Ditch the keyboard - Simple XBMC & Remote Buddy instructions
#1
I have to say XBMC is awesome ... a big thanks to everyone that is putting this together!! I never realized what Front Row wasn't until I played with XBMC this weekend. Unfortunately, for me, the need for a keyboard to launch XBMC is a big stumbling block to replacing Front Row (After it's launched, I think the basic 12 buttons on the Apple remote works fine).

I looked around the forum and found a few fixes. There's this link (I'm sure quite a few of you have already seen this) http://funwithcomputers.wordpress.com/20...n-ir-port/. It's a great set of instructions, but I find them a little too involved and I don't need all the buttons mapped.

However, I found a way to simplify the steps in the link above and the steps are quite simple:

#1 - Download the XBMC behavior in the link above.
#2 - Place the behavior in /Users/"Your Computer's Name"/Library/Application Support/Remote Buddy/Behaviours
#3 - Start Remote Buddy, go to preferences, go to mapping, then select "XBMC".
#4 - Map as follows:
- Plus = Up
- Plus (held) = Step Forward
- Minus = Down
- Minus (held) = Skip Previous
- Left = Left
- Left (held) = Skip Previous
- Right = Right
- Right (held) = Skip Next
- Play/Pause = OK
- Play/Pause (held) = Step Back
- Menu = Main Menu
- Menu (held) = Open remote buddy menu

#5 - Quit and relaunch Remote Buddy.

You should now be able to launch XBMC from Remote Buddy and then navigate XBMC with the Apple remote.
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#2
Launching from remote support is coming in the next version.
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#3
I did a little more testing and I need to make some changes to my instructions. I found the held buttons are unneccesary and only the main buttons are needed. So the buttons I'm using now are:
- Plus = Up
- Minus = Down
- Left = Left
- Right = Right
- Play/Pause = OK
- Menu = Main Menu
- Menu (held) = Open remote buddy menu

Unfortunately, when you use the "Menu (held)" command the Remote Buddy menu flickers in and out of visibility and is hard to use. So, I just use the "Shutdown" command within XBMC, which takes me back to the Remote Buddy menu.

FYI - When watching a video:
- "Play/Pause" brings up the onscreen controls
- "Menu" removes the onscreen controls

iordonez -
Thanks for the info. However, I'm using a Mini as a dedicated HTPC and Remote Buddy is an application that has two important functions: 1) Shuts down my Mini without a mouse or keyboard 2) A virtual mouse that allows me to navigate the Finder and unmount my external hard drive (so I can then turn it off unmounted). These two functions allow me the freedom of being mouse and keyboard free.
So for me, Remote Buddy needs to be the main application that controls the activation/deactivation of XBMC or Front Row.
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#4
The next version will have a modified keymaps.xml file that will also use have increased support for adding remote buddy, etc. You much more functionality than allowing the remote to function differently in various modes to better make use of the limited keys available on the Apple remote. The only problem you will have is the Remote buddy menu popping up when using menu but that will be left up to the end user to decide how to setup remote buddy.
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#5
Interesting, I did my own mappings, but never got menu to work. Thanks!
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Ditch the keyboard - Simple XBMC & Remote Buddy instructions0