about:benjie

Fancy submitting to MythPyWii? Let me know! It’s now on Google Code.

Code, documentation, bugs, bugfixes, etc all welcome!

Thanks to Matthew Zimmerman for sending me his modified version of MythPyWii, it now has power-saving – after 35 minutes of inactivity the Wiimote turns off. You can download the latest version, as always, here; or you can get this specific version (v17) here.

I love open source!

Before we start, just to be clear – this is not for crackers (people who illegally break in to computer systems) but for hackers (people who modify the software or hardware of their computer system including building, rebuilding, modifying and creating software and electronic hardware either to make it better, faster, give added features or to make it do something it was never intended to do).

UPDATE: we have a google group: http://groups.google.com/group/southackton

I’m intending on setting up a “Hackerspace” in Southampton targeted around software programming (for fun) and hardware hacking (e.g. robotics). I anticipate that people would attend the hackerspace either with their own personal projects (such as controlling their television using a Wii remote), or looking to join in on a cool project. The idea is that we can all share knowledge and help each other out in a fun and innovative environment.

I am provisionally calling this project Southackton, though I expect (hope!) a better name will surface once more people are interested! If you or anyone you know is interested, please contact me via email (my name at benjiegillam.com) or by leaving a comment on this post.

The ultimate goal would be having an “office” somewhere in Southampton where members can drop in any time (within reason) and get to work on their project/just hang out with fellow hackers. If you work from home you could even work form the Hackerspace directly – it wouldn’t be so lonely! I am, however, expecting that we would run it as a “club” until we have enough interested members to make it feasible. Whether this club be weekly, fortnightly, monthly, or bi-monthly is a matter for interested persons to discuss – get in contact and let me know what you think!

As you may know if you read this blog (doubtful!), I am a great fan of open source, and have been a dedicated GNU/Linux user for almost 10 years now, so Linux users would be cool to have as they tend to be interested in tweaking hardware/software, however everyone would be welcome independent of their choice of operating system. Yes, that’s right – even Windows users!

Further, there is no required skill level. I’m happy to have people attend who want to acheive something (e.g. making a webcam recognise who is sat at the PC and change the computers background to a related picture/have their favourite teddy walk towards them) but have no idea how to go about it, so long as they are patient and willing to learn!

I hope you’re interested – let me know!

UPDATE: if you’re interested, sign up to our google group: http://groups.google.com/group/southackton.

Image by FastJack via Flickr

I’ve just updated MythPyWii to handle the connection to Mythfrontend more smoothly, and to give feedback via the wiimote on error/disconnect. (i.e. if myth closes, the wiimote shakes, and the LED pattern changes to [ . # # . ] instead of [ # . . # ] just before the wiimote turns itself off). This means if there are issues connecting to Mythfrontend you can retry again simply by pressing 1&2 once more (fix any issues first though – e.g. closed mythfrontend/no remote interface enabled).

I’ve fixed a little bug with timestretching, and have also improved the timestretch responsiveness by emulating not just the left/right keys but also the up/down keys (which increase/decrease timestretch by 0.25 instead of just 0.05).

As always, download the latest version of MythPyWii here.

Ah hah, an update to Zemanta has just been released! Integration with Facebook and Flickr, eh? I best sign up for a Flickr account then, I suppose… Argh! They seem to have broken images with my theme – I fixed it by adding this CSS to my theme (copied from firebug):

.alignright { float:right; } .wp-caption { -moz-border-radius-bottomleft:3px; -moz-border-radius-bottomright:3px; -moz-border-radius-topleft:3px; -moz-border-radius-topright:3px; background-color:#F3F3F3; border:1px solid #DDDDDD; margin:10px; padding-top:4px; text-align:center; }

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Image via Wikipedia

Thanks to a heads up from Sam, I have updated the MythPyWii script with better error handling and more informative feedback messages. Hopefully now when you run the script you will know what to do! I’ve also fixed a few minor bugs in the documentation.

As always, you can download the latest version of MythPyWii here.

I should probably make a GUI for MythPyWii at some point… though it seems a little pointless at the moment. I could allow you to change the controls to your liking, I spose…

UPDATE: If you’re getting errors like:

$ myth_py_wii.py
Please open Mythfrontend and then press 1&2 on the wiimote…
Connected to a wiimote
Logged in to MythFrontend
TypeError: wmcb() takes exactly 2 arguments (3 given)
TypeError: wmcb() takes exactly 2 arguments (3 given)
TypeError: wmcb() takes exactly 2 arguments (3 given)
TypeError: wmcb() takes exactly 2 arguments (3 given)

Then you have a more up to date version of cwiid than me. The fix is simple – change line 141:
def wmcb(self, messages):
to:
def wmcb(self, messages, timeIgnore):

Thanks to Mike H for pointing out this issue.

