Kodi linux remote control

Remote controls

Remote controls

1 Introduction

Kodi is primarily designed for the home theatre using the 10-foot user interface principles controlled with a remote control. Alternatively a (wireless) keyboard can be used.

Most hardware you purchase, like the RPi and Android devices, will have a remote control included and will work out of the box with Kodi.

Using a Mouse to control Kodi is not recommended and many skins do not support mouse functions.

These pages are only needed for those that have built their own HTPC and need to configure a remote control, or who need to replace a lost/broken remote control or change button actions.

Note: If your remote control does not work with your hardware, it will not work with Kodi. Follow the manufacturers instructions to set up your remote control with your hardware first. The following pages contain general information and may not help you outside of Kodi.

2 Types of remotes

• CEC — Use your existing TV remote control if you have a CEC (Consumer Electronics Control) compatible television or AV-receiver supporting HDMI-CEC interface.

• Control Systems — Highly Customizable Programmable Control Systems for Home Automation which can control Kodi as well as Lights, HVAC, A/V Equipment, and much more.

• Game controllers — Game controllers, including game-pads and joysticks, such as Xbox 360, PlayStation 3/4, and Nintendo Wii controllers can all be used to directly control Kodi’s interface.

• Keyboard controls — Still want to use a keyboard and/or mouse? Check this page.

• MCE Remotes — Infrared remote controls made for computers that follow the MCE standard. These remotes should work with Kodi out-of-the-box on Windows and Linux.

• RF Remotes — Radio frequency remote controls, such as 2.4 GHz dongles and Bluetooth remotes. Most of these typically emulate a keyboard interface and/or standard multimedia keys.

• Smartphone/tablet_remotes — Turn your smart phone or tablet into the ultimate remote control.

• Touch controls — Using Kodi with a touch screen device.

• Web interfaces — Web interfaces allow users to control and interact with their Kodi installation through a web browser. This can be used for a remote control, library management, visual feedback, and many other things.

3 More Information

A list of all Remote Control related pages can be found here. List of all Remote Control pages

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HOW-TO:Set up an MCE remote control in Linux

This guide will help to configure an MCE Remote on a linux HTPC, even if all the commands are specific to Ubuntu, the main steps are the same on any modern linux distribution.

MCE remotes are IR remotes that split into two main categories:

• MCE remotes that send keystrokes
• Windows remotes also known as RC6 or eHome remotes

Most remotes work out of the box through the kernel input event subsystem. However they are often unusable in this state due to laggy/buggy behavior. On Linux it is often easier to use the Lirc package.

Contents

1 Install the remote

1.1 Simple Installation method with Lircd

The easiest way is to use the lircd daemon shipped with lirc package. Most likely you will also want lirc-compat-remotes which are put in /usr/share/lirc/remotes.

In terminal, use the following command:

After the installation a configuration dialog will appear on Ubuntu. Choose the correct values corresponding to your receiver (and eventually transmitter)

you can now test if the correct value are send by the remote buttons by using the irw command tool and then launch XBMC and check if the main button are responding correctly.

You can always reconfigure the lirc package with the dpkg-reconfigure command:

If the remote don’t work it is always a good idea to reconfigure lirc package by choosing one of those 2 generic value for the receiver option :

• Windows Media Center Transceivers/Remotes (all)
• Linux input layer (/dev/input/eventX)

a more complete guide is available here : HOW-TO: Setup Lirc

1.2 Alternative Installation method using InputLirc

In some cases the simple method will work in a buggy way (keys pressed twice, key burst, laggy key, . ). If this is the case or you want deeper control over the configuration then use inputlirc. Inputlirc is a small LIRC-compatible daemon that reads from /dev/input/eventX devices and sends the received keycodes to connecting LIRC clients.

• It is important to disable lircd daemon from lirc package, On ubuntu launch the lirc reconfiguration process with :

Then choose twice none for receiver and transmitter.

Make sure that lircd is not running. The START_LIRCD parameter should be now set to false in /etc/lirc/hardware.conf configuration file.

