Login at Kodi Home

kneekos · 2013-02-02, 10:32

Hello,

I just upgraded XBMC to Frodo from Eden.
Everything works fine apart from the apple remote.
When I first boot the Mac (10.8 Mountain Lion) the apple remote cannot control XBMC.
I need to quit XBMC by using the mouse.
The second time the program starts the apple remote is able to control XBMC.

What is happening?

I downgraded to Eden again and everything works fine again.

alexjj · 2013-02-02, 13:56

Do you have ituneshelper run upon startup? I found by turning that off xbmc would have control of the remote.

Although sometimes it seems to put itself back on...

winestock · (This post was last modified: 2013-02-02, 16:24 by winestock.)

I have this same issue on my 2009 Mac-Mini. When I reboot my Mac-Mini I loose the ability to use the Apple remote, after I have XBMC auto start after a rebbot until I quit XBMC and restart it. While XBMC is running, after you reboot, open a terminal window and do "ps -ea | grep XBMC" you will see that XBMCHelper is not running. What I have had to do is write a small Apple script which first sleeps for about 5 seconds and then opens XBMC. This is just a work around. I just did some more testing on this and it does not seem to be related to whether iTunesHelper is running.

kneekos · 2013-02-02, 22:51

I actually did kill ituneshelper but it did not solve the problem.

Your solution seems good but I do not wish to tamper with it this way.

If its not too much trouble can you let me know what the script was just in case I do decide to do it this way.

I was going into these type of solutions when I was running ideneb on an eeepc to fix audio after waking from sleep. But on a real mac?? That is why I got a real mac to get rid of the hacking.

At the time the 2010 mac mini seemed like a good solution since it provided the apple remote as well. I got the mac experience and considering the trouble I have to go through to keep it to work I will keep Eden for the time being and I just might sell it and go for an openelec or a linux distro. If im feeling adventurous I might even do an ubuntu 12.04 on the mac.

winestock · (This post was last modified: 2013-02-02, 23:13 by winestock.)

(2013-02-02, 22:51)kneekos Wrote: I actually did kill ituneshelper but it did not solve the problem.

Your solution seems good but I do not wish to tamper with it this way.

If its not too much trouble can you let me know what the script was just in case I do decide to do it this way.

I was going into these type of solutions when I was running ideneb on an eeepc to fix audio after waking from sleep. But on a real mac?? That is why I got a real mac to get rid of the hacking.

At the time the 2010 mac mini seemed like a good solution since it provided the apple remote as well. I got the mac experience and considering the trouble I have to go through to keep it to work I will keep Eden for the time being and I just might sell it and go for an openelec or a linux distro. If im feeling adventurous I might even do an ubuntu 12.04 on the mac.

Open the AppleScript Editor and copy this into it:

Code:
do shell script "sleep 3; open /Applications/XBMC.app"

Save this off as "XBMC", File Format "Application". Then point to using that app which will launch the real XBMC. I put this in ~/Library/Application Support/XBMC/bin. I created the bin directory. I put this in Login Items in System Preferences under Users and Accounts. Of course this a temporary solution until a fix is found in XBMC.

kneekos · 2013-02-03, 00:17

Thanks!

Zokkel · 2013-02-04, 07:56

Winestock, thanks again, but:

My mac says: "can't open, because the classic-environment is not longer supported" (translated from dutch)

If I open XBMC in the applications menu, it does open...

winestock · (This post was last modified: 2013-02-04, 21:07 by winestock.)

(2013-02-04, 07:56)Zokkel Wrote: Winestock, thanks again, but:

My mac says: "can't open, because the classic-environment is not longer supported" (translated from dutch)

If I open XBMC in the applications menu, it does open...

Interesting. Just two days ago I recreated this in the AppleScript editor on my 2009 Intel Mac-Mini running 10.8.2 and I am using the resultant XBMC.app without issue. Did you compile it or do "Save As..." without compiling it?

Zokkel · 2013-02-05, 08:07

Found a solution for me!

The last step to delay XBMC was apparently an important one.

