LinuxMCE Forums

General => Users => Topic started by: colinjones on April 01, 2009, 12:05:17 am

Title: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 01, 2009, 12:05:17 am
For all those people that are interested in the Gyration remote option (particularly now that the Fiire remotes are effectively unavailable), you may have noticed some discussions going on in another thread. The bottom line is that the Gyration remote requires more than the ordinary control path to provide all-button functionality. Some considerable development work needs to be undertaken.

On a positive note, TSCHAK/Thom is prepared to devote some of his paid development time to this development effort. I would like to say that I think this is a very good idea, will provide you with another full-feature, gryo-style remote option, and will ultimately leave an ongoing legacy to the project in which you can legitimately feel you have contributed something back.

I am going to gather the names of people interested in this effort, and then work with Thom to determine what the per-person contribution would need to be. NOTE: this is not a commitment at this stage, we just want to get a number of interested parties so that we can work out what the cost per-person would be. I will communicate that cost back to you all and ask if you are prepared to proceed on that basis.

So, if you are at all interested in this, are prepared to consider payment to assist, and in anyway feel that you would like to contribute back to a project which has already given you so much for free (there's the guilt trip!), please post in reply to this thread ASAP.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: donpaul on April 01, 2009, 12:08:06 am
I will contribute.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Dale_K on April 01, 2009, 12:18:32 am
Ooops, I posted this in the other thread.

You can count me in for $100 via PayPal, CC, GooglePay, whichever is convenient.  PM me with payment details.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Ray_N on April 01, 2009, 04:17:04 am
I'm in...let us know how much and payment method...
   Colin, thank you for organizing this...

R

And BTW: I'm assuming "full support", really means "full support", as in, it will also work with MythTV and all of its features.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: pcbastard on April 01, 2009, 05:54:50 am
Put me in for $75.  Let me know the details...

I love to see Thom do his thing!!! :P
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 01, 2009, 06:50:19 am
Come on forum members, we are going to need far more contributors to make this cost effective for all!

I think we need to aim for a minimum of 30 members, so Roll Up! Roll Up! to any of those sitting on the sidelines at the moment pondering, stand up and be counted if you want this to happen!
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: wombiroller on April 01, 2009, 06:55:57 am
yeah - count me in.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Nigle on April 01, 2009, 08:58:15 am
I'll try to donate, pm me with some details I guess. 
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: donpaul on April 01, 2009, 04:03:34 pm
Lets get a cost so we know how much and how many we need. The remote is one of the most important aspects of any media center. It can be frustrating, no matter how good the product is, when it is difficult to use from the couch.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: krys on April 01, 2009, 04:04:09 pm
Count me in
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Dale_K on April 01, 2009, 04:50:22 pm
Lets get a cost so we know how much and how many we need. The remote is one of the most important aspects of any media center. It can be frustrating, no matter how good the product is, when it is difficult to use from the couch.

Agreed, put up a hard number, then we can get specific dollar amounts from contributors and we'll know what we need.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: merkur2k on April 01, 2009, 06:02:58 pm
I am currently unemployed but would like to show my support for this effort and help in any way i can.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Anthony_Molg on April 01, 2009, 08:38:04 pm
I am hurting right now in the $$$ Dept. But I will commit to a MIN of $20.

Anthony
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: cnadarajah on April 02, 2009, 04:26:25 am
put me down for 50
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Esperanto on April 02, 2009, 08:16:22 am
interested. keep me updated plz
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: simon_b on April 02, 2009, 09:26:23 am
i'm in...
please more details ASAP
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: alx2k on April 02, 2009, 01:15:35 pm
Count with my contribution too!
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: mami on April 02, 2009, 01:41:27 pm
I can contribute whit some $$ (20-30$!) if VDR got full suport too...

/Mami
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 02, 2009, 10:28:45 pm
We are looking at a considerable amount of work here, including a lot of research into the low level HID/USB protocol stuff. Even at a significantly reduced rate of, say $75/hr and a cap on the development time of 40hrs, we are looking at $3000 total. The work will require Thom to purchase out of his fee a specific USB protocol analyser to get down into the HID packets and determine exactly what is being sent for those "Dead Buttons" so that he can adapt/develop the driver code to receive, parse and respond to them correctly. One of these analysers delivered is around $500 minimum.

So we can see that if we assumed an average donation of $100 per person (which is starting to look somewhat optimistic, but was based on some of the earlier posts), we would need at least 30 people to contribute. Unfortunately, this project is quite a complex one, so I'm not sure there is anyway we can reduce this cost simply because the hours don't come down easily. Lets see how we go in this thread gathering interested members.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: lmce3000 on April 02, 2009, 10:38:38 pm
Count Me In.

