Universal Remote for CE/HA? (openmoko)

[Al Johnson]

On Wednesday 30 September 2009, Jed wrote:
> Al Johnson, did you get my last response? below....

It was waiting for me, along with this one, when I finally got round to 
checking my mail today.

> >>>> Hi All,
> >>>>
> >>>> I was wondering if there's any good Universal Remote software for CE
> >>>> &or HA being developed in this ecosystem?
> >>>>
> >>>> Does anyone know of anything under way or a related Linux project that
> >>>> could be re-adapted to it?
> >>>>
> >>>> I have something "roughly" like this visualised... (see attached txt
> >>>> file)
> >>>>
> >>>> I have an old Axim X50v which android is being ported to atm...
> >>>> But progress is slow so I may have to find a better supported device
> >>>> soon.
> >>>>
> >>>> Any thoughts/ideas/advice greatly appreciated!
> >
> > Can't control the TV or whatever without the HTPC being powered up. Many
> > would see that as core functionality in a universal remote. If you don't
> > then the Freerunner may be what you're looking for.
>
> Sorry if I'd sent my diagram through properly you'd have understood why
> it's not that imperative for me. The idea is to have a dedicated CE/HA
> controller/bridge. It will ideally be relatively low power/profile.
>
> [I've attached the diagram again in case you didn't see it when I
> re-sent it earlier, tis very basic]

Yes - if that had been attached in the first place my responses might have 
been slightly different!

> >> How would BT be better than using Wifi as the medium to the controller
> >> PC? Do none of the openmoko hardware devices have wifi integrated?
> >
> > It was just a suggestion as to how you could get infrared functionality
> > with an existing BT remote app. There's no reason not to use WiFi if it
> > suits you better - the Freerunner has both. BT uses less power,
> > especially if your WiFi access point doesn't support the power saving
> > mode. WiFi is faster and has longer range.
>
> K cool, I just thought you might know something I didn't, thanks!
>
> >>> [1] http://wiki.openmoko.org/wiki/ReMoko
> >>> [2] http://n2.nabble.com/Auto-home-revision-1-1-td3698124.html
> >>
> >> I've also come across this and am quite impressed thus far!
> >> http://openremote.org/display/orb/Boss+Overview
> >
> > Last time I looked many of the features turned out to be intended but not
> > implemented, but that may have changed by now. You might also like to
> > check out LinuxMCE, PlutoHome, MisterHouse and Minerva.
>
> Isn't LinuxMCE just the non-commercialised version of PlutoHome?

As I understand it LinuxMCE is a fork of PlutoHome, but they've been separate 
long enough for things to have diverged a bit. I've not tried either of them.

> Coolness, never heard of those other two, thanks!

I've not tried them either, just seen them when looking at what's available. I 
also found xAP interesting as it has a plugin for SqueezeCenter which I 
already use. It's more of a building block than a system though. It might be 
worth checking the source for Logitech's Squeezebox Controller as an open 
modular remote running in linux on a small Arm device. They use Poky for 
building the images, so it should be relatively easy to bring into OE.