I am trying to setup my Flirc with the Nexus Player, for both native NP keys and the full spectrum of XBMC/kodi keys. I have all of the kodi keys working properly and the UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, SELECT and PLAY/PAUSE buttons work just fine on the main Nexus Player interface. However, the mapped BACK and MENU keys are not working. For those that don't know, a Flirc USB devices presents itself as a standard keyboard to the Nexus Player and can be programmed on your PC to learn remote control commands to activate specific generic keyboard combinations.
If anyone has a standard keyboard hooked up to their NP either via Blutooth or USB OTG, can you tell me which keys correspond to the BACK and HOME functions on the Nexus Player or if those functions are working at all on your keyboard?
Thanks.
Elrondolio said:
I am trying to setup my Flirc with the Nexus Player, for both native NP keys and the full spectrum of XBMC/kodi keys. I have all of the kodi keys working properly and the UP, DOWN, LEFT, RIGHT, SELECT and PLAY/PAUSE buttons work just fine on the main Nexus Player interface. However, the mapped BACK and MENU keys are not working. For those that don't know, a Flirc USB devices presents itself as a standard keyboard to the Nexus Player and can be programmed on your PC to learn remote control commands to activate specific generic keyboard combinations.
If anyone has a standard keyboard hooked up to their NP either via Blutooth or USB OTG, can you tell me which keys correspond to the BACK and HOME functions on the Nexus Player or if those functions are working at all on your keyboard?
Thanks.
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I haven't tested this yet, but typically the Windows key + ESC = HOME (or, depending, sometimes the HOME key itself on a keyboard). BACK is typically the ESC key by itself.
My FLIRC arrived yesterday -- just haven't configured it yet. I'll give it a whirl and get back to you!
PearcePowers said:
I haven't tested this yet, but typically the Windows key + ESC = HOME (or, depending, sometimes the HOME key itself on a keyboard). BACK is typically the ESC key by itself.
My FLIRC arrived yesterday -- just haven't configured it yet. I'll give it a whirl and get back to you!
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Thank you. I got the back key working correctly (and, in the NP, it is indeed ESC), but you'll have to go in to XBMC/kodi and add in the keymapper in programs then globally change ESC to be BACKSPACE and BACKSPACE to be ESC. Otherwise the NP back key would be "previous menu" in kodi. Make sure to update your Flirc with the full keyboard template to change the ESC key to your remote button you wish. Once done, both the NP and kodi see ESC as the back key.
I still haven't figured out the HOME key yet... I have a "HOME" special button atop my wireless keyboard that works, but I can't scancode it properly so I'm not sure what it is yet (I've read it may be scancode 57, but thats normally "space", so not sure and haven't tested it yet) I'll see if WIN+ESC works from my keyboard when I get home tomorrow. Hope to hear your experiences as well... thanks.
Elrondolio said:
I'll see if WIN+ESC works from my keyboard when I get home tomorrow. Hope to hear your experiences as well... thanks.
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I tested the following three keyboard commands -- WIN + ESC, ALT + ESC, and HOME -- and none work in the Nexus Player to take you home. Grr. I've got everything working but the HOME key as well.
PearcePowers said:
I tested the following three keyboard commands -- WIN + ESC, ALT + ESC, and HOME -- and none work in the Nexus Player to take you home. Grr. I've got everything working but the HOME key as well.
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There is a topic about this over on the Flirc forums that you may want to follow:
http://forum.flirc.tv/index.php?/topic/1219-flirc-and-android-tv-adt-1/
I have a wireless keyboard that has extra media keys including a Home key (not the regular Home, End, etc). It works just like the Home key on the NP remote. I'm not at home right now, but had hooked it up to one of my laptops and that special Home key sends key code 172.
We just need to figure out how to teach Flirc that key code then map one of our remote buttons to that key.