• Install now inputlirc :

• Before proceeding we need to know the eventX number corresponding to our remote :

For instance on my xtreamer ultra V1, the nuvoton receiver remote correspond to event4

• As the eventX number may sometimes varry upon reboot, one need to know a unique id value corresponding to our remote to further create a udev rule :

For the nuvoton, the ATTRS(id) will be used from the following output

• One can now create a permanent symbolic link to our eventX device by creating a custom udev rule :

Reload the udev configuration and trigger these changes :

Aternatively, reboot in order to apply the udev changes.

There should now be a symbolic link in /dev/input/myremote

• Configure inputlirc by editing /etc/default/inputlirc like this :

• Restart inputlirc

• Copy the LircMap configuration file into the personal directory

• Edit the linux-input-layer remote section to add the remote link name, one should have something like this :

• Launch xbmc and test the working remote

2 Configure the remote buttons

2.1 Edit the driver table

If you are using inputlirc or lircd with the Linux input layer (/dev/input/eventX) value for the receiver parameter, you can tweak the driver keycode/scancode table with the ir-keytable command line tool. In the following example one will make some changes on the driver table used by the nuvoton remote shipped with the Xtreamer Ultra V1. This example can be adapted to any remote.

By default, after using the inputlirc method on ubuntu 13.04, the subtitle, tilte and enter button are mapped like this for this remote on this HTPC :

One will change the driver table to map those 3 buttons like this :

• First install the ir-keytable package

• Stop or kill any lirc daemon (inputlircd or lircd)

• Launch ir-keytable in test mode for the remote and read the scancode sent by pressing the buttons :

The output looks like this :

By analyzing the ouput, one can determine the the button/scancode association :

• Dump the driver table into /etc/lirc/myirtable.cfg

• Analyse the table file and grep the line corresponding to KEY_TITLE, KEY_SUBTITLE and KEY_SELECT

As you can see, KEY_SELECT is not associated to any scancode, KEY_TITLE is associated to the subtitle button scancode and KEY_SUBTITLE is associate to a non existent scancode.

• Before procedding, it is necessary to know the key hex value associated to KEY_SELECT

Those are located in the kernel source code in include/uapi/linux/input.h file. One can browse the source code here : [2]

• Edit the table file dumped before to have this button key association :

after modifying the KEY_TITLE,KEY_SUBTITLE lines and adding the KEY_SELECT line the edited part should look like this :

• Make sure with your favorite tool that there isn’t two lines with the same scancode fot those buttons in the file and save it.

• Clear the driver table and update it with the table file :

• To make the changes persistent upon reboot add those 2 last command above to /etc/rc.local

• One can now test if everything works correctly with ir-keytable test mode, then restart inputlirc or lircd and launch xbmc

2.2 Edit LircMap.xml and Keyboard.xml

First thing to do is to check the LircMap.xml located in

One can acquire the button key values with the help of irw and then edit this file to better suits our needs. This can even be mandatory sometimes.

For instance some remotes will send KEY_NUMERIC_1 instead of KEY_1 for the numeric pad. It is then necessary to edit the file at the correponding remote section from

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MCE remote controls

Remote controls

MCE remote controls

MCE remotes are cheap and easy remotes to use with Kodi which are readily available in most computer hardware stores or online.

MCE remotes typically come with a USB IR receiver, making them a very good first remote.

Kodi is designed so that most buttons on an MCE remote work straight away with no editing or setting up. Just connect the receiver and away you go.

MCE remotes split into two main categories:

• MCE remotes that send keystrokes
• Windows remotes (a.k.a RC6 or eHome remotes) using the Microsoft eHome device driver to send commands

For more details on MCE remotes see:

Customizing buttons through the GUI

Users can customize keymaps for remotes in GUI by using the community add-ons MCERemote or Keymap Editor add-on.

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1 Overview of LIRC

1.1 Historical Information

Modern Linux kernels «unify» input signals from any input device (keyboard, mouse, remote control, touchscreen, etc.) via the Linux User API Input Subsystem, or UAPI.

