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Very cool idea, and actually, easy to implement. Let me take a look...

(BTW, I vaguely recall a timelapse app for the N900's own camera; is there one still around?)

Edit: I've gotta say, the N900 makes for a pretty expensive remote itself.

https://garage.maemo.org/projects/timelapse/
http://maemo.org/packages/view/intervalometer/

2 of them, while the first one is not to be found in the repos

Edit: The N900 is the most valuable/expensive phone... It's a tablet, it's a phone, it's a remote control, it's a mp3-player, it's a torch, it's a good calculator (sympy)

A "time lapse" - or, better still, a macro functionality would be useful not just for cameras. I can imagine a lot of uses for sequences of commands at defined intervals and with a loop functionality.

Yes, I really do need to get the Pierogi macro system working properly. I didn't fully understand just how much effort it would take to get it up and running...

Ok, Pierogi 1.1.29 is now heading up to extras-devel; the main new feature this time is an Intervalometer, for use in capturing time-lapse video with any supported camera. It's fairly limited at the moment, providing a counter for the number of exposures (max 999 at the moment), and a value for the delay between shutter commands (maximum 23 hours 59 minutes 59 seconds, although I'm not sure you'd want to leave the N900 sitting around for days doing this...). A shot of what the new panel looks like is appended to this message. (Yeah, I haven't really polished the UI very much.)

I should note that, as I do not have a camera with an infrared control myself, I have not tested this feature! Please tell me if you find bugs.

(I should also note that there is a firmware project called Magic Lantern that provides a number of additional features, such as an Intervalometer, to various Canon cameras, including the 600D. Using this has the additional value of being able to control other aspects of the camera, such as exposure time, that are inaccessible from the infrared port. Might be interesting to check out...)

In other news, I've added several more Samsung set-top box keysets. Unfortunately, the more keysets I add, the more certain I become that none of them are going to be a match for the Astro B.yond box; all the Samsung remote controls seem to differ wildly from each other.

Also, I managed to dig up a little more info on the VIP1853 remote protocol, but all I got was confirmation that I had originally set the check bit wrong (which was why only even-numbered commands were working at first). I have no clue why you have to be so close to the machine to get it to work. Is it possible that there are some environmental issues at work here? If there's any bright source of light around, it might be swamping the N900's signal...

Tested it directly on my 600D and thanks for the hint about Magic Lantern. Be prepared for the wall of text you see below these 2 introducing sentences

My test results, first thing that strikes me is the removed delay shutter option. AFAIK for canon this is a separate button on their remotes. The real problem is that there's no delay option anymore. As the intervalometer starts counting AFTER the first shot, maybe you should make a extra timer which delays the first shot with x seconds. Where x can be a same input field as now you have with the interval timer.

Also I managed to make pierogi crazy, regarding the intervalometer. I set up 5 exposures, interval time 5 seconds and pressed start and locked the screen. Somehow pierogi came in a loop and it kept sending shutter release commands at about 0(continues burst like) seconds interval for about let's say 20 exposures then I moved my N900 away from the IR sensor and unlocked the N900 and it continued to sending commands and after about 2 seconds after the unlock it starts counting normally again.

While I am writing this post, let say if I can reproduce:

Set let's say 8 shots, at about 5 seconds interval.
Press start, lock the screen, sometimes the camera starts to continues shoot. As it picks up like the shutter button is hanging on pierogis side) And it recovers with a delay of about 2 seconds after unlocking the N900 again. These "burst" shots while my N900 is locked are not counted in pierogi as actual shots. I think it recovers after the next exposure is meant to be.
So what I think is that as soon you lock, pierogi starts to issue commands to release shutter at almost continues rate, and recovers only at the next interval ( both locked and unlocked - edit: confirmed). These continues shots are not counted in pierogi as actual exposures as seen in the shots left counter after unlocking again.

It happens not always, but at a rate of about 8 out of 10 times.