Elrondolio said:
There is a topic about this over on the Flirc forums that you may want to follow:
http://forum.flirc.tv/index.php?/topic/1219-flirc-and-android-tv-adt-1/
I have a wireless keyboard that has extra media keys including a Home key (not the regular Home, End, etc). It works just like the Home key on the NP remote. I'm not at home right now, but had hooked it up to one of my laptops and that special Home key sends key code 172.
We just need to figure out how to teach Flirc that key code then map one of our remote buttons to that key.
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Any luck with the home key and Flirc? I noticed no one has responded over in the Flirc forums yet.
PearcePowers said:
Any luck with the home key and Flirc? I noticed no one has responded over in the Flirc forums yet.
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Not as yet. It seems more complicated than I first thought... the record_api function of flirc_util.exe can map HID commands to remote control buttons, but finding the correct HID for "Home" is difficult. There are thousands of HID commands as referenced in this document:
http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/Hut1_12v2.pdf
We're looking at the ones in the Consumer Page starting on page 75. There is a special modifier in the second argument of Firc's record_api, 102, that supposedly tells the Flirc to reference that Consumer Page, but finding the "Home" key for the first argument of record_api is difficult. In other words: no. No luck yet, but still trying.
It'd probably be useful if you were to post a thread over there asking for help with the Home key on the Nexus Player as well. I'd imagine the higher the request for it the more eyes it'll receive.
Could be something that could be setup in llama or tasker? Set NP to listen for XYZ key command and then "Go Home". Just a thought.
Elrondolio said:
Not as yet. It seems more complicated than I first thought... the record_api function of flirc_util.exe can map HID commands to remote control buttons, but finding the correct HID for "Home" is difficult. There are thousands of HID commands as referenced in this document:
http://www.usb.org/developers/hidpage/Hut1_12v2.pdf
We're looking at the ones in the Consumer Page starting on page 75. There is a special modifier in the second argument of Firc's record_api, 102, that supposedly tells the Flirc to reference that Consumer Page, but finding the "Home" key for the first argument of record_api is difficult. In other words: no. No luck yet, but still trying.
It'd probably be useful if you were to post a thread over there asking for help with the Home key on the Nexus Player as well. I'd imagine the higher the request for it the more eyes it'll receive.
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Did you manage to map a true home function to your Flirc device, Elrondolio? The ALT + ESC key combination works okay for me in most cases although it doesn't work when I use Kodi. It's still better than no home functionality at all, though, so at least I won't always have to use the original Nexus Player remote when I need that feature. There's another thread at the Flirc forum which discusses this topic at http://forum.flirc.tv/index.php?/topic/1462-flirc-with-android-tv/.
ALT + TAB seems to be the ideal key combination to use for the home button. It works no matter which app you're in and although it causes the Nexus Player to display "your recent screens appear here" when you use that key combination, the on-screen message disappears as soon as you release the button.
Now if I can just figure out how to use the Nexus Player's Leanback keyboard with my universal remote so that I can select on-screen keys for searches instead of having the ENTER button close the keyboard off, that would make things just about perfect.
I was the one that posted in Flirc forum about the alt+tab for home.
For search using on-screen, map flirc to window key using command. then combine this key with navigation right key using your universal remote, such as logitech. so WIN + Right will launch search with on screen keyboard to type.
Thanks for posting your solution in the Flirc forum. I'm not trying to map a command to launch an on-screen keyboard but I'm trying to see if I can find a way to press the keys on the Leanback keyboard using my universal remote. This isn't a problem with some apps like Netflix or Kodi that have their own keyboards but for the Leanback keyboard that's used in apps like Google Play and YouTube, pressing the ENTER button on a universal remote causes the keyboard to close off. This problem does not exist with the original Nexus Player remote's select button because it is context-sensitive.
Elrondolio said:
If anyone has a standard keyboard hooked up to their NP either via Blutooth or USB OTG, can you tell me which keys correspond to the BACK and HOME functions on the Nexus Player or if those functions are working at all on your keyboard?
