BT Keyboard

[nsviper]

Just in the process of trying out XBian on my Raspberry Pi - so far seems more stable to me than Openelec and Raspbian - haven't had the occasional boot issues I've had with the other 2.

So now I'm trying to get a Bluetooth mini keyboard working with it. The USB BT adapter is available and listed in the console when i run "lsusb", but when I try and run hcitool its saying its not installed.

So I had a look at the guide on http://www.ctheroux.com/2012/08/a-step-by-step-guide-to-setup-a-bluetooth-keyboard-and-mouse-on-the-raspberry-pi/ but when I do the apt-get install bluetooth bluez-utils blueman it comes up with a massive list of dependancies (about 100) that I'm not sure I want to install - I don't want to bork the xbian installation.

I have got the BT keyboard and adapter working previously on an HTPC install using XBMC's XBMCbuntu install so I'm ok with running linux commands etc via PuTTY.

Can anyone assist or point me in the right direction?

Are there any specific XBian steps to get BT running or am I ok to follow the instructions in the link above and install all those dependancies?

The reason I'm doing it is to get my Pi with a USB powered hub and a small USB disk drive (Freecom XXS 1TB) and the BT keyboard as a "mobile" media centre - the BT keyboard is incase any TV I plug it into doesn't support HDMI CEC.

Thanks in advance.

[nsviper]

Anyone?

[Koenkk]

Try following those instructions first, let us know if it works

[nsviper]

Ok, so finally had a chance to play about with this.

Followed the instructions on the post (the 100 or so dependencies for the bluetooth install was a bit eek! but everything ran through ok), and in the console have got the bluetooth keyboard paired, trusted, and working, and can type on it in the console.

However, after reboot and going straight into XBMC, the keyboard is not working. Using TV Remote Control (HDMI-CEC) to EXIT from XBMC back to the xbian console and straight away the keyboard works fine.

So keyboard is good in the console but unresponsive once XBMC starts.

Not sure where to go next - Anyone got any ideas?

[Koenkk]

@nvsiper does it working in XBMC when executing the following commands?

Code:

sudo service xbmc stop
sudo /etc/init.d/xbmc/xbmc.bin

[nsviper]

(22nd Jan, 2013 01:33 AM)Koenkk Wrote:  @nvsiper does it working in XBMC when executing the following commands?

Code:

sudo service xbmc stop
sudo /etc/init.d/xbmc/xbmc.bin

1st command stops XBMC running
2nd command says command not found

However, running /usr/local/lib/xbmc/xbmc/bin kicks xbmc into life....but no BT keyboard :/

[Koenkk]

Sorry made a mistake sudo /etc/init.d/xbmc/xbmc.bin should be sudo /usr/local/lib/xbmc/xbmc.bin.

Can you try if this solution solves the problem? https://github.com/OpenELEC/OpenELEC.tv/issues/306

[nsviper]

Me again Koenkk,

Checked that link and confirmed that DisablePlugins=input is already commented out in bluetooth's main.conf.

However for some bizarre reason, the KB suddenly started working in XBMC!!! So all is good

Thanks for your help!

---

and then it stops again after an restart ! argh - ok will keep investigating :/

[nsviper]

It seems to be a timing issue.

By the look of it, if I turn on the BT keyboard just before XBMC kicks in (and after you see all the xbian status messaging starting up services etc) then the BT keyboard is available within XBMC.

But power it on too early or once XBMC has started and the BT keyboard doesn't work inside XBMC.