Latz is still working on doing his write up regarding how he got started with open remote, I read a preview and it looks good so far, I will post the links when its published up on to the blogs.
Out of interest, I am also planning on migrating my HTPCs to Ubuntu 12.10 minimal with XBMC from Windows 7 / MCE.
You might have better luck migrating your machines to K/Ubuntu 12.04, since it’s a long term support release. The only issue I’ve encountered with my HTPCs is that the screen times out too rapidly due to a crappy DPMS implementation on Kubuntu 12.04 LTS. You can solve that with a custom xorg.conf file that specifically turns off DPMS support, apparently.
I couple Kubuntu with Cairo-Dock for a really polished looking HTPC experience, … Even supporting Weather & Facebook Widgets on the main screens (yes, plural,… screens,… as Kubuntu supports several virtual work spaces for each monitor, configurable for specific functions even). I use Google-Talk video chat for video telephony (webcams supported).
MythTV functionality is way better than anything MS MCE, … True 1080i/p recordings, low overhead requirements, zero cost, Android app support… The only advantage of MS-MCE is ease of configuration (have to give credit where due).
I know very little about Linux but am starting to learn some. I dont plan to run a desktop version of Ubuntu just the command line and XBMC that’s it. Little worried about Live TV / EPG support in XBMC. As I currently use this in MCE and it works. But have decided its time to move on. Just setting up a new 10TB HP Microserver at the moment to replace my home made WHS V1 box. Then I’m going to be building a new HTPC with XBMC. Also going to look at using Apple TVs with XBMC for some of the other rooms rather than full blown HTPCs etc.
I’m not sure I would go that route. I’m not very impressed, I’ve got two Apple TV’s (ATV 2’s) with XBMC, both at different OS levels, I find them a bit clunky and a bit slow. For the money, I hear there are other options, in similar small form factor, which are more dependable and offer a better end user experience, besides, certain things don’t work like shutting down XBMC and adjusting the XBMC volume.
Put it this way, I’ve got an Intel Atom Acer Aspire Revo and that’s awesome for running XBMC on! The ATV’s can’t compare. I know it’s apple’s compared with oranges but just my two-pence worth 
I love XBMC and I think the Revo does it justice and other devices will do to, just not the ATV’s.
Thanks 
Yes indeed, trying to get the time together to complete it! Hopefully be able to get some more done on it next week.
I’m not sure I would go that route. I’m not very impressed, I’ve got two Apple TV’s (ATV 2’s) with XBMC, both at different OS levels, I find them a bit clunky and a bit slow. For the money, I hear there are other options, in similar small form factor, which are more dependable and offer a better end user experience, besides, certain things don’t work like shutting down XBMC and adjusting the XBMC volume.
Put it this way, I’ve got an Intel Atom Acer Aspire Revo and that’s awesome for running XBMC on! The ATV’s can’t compare. I know it’s apple’s compared with oranges but just my two-pence worth I love XBMC and I think the Revo does it justice and other devices will do to, just not the ATV’s.[/quote]
Thanks for the heads up, I might try one ATV for the kids room… Or maybe a Rasberry PI ?
Are you using XBMC Frodo ? I am trying to send popup notifications from a Vera scene to XBMC but its not working.
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=13258.0
Thanks
A friend of mine saw the clunkiness of my ATV, she decided against buying one and went a different path and LOVES the performance. Let me ask her what she used and get back to you
Taking a look at your other post now…
I have my raspberry pi setup with xbmc and have installed lirc and inputlirc to receive commands from my harmony 1100 remote. It works really nice. I have a very similar setup like cw-kid, but I’m using a raspberry pi. I like the fact that raspberry pi runs on a LOT less power than all the old htpc that I used to use. I pull all my media from a centralized qnap NAS with 4TB of space. The movies stream really well. I have noticed though that movies that are 1080p do buffer very often. Those movies I have just moved to a temporary usb drive and plugged it in directly to the raspberry pi and they play just great.
