How can I connect a Wiimote to my computer to control an audio-player?
I want to connect a Wiimote. I'm running natty and would like to control an audio-player with my Wiimote. Is that possible?
Solution 1:
Edit: Rinzwind tipped me off on a launchpad project called "wiican". Apparently it is implemented as an indicator applet and allows to customise your wii-actions. You could bind e.g. amarok -t to a wiibutton.
You're in luck, and you don't even know how much. It took me a while and a bit of research but: I wrote a script to do just that a while back. It works with Amarok and Totem, though it could easily be modified to control other players (provided they have a command line interface). Give me a few minutes to write a few comments together. Then I will edit this answer and post it.
- Features:
- Check battery status of the Wiimote.
- Switch an led on the Wiimote.
- Start Amarok.
- Pause/contiue playing.
- Skip to next/last track.
- Control the system volume over alsamixer
You will need python and python-cwiid /
sudo apt-get install python-cwiid installed. You can do that while waiting.
Below is the script. Just run it in a terminal.
#!/usr/bin/python
# indent-mode: spaces, indentsize: 4, encoding: utf-8
# © 2011 [email protected].
# Use permitted under MIT license:
# http://www.opensource.org/licenses/mit-license.php (NO WARRANTY IMPLIED)
"""A Wiimote script to control totem and amarok under Ubuntu.
Provides a rudimentary interface to:
-Check battery status of the Wiimote.
-Switch an led on the Wiimote.
-Start Amarok.
-Pause/contiue playing.
-Skip to next/last track.
-Control the system volume over pulseaudio
Needs the package 'python-cwiid', 'amarok' and or 'totem' to be installed.
Globals:
wiimote -- the wiimote object
led -- the status of the led (on/off)
"""
import cwiid
import sys
import os
def main():
"""PC-side interface handles interaction between pc and user.
b -- battery status
l -- toggle led
q -- quit
h -- print help
"""
global wiimote
connect_wiimote()
#Print help text ont startup
print 'Confirm each command with ENTER.'
hlpmsg = 'Press q to quit\n'\
'b for battery status\n'\
'l to toggle the led on/off\n'\
'h or any other key to display this message.'
print hlpmsg
#Main loop for user interaction
doLoop = True
while doLoop:
c = sys.stdin.read(1)
if c == 'b': # battery status
state = wiimote.state
bat = int(100.0 * state['battery'] / cwiid.BATTERY_MAX)
print bat
elif c == 'l': # toggle led
toggle_led()
elif c == 'q': # exit program
doLoop = False
elif c == '\n': # ignore newlines
pass
else: # print help message when no valid command is issued
print hlpmsg
#Close connection and exit
wiimote.close()
def connect_wiimote():
"""Connets your computer to a Wiimote."""
print 'Put Wiimote in discoverable mode now (press 1+2)...'
global wiimote
while True:
try:
wiimote = cwiid.Wiimote(#add address of Wiimote here for speedup)
break
except:
continue
wiimote.mesg_callback = callback
#Set Wiimote options
global led
led = True
wiimote.led = cwiid.LED1_ON
wiimote.rpt_mode = cwiid.RPT_BTN
wiimote.enable(cwiid.FLAG_MESG_IFC)
def callback(mesg_list, time):
"""Handels the interaction between Wiimote and user.
A and B together -- toggle led
A -- play/pause
up / down -- fast forward / backward
right / left -- next / previous trakc
+ / - -- increase / decreas volume
"""
for mesg in mesg_list:
# Handle Buttonpresses - add hex-values for simultaneous presses
# Buttons not listed: 0x4 - B, 0x1 - 2, 0x2 - 1 | just babytown frolics
if mesg[0] == cwiid.MESG_BTN:
if mesg[1] == 0x8: # A botton
player_control('playpause')
elif mesg[1] == 0xC: # A and B together
toggle_led()
elif mesg[1] == 0x800: # Up botton
player_control('ffwd')
elif mesg[1] == 0x100: # Left botton
player_control('lasttrack')
elif mesg[1] == 0x200: # Right botton
player_control('nexttrack')
elif mesg[1] == 0x400: # Down botton
player_control('fbwd')
elif mesg[1] == 0x10: # Minus botton
change_volume(-1)
elif mesg[1] == 0x1000: # Plus botton
change_volume(1)
elif mesg[1] == 0x80: # home botton
shut_down()
# Handle errormessages
elif mesg[0] == cwiid.MESG_ERROR:
global wiimote
wiimote.close()
connect_wiimote()
def change_volume(change):
"""Changes system's master volume."""
cmd = "amixer get Master | grep 'Front Left' | grep -oP '(?<=Playback\ )\d+'"
fin,fout = os.popen4(cmd)
currVol = int( fout.read() )
newVol = currVol + change
os.system( "amixer set Master "+str(newVol) )
def toggle_led():
"""Toggles first led on Wiimote on/off."""
global led
if led == True:
led = False
wiimote.led = 0
else:
led = True
wiimote.led = cwiid.LED1_ON
def player_control(action):
"""Controls Amarok or Totem - depending on wich one is running.
Totem takes precedence over Amarok if running. If none is running, Amarok
will be started ant take the command.
"""
print action
# Check if totem is running
cmd = "ps -A | grep -oP 'totem'"
fin,fout = os.popen4(cmd)
isTotem = fout.read()
isTotem = isTotem.find('totem') != -1
# Do the actual player action
if action == 'nexttrack':
if isTotem:
cmd = "totem --next"
else:
cmd = "amarok -f"
elif action == 'lasttrack':
if isTotem:
cmd = "totem --previous"
else:
cmd = "amarok -r"
elif action == 'playpause':
if isTotem:
cmd = "totem --play-pause"
else:
cmd = "amarok -t"
elif action == 'ffwd':
if isTotem:
cmd = "totem --seek-fwd"
elif action == 'fbwd':
if isTotem:
cmd = "totem --seek-bwd"
os.system(cmd)
main()
Solution 2:
There is also a GUI program that sits on the system tray, called "Wiican". I used to use on previous versions of ubuntu before 11.04 (Natty) but now I can't seem to know how to install it with the PPA found at https://launchpad.net/wiican
It just connects and configures buttons as you wish, yet not perfect but I would call it great
will update the post once I find out how to install.
Edit: I was able to find a package at this link