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User

28.01.2010 01:16:19

Is there no hope for using a DBT 120 dongle with Remote Buddy

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

I just resurrected an old G4 working that doesn't have bluetooth and I wanted to control it with a remote for a media center. Great. The BT dongle had was unreliable so I got a D-Link DBT-120 V 4.2 which is supposed to be one of the most compatible ones out there. Works perfect with my Logitech DiNovo BT keyboard/pad thing and has a much more stable connection.

Now I download the software, pull out a recently purchases Sony BD remote that I bought for this purpose, and I can't get it to see the thing! I looked in the forums first and saw that several months back someone posted that this dongle was incompatible. You have got to be kidding me! It's been out a long time and has gone through several updates and you're telling me it isn't compatible? Nowhere on the hardware compatibility page does it say that it isn't compatible with this or that there are only certain dongle's that work.

Here's the product page for it: http://www.dlink.com/products/?pid=34

Can anyone help here or did I just waste money on the hardware?

These entries from the FAQ may be relevant to this topic:

Built-in Online Updater

How can I manually update to the latest version? (FAQ015E0203)
You can always download the latest version from http://www.iospirit.com/remotebuddy/download/.
Please download it and replace your old version with the version contained in the DMG file.

Hardware - Apple® Remote

After uninstalling/quitting Remote Buddy, my Mac® no longer reacts to the Apple® Remote. (FAQ015E0241)
To enable you to use all capabilities of the IR Receiver of your Mac®, Remote Buddy is using its own driver. In contrast, all other applications with integrated Apple® Remote support usually use the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem.

As long as you're running Remote Buddy, Remote Buddy and its driver are responsible for turning the received button presses into actions. As soon as you quit Remote Buddy, this task is again handled by the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem.

If other applications don't use the interface to the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem correctly, this can lead to the effect that nothing happens when you press a button on your Apple® Remote. For as long as you're running Remote Buddy, issues like this are covered by Remote Buddy and it's driver and are therefore not visible to you. However, as soon as you quit Remote Buddy, the OS X Apple® Remote subsystem is back in control and any issues caused in it by other applications become visible.

Therefore Remote Buddy is neither the cause of the issue nor is it responsible for it. Instead, the cause of the issue exists independently of Remote Buddy. It's located elsewhere and can also only be solved there.

Although our products can't cause any such issues, we're regularly contacted about such issues and asked for help. In order to make locating and fixing the cause of such issues as easy and efficient as possible, we've developed a free diagnostics tool: Remote Control Diagnostics. It can locate issues with a single click and will provide you with information about the issue as well as with instructions on how you can fix it.

Hardware - Sony® BD Remote Control

I'm having problems with the Sony® PS3 BD Remote under OS X® 10.8/10.9. (FAQ015E0246)
There's a bug in the Bluetooth®-stack of OS X® 10.8/10.9 in the context of pairing a Sony® PS3 BD Remote. OS X® 10.8/10.9 will ask you to enter a PIN code when you try to connect your remote control. This problem is known by Apple®.

If you pair your Sony® PS3 BD Remote with your Mac® for the first time
1. Use Remote Buddy's Setup Wizard to pair your remote control
2. Restart your Mac® directly after the pairing was successful, while the remote is still connected.
3. The remote should now work without problems.
If you've already paired the Sony® PS3 BD Remote with your Mac®
1. 10.9 only: Try entering 0000 as PIN and reboot. If you're lucky, that was all you needed to do. If this does not solve your issue, please continue with the steps that follow.
2. First, we'll need to remove the Link Key of your Mac® from the memory of your remote control. Since this remote control can only store one Link Key, it's as easy as pairing the remote control with another Mac®. To do so, open System Preferences > Bluetooth on another Mac® and pair your remote with it.
3. All steps that follow should be performed on the Mac® that you want to use your remote control with.
4. Remove - if it exists - the entry of your remote control at Remote Buddy > Preferences > Hardware ® Bluetooth Receiver. The entry usually is titled "BD Remote".
5. If existant, remove the device "BD Remote" from System Preferences > Bluetooth.
6. Delete the Bluetooth preferences files by entering the following in Terminal.app and hitting return (Warning: this deletes all information about all paired Bluetooth® devices):
```
sudo rm /Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
sudo rm ~/Library/Preferences/com.apple.Bluetooth.plist
sudo rm ~/Library/Preferences/ByHost/com.apple.Bluetooth.*.plist
```
  Please enter your admin password when requested. Then restart your Mac®.
7. Use Remote Buddy's Setup Wizard to pair your remote control
8. Restart your Mac® directly after the pairing was successful, while the remote is still connected.
9. The remote should now work without problems.
How can I increase battery life? (FAQ015E0232)
To increase battery life for the Sony® BD Remote, you should turn on the power saving options Remote Buddy offers. You can find them at Remote Buddy Preferences > Hardware > Bluetooth Receiver.
These settings are recommended:
General
Search for paired remotes on startup: On.
Stop searching for paired remotes after max .. minutes: Off.
Display pairing instructions and status messages: Off. If you experience problems, you should turn this option back on to aid you in debugging the problem.

