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Controlling Linux Using an Android Phone As Mouse, Keyboard, and Gamepad

Posted by timothy on from the purely-awesome dept.

beefsack writes "Miniand have demonstrated how to control Linux using a Samsung Galaxy S2. Using an MK802 with the ARM build of Droidmote server bundled into an MK802 Lubuntu image with uinput enabled, Miniand demonstrates (video) using an Android phone as a keyboard, mouse, and gamepad over Wi-Fi to the device." Update: 07/10 00:07 GMT by U L : reader ancienthart pointed toward Premotedroid, an (possibly, I could find no license in the code but the code is there) open source alternative.

7 of 93 comments (clear)

  1. Amazing by Osgeld · · Score: 4, Insightful

    using the latest in technology to emulate a handful of switches and a simple microcontroller, or a pair of rotary encoders and a simple micro, or some switches and a shift register

    Today, we have overcome all limits!

    sorry whats the point other than gee whiz factor? Its 20(fuckin)12, with a trip to radio shack a child could whip up a fart chair to signal keyboard input to any OS they choose for under 40 bucks.

    1. Re:Amazing by gman003 · · Score: 3, Informative

      with a trip to radio shack a child could whip up a fart chair to signal keyboard input to any OS they choose for under 40 bucks.

      I take it you haven't been to Radio Shack lately. The big shelf of resistors, capacitors, diodes, transistors and such? Gone, along with any employees that even remember it existed.

      I don't think they even have radios anymore. Just overpriced cables and cell phones.

  2. Open source alternative by ancienthart · · Score: 4, Informative

    Premotedroid does this for (android) mouse and keyboard already. It's open source, works using bluetooth or wifi, and on any computer with java.

  3. Re:Backward progress... by TuringCheck · · Score: 5, Insightful

    All my recent phones and tables (Nokia, Apple, Samsung) have Bluetooth, WiFi, mobile data. Only one of my computers (a laptop whose LCD died some years ago) had Blutooth on-board.

    There's also the very complex way of understanding and negotiating Bluetooth profiles. Each and every feature that is defined over Bluetooth has multiple variations and quirks and can (and do) fail in mysterious ways and are pretty hard to debug. Not to mention that some of them need specific support in the hardware.

    OTOH WiFi and IP networks in general just move packets. And they're pretty standard and interoperable.

  4. progress by hackstraw · · Score: 3, Funny

    Taking the best thing from a normal computer and using the worst things about android and what do you get???? hopefully they are not using swipe and having it crash all the time.

  5. Re:Rube-goldberg by thePowerOfGrayskull · · Score: 3, Informative

    Um, it would work on a desktop with wired ethernet too... It's only the phone which would need to use wifi...

  6. Re:Rube-goldberg by KClaisse · · Score: 3, Informative

    Its not the desktop that needs the wifi its the android device. The android phone connects to the local network through wifi, presumably the same network that the desktop PC is located on.