 26, 2018 at 4:02 PM David Engel <david at istwok.net> wrote:
> > > > Note that you only need one keyboard configured per hub.  Just include
> > > > it in any activity that needs it.  For example, on one of my hubs, I
> > > > have a Shield, FireTV Stick 4k and a ChromeBox and have the same
> > > > keyboard device included in each device activity.  The keyboard
> > > > actions always get sent to whatever bluetooth device you are connected
> > > > to.
> > >
> > > I am not sure what you mean here.  How can the single hub talk BT to any
> > > device just by being included in it's activity?  They must be paired
> > > individually.  I currently have my Hub paired with my linux frontend,
> > > Windows10 Surface Book Pro and my Shield.  Of course they all show the
> > > Harmony Keyboard entry, but it is in fact connected to them all
> > separately
> > > and simultaneously.  Care to explain more what you described?
> >
> > You still have to pair the hub with each, "main", device.  For
> > example, my hub is individually paired with my Shield, Stick and
> > ChrhomeBox.  The keyboard does not need to be paired and, in fact,
> > can't be paired with anything.  It just auto-magically works with
> > whatever, paired device is currently connected.  When I press a button
> > bound to a keyboard action while my Shield activity is active, they
> > key gets sent to the shield.  If I switch to the Stick activity, the
> > key gets send to the Stick.  The same goes for the ChromeBox.
> >
> >
> Ahh, I got you - you are referring to an actual keyboard, not the logical
> HarmonyKeyboard the hub emits to the devices.  Re-reading your email
> actually says that!
> 
> I'm a little slow today - too many holiday drinks and my liver is asking
> why it stopped today :)
> 
> So this brings a new question - I never knew you could add a BT keyboard to
> the hub and use it's keypresses with the remote - that is pretty slick - I
> will definitely re-work my hub to do that as soon as I get the original
> circle key figured out later.

No, sorry, you don't have it yet.  I realize the unusual usage can be
difficult to grasp.  Once you do, however, I think it will make
perfect sense.  It does to my engineering mind, anyway.

Please try the following steps with your hub.  Note that this assumes
you have already configured your Shield as an Nvidia Shield/Gaming
Console with it's limited button support.

1. Steps to create the keyboard device.
---------------------------------------

Switch to the Devices tab.

Choose Edit Devices.

Choose + (Add) Device.

Choose Computer.

Choose Windows.

Choose > (Next).

Choose > (Next).

Choose No (Don't create activity)

Choose Edit Devices.

Choose Windows Computer.

Change the name to Windows Keyboard.

Choose X (Done).

2. Steps to add the keyboard device to the activity.
----------------------------------------------------

Switch to the Activities tab.

Choose Edit Activities.

Choose the Shield activity.

Choose Re-Run Activity.

Check the box for Windows Keyboard.

Choose > (Next).

Choose > (Next).

Finish setting up the activity normally.

3. Steps to customize the remote buttons.
-----------------------------------------

Switch to the Activities tab.

Choose Edit Activities.

Choose the Shield activity.

Choose Customize Remote.

Choose a button to customize.

Choose Short Press.

Choose Device.

Here's where the magic finally happens.  You'll have the option of
choosing your Shield device, TV, audio device and maybe others.
You'll also have the option of choosing the new, Windows Keyboard
device.

Choose Windows Keyboard.

Choose Command.

Choose one of the many keyboard commands.  If you had instead chosen
the Shield device above, you would have only had a very limited number
of Shield commands to choose from here.

Choose > (Next).

Choose > (Next).

Finish customizing any other remote buttons.

4. Re-use the Windows Keyboard device with other activities.
------------------------------------------------------------

Repeat steps 2 and 3 with another activity.

What you have effectively done is created an artificial, virtual
device with the full set of keyboard actions that you can add to any
activity.  Whenever you customize a button to send an action from that
device, the hub will actually send it to the bluetooth device already
paired for that activity.

The advantage you gain from doing all of this is that you can still
access any custom actions that your real device might support in
addition to all fo the standard, keyboard actions.  If your real
device doesn't have any custom actions, then you haven't gained
anything.  If it does, however, you would have lost those actions had
you originally configured your hub to treat the device as a just a
plain, old computer.

David
-- 
David Engel
david at istwok.net


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