Energy saving
Automatically disconnect remotes after inactivity of more than .. minute(s): On, value of 1 minute.
Disconnect remotes when computer goes to sleep: On. The potential power saving with this option is huge. But as the warning says, this will not work with all computers: if you can't wake up your computer with your remote after turning this option on, please turn it off again.

Hardware - Wii™ Remote

How can I activate the Bluetooth® receiver automatically on startup? (FAQ015E0163)
In order to automatically activate the Bluetooth® Receiver on startup, enter the settings, choose "Hardware", then click on "Bluetooth® Receiver". Finally activate the checkbox "Search for supported remotes on startup". Remote Buddy will then automatically look for remote control paired through the "Setup Wizard" on next startup.

User

28.01.2010 04:03:19

Re: Is there no hope for using a DBT 120 dongle with Remote Buddy

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Well after about an hour of fiddling around which included putting my old BT dongle on and getting the remote to be seen, I put the D-Link back in cussed a little more, and than it magically appeared in both the Apple BT preferences and was able to pair with Remote Buddy. Of course all this was after I paid for the software because I thought at the very least the AJAX remote on the iPhone was cool.

Now lets hope this thing can actually stay paired.

User

28.01.2010 07:47:27

Re: Re: Is there no hope for using a DBT 120 dongle with Remote Buddy

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This posting is older than 6 months and can contain outdated information.

Thanks for asking.

I can understand your frustration, but please don't blame Remote Buddy for something it is not responsible for:

Bluetooth controllers are handled entirely by Apple's drivers and Apple's Bluetooth stack. No application has any influence on the quality of these and how well they support USB Bluetooth sticks. Applications never get in touch with the actual hardware or the low-level communication. This is entirely done by Apple's Bluetooth stack itself.

Under OS X applications *can* only use Bluetooth through a high-level API that completely abstracts the hardware away. The stack looks like this:

Bluetooth USB stick > USB stack > Bluetooth driver > Bluetooth stack > Bluetooth User space daemon > High-level API > Applications

As you can see, Remote Buddy is at the end of the food-chain. It's affected by any issues of layers coming before it. But it has no influence on the correct functioning of these layers.

Remote Buddy works well with Bluetooth controllers that *OS X* supports properly - which includes but certainly is not limited to built-in Apple Bluetooth Controllers and the Hama Bluetooth stick (purchased in 2006, current Hama models may differ) we're also running tests with.

I'm sorry if Apple's Bluetooth drivers don't support your particular Bluetooth stick well, but it really isn't anything Remote Buddy can do anything about or that it has any influence on. It's completely out of its reach and sphere of influence.

I'm afraid we also can't do anything about it. OS X is Apple's product. OS X' Bluetooth stack is part of it. And it's strictly closed source. So if a certain version of OS X has a compatibility problem with a certain Bluetooth stick, only Apple will be able to fix it. We simply can't and it's also not our responsibility.

Therefore, if you want to see anything change, please don't blame us for something we're not responsible for, but instead please contact Apple and ask them to support your hardware.

Please also contact Apple for a list of Bluetooth sticks compatible and incompatible with their OS. Alternatively, the makers of USB sticks should be able to provide you with information on whether or not a certain model is compatible with a certain version of OS X.

Best regards,
Felix Schwarz

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