[cheetah05]

Well the dongle/stack should not make the slightest bit of difference, I'm pretty sure of that. The stack only needs to have the HID service, which most do.

I am Vista x64 Home Premium, officially* using the Widcomm stack version 6.1 I think. My bluetooth device is: "Dell Wireless 355 Module with Bluetooth 2.0 + EDR Technology with trace filter"


*I say officially, because some people hack the Widcomm stack to work with their dongle, mine is supported officially..


Try removing it from the devices menu in XP and pairing it again to ensure that its not a problem with the remote. If it does pair, make sure you remove it from the device menu before you boot into Vista and try and pair it with that.

Make sure you hold the keys for a few seconds to make it discoverable, and try doing the scan a second/third time if it doesn't come up straight away.

Have a look at this thread: http://thegreenbutton.com/forums/thread/283133.aspx

I believe the user "Tyf" had a similar issue.

[xexe]

you say "yes I am holding down the ps3 and enter buttons" but do you mean to say "[Start & Enter Keys]" << different keys to what your actually saying.

Edit: wtf a whole page of responses popped up when i hit reply. Weird cache problem. Response left in anyway but likely old news now.

[jitterjames]

holy carp. Have I really been that retarded for so long!? I've read those instructions so many times, but I always just skim it and process what I got out of it the first time. ...And since it worked in xp (don't know why) I never questioned it. But ya, I've been hitting the PS3 button (just above start) and the enter button the whole time.

If this is what it is I will first shoot myself in the head, and then send you a thousand thanks (don't know you well enough for kisses).

Or maybe I should do that in reverse order... anyway I'll try it and let you know.

[jitterjames]

XEXE!!!

That was it. I just kept hitting the wrong buttons, over and over and over again. (hundreds of times? Thousands?) I have such mixed emotions at this point. I am so happy to have it figured out, but I'm so mad that I was such an idiot. This has been a problem for months... OH the time I have wasted... including driving to future shop (1/2 hour each way) once to buy all the dongles they had, and then again to return them all!!!

Anyway, it's really great that you caught that little slip and mentioned it. I just set it up on another vista machine in 2 seconds!!!

I have done some pretty cool stuff with event ghost so if you ever need help with that don't hesitate to ask!

Same goes for chetah05 for sticking with me and sluggin away at the problem with good ideas.

As for why it worked in XP, I must have once hit the start button by accident, and ever since then it just remembered it? Who knows. I don't know why it also worked on my laptop with xp. Maybe xp pairs voluntarily without having to hit those buttons.

OK so I can use VISTA. Now I have to solve that hybrid power problem... different forum!

[sIRwa2]

we all have our own experience like that jitterjames, im glad you got it working, now you can return all those dongle's !

Hold on to your hats, new version on its way!

[xexe]

XEXE!!!

That was it. I just kept hitting the wrong buttons, over and over...

Hey no problems we have all made those kinds of mistakes, dont kick yourself over it

Spent a bit of time playing with the app so I though i would post my thoughts (x64 SP2 with .net x64 edition).

First off, simple to install easy to use. As it stands the app if completely usable and nothing more needs added to make it work. There are some things that could be changed/added to make it better though.

Install remote mode. Basically a pop up help of how to pair the remote with some images.

Debug mode: simple one this, a mode that pops up a window and shows what buttons you are pressing and their current mappings. Think of this as checking your remote and config is actually working. If the current XBMC mapping for that buttnig could be shown as well it could be helpful in the long run.

Default keymap. The default config of the tool doesnt actually work very much of my XBMC. Assuming i have the standard keymap.xml that is a bit weird. Mostly the buttons are assigned correctly but have "CTRL and SHIFT" ticked as well which is not needed for me.

If you change a mapping and press save then exit then open it up again you sometimes end up with 2 instances. To make a config fully take you need to save and shut the app, make sure it really is shut then open again. Not really a problem but a bit quirky.

Start with windows. OK so this takes seconds to do manually but i expect almost everyone has to do it which is usually a sign that it should be controlled within the software itself.

Change tray icon color when remote is connected and when it is not. Saves going into windows configs to see status..

[sIRwa2]

Install remote mode. Basically a pop up help of how to pair the remote with some images

it might be usefull to add a readme.

Debug mode: simple one this, a mode that pops up a window and shows what buttons you are pressing and their current mappings. Think of this as checking your remote and config is actually working. If the current XBMC mapping for that buttnig could be shown as well it could be helpful in the long run.

mapping can be made easier (like press a remote button and get a popup of what key you like assigned) but showing the current xbmc mapping is not helpful because the app is made to function for more than xbmc alone.
2nd, its a disaster to find out what keys xbmc uses (im not bothered to spend an hour reading the xml)

Default keymap. The default config of the tool doesnt actually work very much of my XBMC. Assuming i have the standard keymap.xml that is a bit weird. Mostly the buttons are assigned correctly but have "CTRL and SHIFT" ticked as well which is not needed for me.

again, the default keymap aint made for xbmc but for vista's mc but if im correct some users have already posted their config so you can use that as a starting point.

