2.4GHz Airmouse as remote

SlF

Hello there!

I just got one of these: http://www.banggood.com/Mini-2_4Ghz-USB-Wireless-Air-Mouse-Remote-Control-for-Android-Windows-TV-Box-PC-Fitting-p-1005976.html

I tried to get it working with my runeaudio but I don't really know where to start... The keys are acting like mouse buttons I guess. Testkeys gives no results but the "mouse" gets recognized by runeOS.

# egrep "Name|Handlers" /proc/bus/input/devices | egrep -B1 'Handlers.*mouse'
# N: Name="FREEWAY TECHNOLOGY"
# H: Handlers=mouse0 event1

I checked the Arch Wiki and stumbled across this: https://wiki.archlinux.org/index.php/All_Mouse_Buttons_Working

However, xvkbd needs to be installed and if I remember correctly, RuneOS is based on Arch but not the same as ArchLinux, so upgrading packages will break it.
Does anyone know how to get to know the mouse button number?
And more important: Does anyone know, how to map keypresses to for example "mpc -play"?

Thanks in advance

SlF

System: Raspberry Pi B+
Rune: release version: 0.3 (build: beta-20141027)

PS: Love RuneAudio <3

hondagx35

Hi SIF,

take a look at this.

I did a test install on my RP2 with a MEDION remote.
Once configured it works perfect.

You have to download / clone the git repo:

git clone https://github.com/massar/empcd.git
cd empcd
make install

I do not have a running RP1, but i think you have to install "base-devel" first.

pacman -S base-devel

Frank

SlF

Hi Frank,

thank you very much for your reply. Found no time to proceed, but now I am on it again. Installing base-devel gives me some options.

:: There are 25 members in group base-devel:
:: Repository core
   1) autoconf  2) automake  3) binutils  4) bison  5) fakeroot  6) file
   7) findutils  8) flex  9) gawk  10) gcc  11) gettext  12) grep  13) groff
   14) gzip  15) libtool  16) m4  17) make  18) pacman  19) patch
   20) pkg-config  21) sed  22) sudo  23) texinfo  24) util-linux  25) which

I choose 17 since I want to use the make cmd. However, this gives me:

error: failed retrieving file 'make-4.0-2-armv6h.pkg.tar.xz' from mirror.archlinuxarm.org : The requested URL returned error: 404 Not Found
warning: failed to retrieve some files
 libatomic_ops-7.4.2...    57.1 KiB   571K/s 00:00 [######################] 100%
error: failed retrieving file 'gc-7.4.2-2.1-armv6h.pkg.tar.xz' from mirror.archlinuxarm.org : The requested URL returned error: 404 Not Found
warning: failed to retrieve some files
error: failed retrieving file 'guile-2.0.11-2-armv6h.pkg.tar.xz' from mirror.archlinuxarm.org : The requested URL returned error: 404 Not Found
warning: failed to retrieve some files
error: failed to commit transaction (download library error)
Errors occurred, no packages were upgraded.

Any hints?

PS: Do you know a way to find out the names of the mouse buttons? Like "Key_13" for example.
PPS: Isn't it possible to use a bash script like

KEY_13=mpc play

Best regards

Ole

Edit: Is it safe to do a pacman sync? I don't want to break anything, but I think the error is because of the package lists aren't up to date.

SlF

Update: I updated the package lists with pacman -Sy and installed evtest. I found out, that the remote is recognized as a mouse AND a keyboard. The buttons are recognized as "KEY_VOLUMEDOWN" Damn nice!!! Only problem is, that I can't compile EMPCd, which I do need to map the buttons...

hondagx35

Hi SlF,

Update: I updated the package lists with pacman -Sy and installed evtest.

You now should also should be able to install base-dev.

pacman -Sy base-devel

Or are there other problems?

Frank

SlF

Hi Frank,

I don't know why, but after updating the package lists installing make still gave me an error. However after some coffee I came back and tried the command given by you and now it worked. I used "pacman -S base-devel" The -Sy did the trick.

:: libtool and libltdl are in conflict. Remove libltdl? [y/N] y

I hope this doesn't broke anything?

SlF

Got it up and running thank you very much!!!

How can I make empcd autostart?