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• Dress up your Python scripts with EasyGui

Here’s the short version:

Despite having got up at 3:30am this morning and being extremely tired, it’s been quite a good day. I finished setting up the media centre, hooked it up to the TV and got it working, sound and all. It seems the PC doesn’t run video smoothly at 1080p (not suprisingly, it was bought a good few years ago on a budget, it’s an onboard graphics card too!) – but that’s OK. I dropped it down to ~720p and it seems to run great.

It’s completely diskless, it’s only purpose being to play MythTV videos from my main mythbackend. It might find itself playing some DVDs at some point also, we’ll see.

I installed MythPyWii on it, using my new MythPyWii Install Instructions, which I wrote today and you can find here. (I also made a page detailing the controls, here. Both links can also be found in my sidebar.) Everything went smoothly, so I made the video I had been promising. This is my first time *ever* doing any video editing, and this video was all filmed in one take with no rehersals, so please bear with me! The longer version is better if you need help during the install/etc, and is linked to on the instructions page.

Here goes, I know it’s a bit long… perhaps I will make a scripted version sometime which is shorter:

For anyone wondering, I used “Kino” to edit the video. It’s OK, took me a little while to figure it out. “Add text to” is a filter under FX called “Tilter” – Text fILTER, I guess… How intuitive…

I can’t sleep, so I thought it would be wise to give you an update on my previous post about MythPyWii, despite feeling a bit like the living dead must feel. (And having to frequently remove Artie from the keyboard, bless her.)

Unfortunately I have not been able to get a video of MythPyWii yet because – minor technical hitch – I can’t find a VGA cable to connect my PC to my TV! (Wanted to show off the TV at the same time, it’s a good excuse!) I have, however, set up completely diskless booting on the old PC – and it’s working great! Took me a little bit of hacking (2 hours) to get it working well with my setup mind, not bad for my first ever diskless box! Hopefully it gives me a chance to outline every required piece of software on mythbuntu too.

I’ve also been hacking away at MythPyWii, it now has the following improvements:

• Button repeats are sensible (if you hold “up”, it will simulate pressing up, pause 0.5 seconds, and then repeat every 0.15 seconds)
• Manually repeating a button works better (previously we ignored any button press 0.5s after the previous one. Now, instead, we reset the delay every time a different key is pressed/released on the Wiimote, so you can tap up as fast as you want (and as fast as mythfrontend can handle))
• Slowmo/doubletime – I’ve added time stretching. To activate, hold the wiimote flat, hold B and A together, and then twist, as with fast forwarding. When you let go, myth will be left in slowmo, if this is not what you want, adjust timestretch to 1x using the same method! Enjoy!
• Fractionally tidier code. This is a mess already (as you would expect for a first attempt at a programming language) – if anyone out there rocks at Python, any tips would be appreciated!

Here’s the latest code:

