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Home / Other I-Appliances / Virgin Webplayer Remote control for car / stereo use? Using a programmable remote control in place of the webplayer keyboard in an automobile.

Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) Frogking Profile I was wondering if it might be possible to use one of those programmable IR remote controls and use it to capture simple key presses (Alt, Alt-Tab, etc.) and then use it to control the Webplayer. The reason I'd like to try this is I want to use the WP in my car to play MP3s, but I can't imagine using the included remote keyboard... small as it is, still a little to large for in-vehicle use. If anyone has such a remote, can you please try it out and report back how it works? I'd also be interested in knowing the model number, and where I can get the best price (assuming it works, of course!) Can you bum me a .sig? 04-26-2001 11:37:54

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) NormConquest Profile | Email The Packard Bell FastMedia remotes (surplus, $12 or less, at many computer shows). Webplayer reads its signals. But you actually program the webplayer (WIRC or LIRC) to interpret FastMedia's signals, rather than the other way around. Those home remotes like Zenith or Sony use a different IR signal. PLUS, they can only "learn" by selecting a number from a finite set of preprogrammed manufacturer codes. 04-26-2001 12:17:05

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) Greenspark Profile But you actually program the webplayer (WIRC or LIRC) to interpret FastMedia's signals, rather than the other way around. And how do you do this exactly? 04-26-2001 17:02:43

WIRC or LIRC (modified 0 times) NormConquest Profile | Email I use WIRC a lot. Go to http://zorxx.dohnut.org , download and run it. Page through the panels dedicated to individual programs such as WinAmp, select a function and hit the button on your remote you'd like to assign to that function. With WIRC running in your system tray, remote keys can launch programs, run batch files, mount playlists, control volume, etc. LIRC is purportedly similar on Linux, but I cannot vouch for it as I rarely need to adjust the volume on my server from across the room. 04-26-2001 20:11:56

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) Greenspark Profile Thanks. I searched on WIRC on the net and found lots of non-remote-related stuff. I will check it out, but are there other programs like this? This is the first I've heard of this type of utility. Thanks. 04-27-2001 09:10:47

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) famewolf Profile Search on "wirc remote"...not just wirc...wirc is also the name of an irc program but to save you time the direct url is http://zorxx.dohnut.org To the person who got it working..I have the remote and a webplayer and registered wirc 1.6...did you have to do anything special and what "com port" did you tell it you were using? 05-02-2001 13:49:47

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) lunabomber Profile I have a FastMedia remote that I tried on the webplayer, but I just can't seem to get it to work. i'm using wirc, but it's not reading the remote. any ideas? 06-11-2001 22:36:05

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) DeadSock Profile | Email I've got a leftover WebPal that has a pretty nice remote that came with it. This weekend I'm going to be setting up a webplayer with wirc and will let yall know how the webpal remote works ... (you can see a pic of the webpal at http://www.liquidations.com/webpals.htm) Both the webpal and webplayer use a senjin wireless keyboard ... the difference being that the webplayer keybaord has a trackball for a mouse, and the webpal has a keyboard (exact layout match to the webplayers) but doesnt have the trackball. Instead the webpal has the remote to act as mouse (among other things). 06-15-2001 09:16:13

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) DeadSock Profile | Email Can't seem to get wirc (or uice or irassistant) to "see" the remote ... I found out a little more about the remote that came with the webpal, it's a Logitech/AST remote (just like the pic at http://store3.yimg.com/I/compuvisor_1640_144697 but mine is black) What are the port settings used when reading the FastMedia remotes??? I configutred the bios to have both com ports active, and neither com1 or com2 would see my remote. I might have to go out and find a fastmedia based remote for my usage ... bummer since I have the logitech just laying here ... Rob 06-17-2001 08:52:03

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) Perplexer Profile I know this doesn't help your situation much, but I have a Logitech/AST remote (I like its button layout and feel better than the Packard Bell Fastmedia remote) and have been using it on my in-car I-Opener with IRAssistant. It works great for Winamp playlist control and basic mouse movement without needing a mouse. I can also open and close programs and shut down the system with the remote. In IRAssistant, make sure you have the AST.DLL file in the working directory (AST.DLL is available through IRAssistant home page), and set it as the active driver in the configuration page. Create a new macro. Once you have a macro created, highlight it, click "learn," and see if your button presses are detected. 06-20-2001 10:40:12

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) Perplexer Profile Back to Frogking's original question: Yes, with a true "learning remote," you should be able to capture IR commands from the Webplayer's keyboard and teach them to your remote. This should work fine for single key presses. I don't really know about key combinations like alt-tab, but this should work as well, because I don't think hitting ALT or CTRL alone sends a signal. I don't own a Webplayer, but just tried to learn key presses from my Websurfer and NT-150 keyboards. My remote was able to learn key presses from the Websurfer keyboard (albeit more picky than learning regular TV remote codes) but it could never get the NT-150 codes. Keep in mind that the learning remote I used was a cheapie model (under $40), bought over five years ago. 06-20-2001 10:55:10

RE:Remote control for car / stereo use? (modified 0 times) chucklehead Profile Not to mention, if you have a Palm, you can use OmniRemote as well. Since I always have my palm on my person, that is a really nice solution. 04-26-2002 11:46:04

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