If you change a mapping and press save then exit then open it up again you sometimes end up with 2 instances. To make a config fully take you need to save and shut the app, make sure it really is shut then open again. Not really a problem but a bit quirky.

hmm, i don't really know what you mean, im using XP and dont have any trouble with the config window.

Start with windows. OK so this takes seconds to do manually but i expect almost everyone has to do it which is usually a sign that it should be controlled within the software itself.

Cheetha05 can maybe do this in the installer, but for now the choice is for the user, maybe some users don't want it to start with windows (although i don't know why you wouldn't want so)

Change tray icon color when remote is connected and when it is not. Saves going into windows configs to see status..

don't you have a bluetooth icoon in the system tray that turns green and white?

[xexe]

Don't have time this now to post a lengthy reply however a couple of points:

The save and double icon may just be a bug specific to OS. Unless someone else posts about it I would ignore.

I dont have a bluetooth tray icon at all and would prefer not to have one since i already have an icon for this app. I dont want to know that all my bluetooth devices are connected/disconnected i want to know specifically my PS3 remote is disconnected so this is best done with the app that uses this device.

I did not realise the app is for more than XBMC but that makes sense. In that case some of the suggestions I have made are null invoid however it does become important to ship or otherwise supply via the website, configs for each common app. There's not much point every user doing it themselves. This is just a logistics exercise but the devil is in the details. I can post my config when it is complete.

[cheetah05]

xexe....some excellent suggestions there and I will be sure to include some of them in the next release (which is version 2).

I am completely re-writing the code, specifically the configuration section so it may be a week (possibly longer) before the release it out.

...but watch this space

[xexe]

I have been working on a config for this quite heavily. Essentially trying to make it as intuitive as possible which is actually quite difficult in some cases.

A couple of further suggestions in the interim:

Exit in the drop down menu isn't the same as exit in the context menu of the system tray. This may be sematics but it is nice to be consistent.

Dont allow more than one instance. During config i ended up with 2 instances meaning every button command is sent twice. Not something you want obviously.

OK so i mat be blind but are the "[" and "]" characters missing from the map?

[cheetah05]

OK so i mat be blind but are the "[" and "]" characters missing from the map?

They might be, but you can change the keymap.xml so you don't have to use them if you are just using this for XMBC.

[xexe]

Yup i should have been clearer in my post.

I could change the complete keymap.xml to accommodate and not even bother configuring the remote map but then its non standard and user would have to relearn keyboard controls. Even a couple of keys would have user flailing about the keyboard looking for things.

I think it is far better to works with the default keymap and alter the remote apps config to accomodate that.

In the long run that is a neater solution.

[zorrozh]

I'm using this BT 2.0 dongle:

I tried with Widcomm or Bluesoleil stack but I'm unable to make the BD Remote discoverable (I followed the instructions in the first post).
I read on a forum that I need a dongle compatible with the MS Bluetooth stack and this is the only way to make the remote discoverable. Is that true?
I'm using WinXP SP2.
Many thanks in advance.

[cheetah05]

*snip*

Fair shout. Next version is completely changing the way you setup the remote and there won't be any choosing from lists etc....much more intuitive.

...however the latest version has been delayed slightly as I have a web design job to complete.

I tried with Widcomm or Bluesoleil stack but I'm unable to make the BD Remote discoverable (I followed the instructions in the first post).
I read on a forum that I need a dongle compatible with the MS Bluetooth stack and this is the only way to make the remote discoverable. Is that true?
I'm using WinXP SP2.
Many thanks in advance.

First off - check your batteries and then check you are holding the START + ENTER keys to make the remote discoverable.

As long as you make the remote discoverable properly, it should connect to any stack

The instructions given on the first page aren't very clear. Here is my version of the instructions. Follow them closely!

1. Make sure you have a Bluetooth adapter for your PC.
2. Go to Control Panel >> Bluetooth Devices and click "Add" a new Bluetooth Device
3. Hold down START + ENTER buttons on the PS3 remote to begin the syncing process.
4. Check the box next to "My device is set up and ready to be found", then "Next"
5. Click on "BD Remote Control", and then click "Next"
6. Select "Don't use a passkey", then click "Next".
7. To connect the remote to the computer, press any button on the remote.

[xexe]

cheetah05 I will hang fire on my config then for the new version if there are big changes on their way.

Do not bother with spending time on making a XBMC specific config I will do that for you as soon as the beta comes out. There is a lot of personal preference in a config anyway so I suspect people will end up with 2 or 3 flavours.

One other request. Configurable repeat key timings. I do not know where the delay comes in but scrolling in my XBOX is much faster than using the PS3 remote which is just a bit slow for scrolling large lists.

Kudos again for the great work. Considering the cheap price vs. quality of this solution I can see alot of people taking your app up. In fact once things are out of beta lets do a wiki article to let more people know about it.