John.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: donpaul on April 03, 2009, 04:03:32 am
Did some research, and read that the of the gyration remote buttons are available in the 2.6.27 kernel, which is used for Ubuntu 8.10. That means we should be able to map those however we like. Does anyone have information on this. Would hate to jump at throwing a bunch of money into something that will work out of the box (in Ubuntu). If it works in ubuntu, it can work in LinuxMCE.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Ray_N on April 03, 2009, 04:16:01 am
donpaul: Can you please provide references of where you say you read this?
I also read once that Elvis was still alive...but its true!  ;)

R
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: elspic on April 03, 2009, 09:17:01 am
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Gyration-based_MCE_Remotes#Description
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: tschak909 on April 03, 2009, 09:27:52 am
*hmm*

You guys are clearly not showing enough of an understanding of the underlying system, and are not listening to me.

Ok.

-Thom
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: elspic on April 03, 2009, 09:38:58 am
No, I actually do completely understand how much effort it will take you to integrate the gyration into the built in remote so it works properly and fully support the effort to have you do it. I was just responding to Ray_N (the link found using 5 words copied from donpaul's post, Ray ;) ). 

Just because you can map the buttons now, doesn't mean they will do what they're supposed to without a proper template being made for the remote, so we really need this guys. If I can find even a few bucks, I'll throw in as well.
-elspic
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: totallymaxed on April 03, 2009, 12:26:31 pm
Did some research, and read that the of the gyration remote buttons are available in the 2.6.27 kernel, which is used for Ubuntu 8.10. That means we should be able to map those however we like. Does anyone have information on this. Would hate to jump at throwing a bunch of money into something that will work out of the box (in Ubuntu). If it works in ubuntu, it can work in LinuxMCE.

Firstly... this threads purpose is to allow people commit to contributing. Period.

Any other comments (like this one... ;-)  ) should be placed in a new thread. If you dont want to contribute then dont post here at all.

...lastly the Fiire Remote/Dongle has a different firmware in its ROM image this is what causes the 'standard' Gyration to behave differently in respect of the 'broken' buttons. Of course it is perfectly possible that the standard Gyration will work 'out of the box' on 810...but it will only work as a standard Gyration would normally do... Not as the Fiire does... and this is the whole point of the work that Tom has offered to do.

All the best

Andrew
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: totallymaxed on April 03, 2009, 12:28:45 pm
CHT will contribute too...so count us in.

Andrew
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: pga57 on April 03, 2009, 01:21:43 pm
Count with my contribution too!

Philippe
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Dale_K on April 03, 2009, 04:30:51 pm
It's great that we have a lot of "count me in" replies, but to move forward we need to get the specifics nailed down.

Thom, can you give us a price for this work?  Once we have that, then contributors can commit hard dollar amounts and we'll be on our way.

Moderator Comment: Dale_K - I have already provided this information further up the thread.

Reinforcing Totallymaxed's comments - this thread is for contributors to post in-principle support for contributions only, please.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: alx9r on April 03, 2009, 05:10:45 pm
i'll contribute some ca$h.  i'd like to hear in thom's words what he expects to get working and what the major challenges are.

Alex
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: donpaul on April 03, 2009, 05:59:12 pm
http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/Gyration-based_MCE_Remotes#Description

That's not where I read it  ::) I read it in ubuntu's development forum.

I already stated I would contribute.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: patmankn on April 04, 2009, 08:34:10 pm
Count me in to support Thoms great work ;O)

Pat
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: nubuntu on April 04, 2009, 11:12:31 pm
Count me in.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: extremeshannon on April 05, 2009, 07:38:33 pm
Count me in
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: scottie4442 on April 09, 2009, 09:52:30 pm
I will contribute, I can put in up to $100.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: totallymaxed on April 10, 2009, 02:02:25 pm
For all those people that are interested in the Gyration remote option (particularly now that the Fiire remotes are effectively unavailable), you may have noticed some discussions going on in another thread. The bottom line is that the Gyration remote requires more than the ordinary control path to provide all-button functionality. Some considerable development work needs to be undertaken.

On a positive note, TSCHAK/Thom is prepared to devote some of his paid development time to this development effort. I would like to say that I think this is a very good idea, will provide you with another full-feature, gryo-style remote option, and will ultimately leave an ongoing legacy to the project in which you can legitimately feel you have contributed something back.

I am going to gather the names of people interested in this effort, and then work with Thom to determine what the per-person contribution would need to be. NOTE: this is not a commitment at this stage, we just want to get a number of interested parties so that we can work out what the cost per-person would be. I will communicate that cost back to you all and ask if you are prepared to proceed on that basis.

So, if you are at all interested in this, are prepared to consider payment to assist, and in anyway feel that you would like to contribute back to a project which has already given you so much for free (there's the guilt trip!), please post in reply to this thread ASAP.

Colin - can we have an update on how this is shaping up? Are we close to reaching the target?

