Logitech Harmony remote fine-tuning (Bluetooth only)

[kennyjftw]

I have the full blown Harmony smart remote and hub, and was able to easily get it paired with the Steam Link. That worked well enough just to launch everything and be able to navigate a little, but once I started playing with Kodi on my PC... I wanted more. I also found it frustrating that the letter button mappings only sorta work (X and B swapped, A and Y do nothing) and while this is mostly not of consequence, it does occasionally force me to grab the Steam controller even though I'm not actually planning to use it.

So, I fumbled through setting up the Steam Link as a Microsoft/Kodi device (same basic result as if you set it up as a Windows computer.) It's a really counter-intuitive process on multiple levels, but it works in my living room. Note that you'll need the Harmony app installed on a mobile device as well for one step, because Logitech is really all about usability amirite?

Add a new device, choose Microsoft as the vendor and Kodi as the model. You'll get a warning that it's not an infrared device and the Harmony remote can't control it - forge ahead anyway.
Create a new Activity that uses the new Kodi "device" in place of the Steam link, but is otherwise identical.
Sync the remote. Sync the mobile app too if you used the desktop up to this point.
Navigate to the Steam Link's bluetooth screen. You can do this while the remote is syncing if you've got the controller handy.
Use the mobile app on your phone or a tablet to enable text entry for the new activity.
Since the Steam Link and the Harmony hub are already paired, they'll immediately recognize one another without any fanfare or fuss at all.

From here, you have two activities with their own similar, but not identical, basic button layouts. The Steam Link one has partial (and flawed) access to Steam Link specific controls. The Kodi activity will have standard Windows media controls, of which the Steam Link will recognize the basic stuff, like directions, OK, Exit, etc. Once you start streaming, the media controls should all pass through to the host machine, but whether this will do anything interesting or desirable is up to the software you have running. You can even switch between the two activities at will, though it does take a few seconds for the remote to go through the motions.

Where it gets interesting is that if you then add the other "device" to either activity, you can edit screen menus and physical buttons in the Harmony app to combine the two control mechanisms into one that should come close to covering everything you need. So, I've been messing with THAT... but I can't seem to figure out how to use the Y or A button with my setup, using EITHER activity.

Has anyone else gone down the Steam Link/Harmony Remote rabbit hole? Find anything interesting to add or have any advice? I'm starting to think that, of the two device profiles, the Kodi profile is the more useful, and I'm considering wiping both and redoing it with just the "Kodi" device and activity. But I'm only just getting started, and I'm sure I've got some more learning to do.

[kennyjftw]

Been playing with it a little more. I'm using a simplified approach now. I removed all devices and activities for the Steam Link and started fresh.

Device:
LogitechHarmony
WindowsPC

Activity:
Watch PC

This will give you mostly usable controls out of the box. I had to map "Exit" to Escape (the default is Back, which the Steam Link's internal software doesn't recognize) and I opted for Menu to be "Right Click" which is a little more useful than the default mapping. Only the former is mandatory, but I strongly recommend doing both.

There are several advantages to using WindowsPC over Kodi. It has the most complete, closest-to-ideal default button setup. Every letter on the keyboard is available to be mapped. And, it'll automatically pair from the mobile app if you try to click on the keyboard - there are no annoying warnings about no IR control to get in your way, and there's no need to go menu diving for the Enable Text Entry button.

I still haven't had any luck getting the Steam Link to recognize input for the Y or A buttons; similarly, the other Steam Link controls in the Harmony profile don't seem to do anything in the Steam Link menus and either do nothing on Windows (Guide) or cause unpredictable behavior in Kodi (Info.) I might be pursued to re-add the Steam Link device profile if I hear that Logitech can get it working correctly, but for now it's not worth the trouble when all of the actual working functionality also exists within another, vastly more powerful alternative. If anyone figures out how to replicate those controls via keyboard, even better.

[kennyjftw]

Ugh. I take it back. It looks like simply setting it up as a Windows PC isn't enough for Kodi - you have to actually use the Kodi "device" (or perhaps a Windows MCE RF equivalent that uses BT and not IR) for the media controls to actually be recognized by Kodi. I could've sworn I tested it, but apparently not!

Not sure if it's because the media controls don't pass through, or what. But strangely, when I redid the activity for Steam Link after adding a Kodi "device" again and setting it as the "streaming" device for the Steam Link (leaving the "Windows PC" intact) it got most of the controls right. Including the directional buttons and OK button that seemed to be missing when I last used it. I might have previously tested the Kodi device with a different activity type - Watch PC might be mandatory for mappings to be complete.

In this case, I found it useful to change Menu to "ContextMenu" and Guide to "OnScreenMenu". The other controls were fine as-is; I believe the default options for these two buttons are useless outside of Windows Media Center.

Trying to bring up the soft keyboard in the mobile app also immediately offered to pair via Bluetooth, so I guess creating a second Activity isn't necessary just so long as you attempt to control the second "device" with the soft keyboard at some point.

At this point, I think the only benefit to using Windows PC in addition to Kodi is simply that you get access to keyboard letters and a handful of other keyboard functions. I thought PageUp/PageDown might be useful but it seems Channel Up/Channel Down effectively replace it.

[kennyjftw]

tl;dr: Just set up the Steam Link as "Microsoft Kodi", set up an activity as "Watch PC" and you'll have full navigation of Steam and effective control over Kodi. You won't get certain buttons in the Steam Link menu but you'll probably find it easier to just use the Steam Controller there anyway.