Difference between revisions of "Hulu Desktop Integration"

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(added unclutter install instructions for when x cursor is visible)
(Removed section saying "this might be wrong" and updated LIRC verification instructions to match edits by Adecker89. Added customization section. Other minor edits.)
Line 41: Line 41:
 
==LIRC==
 
==LIRC==
  
I'll admit there is probably a better way to do this than the way I've written it here.  After a few hours of searching, I wasn't able to find it.  This will do the job until I find the right way.
+
First, open ~/.huludesktop in your favorite editor and find the ''lirc_remote_identifier'' line.  Replace ''mceusb'' with your remote.  If you don't know it, exit the editor and run '''irw'''.  Hit a few buttons on your remote, and you'll get output similar to the following:
 
 
First, open ~/.huludesktop in your favorite editor and find the ''lirc_remote_identifier'' line.  Replace ''mceusb'' with your remote.  If you don't know it, exit the editor and run irw.  Hit a few buttons on your remote, and you'll get output similar to the following:
 
  
 
  squeaker@myth:~$ irw
 
  squeaker@myth:~$ irw
Line 49: Line 47:
 
  0000000000001797 00 Right Hauppauge_350
 
  0000000000001797 00 Right Hauppauge_350
  
Whatever is in the place of ''Hauppauge_350'' on your system is your remote.  Edit ~/.huludesktop accordingly.
+
Whatever is in place of ''Hauppauge_350'' in your output is your remote.  Edit ~/.huludesktop accordingly.
 
 
  
 
Hulu Desktop requires the -r (--release) option for proper operation.
 
Hulu Desktop requires the -r (--release) option for proper operation.
Line 58: Line 55:
 
under the start() section of /etc/init.d/lirc
 
under the start() section of /etc/init.d/lirc
  
If you are using '''Ubuntu''', you can add the line:
+
If you are using '''Ubuntu''', edit /etc/lirc/hardware.conf and change
 +
 
 +
REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS=""
 +
 
 +
to
 +
 
 
  REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS="-r"
 
  REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS="-r"
to /etc/lirc/hardware.conf
 
  
  
Now, restart LIRC.  If all goes well, LIRC is now running with the --release switch.  You can verify this:
+
Now, restart LIRC.  If all goes well, LIRC is now running with the -r switch.  You can verify this:
  
  root@myth:/etc/init.d# ps aux | grep lircd
+
  squeaker@myth:~$ ps aux | grep lircd
  root    26192  0.0  0.0  3116  584 ?        Ss  14:22  0:00 /usr/sbin/lircd --device=/dev/lirc0 --release
+
  root    26192  0.0  0.0  3116  584 ?        Ss  14:22  0:00 /usr/sbin/lircd --device=/dev/lirc0 -r
 
  root    27575  0.0  0.0  3336  804 pts/0    S+  14:49  0:00 grep lircd
 
  root    27575  0.0  0.0  3336  804 pts/0    S+  14:49  0:00 grep lircd
  
As usual, YMMV.  The arrow keys worked immediately for me with LIRC and Hulu after this, since they happened to have the same names as my lircd.conf file.  In order to make the menu appear, I had to change
+
===Customizations===
 +
 
 +
As usual, YMMV.  The arrow keys worked for me immediately, since they happened to have the same names as my lircd.conf file.  In order to make the menu appear, I had to make an edit to ~/.huludesktop:
  
 
  button_name_menu = Home
 
  button_name_menu = Home
Line 75: Line 78:
 
to
 
to
  
  button_name_menu = Menu
+
  button_name_menu = Menu/i
 +
 
 +
for everything to work correctly.  If you don't know what name LIRC has for your menu key, fire up '''irw''' and press your menu key.  You should see output similar to the following:
 +
 
 +
squeaker@myth:~$ irw
 +
000000000000178d 00 Menu/i Hauppauge_350
 +
000000000000178d 00 Menu/i_UP Hauppauge_350
 +
^C
  
for everything to work correctly.
+
Edit ~/.huludesktop accordingly.  Repeat as necessary to adapt other keys.

