Archive:VRC-1100

VRC-1100

General Configuration

See bellow for Ubuntu specific notes

There is no manufacturer's name on this remote or the manual, but they appear to be from Ortek (http://www.ortek.com/html/pdt_view.asp?area=25&cat=154&sn=65). They are widely available on eBay. Maplin UK also sell an own-brand remote control (product code N18HC) that seems to be identical, and it is also sold as Hama 52451. The remote simulates the MS Media Center keypresses and will work out of the box on Windows, Linux and probably OSX. It also simulates a mouse, although it's no match for a proper mouse or trackpad.

Note that the the i button sends a right mouse click, which isn't much use in XBMC as the right click can't be mapped to an action. There is no way round this without using some helper app like Eventghost, but the Info action could be mapped to one of the other buttons.

If you want to add mappings for the four colored keys and the four keys below them here are the entries you need in keyboard.xml. The top left (Internet Explorer) key can't be trapped through keyboard.xml, but in appcommand.xml this button is <browser_home>.

<t mod="ctrl,shift">Notification(Key, Yellow, 3)</t> <!-- Yellow button -->
<m mod="ctrl">Notification(Key, Blue, 3)</m>         <!-- Blue button -->
<i mod="ctrl">Notification(Key, Green, 3)</i>        <!-- Green button -->
<e mod="ctrl">Notification(Key, Red, 3)</e>          <!-- Red button -->
<o mod="ctrl">Notification(Key, u/Yellow, 3)</o>     <!-- Button under Yellow -->
<g mod="ctrl">Notification(Key, u/Blue, 3)</g>       <!-- Button under Blue -->
<t mod="ctrl">Notification(Key, u/Green, 3)</t>      <!-- Button under Green -->
<m mod="ctrl,shift">Notification(Key, u/Red, 3)</m>  <!-- Button under Red -->

The * button sends a numpad-* keypress. XBMC v10.1 sees this as <eight>. XBMC v11.0 sees it as <numpadtimes>.

The # button sends a sequence of keypresses: numlock, alt, numpad-three, numpad-five, numlock. This generates a keypress with the ascii value 35 i.e. '#'. In v10.1 you can map this using <five mod="alt">.

Ubuntu Specific Configuration

The following information was based on Ubuntu 14.10 w/ Unity + Kodi 15.0 rc2. Much of this was taken from Archived Wiki note How-to:Configure VRC-1100 remote for Ubuntu

Out of the box, the following keys do not make it to Kodi interface:

• Previous Track
• Play
• Next Track
• Stop
• Volume Up
• Volume Down
• Mute
• close
• Power

In the Ubuntu desktop, go to System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts (tab) > Sounds and Media and disable italicized above items by selecting them then pressing backspace.

Next go to System Settings > Keyboard > Shortcuts (tab) > Windows and disable "Close window" by selecting it then pressing backspace.

Power button is captured through a different interface. Open dconf-editor application. Browse down to org.gnome.settings-daemon.plugins.power by clicking on the black triangles next to each path element. Locate button-suspend and change it's setting to Nothing. NOTE: Although, this prevents the computer from shutting down, the key still doesn't make it into Kodi. This needs work. Holding Alt on the keyboard and pressing Power button on the remote does send "sleep" command to Kodi.

Mouse, left clock, right click, Info remain as mouse only functions.

Here is the file that describes all the buttons (except the mouse keys) on the VRC-1100 remote. Place this file into the following location:

~/.kodi/userdata/keymaps/keyboard.xml

<keymap>
  <global>
    <keyboard>
      <!-- ****************************************************** -->
      <!-- MS Media Center keyboard shortcuts sent by MCE remotes -->
      <!-- See http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/bb189249.aspx -->
      <!-- See MCE section in stock Kodi : https://github.com/xbmc/xbmc/blob/master/system/keymaps/keyboard.xml -->
      <!-- Actions list http://kodi.wiki/view/Action_IDs -->
      <!-- But, Ubuntu renames a lot of key combinations listed above. See wiki notes on VRC-1100 -->

