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Which brings up an interesting point:
If we ever got Linux running on a Wii, could XBMC be used?
Ah, thought crossed off, the Wii uses ATi for graphics. With PC ATi support for linux being as crappy as it is, the Wii is hopeless.
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Asteron
"Skilled" Python Coder
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I cant think of a way using it comfortably within XBMC-Linux as anything but a very good pointing device.
Is there really anything in xbmc you want to control with the tilt? Gesture support might be good, like a flick to the left/right to scroll through items. I think though there are third party applications which would do this.
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A very good pointer was all I was looking for. Enough buttons on there for a pretty good set of controls too. There will have to be some context sensitivity too..
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Well this is for Linux, right? There's lots of things you could do with the Wii remote.
Assuming Compiz-Fusion is installed, you could use the Wii remote as a quick means of rotating the desktop cube. The handy reason for this would be to quickly switch from full-screen XBMC, to a standard desktop. The function for doing this would be something like hold the remote sideways (like in Excite Truck), pull the trigger underneath, and then tilt the remote. Left rotates the cube left, right rotates right, etc.
If you built some semblance of file-management into XBMC, you could use the Wii remote as a way to select multiple files and move them around.
It was already suggested that tilting would make a good way to scroll up/down the list in menus.
I'm sure some homebrew games would come out that could use it.
You could build something like iTunes' "Cover Flow" function, that lets you choose and album and spin through an album listing, like a jukebox.
Lots of different possibilities. Doesn't the Wii remote already work in Linux (I know I've seen people playing around with Compiz-Fusion with the remote before). Would it really take a lot of effort to just build that functionality into XBMC somehow?
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Actually using Cwiid or WMD the Wii remote should work in XBMC fine. Since XBMC already has mouse support built in you can just use it like a mouse. I'm pretty sure you can also just map the extra buttons to whatever functions you like in either driver (the button will send a keyboard command).
The only thing that might be tricky is using the Wiimotes accelerometer -- but as the drivers mature I'm sure you'll be able to do things like emulate scroll, etc.
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I've used CWiid as well with no problems. What would be nice is a python script or something that runs on XBMC startup that pairs CWiid with the wiimote, so you don't have to run console commands or anything like that before running XBMC.
Any python developers interested in that? it's probably pretty easy to do, but i'm no coder.
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fysa
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cwiid's winput now has a daemon mode and script that can automatically search for your Wiimote and connect when it's available. Thanks to XBMC's mouse support, I am able to successfully control the entire interface with the Wiimote.
The next step is to get 'gestures' supported. Twisting the Wiimote will be an easy gesture to support and should translate well to controlling our UI, in combination with button presses.
i.e.:
Hold A button and twist the wiimote like a volume knob to adjust volume.
Hold trigger and twist the wiimote to seek forward/back.
One of the above actions in the menu to scroll quickly -- or use relative height/Y position of the wiimote in space. i.e., hold the wiimote by your head for the top of the list, then move it down toward your waist for the bottom of the list. Anywhere in between would be a % position through a scrolling list.
A quick flick of the wiimote left or right could 'skip' instead of seek. Same with lists. Flick the wiimote up and down to page up/down.
A hundred buttons aren't necessary if gestures are intuitive.
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einal
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I'm using cwiid as well, but I doubt I'll ever use the motion sensor or IR pointer. I use the wiimote as a regular remote. Like someone said, there are alot of buttons on it and the best thing about it is that it's Bluetooth. No more looking insane while trying to point a crappy Xbox remote at an even crappier IR receiver.
XBMC needs a little reconfiguring in the keymap department though, I personally hate the fact that ESC is to go back to main menu, but X is Stop video. I have the B button (trigger) mapped to ESC and I want to use it to stop the video as well, instead I have to waste another button to map to X.
Hopefully I missed something in the keymap config and there are separate portions for the player, the menu etc. so ESC in dvdplayer can be mapped to one action while ESC in the menu is mapped to another.