Prior to the input subsystem, Infrared Remote (IR) controls were integrated to Linux via LIRC.

Kodi came into being before UAPI existed, and thus relied exclusively on LIRC. Thus, when UAPI arrived, Kodi and IR remotes looked like this:

As the UAPI matured, LIRC adopted the ability to use both pathways — UAPI and LIRC, allowing for:

However, Kodi (to this day) still relies on the to-the-right-of-the-kernel aspects of LIRC. This is why LIRC setup can be so confusing.

If setting LIRC up with Linux, one needs to focus on using one path from the kernal to LIRC (via UAPI, or via LIRC’s kernel device driver). Modern Linux kernels should focus on using the UAPI sequence. As Kodi continues to evolve, using the UAPI layer directly allows it to take advantage of non-IR-remote input controls, say an eyeball tracker, or voice controller.

This page assumes the UAPI -> LIRC -> Kodi route. If the older (and should be discontinued approach) is used, it is called out.

1.2 How LIRC works with Kodi

To help understand how Kodi interacts with LIRC, consider the following scenario:

You push a button on your remote (LIRC config file lircd.conf ), That button is seen by the Kodi translator (Kodi LIRC mapping file Lircmap.xml ), Kodi starts the requested command (Kodi remote control mapping file remote.xml ).

• You press: KEY_GO is the actual button name on the remote in lircd.conf

• LIRC «sees» the remote code, which is translated by the Lircmap.xml in Kodi’s LIRC mapping file:
  • And maps: KEY_GO
  • Into the Kodi remote control command of:
  • and executes the internal Play command inside of Kodi.

Whatever value is there is the REAL name of our button on the remote as defined in lircd.conf. Remember, we can map any button to any function. The actual name of the button could be STOP if we wanted to (kinda dumb but it could be) The REAL button name on the remote is NOT required to have anything to logically do with the name of the command you want to perform

Just to illustrate we called it the KEY_GO button

So to sum it up

• Kodi sent a command (Remember we are going in reverse) called Play

• That Play command is tied to the Lircmap.xml

  is tied to the real button on the remote that is called KEY_GO in lircd.conf

1.2.1 Stale LIRCD conf file

2 Installation

Generally, lirc is installed as a dependency by any system that requires it when installing Kodi.

2.1 Re-installing LIRC

TODO — clarify new vs. old dependencies

If for whatever reason you have to install/reinstall lirc, note that the manual says systemctl should be configured to enable/start lircd.socket, and lircd.socket will start lircd.service itself. This is NOT the case if you’re installing for Kodi: Kodi will open its own socket, so you should enable *only* lircd.service for it to function properly.

2.2 lircmap.xml

A custom Lircmap.xml — This file merely defines the translation, bridging a LIRC_button to a XBMC_button. The file is literally named Lircmap.xml and is stored in the userdata directory. Do not confuse the Lircmap.xml with Keyboard.xml.

LIRC_Button — what your lircd.conf calls the physical button on your remote control.

XBMC_button — an Kodi internal button title.

device name — is defined in your lircd.conf file in the «name» field.

This information can be had using the test application «irw» and then hitting some buttons.

2.2.1 File format

Lircmap.xml format is as follows:

2.2.2 Device name

The device name is defined in your lircd.conf file in the «name» field. This information can be had using the test application «irw» and then hitting some buttons.

2.2.3 Kodi button names

There are two type of Kodi_buttons in Kodi.

• Predefined Buttons are labelled using their button title such as:

These buttons are predefined in keymap.xml and handle all functions needed for a working system. For a complete list of buttons see Keymap#Remotes.

• Customized buttons are for people who require more buttons than are defined by default. For example;

2.3 Testing Lirc Output

use the command ‘irw’ to test your LIRC configuration

In this example Cyp_Se_WitheHome is the device name ARROW_UP, VOLUME_UP, NUMPAD_6, INFO are button names

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