Regarding the VIP1853, I will test that later but I can't think of environmental issues as the original remote works fine and besides it's sensor is 5cm away from where my TV has it's sensor and that remote is working fine with pierogi from the couch... Hard to imagine these 5 cm would hurt that much, as the original remote has no issues and my other pierogi controlled stuff also hasn't any issues so if it were me to say: It has to be something in the protocol that's still not right... Will report back later what version 1.1.29 has to offer my VIP1853

edit: As for the VIP1853, all commands work however the receiver is still very very picky. But range doesn't matter, I even managed to turn it on from the couch thus 6m. But still required more taps to get in recognized, however better than in previous versions, I think. It was already that sensitive I managed to test all buttons and can confirm they work. But for general use it is not sensitive. I have the feeling I have to point the n900 in almost a straight beam to the irsensor of the box to make work... I beginning to think this box has a very picky sensor. Going to channel 302 is not achievable as you never seem to know when your commands get send or better said, received. Sometimes you end up on channel 32, the other time you stay where you were the other time it gets you to channel 0... Will try to play with the debug settings of duty cycle and frequency.

Edit2: See pictures attached. The light spot on my TV is the IRsensor and the circle on the Motorola-device is I believe the IR sensor. My TV works beautiful with pierogi so you would say the motorola would also do so, but it doesn't...

Also I lost a favorite keyset, the samsung DVB-T receiver keyset. I guess you named it Samsung Set-top Box keyset 1. Can you confirm as that's what some of my friends use but I just want to be sure I have the right keyset available in my favourites when the occasion comes I need it.

I use a single Sony remote to control my Sony TV, Sony Audio System and notebook controlled by Eventghost. This setup is quite good, however, I have a lot of buttons I never use, while pressed accidentally they may mess the things up a bit, and also it is sometimes damn hard to find the remote.

On the other hand, I have N900 and like Pierogi very much. And it would be great if I could use my phone instead of this remote, to control all the devices at once, while maintaining compatibility with the remote. It is obvious that none of the existing profiles can suit my needs, though.

What I ask is - can I somehow add the layouts to Pierogi's database (at least on my phone) and modify Pierogi's interface to recreate them?

Wow, you ain't kidding! But thank you for all the testing!

Ah, I was wondering if that was going to be a problem. As that delay option seemed to be a Canon-only feature, and not only that, but just on one type of Canon remote, I wasn't sure anybody was ever using it. I thought it might make the UI simpler if I just took it out. I'll go ahead and put it back in. (But yeah, it isn't something that would make sense to use with the intervalometer...)

Yeah, I noticed that was a feature with some intervalometers, I'll go ahead and add that in. (Assuming I can get the thing working in the first place...)

Yeah, this is pretty much the problem I kept having with the macros as well. Sigh... Pierogi has been designed from the ground up to keep sending a signal so long as the user is pressing a button, and stop sending it when the user lets up on the button. Writing code that simulates a button press internally tends to conflict with that system. I'm beginning to think that the best way to run macro-like commands would be to do it completely outside of the existing UI...

(Does it work normally if you don't lock the screen? I'm not sure why locking the screen should trigger the bad behavior. Hmm.)


Aha! Ok, well, if range doesn't matter, then that is a very different situation. So far as I know, pretty much the only way to get such a balky response and yet work at such a long distance is when the repeat-frame mechanism is not working. And, the CanalSat protocol has a repeat-frame mechanism that is different from anything I've seen before; I might have it wrong.

Let me ask, can you get commands to work when you hold down a button? (In particular, can you get Volume Up and Volume Down to continue going up and down by holding down the button?)

Actually, I have had that problem with my N900 as well; if I'm not directly in front of my TV's sensor, the usable range drops off very quickly. I'm afraid that's due to the N900's IR hardware...

Yes, sorry, my fault. I've been wading through a sea of satellite, cable, and digital-terrestrial Samsung set-top boxes this week, and decided to just name them all as "Set-top Box" rather than try to create a forest of new naming conventions. So yeah, I went ahead and made DVB-T Keyset 1 into Set-top Box Keyset 1. Sorry about that, I'm really not sure theres a good way to give these keysets permanent unique names...