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Back: Esc
Home: Alt+Esc
Unfortunately, the ALT + TAB key combination is not an ideal option for use with Android 6.0 Marshmallow. It actually brings up the recent apps screen and doesn't give the user easy access to the home screen (unless the recent apps screen is empty). I'll have to reprogram my Flirc back to ALT + ESC for the home screen function until someone finds a better solution for Android 6.0.
I don't have a nexus player but these issues sound similar to the shield tv.
To fix the Enter key issue with the onscreen keyboard, us the flirc_util to record the keypad's enter key (a different dev id than the other enter/return key):
HTML:
flirc_util.exe record_api 0 88
To record the Home button (that works from Kodi too), record Windows Key + Enter (the main Enter key works fine for this). Again, I don't have a nexus player but I assume it will work for it as well.
whiskaz77 said:
I don't have a nexus player but these issues sound similar to the shield tv.
To fix the Enter key issue with the onscreen keyboard, us the flirc_util to record the keypad's enter key (a different dev id than the other enter/return key):
HTML:
flirc_util.exe record_api 0 88
To record the Home button (that works from Kodi too), record Windows Key + Enter (the main Enter key works fine for this). Again, I don't have a nexus player but I assume it will work for it as well.
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I tried out these key combinations with my Flirc on the Nexus Player and am happy to report that everything now works perfectly! Thank you kindly for sharing that useful information here with the rest of us.
GabbyWC said:
I tried out these key combinations with my Flirc on the Nexus Player and am happy to report that everything now works perfectly! Thank you kindly for sharing that useful information here with the rest of us.
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Great! Happy to help. I'm glad it worked. Thanks for reporting back!
Windows Key + Enter => Home worked for me too!!! Kodi, Netflix and other apps now behave fine. Thanks a lot @whiskaz77
Hi everyone!
I noticed that some of you are having problems getting the C.T.R.L.R to work with RetroArch. Here is what I did.
Go to Settings > Input and uncheck Configuration Autodetection > Enable. Scroll down and open Player 1 Custom Binds. For each button open the configuration menu, select Detect and press the appropriate button on your C.T.R.L.R in GameSmart mode. It's useful to continual switch between mouse mode for easily operating the configuration menu and GameSmart mode for assigning the single buttons.
At the end your configuration should look like this:
Up Button: Dpad Up
Down Button: Dpad Down
Left Button: Dpad Left
Right Button: Dpad Right
A Button: Button B
B Button: Button A
X Button: Button Y
Y Button: Button X
Start Button: Button Start
Select Button: Media Play Pause (see annotation below)
L1 Button: Button L1
R1 Button: Button R1
L2 Button: Unbound (see annotation below)
R2 Button: Unbound (see annotation below)
L3 Button: ThumbL
R3 Button: ThumbR
Better use one of the media buttons instead of the Back button for Select to be able to access the RetroArch GUI during gameplay if Settings > Input > Back behavior was set to GUI toggle.
The button setup menu doesn't recognize the L2 and R2 buttons. Nevertheless they work properly in cores which support them.
If you have got a second controller repeat this procedure with Player 2 Custom Binds.
Using analog sticks
Support for analog sticks depends on emulation cores. From the RetroArch GUI set Settings > Input Options > Device Type: Joypad w/ Analog and Analog D-pad Mode: Dual Analog. Then check the Core Options for a controller type option, for example Dualshock Analog Toggle: Enabled on Mednafen PSX or Pad 1 Type: Analog on PCSX ReARMed.
Unfortunately PCSX ReARMed only supports the left analog stick as an alternative for the DPAD and only for the first controller. Using both sticks equivalent to turning on the analog mode on an original PlayStation Dual Shock controller doesn't seem to work.
Issues
Currently I don't get the anolog sticks to work with emulation cores even if I set Settings > Input Options > Device Type: Joypad w/ Analog and Analog D-pad Mode: Dual Analog. If anyone has an idea please let me know.
Troubleshooting
Sometimes your second controller isn't recognized by emulation cores even if it works in the main menu. Quit RetroArch, restart it and start a game using your second controller. Now both controllers should work. Please note that not every core supports multiple controllers, for example bSNES does, SNES9x doesn't.
