[mythtv-users] Programming remote button bindings (WAS: What major features are planned for 0.27?)

[Mark Greenwood]

On Wednesday 28 Nov 2012 09:52:01 Michael T. Dean wrote:
> On 11/28/2012 02:59 AM, Simon Hobson wrote:
> > I wrote:
> >>> Summary:  There's a systemic issue (any key with code > 256 is 
> >>> filtered by X),
> >>
> >> BINGO !
> >> ir-keytable tells me that all the keys I can't get to work have codes 
> >> greater than 0xff.
> >>
> >> So I'm off to make a copy of the rc6_mce keymap and fix some of these.
> >
> > Well I now have Back, Pause, Info, Commercial skip forwards/back, and 
> > Menu working, plus the numeric digits. Along with the keys that 
> > already worked, that covers almost all my usage :)
> >
> >
> > Gary Buhrmaster wrote:
> >
> >> There was some work being discussed (Jarod may have been part of it?) 
> >> to allow
> >> the linux kernel ir codes >255 to be able to be used via X, but it 
> >> was stated
> >> to be major work, and unlikely to be seen any time soon.  You can 
> >> probably find
> >> the list archives regarding this if you search the various X11 lists, 
> >> and maybe
> >> find the status of any work and/or possible schedules for work.
> >
> > To me that seems the logical place to fix the problem - it doesn't 
> > seem to make sense to me capturing IR buttons and then sending 
> > keycodes through into a system that's going to filter most of them !
> > Presumably (other than using LIRC) there's no way for Myth to access 
> > the codes before they get filtered ?
> >
> > In the meantime, I guess the easiest thing to do is find the header 
> > file where all the keycodes are defined, pick a bunch of codes 
> > (probably all those >=128) and modify my IR code table to use those. 
> > Then back to figuring out what is what in the very long list of Myth 
> > keybindings.
> >
> 
> I still don't get why people think doing this (and repeating it with 
> each upgrade--and on each system) is easier than creating (or, likely, 
> downloading) a single LIRC configuration file for the remote 
> (lircd.conf) and a LIRC configuration for MythTV (~/.lircrc) and any 
> other application you want to use with the remote, which can then be 
> backed up with your other configuration files and just dropped in place 
> whenever you upgrade your distro or set up a new system or...
> 
> Sure, getting LIRC working once took some learning, but once I finished, 
> I forgot /everything/ I ever knew about configuring LIRC and haven't 
> worried about it since I first set it up in 2004.  All I remember at 
> this point is just how sensible LIRC's abstraction is--allowing me to 
> configure applications individually independent of the specific remote 
> I'm using and without having to remap remote buttons for a specific 
> application (and make them crazy mappings for other apps) or without 
> having to remap application buttons (and mess up keyboard mappings at 
> the same time).

Because, with the in-kernel drivers now producing sensible keypress names for our remote buttons *without* doing *any* configuration *at all*, all it needs is for mythtv to support those keypress names and we'd have a system that worked out of the box. (Like my xbmc setup did when I installed it. I was very impressed by that.)

As it is I have to use a file that maps 'KEY_VOLUMEDOWN' to '[', KEY_UP' to 'Up', 'KEY_PLAY' to 'P'. This is ridiculous. All because mythtv refuses to recognise 'KEY_PLAY' as meaning 'I have pressed the PLAY button' or 'KEY_VOLUMEDOWN' as meaning 'Please reduce the volume'. And apparently this is because doing this would be confusing. Yes, definitely less confusing than the current method a newcomer is presented with, which is to ignore all the buttons on his remote. That's baffling.

> 
> And since modern distros that are a good choice for MythTV (i.e. *buntu 
> and Fedora and possibly others with excellent repo/configuration support 
> for MythTV) actually allow you to just select a remote so it can set it 
> up for you, things should be a lot easier now than they were in 2004.

Yeah it would be nice if it worked. It's good for you that you have no trouble with LIRC. You must have a different remote than I do. Mine's apparently supported by the mythbuntu control centre but it has never created a functional hardware.conf for me, nor does it choose anything like a sensible mapping.

> 
> But, hey, at least you can say, "I finally set up my system and I don't 
> /have/ to use Linux Infrared Remote Control to, support my, er, ... 
> infrared remote control in ... Linux."

Yes, I can also say 'Hey, I just installed a new media centre and it basically just worked without me having to spend hours fiddling with it. Let's go to the pub'. I like it when technology doesn't fight with me.
 
Mark

> 
> Help!  There's a baby going down the drain with that bath water!
> 
> Mike
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