Using The Gyration Media Center Remote With Linux

Bruce Perens writes "The Gyration Media Center Remote is a radio keyboard and mouse with 100-foot range. The mouse uses an accelerometer rather than a mouse wheel, and thus has the unique feature that you can make mouse gestures in the air. The mouse should be perfect for a public speaker who wants to move around during a speech, without giving up control of his laptop. It would also make a nifty remote for a Linux PVR user, since it has VCR controls and channel and volume buttons. But does it work with Linux?" Bruce Perens tried it out and says the answer is a qualified Yes.

Comments

Price qualifies for a big NO

[Kosi]

$ 180.- is very overpriced for a cordless keyboard and mouse, even with this fancy mouse-in-the-air.

Re:Price qualifies for a big NO

[The Spoonman]

very overpriced for a cordless keyboard and mouse

Especially if the quality is anywhere near the original Ultra GT set. I bought this set for use with my HTPC, and after only a year, half the keys don't work and both of the mouse buttons are stuck in the down position. A quick look at their store tells me I'm prolly not the only one since they've got enough returns on them to open a "refurbished" store.

Re:Price qualifies for a big NO

[DHR]

Funny, I have mine packaged up to be RMA'd right now because half the keys don't work.

Good hardware

[Pieroxy]

While I like the remote and keyboard a lot, there are two major issues for me to be the ultimate wireless combo for my media center:

1. They don't release it in Europe and don't plan to. RF norms are different over here...
2. There are no numbers, which means no keypad onto the remote. Painful if you want to switch from channel 1 to channel 74...

But otherwise, I've seen these at work and they are awsome. You can use the remote/mouse either as a regular optical mouse, or you can press a bice button and you can use it by just moving it in the air. After a 2 min practice, it's very usable.

I'd like one so much......

Fine print caveat

[Black Parrot]

> The mouse uses an accelerometer rather than a mouse wheel, and thus has the unique feature that you can make mouse gestures in the air.

"Not recommended for use on airplanes, spacecraft, ships, boats, elevators, or rollercoasters."

No....

[kmmatthews]

Actually, it was submitted by Bruce Perens, who .. uh, well, runs technocrat.net. It's *his* content, and he can post it anywhere he likes.

In other words, one author can't plagarise himself, no matter how hard he may try.

Funny name..

[kaedemichi255]

Is that a gyration media center remote in your pants, or are you just happy to see me?

Re:Not for presentations

[Pieroxy]

If you only tried to read the fscking article, you would have read that the author covered that very question:

"However, all of the Bluetooth remote controls and remote mice available today are Class 3, and only have about 30 feet range"

There you go.

Computers, BAH

[anum]

How often have we seen this:
"And the good news is that a properly-configured Linux system will work with the device. But it took me a while to figure out that my system wasn't configured properly."

And this is BRUCE PERENS for goodness sake! If he can't get it right who can? I realise that he did figure it out but it sounds like it was frustrating and I can imagine how much more frustrating it would be for someone who doesn't understand the system as well as he does. NOTE: I said THE SYSTEM not Linux!

I just had an issue with an old flatbed scanner on WinXP for instance. It works fine on the system it usually stays on but refuses to work on my new laptop or any other system. I'm sure that "my system wasn't configured properly." And if I knew what to change it would work.

On the other hand, I have several remotes including two from http://www.hometheatermaster.com/ which have always worked flawlessly with all kinds of consumer equipment. TVs, Radios, DVD players you name it. They just work. When will PCs catch up? I don't care if it runs MS or Linux or BSD (though open source is prefered) if it just works it will be an improvement. Maybe it's time to try Apple after all?

I'm glad he got it to work but from the quote above I doubt that I could. The plus side of Linux and open source in general is that I could probably find someone to help me out but it's not guaranteed.

Oh well, I guess that scanner thing annoyed me more than I thought! Sorry for the rant.

Re:Computers, BAH

[Bruce Perens]

I did learn a lesson from this which will be applied to UserLinux. The installer was putting "usbmouse" in the modules list instead of "usbhid", it's not going to do that any longer. This is the result of evolution in Linux drivers - the HID driver came after the USB keyboard and mouse drivers, takes over their job and does it better, although this was not communicated well enough for me to find out until now. I agree that "mere mortals" have zero chance of finding this out and can only hope that their system installation program gets it right.

Thanks

Bruce

Re:Computers, BAH

[zogger]

dislclaimer-I work at technocrat, but I joined there first from the stated reason, to have a more mature forum (ie, less bogus trolling posts and whatnot) than ..well, here for instance..

With that said, you'll find across the net at news places that allow commentary, it's frequently the case that original sources of the news get very little in the way of comments to their articles, yet at the large sites like slashdot that aggregate and repost, that they get quite a few. It's a normal occurrence and not just limited to technocrat. Each fills a niche in a way, and choice is good. I'll give you another example, exactly similar as it was written by Bruce. He wrote a very long and quite decent piece on soiftware patents, etc, that was published at Technocrat.net, but it was rejected at Slashdot. Personally, I don't see why, as it was easily better than quite a few of the articles posted here on any given day. So, realistically, I have no idea how many people actually saw it. If people only or primarily look at Slashdot, they miss quite a lot of tech news. So sites like Technocrat.net serve a purpose, even if people merely add it to their RSS feeds and click over for things they are interested in. As large as Slashdot is, it can't cover everything.