Andrew
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 10, 2009, 02:04:48 pm
Andrew, I PM'd Thom a few hours ago to discuss the position... will let you know as soon as we get an answer
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Raul102801 on April 10, 2009, 04:26:13 pm
Colin
Count me in... I know I will use it and I will feel bad if I don't contribute. You guys already do enough for free so this is the least we can do to help.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: schaferj on April 10, 2009, 05:09:21 pm
I'm in.
joseph
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 10, 2009, 11:58:42 pm
OK guys....

I have negotiated with Thom on the cost... he initially brought the hourly rate down to 50% of the norm, but even that was going to leave the price/person prohibitively high. So I discussed it with him again and he has very kindly offered only to count half the initial hours he works on it, effectively bringing this down to a 1/4 of the total cost.

This leaves us with approximately $75 per person as an average contribution. I note that some people were prepared to pay a little more, but many were not able to offer as much as this. What I need to do now is get everyone on this thread to PM me directly with the maximum they can afford to contribute for the project so that I can try to cover the costs, and make up the shortfalls where necessary.

This is the point at which you need to commit to this payment as any drop-outs later will mean a financial impact to all the others involved. So:

If you have posted here already that you would like to contribute, but have changed your mind since - please PM me immediately to tell me this!!

If you have posted here already that you would like to contribute - please PM me immediately with a $ value that you are committing to.

Once all are in, I will post back here to confirm whether we have made the target or not. If so, then I will coordinate with Thom to arrange payments so that he can begin procuring the necessary analyser.

Best regards,

Col
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 13, 2009, 03:02:39 am
Come on everyone... 23 people responded initially, but so far I have only received 7 PMs committing ....
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: totallymaxed on April 13, 2009, 09:21:33 am
OK guys....

I have negotiated with Thom on the cost... he initially brought the hourly rate down to 50% of the norm, but even that was going to leave the price/person prohibitively high. So I discussed it with him again and he has very kindly offered only to count half the initial hours he works on it, effectively bringing this down to a 1/4 of the total cost.

This leaves us with approximately $75 per person as an average contribution. I note that some people were prepared to pay a little more, but many were not able to offer as much as this. What I need to do now is get everyone on this thread to PM me directly with the maximum they can afford to contribute for the project so that I can try to cover the costs, and make up the shortfalls where necessary.

This is the point at which you need to commit to this payment as any drop-outs later will mean a financial impact to all the others involved. So:

If you have posted here already that you would like to contribute, but have changed your mind since - please PM me immediately to tell me this!!

If you have posted here already that you would like to contribute - please PM me immediately with a $ value that you are committing to.

Once all are in, I will post back here to confirm whether we have made the target or not. If so, then I will coordinate with Thom to arrange payments so that he can begin procuring the necessary analyser.

Best regards,

Col

Colin we'll commit to paying $100

Andrew
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 13, 2009, 03:33:17 pm
Thanks Andrew - we now have 11 contributors locked in.

We are at the 55% mark for contributions.... again, I urge all those who have not yet PM'd me to do so ASAP. I realise that there was just a long weekend in many locations which will have slowed things down, but we really do need to lock these in quickly as herding everyone together and maintaining the interest relies on everyone.

Tomorrow I will be PM'ing everyone who initially responded but have not yet PM'd me. Ultimately, we will be transferring the contributions via Paypal, so please ensure you have an account ready to do this transfer.

Rgds
Col.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: schaferj on April 13, 2009, 05:16:21 pm
still in for $100
joseph
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: los93sol on April 13, 2009, 08:33:06 pm
Can someone clarify which gyration remote we are talking about in this thread?  I know there was the discontinued model and some newer variants around, just want to clarify what exactly is being looked at here.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 13, 2009, 11:18:55 pm
We now have 17 contributors locked in and are at the 85% mark on contributions - I believe that this is enough for Thom to get underway, at least. I will start approaching all those that have not yet responded to gather the remainder as quickly as possible...

Those that have committed, please can you tranfer via Paypal your maximum committed amounts as soon as possible?

thomas@localeconcept.com is the Paypal account. The currency is USD, of course.


los93sol - I imagine the basic HID part to this is very similar (if not the same) across all the models, so the work should be very portable.

ALL: To get the work underway, we need a volunteer to ship, on loan, one of these remotes to Thom in the US. Do we have any takers? Obviously, a co-resident of the US would make things slightly easier and cheaper, if possible.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: jimmejames on April 14, 2009, 01:18:57 am
I have $50 and a GYR3101US that I will contribute to the cause... my money has been transferred to the before mentioned account.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on April 14, 2009, 01:21:09 am
I have $50 and a GYR3101US that I will contribute to the cause.

Thanks jimme - please use the above information to transfer the money, and can you contact Thom on how to get the remote to him?

rgds
Col.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: cnadarajah on April 14, 2009, 01:33:35 am
hope it got it to you!,  sorry about being all late :)
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: alx9r on April 14, 2009, 02:52:41 am
Paypal contribution sent. 