      <browser_home>ActivateWindow(Home)</browser_home>       <!-- Explorer -->
      <!-- Power button will sleep Ubuntu computer by default.  And will not wake it up -->
      <!-- Doesn't work.  Try Alt + Power button to observe it in Debug log -->
      <sleep>ActivateWindow(shutdownmenu)</sleep>             <!-- Power -->

      <t mod="ctrl,shift">ActivateWindow(TVChannels)</t>      <!-- My TV -->
      <m mod="ctrl">ShowSubtitles</m>                         <!-- My music -->
      <i mod="ctrl">ActivateWindow(Videos,videodb://tvshows/titles/)</i>          <!-- My pictures -->
      <e mod="ctrl">Delete</e>                                <!-- My videos -->

      <o mod="ctrl">ActivateWindow(TVRecordings)</o>          <!-- Recorded TV -->
      <g mod="ctrl">ActivateWindow(TVGuide)</g>               <!-- Guide -->
      <t mod="ctrl">ActivateWindow(TVChannels)</t>            <!-- Live TV  -->
      <m mod="ctrl,shift">ContextMenu</m>                     <!-- DVD menu -->

      <f mod="ctrl,shift">FastForward</f>                     <!-- Fwd -->
      <b mod="ctrl,shift">Rewind</b>                          <!-- Rew -->

      <prev_track>PreviousScene</prev_track>                  <!-- Replay -->
      <play_pause>PlayPause</play_pause>                      <!-- Play -->
      <next_track>NextScene</next_track>                      <!-- Skip -->

      <stop>Stop</stop>                                       <!-- Stop -->
      <!-- Pause button sends play_pause -->                  <!-- Pause -->
      <r mod="ctrl">Record</r>                                <!-- Record -->

      <backspace>Back</backspace>                             <!-- Backspace -->
      <!-- Info is the same as Mouse Right Click -->          <!-- Info -->

      <up>Up</up>                                             <!-- Up -->
      <left>Left</left>                                       <!-- Left-->
      <return>Select</return>                                 <!-- OK -->
      <right>Right</right>                                    <!-- Right-->
      <down>Down</down>                                       <!-- Down-->

      <f10>VolumeUp</f10>                                     <!-- Vol up -->
      <f9>VolumeDown</f9>                                     <!-- Vol down -->
      <f8>Mute</f8>                                           <!-- Mute -->

      <pageup>PageUp</pageup>                                 <!-- Channel Up -->
      <pagedown>PageDown</pagedown>                           <!-- Channel Down -->


      <return mod="alt">ActivateWindow(Favourites)</return>   <!-- Start -->

      <!-- Number keys -->
      <numpadone>Number1</numpadone>                          <!-- 1 --> 
      <numpadtwo>Number2</numpadtwo>                          <!-- 2 --> 
      <numpadthree>Number3</numpadthree>                      <!-- 3 -->
      <numpadfour>Number4</numpadfour>                        <!-- 4 -->
      <numpadfive>Number5</numpadfive>                        <!-- 5 -->
      <numpadsix>Number6</numpadsix>                          <!-- 6 -->
      <numpadseven>Number7</numpadseven>                      <!-- 7 -->
      <numpadeight>Number8</numpadeight>                      <!-- 8 -->
      <numpadnine>Number9</numpadnine>                        <!-- 9 -->
      <numpadtimes>CreateBookmark</numpadtimes>               <!-- * -->
      <numpadzero>Number0</numpadzero>                        <!-- 0 -->
      <!-- # Sends NumLock, Alt, 3, 5, so it the same as "Alt+5" key -->   <!-- # -->
      <numpadfive mod="alt">reloadkeymaps</numpadfive>

      <!--Close will exit Kodi (or any other Ubuntu window)--> <!-- close -->
      <!-- Sometimes f4 and sometimes alt+f4 is detected by Kodi -->
      <f4 mod="alt">ToggleDebug</f4>
      <f4>ToggleDebug</f4>
      <escape>PreviousMenu</escape>                           <!-- clear -->
      <return>Select</return>                                 <!-- return -->

    </keyboard>
  </global>
</keymap>