Best regards

Ole

hondagx35

Hi SlF,

try this:

- store this file in /usr/lib/systemd/system
- name it like empcd.service

[Unit]
Description=Startup empcd 
After=systemd-modules-load.service

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/empcd

[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target

- invoke "systemctl enable empcd" from console

systemctl enable empcd

Change "ExecStart=/usr/sbin/empcd" and add options as you need for example:
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/empcd -c /etc/empcd.conf

- reboot

Frank

SlF

Hi,

I now have a nearly perfect setup. Everthing is working perfect, I applied the service and it worked, but after changing the empcd config, the service doesn't work anymore... I need to manually start empcd in daemon mode now.

Thank you,

Ole

yeongheon

Hi,
I am trying to setup 2.4GHz Airmouse too. According to your guide, I installed empcd and base-devel. And it seems that the Airmouse remote identified. But only volumeup and down are working.

So, I need to find Key name of mouse button to describe in empcd.conf. But I dont know.

How can I get the Keyname?

SlF

yeongheon wroteHi,
I am trying to setup 2.4GHz Airmouse too. According to your guide, I installed empcd and base-devel. And it seems that the Airmouse remote identified. But only volumeup and down are working.

So, I need to find Key name of mouse button to describe in empcd.conf. But I dont know.

How can I get the Keyname?

I posted a guide on my website. It's in German. You may want to use google translator.
https://ole-hellmers.de/2017/03/24ghz-fernbedienung-unter-runeaudio/

https://translate.google.de/translate?sl=de&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=de&ie=UTF-8&u=https%3A%2F%2Fole-hellmers.de%2F2017%2F03%2F24ghz-fernbedienung-unter-runeaudio%2F&edit-text=&act=url

best regards

ole

yeongheon

Thanks, SIF

I found that my AirMouse already working with runeaudio(raspberry pi3) as mouse before installing empcd. especially volumeup/down.
I guess that it should be disabled for using mpd remote control. But i dont know how.

it is my airmouse.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-New-Promotion-FM4VIGICA-2-4G-remote-control-Wireless-Headphone-OD-S/32622872932.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.ODnJoJ

Please help me to use this remote control for runeaudio. and the airmouse could not be used for runeaudio remote?

Mentioned from SIF, background service for empcd did not working properly. Once I opened terminal and login the runeaudio, and run command "empcd -f", it is working perfectly during the command(empcd -f) is running.

SlF

yeongheon wroteThanks, SIF

I found that my AirMouse already working with runeaudio(raspberry pi3) as mouse before installing empcd. especially volumeup/down.
I guess that it should be disabled for using mpd remote control. But i dont know how.

it is my airmouse.
https://www.aliexpress.com/item/Free-Shipping-New-Promotion-FM4VIGICA-2-4G-remote-control-Wireless-Headphone-OD-S/32622872932.html?spm=a2g0s.9042311.0.0.ODnJoJ

Please help me to use this remote control for runeaudio. and the airmouse could not be used for runeaudio remote?

You need to control MPD in order to control Runeaudio. Runeaudio gets the current status of MPD and displays it.
Focus on the last part of my guide:
"Mit evtest habe ich ausmachen können, welche Signale die Tastatur sendet."
You need to use evtest to find out the commands, that your remote is sending.
e.g. "KEY_HOMEPAGE" which is the home button. Just press a button and see what key gets send. "UP" "DOWN" "REPEAT" means if the button is pressed, released or hold.

You may want to use my config file, most buttons should work since our remotes are very similar.

Edit: since there is no mouse in shell you don't need to disable the air mouse function. Just use the keys.

##################################################
# ecmpd.conf by Jeroen Massar <jeroen@massar.ch>
# Example empcd configuration file
#
# Lines starting with ‚#‘ or ‚//‘ are comment lines
# Repeating spaces and tabs are trimmed
##################################################

##################################################
# MPD settings
##################################################
# Run empcd under the ‚mpd‘ account
user mpd