Alex
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Nigle on April 14, 2009, 05:21:38 am
Just sent a hundo through paypal.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: pga57 on April 14, 2009, 07:15:34 am
Paypal contribution sent.

Philippe
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: wombiroller on April 14, 2009, 07:24:17 am
paypal sent  :)
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: alx2k on April 14, 2009, 08:39:08 am
Paypal sent.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: totallymaxed on April 14, 2009, 12:46:24 pm
Can someone clarify which gyration remote we are talking about in this thread?  I know there was the discontinued model and some newer variants around, just want to clarify what exactly is being looked at here.

The one that the Fiire remote was based on... different plastics used and different firmware.

Andrew
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: hari on April 14, 2009, 01:35:31 pm
sold as GY-310-EU in europe.. http://www.gyration.de/produkte/GY-310-EU.html

br, Hari
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: patmankn on April 14, 2009, 01:49:38 pm
Money send via paypal ;O)
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Raul102801 on April 14, 2009, 03:40:12 pm
I just sent my payment via paypal for the amount I commited to.

Thanks
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Dale_K on April 14, 2009, 05:45:09 pm
Sent a Benji.

Thx Thom
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: totallymaxed on April 14, 2009, 06:15:04 pm
We paid our contribution to Thom today.

Andrew
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: tschak909 on April 14, 2009, 06:24:43 pm
Thank you guys so much for your contributions, as soon as I get the hardware, I will start working on this immediately.

I will start another thread for posting status.

-Thom
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: los93sol on April 14, 2009, 11:55:05 pm
Another $50 added to the pot, I just submitted my payment
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: jimmejames on April 15, 2009, 12:02:00 am
Thank you guys so much for your contributions, as soon as I get the hardware, I will start working on this immediately.

I will start another thread for posting status.

-Thom

The remote (and usb receiver) has been shipped via UPS.  Thom, I will PM you the tracking number as soon as it shows up in the system.

I have a second one of these (currently the GF uses it with WinMCE) and am running 710 on my core, but have a second box setup running one of the 810 alphas and can test compatibility/functionality on this second remote when you get closer to that stage.

Thanks again for doing this-
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: tschak909 on April 15, 2009, 12:13:34 am
no problem, guys.

I hope this can become a sustainable way of sponsoring development for hardware that we all want to use, but don't have support for, yet.

I have started a thread for development, that actually needs to be moved to the development forum. I have ordered the USB protocol analyser, and it should be here in a few days.

-Thom
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: TinkerMan on April 15, 2009, 12:48:10 am
Payment sent
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: scottie4442 on April 15, 2009, 01:29:34 am
Ok, I just sent in my contribution, had to do two payments (caught me between paydays).  Thanks for this Thom.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Ray_N on April 15, 2009, 03:16:36 am
Payment sent!
 ;D
Go for it man!
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: pcbastard on April 15, 2009, 07:29:43 am
Payment sent. ;D
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: Anthony_Molg on April 16, 2009, 03:55:02 pm
Mine too
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: simon_b on April 16, 2009, 10:23:13 pm
Mine too
the same
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: schaferj on April 17, 2009, 05:26:48 am
Thom, payment sent.  joseph
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: mami on April 18, 2009, 11:22:16 am
Another 40$ from me...

/Mami
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: extremeshannon on April 19, 2009, 11:57:57 pm
I just got back on the board been out of town. I will transfer the money on friday when I get paid. Thanks
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: extremeshannon on May 01, 2009, 10:40:44 pm
Sorry forgot about this. I just got around to this

You have sent $100.00 USD to thomas@localeconcept.com.

Thanks
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: tschak909 on June 27, 2009, 09:13:02 pm
Well guys, it was a long road. But I just committed the Generic HID Handler to SVN, and the matching Gyration 3101 changes to sqlcvs.

This is a first pass, all the buttons work. I want to add support for holding down the mouse buttons to trigger the media and lights submenus, but that will come during the beta testing.

Thank you all for contributing, the feature is complete enough for testing for those of you who have 0810 installs.

There will not be an update for 0710.

-Thom
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: merkur2k on June 28, 2009, 01:23:41 am
Thank you very much to Tschak for getting this together!
I have tested out the additions and am very pleased to be able to go from 4 remotes down to 1.
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: colinjones on June 28, 2009, 02:16:28 am
Congratulations Thom!!! A huge step forward..

ddamron - how are you going with the Fiire?
Title: Re: Full support of Gyration Remote development work - Contributors please post
Post by: stallione on July 19, 2009, 05:19:48 pm
I would like to make a donation for all the effort that's been put in. Please PM me info on a paypal account that I can send my contribution.
Thanks,
Stallione.