#!/usr/bin/env python """ Copyright (c) 2008, Benjie Gillam All rights reserved. Redistribution and use in source and binary forms, with or without modification, are permitted provided that the following conditions are met: * Redistributions of source code must retain the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer. * Redistributions in binary form must reproduce the above copyright notice, this list of conditions and the following disclaimer in the documentation and/or other materials provided with the distribution. * Neither the name of MythPyWii nor the names of its contributors may be used to endorse or promote products derived from this software without specific prior written permission. THIS SOFTWARE IS PROVIDED BY THE COPYRIGHT HOLDERS AND CONTRIBUTORS "AS IS" AND ANY EXPRESS OR IMPLIED WARRANTIES, INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, THE IMPLIED WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE ARE DISCLAIMED. IN NO EVENT SHALL THE COPYRIGHT OWNER OR CONTRIBUTORS BE LIABLE FOR ANY DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, SPECIAL, EXEMPLARY, OR CONSEQUENTIAL DAMAGES (INCLUDING, BUT NOT LIMITED TO, PROCUREMENT OF SUBSTITUTE GOODS OR SERVICES; LOSS OF USE, DATA, OR PROFITS; OR BUSINESS INTERRUPTION) HOWEVER CAUSED AND ON ANY THEORY OF LIABILITY, WHETHER IN CONTRACT, STRICT LIABILITY, OR TORT (INCLUDING NEGLIGENCE OR OTHERWISE) ARISING IN ANY WAY OUT OF THE USE OF THIS SOFTWARE, EVEN IF ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH DAMAGE. """ # By Benjie Gillam http://www.benjiegillam.com/mythpywii/ import cwiid, time, StringIO, sys, asyncore, socket from math import log, floor, atan, sqrt, cos, exp # Note to self - list of good documentation: # cwiid: http://flx.proyectoanonimo.com/proyectos/cwiid/ # myth telnet: http://www.mythtv.org/wiki/index.php/Telnet_socket def do_scale(input, max, divisor=None): if divisor is None: divisor = max if (input > 1): input = 1 if (input < -1): input = -1 input = int(input * divisor) if input>max: input = max elif input < -max: input = -max return input class MythSocket(asyncore.dispatcher): firstData = True data = "" prompt="\n# " owner = None buffer = "" callbacks = [] oktosend = True def __init__(self, owner): self.owner = owner asyncore.dispatcher.__init__(self) self.create_socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM) self.connect(("localhost", 6546)) def handle_connect(self): print "Connected" def handle_close(self): print "Closed" self.close() def handle_read(self): self.data = self.data + self.recv(8192) while len(self.data)>0: a = self.data.find(self.prompt) if a>-1: self.oktosend = True result = self.data[:a] self.data = self.data[a+len(self.prompt):] if not self.firstData: print "<<<", result cb = self.callbacks.pop(0) if cb: cb(result) else: print "Logged in to MythFrontend" self.firstData = False else: break; def writable(self): return (self.oktosend) and (len(self.buffer) > 0) and (self.buffer.find("\n") > 0) def handle_write(self): a = self.buffer.find("\n") sent = self.send(self.buffer[:a+1]) print ">>>", self.buffer[:sent-1] self.buffer = self.buffer[sent:] self.oktosend = False def cmd(self, data, cb = None): self.buffer += data + "\n" self.callbacks.append(cb) def raw(self, data): cmds = data.split("\n") for cmd in cmds: if len(cmd.strip())>0: self.cmd(cmd) def ok(self): return len(self.callbacks) == len(self.buffer) == 0 class WiiMyth: wii_calibration = False wm = None ms = None wii_calibration = None #Initialize variables reportvals = {"accel":cwiid.RPT_ACC, "button":cwiid.RPT_BTN, "ext":cwiid.RPT_EXT, "status":cwiid.RPT_STATUS} report={"accel":True, "button":True} state = {"acc":[0, 0, 1]} lasttime = 0.0 laststate = {} responsiveness = 0.15 firstPress = True firstPressDelay = 0.5 maxButtons = 0 #wii_rel = lambda v, axis: float(v - self.wii_calibration[0][axis]) / ( # self.wii_calibration[1][axis] - self.wii_calibration[0][axis]) def wii_rel(self, v, axis): return float(v - self.wii_calibration[0][axis]) / ( self.wii_calibration[1][axis] - self.wii_calibration[0][axis]) def wmconnect(self): print "Please press 1&2 on the wiimote..." try: self.wm = cwiid.Wiimote() except: self.wm = None if self.ms is not None: self.ms.close() self.ms = None return None self.ms = MythSocket(self) print "Connected..." self.wm.rumble=1 time.sleep(.2) self.wm.rumble=0 # Wiimote calibration data (cache this) self.wii_calibration = self.wm.get_acc_cal(cwiid.EXT_NONE) return self.wm def wmcb(self, messages): state = self.state for message in messages: if message[0] == cwiid.MESG_BTN: state["buttons"] = message[1] #elif message[0] == cwiid.MESG_STATUS: # print "\nStatus: ", message[1] elif message[0] == cwiid.MESG_ERROR: if message[1] == cwiid.ERROR_DISCONNECT: self.wm = None if self.ms is not None: self.ms.close() self.ms = None continue else: print "ERROR: ", message[1] elif message[0] == cwiid.MESG_ACC: state["acc"] = message[1] else: print "Unknown message!", message laststate = self.laststate