Revision as of 18:54, 14 October 2009


General

This guide will walk you through the installation and integration of Hulu Desktop for Linux. Hulu only officially supports Ubuntu 8.04+ and Fedora 9+, but most other distros should work. This guide was written for Ubuntu 9.04 (Jaunty Jackalope). It assumes that you're running as the user that as your Mythfrontend, and that you have already configured LIRC to work. Full LIRC setup is outside the scope of this article.

Please note that the guide doesn't fully integrate Hulu into your Mythfrontend--it configures it to launch Hulu Desktop from Myth and sets up LIRC.

Installation

Installation of the Hulu Desktop app itself is fairly trivial, assuming you have the necessary prerequisites. You will need Flash installed. If you don't already have it, install it with:

sudo apt-get install flashplugin-nonfree

Now, download the .deb for your architecture and distro from Hulu Labs. To install using the command prompt:

sudo dpkg --install filename

MythFrontend

The next step allows you to launch Hulu from your Mythfrontend. We're going to edit the XML files for your theme for this. Copying XML files from /usr/share/mythtv into ~/.mythtv allows you to customize menus and prevents them from being overwritten during an upgrade.

Get a command line, and enter the following:

cp /usr/share/mythtv/mainmenu.xml ~/.mythtv

This assumes you haven't already edited your Mythfrontend's appearance. If you have, edit your existing copy of mainmenu.xml. In my case, I wanted Hulu available on the main menu. You can add it to wherever you like, you just need to copy the right XML file and edit it.

Now, open up mainmenu.xml (or whatever file you copied over) in your favorite editor. Add the following lines where you want your Hulu button to live.

<button>
       <text>Hulu Desktop</text>
       <action>EXEC /usr/bin/huludesktop</action>
</button>

The next time you run your Mythfrontend, the button will appear on your main menu.

If you experience your X mouse cursor showing over hulu desktop try installing unclutter:

sudo apt-get install unclutter

LIRC

First, open ~/.huludesktop in your favorite editor and find the lirc_remote_identifier line. Replace mceusb with your remote. If you don't know it, exit the editor and run irw. Hit a few buttons on your remote, and you'll get output similar to the following:

squeaker@myth:~$ irw
0000000000001795 00 Down Hauppauge_350
0000000000001797 00 Right Hauppauge_350

Whatever is in place of Hauppauge_350 in your output is your remote. Edit ~/.huludesktop accordingly.

Hulu Desktop requires the -r (--release) option for proper operation.

If you are using Fedora, you can add the line:

LIRCD_OPTIONS="-r"

under the start() section of /etc/init.d/lirc

If you are using Ubuntu, edit /etc/lirc/hardware.conf and change

REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS=""

to

REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS="-r"


Now, restart LIRC. If all goes well, LIRC is now running with the -r switch. You can verify this:

squeaker@myth:~$ ps aux | grep lircd
root     26192  0.0  0.0   3116   584 ?        Ss   14:22   0:00 /usr/sbin/lircd --device=/dev/lirc0 -r
root     27575  0.0  0.0   3336   804 pts/0    S+   14:49   0:00 grep lircd

Customizations

As usual, YMMV. The arrow keys worked for me immediately, since they happened to have the same names as my lircd.conf file. In order to make the menu appear, I had to make an edit to ~/.huludesktop:

button_name_menu = Home

to

button_name_menu = Menu/i

for everything to work correctly. If you don't know what name LIRC has for your menu key, fire up irw and press your menu key. You should see output similar to the following:

squeaker@myth:~$ irw
000000000000178d 00 Menu/i Hauppauge_350
000000000000178d 00 Menu/i_UP Hauppauge_350
^C

Edit ~/.huludesktop accordingly. Repeat as necessary to adapt other keys.