I spent about $50 + shipping on my setup. (raspberry pi, power supply and case). The raspberry does not come with a built in IR receiver, but you can purchase one for $2 and wire it directly to the raspberry pi. I used an old USB IR receiver that I had laying around and got it to play nice with my logitech remote. 1/2 the price of an ATV, no unlocking the device and XBMC runs really well on raspberry pi.
Anybody know if you can use the wget command from a Raspberry pi command line to kick off scenes?
Don’t think you can use WGET, CURL should work though.
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=23594.0
This is how I run Python scripts in XBMC to kick off scenes in Vera using CURL to send HTTP requests to Vera etc.
Linux (OpenElec) How to:
Don’t think you can use WGET, CURL should work though.
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=23594.0
This is how I run Python scripts in XBMC to kick off scenes in Vera using CURL to send HTTP requests to Vera etc.
Linux (OpenElec) How to:
http://windowsmediacenter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/xbmc-openelec-logitech-harmony.html[/quote]
You probably just saved me a dozen hours. Thanks!
Don’t think you can use WGET, CURL should work though.
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=23594.0
This is how I run Python scripts in XBMC to kick off scenes in Vera using CURL to send HTTP requests to Vera etc.
Linux (OpenElec) How to:
http://windowsmediacenter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/xbmc-openelec-logitech-harmony.html[/quote]
You probably just saved me a dozen hours. Thanks![/quote]
Your welcome!
Not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve? But it took me months on XBMC / OpenElec to figure it out. Enabling the mce_kbd IR protocol in Linux (MCE Keyboard) was key for me to get what I wanted working with my bog standard MCE IR USB receiver.
Don’t think you can use WGET, CURL should work though.
http://forum.micasaverde.com/index.php?topic=23594.0
This is how I run Python scripts in XBMC to kick off scenes in Vera using CURL to send HTTP requests to Vera etc.
Linux (OpenElec) How to:
http://windowsmediacenter.blogspot.co.uk/2014/05/xbmc-openelec-logitech-harmony.html[/quote]
You probably just saved me a dozen hours. Thanks![/quote]
Your welcome!
Not sure exactly what you are trying to achieve? But it took me months on XBMC / OpenElec to figure it out. Enabling the mce_kbd IR protocol in Linux (MCE Keyboard) was key for me to get what I wanted working with my bog standard MCE IR USB receiver.[/quote]
So I finally decided to poke at this last night. Took me about four hours to get it working correctly using a little bit from this post a little bit from that blog, etc. A couple of pitfalls cost me an hour or two, could probably get it up and running from unboxing the pi to being totally functional in less than an hour now. If anyone is interested I could write up a guide. My only fear is that I won’t fully give attribution to the right people because I pulled stuff from at least seven different sources.
Basically what I have now is a pi that is headless and can run any scene via RF remote control using MRC RF remotes and a base station in my equipment closet.
Sounds good glad you got it working, so which RF remote control are you using exactly? URC?
What OS distro / software you running on the Pi? Sounds like an interesting project !
[quote=“cw-kid, post:34, topic:172905”]Sounds good glad you got it working, so which RF remote control are you using exactly? URC?
What OS distro / software you running on the Pi? Sounds like an interesting project ![/quote]
I have a couple URC remotes. Some of the simpler ones, some which require “the software” which is hard to come by. I used raspbian with the LIRC install. The places I got stuck was forgetting to stop the service when loading the IR signals and the actual command files. It seemed really hit and miss what commands would work. After an hour of frustration I figured I would just use a CURL command with the http request in quotes and it worked immediately.
I do my home automation stuff in bursts when I get time and inspiration to work on it. I actually made out a “to do” list of things remaining and it was about 50 items. This also includes cameras so it’s not all HA stuff per se, but I do integrate my cams into vera using an Aviosys 9000a ip video server.
The one thing I haven’t found is a “great” customizable tablet app for control. There are several that are very good, but I’m holding out hope for one that you can actually design layouts with (floorplans, etc).
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