Kokosnuss said:
The button setup menu doesn't recognize the L2 and R2 buttons. Nevertheless they work properly in cores which support them.
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Good thread, I don't use retroarch, I found it not as up to date as the main emu apps but it's a nice 'all in one' app
But re L2/R2, these are analog triggers and some emulators don't recognize them, switch the CTRLR to PC mode, it changes R2/L2 to digital and should work 'digitally'
re the 'anolog sticks' that's really strange search google, see if the emulator supports PS3/4, x360, etc analog sticks?
It could be limited (programmed) to only moga pads etc and hasn't (yet?) implemented google's controller standard.
Ask on their forums for google controller standard support.
There's many apps that haven't caught up, it's still newish 1-2years old now.
Just use the latest nightly build, it doesn't need to be configured
https://www.dropbox.com/sh/91sakv0qdyxjx9f/AAAKWBfDHBtIQtNfnp4rlyXea?dl=0
Thank you for your feedback.
@gwaldo
When I switch to PC mode the back button doesn't work as back button. Therefore I prefer using GameSmart mode.
@opiate81
I didn't have any luck trying nightlies so far. Will wait for the next stable release.
Okay, I found a solution for using analog sticks. See edited post.
Hi everbody,
I was playing with a USB keyboard that I connected to my fireTV and I have noticed something that I haven't read in the forums yet.
- The key used by the FireTV remote control for Home button is the Multimedia Key for "ZoomOut" in the browser.
- And the Key that is used to trigger the Microphone corresponds to the "ZoomIn" in the browser.
Maybe these ones are useful to @rbox (I know that he has already the Xposed module to overwrite the Home button), but maybe the mic can be associated with Google Search instead. Or with the voice search in kodi. That way we get rid of the keyboard.
Or maybe they are useful to @elmerohueso to create another addon to map them.
On my side I just connected a flirc and I am programming it with power button, volume from my AVR, subtitles search, etc.
However, I love the fireTV remote and I believe that there is no real need for a keyboard if the voice funcionality can be replaced by a voice keyboard.
I have a Samsung TV and I want to use my TV remote to control Shield TV (over HDMI-CEC). This mostly works with one inconvenient problem. Android Back button is mapped to Samsung Exit button. Regular Samsung remotes have Return and Exit buttons and if you are using this remote then it's ok. But higher end Samsung TVs have Samsung smart remote and it only has Return button. The Return button also works as a Exit button if you hold it down for 2 seconds, but that's really inconvenient.
For me it would make a lot more sense if the Android Back button would be mapped to Samsung Return button and if possible then Android Home to Samsung Exit.
I have no idea why or who (Google, Nvidia or Samsung?) mapped the buttons as they are, but it is not usable for me. So is there any chance we can remap HDMI-CEC buttons?
I'm also looking at this thread. Interested to know if its possible.
if u can block the IR sensor, and just get a FLIRC, u can remap any or all functionality
I did some research and it seems it's Samsung's fault. Samsung has mapped it's Exit button to HDMI-CEC KEY_BACK. And the Return buttun is mapped to HDMI-CEC KEY_EXIT (it appears only Samsung is using it). Some manufacturers have added this Samsung specific button to their devices (PS3 for example) and considering that Samsung has the biggest TV market share, I think Nvidia should have added it too.
It seems it is possible to remap HDMI-CEC buttons by editing .kl files in /system/usr/keylayout/. It appears to be using Generic.kl file if there is no hdmi_cec_keys.kl file in that folder. I don't have root, so i cant test this at the moment.
Unfortunately it seems that we can't map Samsung Return button to anything, because Samsung specific KEY_EXIT is missing in kernel. So we would need to find someone who knows how to modify kernel and compile it for us Samsung TV users. Someone has done this for some other Android box there > https://github.com/hardkernel/linux/pull/178/commits/96e8846f78b077add5fdc8a93235deefd262f71b
Any devs here who could make this fix?