Linux Final guide to use the PS3 BD remote on linux
#1
Im making this tutorial to help all the people who after so much
effort couldn't use their ps3 remote on their linux mint,
Ill try to be as clear as possible.

This guide is for noobs like me, advanced users could use other
possibilities to do it.

Hope you find this useful:

My setup is the following:

ZOTAC ZBOX HD-ID11 with 2gb ram and a ssd 64 gb
running Linux mint 14 cinnamon.

I guess this can also work on Ubuntu 12.10 but i haven't tried yet.


1) Delete Bluez (Bluez is the Bluetooth stack used on Linux mint 14)
because we wanna replace for a patched version with the PS3 BD
support. (1) important note: see at the bottom

Code:
sudo apt-get purge bluez


2) We are gonna add the repos to install the patched
version of bluez, we go to Software Sources/ Other Software and
click the add button. We do it one by one.

repo:

Code:
deb http://ppa.launchpad.net/kitlaan/ppa/ubuntu lucid main

deb-src http://ppa.launchpad.net/kitlaan/ppa/ubuntu lucid main

or via terminal with

Code:
sudo add-apt-repository ppa:kitlaan/ppa
sudo apt-get update

3) Now we need to force the system to install the patched bluez and
not the normal one. Therefor we do the following:

Code:
sudo gedit /etc/apt/preferences

and on the open file we add these lines at the end

Code:
Package: bluez
Pin: release o=LP-PPA-kitlaan
Pin-Priority: 700

Save and done.

4) Now we proceed to install the patched Bluez (2)

Code:
sudo apt-get install bluez

5) After we installed bluez we need to pair the remote to be able to use it

Code:
sudo apt-get install python-dbus python-gobject
sudo wget http://cl.ly/alzO/ps3pair.tar.gz
sudo tar xvfz ps3pair.tar.gz
cd ps3pair
sudo python ps3_pair.py

Now press START+Enter on your PS3 remote for at least 7 seconds, then it should detect the remote.
once detected your remote write down in a paper the mac address, its gonna look like this
[XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX] we are gonna need it for the next step.

6) Now we need to edit input.conf file to define some buttons and set the hibernation delay

Code:
sudo gedit /etc/bluetooth/input.conf

in this line we add our BD Remote Mac address and we delete
the # character in front of it:

Code:
# This section contains options that are specific to a device
[XX:XX:XX:XX:XX:XX]

In this file we can define which key is gonna be linked to which button on the remote

this is my input.conf, I changed the default one to fit my needs, you can do that as well
or use the default one.

LINK

To change the keys check this file to use the appropiate
linux code:

Keys and buttons:

LINK

6) Restart, it's quite sure that you are not gonna be able to see the linux mint gui anymore
because of purging Bluez, check the solution at the bottom.

7) This is a small trick that I did to get the remote to work.

Go to System Settings/Bluetooth
and delete the BD REMOTE Control listed
on Devices, then restart bluetooth service:

Code:
sudo service bluetooth restart

then we pair again with the script ps3pair.py.
and we go back to the Bluetooth settings, select
the BD Remote Control and click on the connection
option
to enable the remote.

done!

To check if is working open a terminal and hit some numbers on it.

8) Now it's the turn to edit the keyboard.xml to use the remote with XBMC
you can check mine, it's set to work together with my input.conf
you can make yours to suit your needs.

Paste it here : ~/.xbmc/userdata/keymaps (if you don't se the xbmc folder hit ctrl+H to unhide folders)

LINK


Troubleshooting

(1) Important note: when purging bluez the following important libraries
will be uninstalled from the system:

Code:
bluetooth* bluez* bluez-alsa* bluez-gstreamer* cinnamon*
  cinnamon-screensaver* gnome-bluetooth* gnome-user-share*
  indicator-bluetooth* mint-meta-cinnamon* nemo* nemo-fileroller* nemo-share*

once you're through the whole tutorial we can reinstall the most important ones
to have access to the system

Restart the system, you're gonna see the console, if not we go with ctrl+alt+F1
we log in with user and pass and then we reinstall the following packages:

GNOME-SHELL

Code:
sudo apt-get install gnome-shell

CINNAMON

Code:
sudo apt-get -tquantal install cinnamon

restart and we are gonna be able to go to the visual interface again.


(2) If you have missing libraries run this command:

Code:
sudo apt-get install libdbus-1-dev libglib2.0-dev python-dbus python-gobject


Sources: This tutorial was made using some help from these articles:

http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=50717&page=67

http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=HOW..._BD_Remote

Ps: Sorry for the grammar mistakes, english is not my native language.


UPDATE 13.03.2014

Today I set up my PS3 remote on a fresh installed Lubuntu 13.10 32bits
and the process is slightly different, I would say easier!

Instead of editing the files with Gedit, we'll use leafpad, example:

Code:
sudo gedit /etc/bluetooth/input.conf

Code:
sudo leafpad /etc/bluetooth/input.conf


Also after purging Bluez in Lubuntu the only important package deleted is lubuntu-desktop
after setting the remote we can login and install it from terminal:

Code:
sudo apt-get install lubuntu-desktop

Thats all folks, really happy to use my PS3 remote again!
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#2
Hi. I've just registered so that I can say thank you for writing this. This is probably the most simple and thorough guide to getting the BD remote up and running that I've seen. I'm sure it'll be a real help to those who are just starting out with XBMC.

Also, native language or not, your English is very good! : )
Reply
#3
(2013-06-16, 17:19)CaptainPasty Wrote: Hi. I've just registered so that I can say thank you for writing this. This is probably the most simple and thorough guide to getting the BD remote up and running that I've seen. I'm sure it'll be a real help to those who are just starting out with XBMC.

Also, native language or not, your English is very good! : )

Glad to help!
Reply

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Final guide to use the PS3 BD remote on linux0