Hey Guys!
If you’re having the same issue as me (the box is hidden) and you’re having trouble waking it up with the help of an IR remote and would prefer to do so with Bluetooth, here is a short guide and script that I’ve made. I’m using a Ugoos UR02 remote with a Ugoos AM8 Pro.
Note: You will need to adjust the values for the event number and buttons, as these vary depending on your setup and box.
- Enable SSH access and log in to your box.
- Create the file /storage/.config/hwdb.d/remote_remap.hwdb In my case, it looks like this:
evdev:input:b0005v0508p1980*
KEYBOARD_KEY_c0030=f7
c0030 - In my case it’s power on/off button
f7 - I remap power on/off to unsused F7 button
Your remote you can find here CoreELEC/packages/sysutils/systemd/hwdb.d/70-local-keyboard.hwdb at 72dd552d7c6bbbf49de8f461827db5ddffe0bac8 · CoreELEC/CoreELEC · GitHub
- Create a file called gen.xml in the /storage/.kodi/userdata/keymaps folder. Here we’re attaching a script to be executed when a button is pressed.
<keymap>
<global>
<keyboard>
<f7>System.Exec(/storage/.config/kodi_remote_monitor.sh)</f7>
</keyboard>
</global>
</keymap>
/storage/.config/kodi_remote_monitor.sh - is a path to script
f7 - button to which we’ve remapped in (2)
- Create /storage/.config/kodi_remote_monitor.sh (it stop/start kodi process depending on it’s state. Also if you configure CEC in CoreELEC settings, it can turn of/on your TV, AVR and so on):
#!/bin/sh
# Path to event device
EVENT_DEVICE="/dev/input/event6"
# Specific MSC_SCAN value to monitor
TARGET_SCAN_CODE="c0030"
# PID file for evtest process
EVTEST_PID_FILE="/tmp/evtest_event.pid"
#EVTEST FILE LOCATION
EVTEST="/storage/.kodi/addons/virtual.system-tools/bin/evtest"
# Debounce time in seconds to avoid multiple triggers
DEBOUNCE_TIME=2
LAST_TRIGGER_FILE="/tmp/kodi_last_trigger"
# Function to check if Kodi is running
is_kodi_running() {
pgrep kodi.bin > /dev/null 2>&1
}
# Function to stop Kodi
stop_kodi() {
if is_kodi_running; then
echo "[INFO] Stopping Kodi..."
systemctl stop kodi
else
echo "[INFO] Kodi is already stopped."
fi
}
# Function to start Kodi
start_kodi() {
if ! is_kodi_running; then
echo "[INFO] Starting Kodi..."
systemctl start kodi
else
echo "[INFO] Kodi is already running."
fi
}
# Function to kill evtest if running
kill_evtest() {
if [ -f "$EVTEST_PID_FILE" ]; then
EVTEST_PID=$(cat "$EVTEST_PID_FILE")
if kill -0 "$EVTEST_PID" 2>/dev/null; then
echo "[INFO] Killing evtest (PID: $EVTEST_PID)"
kill "$EVTEST_PID"
fi
rm -f "$EVTEST_PID_FILE"
fi
}
# Function to check if trigger is allowed (debounce)
can_trigger() {
if [ -f "$LAST_TRIGGER_FILE" ]; then
LAST_TIME=$(cat "$LAST_TRIGGER_FILE")
CURRENT_TIME=$(date +%s)
if [ $((CURRENT_TIME - LAST_TIME)) -lt $DEBOUNCE_TIME ]; then
return 1 # Too soon, debounce
fi
fi
echo $(date +%s) > "$LAST_TRIGGER_FILE"
return 0 # OK to trigger
}
# Function to monitor event6 for specific scan code press (background mode)
monitor_event_device() {
echo "[INFO] Waiting for event device $EVENT_DEVICE to become available..."
# Wait for event device to be available
while [ ! -e "$EVENT_DEVICE" ]; do
echo "[INFO] Event device $EVENT_DEVICE not found, waiting..."
sleep 3
done
echo "[INFO] Monitoring $EVENT_DEVICE for scan code $TARGET_SCAN_CODE press..."
# Start evtest in background and save PID
"$EVTEST" "$EVENT_DEVICE" | while read -r line; do
# Look for the specific MSC_SCAN event
if echo "$line" | grep -q "MSC_SCAN.*value $TARGET_SCAN_CODE"; then
# Read the next line to check for key press
if read -r key_line && echo "$key_line" | grep -q "EV_KEY.*value 1"; then
KEY_CODE=$(echo "$key_line" | sed -n 's/.*code \([0-9]*\) (.*/\1/p')
echo "[INFO] Target scan code $TARGET_SCAN_CODE pressed, triggering KEY_$KEY_CODE"
# Check if we can trigger (debounce protection)
if can_trigger; then
echo "[INFO] Starting Kodi via remote button press."
start_kodi
else
echo "[INFO] Ignoring button press (debounce protection)."
fi
fi
fi
done &
# Save background process PID
echo $! > "$EVTEST_PID_FILE"
}
# Function to handle keymap execution (stop Kodi when called from keymap)
handle_keymap_execution() {
echo "[INFO] Script called from keymap - stopping Kodi"
stop_kodi
exit 0
}
# Main function - determine mode of operation
main() {
# Check if script was called with arguments (from keymap)
if [ $# -eq 0 ]; then
# Called from keymap - stop Kodi
handle_keymap_execution
else
# Background monitoring mode
echo "[INFO] Kodi remote monitor started in background mode."
echo "[INFO] Monitoring for scan code $TARGET_SCAN_CODE only."
while true; do
if is_kodi_running; then
# Ensure evtest is not running
kill_evtest
else
# Start monitoring if not already
if [ ! -f "$EVTEST_PID_FILE" ]; then
monitor_event_device
fi
fi
sleep 2
done
fi
}
# Handle script termination
trap 'kill_evtest; exit' INT TERM
# Run main function
main "$@"
EVENT_DEVICE - Adjust, it might be different one to you, in my case event6 is my UR02 remote. You can find your remote by executing cat /proc/bus/input/devices, it will output all your connected devices to the CoreELEC. In H: Handlers=..... event* will be your event number
TARGET_SCAN_CODE - Button which we’ve remapped in (2)
EVTEST - Path to evtest file
- Create /storage/.config/system.d/kodi-remote-monitor.service:
[Unit]
Description=Kodi Remote Monitor
Wants=network-online.target
After=network-online.target
[Service]
Type=simple
ExecStart=/storage/.config/kodi_remote_monitor.sh 1
Restart=always
RestartSec=5
StandardOutput=journal
StandardError=journal
[Install]
WantedBy=multi-user.target
1 - There is a flag here which is necessary for the script to work correctly.
- Run the command:
systemctl enable kodi-remote-monitor - Run the command:
chmod +x /storage/.config/kodi_remote_monitor.sh - Run the command:
systemd-hwdb update - Run the command:
udevadm trigger -s input - In CoreELEC, install system tools to make the evtest tool available
- Reboot your CoreELEC
- You can monitor the script output using the command
journalctl -u kodi-remote-monitor.service -f