Hmm, I am guessing that the problem here is just Pierogi's user interface? (I think Pierogi should already be able to work with most Sony TVs and audio systems, and can emulate several of the remotes listed on the Eventghost website. It should already be able to control all your devices...)

Unfortunately, the guiding principle I've been trying to follow with Pierogi (for better or worse) is to keep the UI, as much as possible, independent from any actual remote control hardware. This serves the purpose of styling Pierogi as a single "universal" remote (where all the buttons are always in the same place no matter what device you are controlling), as well as letting me attempt to optimize button layouts for the N900's screen.

There is, at the moment, no way for an end-user to create a customized layout. I was starting to create a set of user-defined buttons a while back, but those are still stuck with the problems I've been having in creating a macro system...

Would it be possible for you to create some Eventghost scripts tailored to Pierogi instead? You wouldn't even need to use the Sony keysets, it looks like Eventghost can handle almost any keyset. Pick a keyset you like (maybe something like an LG or a Samsung one that has a lot of available controls), make it a favorite keyset (along with favorite keysets that work for your Sony TV and audio system), and you should be able to control all three devices fairly easily from within the Pierogi system...

You're welcome but be prepared another small wall coming

Well you can pretty much let that button out if the delay with the intervalometer is implemented. As it has an hardcoded delay of 2 seconds, a delay for the intervalometer for 1 exposure would do the same only much more flexible.

I set 6 exposures, interval time of 2 seconds

and, it went the first 2-3 tries crazy (locked and unlocked) between shot 5 and 4 . The first one goes well. Then 4 to 3 goes well, then 3 to 2 goes crazy again. From odd to even, fails

Now I tried to reproduce it to verify what I wrote above, it just did 6 exposures like it should. Also the quit button doesn't respond when it's bursting shutter commands, you really have to take the N900 away to stop it. Another try, it behaves normally again... Hmmm the first 2-3 tries makes pierogi/my camera go crazy, then it works normally. It just seems not logical to me (random)... Weird



Yes I can and I managed to crash the lirc server thingy. Well I pointed it on my VIP and kept holding it, it went from channel 1 to 29, then I was convinced it work... And now comes the interesting part, I moved the N900 a bit around and it kept jumping channels, and the led on the vip was blinking so it kept going channels up. Which proved that the irsensor wasn't so picky after it "started up", or there was a delay in processing all these commands. Anyway after that, I tried to do the same thing now channel down but it wouldn't respond. Then I picked my samsung TV keyset, wouldn't respond either. Hey, I crashed pierogi??? Let's close it and open it again. Hmmm stil does not respond (VIP and my TV). After one press, pierogi gave an popup with

so I crashed lirc0... Reboot fixed it

Well that could be, but the rest of all my IR controlled system are much easier to be controlled and I don't have to do crazy yoga poses to get it change channel. I think it's a combination of both. I think some manufacturers use powerful remotes and some manufacturers use sensitive sensor.

No worries. But you are now using STB and Set-Top Box terms both, samsung has the term Set-Top Box all other manufacturers have the term STB. Nothing serious but for consistency sake, I would say use one, not both terms.



Well, after I read this I thought maybe it would be an idea to have 1-3 custom panels. Which can have it's own tabs. Your tabbutton already reminds me of the "new tab" button of my browser, why not allow the user to create a panel with tabs to user liking. For example for my Onky receiver (keyset 3 works only half, but that's another problem for later, as I don't change settings a lot on my receiver) but when I do I need mainly the audio panel with all of it's tabs, that's just about right. However sometimes I wish I had the d-pad tab, too bad. That tab isn't included in the audio panel so I have to change the whole panel to universal.

In short:
For consistency sake and keeping pierogi as a single style remote we should keep the tabs in everysituation the same, however the mix of which tabs should be configurable.