Re:Computers, BAH

[iabervon]

You're right to fault the communication rather than the documentation. The 2.6.4 config help for CONFIG_USB_MOUSE (which gives usbmouse) says "If even remotely unsure, say N." The help for CONFIG_USB_HID says "If unsure, say Y." Once you say what the problem is, it's trivial to find why it's wrong, but finding the solution in the first place is difficult (especially if the symptom is "basic mouse functionality works, but not more"). It's particularly difficult to realize that you're doing something wrong when the answer used to be that Linux didn't support the extra features.

As for improving the communication, it would be nice if information could be used in checking over installers out of the kernel documentation. Since people tend to say M for everything possible, it would be really nice if there were a way to get from a module name to the help for it, and also get the suggestion automatically. Then you could take a module list and say, "Is there anything discouraged that I'm loading? Is there anything encouraged that I'm not loading?"

Re:There are versions sold in europe

[LiquidCoooled]

I have a wireless mouse that communicates with its own geostationary satellite.
I can use it anywhere from within the UK, and surrounding parts of Europe.
It works a treat, and allows me to mouse from anywhere.
However, after a few seconds of use, the dish and battery pack makes my arm somewhat tired and I have to drop it quick.

Does anyone know where I can get some steroids from? ;)

Re:WTF

[Bruce Perens]

It's a hardware review. I don't have any deal with Gyration. If I did, I'd tell them to offer Linux support :-) I do buy hardware from time to time, and make it work with Linux, and it's nice to tell other people that it can work with Linux and how to do it..

Bruce

Re:Mirror

[Bruce Perens]

The server seems to be staying up, click the original rather than the mirror.

Re:WTF

[LiquidCoooled]

Hang on, he got the bloody thing working in Linux. The company don't market this towards Linux, they don't supply drivers, he now has information available for other Linux users who want to use this. This is true linux spirit and not selling out at all.

From the looks of the review, he wasn't sent this item by the company, he went out and got something which looks cool.
I've seen them myself, and the only thing preventing me from getting one was cost.

tbh as well, I don't mind if people "sellout", we are all trying to make ourselves and our families lives better, and money does that job a lot easier.
Get what you can when you can, cos you don't know what tomorrow will bring.

Re:And its a gyroscope anyway....

[Bruce Perens]

It actually only tracks when you squeeze the trigger. This takes a little getting used to. The trigger is on the bottom, the mouse buttons on top, so you end up using your thumb for the mouse buttons.

Thanks

Bruce

It *IS* available in Europe...

[Omicron32]

Look here.

We use these all the time at work (a UK high school) for use with the interactive whiteboards. Very cool devices, good range, the 3D use takes a bit of getting used too and works well - but the teachers can always use the pens on the whiteboard.

The mice charge up in a cradle and the keyboards take 4xAAA (or AA?) batteries that last for months.

Dead easy to setup too... No drivers needed so I'm pretty sure Linux support should work (haven't had a chance to sneak a set off-site yet and try it ;). Just plug the reciever into a USB port, plonk it in plain view, get the keyboard and mice talking to each other by pushing a few buttons and you're off.

£80 for keyboard+mouse from Dabs. Nice piece of kit, no doubt about it.

More Fancy Input Devices for Linux

[wehe]

There are many more fancy input devices working with Linux available, e.g. the Twiddler a tiny wrist keyboard made by Handykey.com, different Linux applications featuring your cell phone as a remote control and the WireLess NoteBook Presenter made by Targus; to name just a few. BTW: The WireLess NoteBook Presenter doesn't feature mouse gestures in the air, you have to provide mouse events by pushing a mouse button, but it works with Linux out of the box and seems much cheaper.

Re:Not for presentations

[trip23]

The OS X Shareware you mentioned, which allows Bluetooth-Phones to remotley control your Mac is correctly spelled: Salling Clicker. That said, there's also a GPL'd one available. It's called Romeo http://www.irowan.com/romeo/ and I am happily controlling VLC/Mplayer from my armchair.

Works for me

[robsteele]

I've been using their full size keyboard and mouse with Fedora for a year. They're just USB devices to Linux. They reduce clutter and are great for conference rooms because they're easy to pass around between speakers. Make sure you have plenty of batteries though.

I paid $105 for the Ultra and no problems in Linux

[Rufosx]

The ultra is just fine. If you need a full remote, get a nice all-in-one on the side, it's still cheaper than the Media Center package and will work better. I use mine with a Fedora Core 3 system running MythTV and I had to do absolutely zero to get it to work perfectly right out of the box.

Remote Wonder

[Chanc_Gorkon]

I have a ATI Remote Wonder and I love this thing. It also works with Linux as well as Windows and Mac OS X.

http://remotew.free.fr/linux_en.htm

Re:And its a gyroscope anyway....

[hobbesx]

It actually only tracks when you squeeze the trigger.

If it's the same as my 30ft set, double clicking the trigger turns the tracking on until double-clicked again.

these are cool

[comet69]

I have one as well, but not this particular model.. and it doesn't look like a remote control.. it looks like an actual mouse.. but it can ergonomically fit in your hand when you use it gyroscopically.. and when you set it down on a nice flat surface, it works just like a regular optical mouse..

i love it.. its fun getting use to using the mouse the gyroscopic way.. something different.. cool feel.. and ya don't need a surface.. if your arm gets tired, put the bitch on the table and its all good.. can't go wrong with these guys.. cept i hope the price goes down soon..