These are all the steps I followed, explained by a noob in a noobish way. Don't know if ALL the steps are necessary, but they can't harm your system. Special thanks to KillerBob and winestock.

1) Update your version of OSX to the latest updates (I mean update your version, not upgrade to another version). This was important for me, because iTunes kept opening randomly by itself in OSX 10.7.2.
2) Uncheck "Restore windows when quitting" (OSX->System Preferences/General) and/or uncheck the "Reopen windows when logging back in" checkbox in the restart or shutdown verification dialog.
3) Remove iTunes and other programs that may control the remote in login menu (OSX->System Preferences/Users & Groups/"username"/Login).
4) Make sure your remotes (Harmony, Apple, or otherwise) are NOT paired in OSX (OSX->System Preferences/Security & Privacy/General) and ensure the IR receiver is on.
5) Make sure iTunes is not paired with any of your remotes (iTunes/Preferences/Devices).
6) Install Candelair.
7a) Use the script provided by winestock to delay start of xbmc after boot OR
7b) Install DelayedLauncher for Mac -> put XBMC in DelayedLauncher -> put DelayedLauncher in login items (OSX->System Preferences/Users & Groups/"username"/Login). For me: to delay XBMC with 1 sec is enough, cause DelayedLauncher needs 2 sec to start on its own... so 3 sec.
8) Setup XBMC for the correct remote, Harmony or Apple.

Apparently the core-problem of not working correctly:
XBMC starts up to fast (There's a punch line!)

Gigantur · (This post was last modified: 2014-02-15, 02:44 by Gigantur.)

The following worked for me:

1) Disable "Allow start of XBMC using the remote" in Settings/Input Devices
2) Delete /Users/<your_user_name>/Library/LaunchAgents/org.xbmc.helper.plist
3) Reboot

See my post here for full details and report any outcomes in it please.

The following made no difference:

Candleair
iTunesplaybuttonpatch
Killing ituneshelper, Renaming ituneshelper and rebooting
Ensuring itunes did not start
Turning off all wifi sync for iphones/ipads etc
Make sure your remote is not paired in OS X under System Preferences -> Security & Privacy -> General
Make sure your remote is not paired in iTunes under iTunes -> Preferences -> Devices

I agree it is some sort of condition where XBMC starts before the os is ready - my Mac Mini has a fusion drive which is very fast - auto login/startup order of XBMC (and other apps) made a difference but was not repeatable.

UPDATE

The problem above is fixed (does not occur for me) in recent (feb) Gotham nightlies. If you have it try a latest nightly would be my suggestion ...

kneekos · 2013-12-30, 15:59

Hello Gigantur,

I have been using version Eden all this time so this is how I got past this problem. A couple of days ago I updated to Frodo 12.3 and to Mavericks. All seems fine. I just got a problem yesterday by coincidence. I was getting a message "cannot connect to remote server" or something and I could not control the apple remote from within xbmc. But it was a one off problem. I do not seem to have issues any more.

If I uncheck "Allow start of XBMC using the remote" in XBMC will I still be able to start the program using the apple remote?

Anyway If I will try to start/stop and boot the program and osx several times to try to replicate the issue. If I do come across I will follow your directions and let you know. If I get this issue in the far future I will still post what happened with your solution.

Gigantur · 2013-12-31, 10:31

(2013-12-30, 15:59)kneekos Wrote: Hello Gigantur,

I have been using version Eden all this time so this is how I got past this problem. A couple of days ago I updated to Frodo 12.3 and to Mavericks. All seems fine. I just got a problem yesterday by coincidence. I was getting a message "cannot connect to remote server" or something and I could not control the apple remote from within xbmc. But it was a one off problem. I do not seem to have issues any more.

If I uncheck "Allow start of XBMC using the remote" in XBMC will I still be able to start the program using the apple remote?

The problem you had briefly did not go away for me - hence the work-around - a 2 second boot delay before launching xbmc or disable "allow start of xbmc using the remote".

Without the setting you can't use the remote to launch xbmc unless you use remote buddy or similar .. Starting xbmc from login (right click on icon in dock) is as good as it gets until a true fix is found ..