# mpd_host [<password>@]<host> (defaults to „localhost“)
mpd_host localhost

# mpd_port <port> (defaults to 6600)
mpd_port 6600

# Device to read events from
//eventdevice /dev/input/event0

# Exclusive (default) / Non-Exclusive device access
//exclusive

##################################################
# Key configuration
##################################################
#
# key <key-id> up|down|repeat <function> [arguments]
#
# down   = key gets pressed down
# up     = key goes up (after being pressed down)
# repeat = key is kept down and sends repeat events
#
# functions (also see ‚empcd –list-functions‘):
# exec <shellcmd>       Execute a shell command (eg exec mount /dev/sdb2 /mnt)
# mpd_next              MPD Next Track
# mpd_play              MPD Previous Track
# mpd_stop              MPD Stop Playing
# mpd_play              MPD Start Playing
# mpd_pause [on|off]    MPD Pause Toggle (no options) or set
# mpd_seek              MPD Seek
#                       „mpd_seek 0“   – begin of track
#                       „mpd_seek 100“ – begin of track
#                       „mpd_seek +10“ – advance 10 seconds
#                       „mpd_seek -20“ – backward 20 seconds
# mpd_random            MPD Random Toggle (no options) or set
#
#
###################################################
# Play/Pause
key KEY_ENTER             UP      mpd_pause
key KEY_MUTE    UP    mpd_play
key KEY_POWER    UP    mpd_stop

# Prev/Next
key KEY_LEFT         UP      mpd_prev
key KEY_RIGHT          UP      mpd_next

# Volume
key KEY_VOLUMEDOWN    DOWN    mpd_volume -5%
key KEY_VOLUMEUP      DOWN    mpd_volume +5%
key KEY_VOLUMEDOWN    REPEAT    mpd_volume -1%
key KEY_VOLUMEUP    REPEAT    mpd_volume +1%

# key KEY_MUTE    UP    mpd_volume -100%

# Seek to the beginning of the current song
key KEY_HOMEPAGE       UP      mpd_seek 0

#  2 seconds back/forward on 1 hit,
# 10 seconds back/forward when holding
key KEY_DOWN         UP      mpd_seek -2
key KEY_DOWN         REPEAT  mpd_seek -10
key KEY_UP      UP      mpd_seek +2
key KEY_UP      REPEAT  mpd_seek +10

yeongheon

Hi, SIF

Thanks your kindly guide.

And I would like to ask about "empcd in daemon not working".
Does it need start manually yet? or Resolve it?

Regards
Yeong

SlF

yeongheon wroteHi, SIF

Thanks your kindly guide.

And I would like to ask about "empcd in daemon not working".
Does it need start manually yet? or Resolve it?

Regards
Yeong

Hi! Sorry for the very late reply!
yeah... I haven't figured out how to get the daemon working yet...

empcd -d

run this command after every reboot.

regards

hondagx35

Hi,

starting it after each boot should be straightforward.
Rune uses systemd to handle services so you need a service file (https://github.com/massar/empcd/blob/master/debian/empcd.service) .

Try:

systemctl enable empcd.service

and reboot.

Frank

SlF

hondagx35 wroteHi,

starting it after each boot should be straightforward.
Rune uses systemd to handle services so you need a service file (https://github.com/massar/empcd/blob/master/debian/empcd.service) .

Try:
systemctl enable empcd.service
and reboot.

Frank

Did that. It worked for one reboot and stopped working.

hondagx35

Hi,

you can check the status with:

systemctl status empcd.service

this should give you also some debugging info.

If

systemctl restart empcd.service

works, then you have a timing issue.

Frank

SlF

hondagx35 wroteHi,

you can check the status with:

systemctl status empcd.service

this should give you also some debugging info.

If

systemctl restart empcd.service

works, then you have a timing issue.

Frank

* empcd.service - Startup empcd
Loaded: loaded (/usr/lib/systemd/system/empcd.service; enabled)
Active: inactive (dead) since Thu 1970-01-01 01:00:10 CET; 47 years 9 months ago
Main PID: 117 (code=exited, status=0/SUCCESS)

hondagx35

Hi,

for me it looks like a timing issue.
Seems like it gets started before mpd and then exits because no server is available.

Please try to modify the empcd.service file :

[Unit]
Description=Event Music Player Client daemon
After=network.target sound.target mpd.service
Requires=mpd.service

[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/usr/sbin/empcd
# restart the service if it stops for any failure
Restart=on-failure

[Install]
WantedBy=default.target

Frank