if ('buttons' in laststate) and (laststate['buttons'] <> state['buttons']): if state['buttons'] == 0: self.maxButtons = 0 elif state['buttons'] < self.maxButtons: continue else: self.maxButtons = state['buttons'] self.lasttime = 0 self.firstPress = True if laststate['buttons'] == cwiid.BTN_B and not state['buttons'] == cwiid.BTN_B: del state['BTN_B'] self.ms.cmd('play speed normal') if (laststate['buttons'] & cwiid.BTN_A and laststate['buttons'] & cwiid.BTN_B) and not (state['buttons'] & cwiid.BTN_A and state['buttons'] & cwiid.BTN_B): del state['BTN_AB'] #self.ms.cmd('play speed normal') if self.ms.ok() and (self.wm is not None) and (state["buttons"] > 0) and (time.time() > self.lasttime+self.responsiveness): self.lasttime = time.time() wasFirstPress = False if self.firstPress: wasFirstPress = True self.lasttime = self.lasttime + self.firstPressDelay self.firstPress = False # Stuff that doesn't need roll/etc calculations if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_HOME: self.ms.cmd('key escape') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_A: self.ms.cmd('key enter') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_MINUS: self.ms.cmd('key d') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_UP: self.ms.cmd('key up') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_DOWN: self.ms.cmd('key down') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_LEFT: self.ms.cmd('key left') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_RIGHT: self.ms.cmd('key right') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_PLUS: self.ms.cmd('key p') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_1: self.ms.cmd('key i') if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_2: self.ms.cmd('key m') # Do we need to calculate roll, etc? # Currently only BTN_B needs this. calcAcc = state["buttons"] & cwiid.BTN_B if calcAcc: # Calculate the roll/etc. X = self.wii_rel(state["acc"][cwiid.X], cwiid.X) Y = self.wii_rel(state["acc"][cwiid.Y], cwiid.Y) Z = self.wii_rel(state["acc"][cwiid.Z], cwiid.Z) if (Z==0): Z=0.00000001 # Hackishly prevents divide by zeros roll = atan(X/Z) if (Z <= 0.0): if (X>0): roll += 3.14159 else: roll -= 3.14159 pitch = atan(Y/Z*cos(roll)) #print "X: %f, Y: %f, Z: %f; R: %f, P: %f; B: %d \r" % (X, Y, Z, roll, pitch, state["buttons"]), sys.stdout.flush() if state["buttons"] & cwiid.BTN_B and state["buttons"] & cwiid.BTN_LEFT: self.ms.cmd('play seek beginning') if state["buttons"] & cwiid.BTN_B and state["buttons"] & cwiid.BTN_A: speed=do_scale(roll/3.14159, 20, 25) if (speed<-10): speed = -10 state['BTN_AB'] = speed cmd = "" # on first press, press a, # after then use the diff to press left/right if not 'BTN_AB' in laststate: # # query location # Playback Recorded 00:04:20 of 00:25:31 1x 30210 2008-09-10T09:18:00 6523 /video/30210_20080910091800.mpg 25 cmd += "play speed normal\nkey a\n"#"play speed normal\n" else: speed = speed - laststate['BTN_AB'] if speed > 0: cmd += abs(speed)*"key right\n" elif speed < 0: cmd += abs(speed)*"key left\n" if speed <> 0: self.wm.rumble=1 time.sleep(.05) self.wm.rumble=0 if cmd is not None and cmd: self.ms.raw(cmd) if state["buttons"] == cwiid.BTN_B: speed=do_scale(roll/3.14159, 8, 13) state['BTN_B'] = speed if not 'BTN_B' in laststate: # # query location # Playback Recorded 00:04:20 of 00:25:31 1x 30210 2008-09-10T09:18:00 6523 /video/30210_20080910091800.mpg 25 cmd = ""#"play speed normal\n" if speed > 0: cmd += "key .\n" elif speed < 0: cmd += "key ,\n" if speed <> 0: cmd += "key "+str(abs(speed)-1)+"\n" #print cmd elif laststate['BTN_B']<>speed: self.wm.rumble=1 time.sleep(.05) self.wm.rumble=0 if speed == 0: cmd = "play speed normal" elif ((laststate['BTN_B'] > 0) and (speed > 0)) or ((laststate['BTN_B'] < 0) and (speed < 0)): cmd = "key "+str(abs(speed)-1)+"\n" elif speed>0: cmd = "key .\nkey "+str(abs(speed)-1)+"\n" else: cmd = "key ,\nkey "+str(abs(speed)-1)+"\n" else: cmd = None if cmd is not None: self.ms.raw(cmd) self.laststate = state.copy() #NOTE TO SELF: REMEMBER .copy() !!! def mythLocation(self, data): #Playback Recorded 00:00:49 of 00:25:31 1x 30210 2008-09-10T09:18:00 1243 /video/30210_20080910091800.mpg 25 #PlaybackBox temp = data.split(" ") output = {} output['mode'] = temp[0] if output['mode'] == "Playback": output['position'] = temp[2] output['max'] = temp[4] return output def main(self): while True: if self.wm is None: #Connect wiimote self.wmconnect() if self.wm: #Tell Wiimote to display rock sign self.wm.led = cwiid.LED1_ON | cwiid.LED4_ON self.wm.rpt_mode = sum(self.reportvals[a] for a in self.report if self.report[a]) self.wm.enable(cwiid.FLAG_MESG_IFC | cwiid.FLAG_REPEAT_BTN) self.wm.mesg_callback = self.wmcb asyncore.loop(timeout=0, count=1) time.sleep(0.05) print "Exited Safely" # Instantiate our class, and start. inst = WiiMyth() inst.main() Download this code: /code/myth_py_wii.r14.py

Hopefully tomorrow I can have it up and running, get a video up, and decent install instructions. Hopefully.