no mention of the awesome Logitech Di Novo Mini then?

http://www.logitech.com/index.cfm/keyboards/keyboard/devices/3848&cl=us,en

Much better imvho

> As the days passed and familiarity grew

I bet it was hard work watching the telly for 3 days solid to generate the data for this report.

I gather you used the manufacturer's photos or took yours at the beginning not after putting cig-marks in the touchpad by mistaking it for the ashtray.

I've just set up an acer revo running xbmc on top of ubuntu and got hold of one of the MS MCE remotes to control it with.

If I'd have know about this lovely I'd have though twice about the MS controller.

I'm pretty certain that it could be made to be fully functional on a linux/xbmc combo using lirc to map the buttons to the required commands as xbmc has a virtual keyboard all of its own.

have to be the ultimate masochists.

"Here's hoping that GlideTV at least ports the virtual keyboard across to Linux at some point in the future."

Time and time again these device manufacturers release hardware that only works with closed software. You are not buying the software, so why not open source it? Surely that would improve your prospective market and you can sure as hell bet that some geek with too much time on his hands will come up with some crazy application for your device that you'd never thought of and thereby drive sales for you.

But no, we must retain an iron grip on our "intellectual property" at all costs!

I must be tired, can someone hand me my coat? Ta.

A nice device but it's never going to be that easy without a keyboard

One thing about TV browsing etc is the likely lack of a flat desk on which to use a mouse.

For myself I fixed this at dramatically lower cost with an Accuratus one piece keyboard/trackball.

A bit big perhaps but not too obtrusive

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Accuratus-Product-Toughball-integrated-trackball/dp/B000NRS72I

It works perfectly with Linux too

"One-handed" jokes aside.. give it a few nanoseconds before someone packages up full support for it in MythTV :)

"A zoom function means this isn't really a sticking point, but to zoom you do need to use both hands.... this gagdet is crying out for multi-touch: two fingers to scroll, three to zoom, for instance."

So how exactly would multi-touch enable you to use one hand (unless the device was on a table or some such) - I thought the purpose of the device design is to be placed in and used by one hand, thus multi-touch would be FAIL.

Not sure I'd buy one.

I've got the whole laptop hooked up to TV thing. Once you have your IE favorites and desktop toolbar set up, then all you really need is a wireless mouse - and optical mice work fine for me on chair armrests or even your knee.

Typing is a little fiddly, but with remembered IE's passwords it's easy to get on to streamed sites such as lovefilm and skyplayer. And Vista already includes an on-screen keyboard as an accessibility option. Turning down the screen resolution helps too when navigating around - while not affecting full-screened video playback.

Did Alun try running xev (x event watcher) whilst the device was connected to a Linux box?

This would show if the device was producing non-standard keyboard events.

If so, it is reasonably easy to map them to real keys, and then tell the media player to use those keys.

I like the idea of something you can just hold in one hand when you are having a serious slob-out. The Di Novo Mini is a great bit of kit but I seldom use mine - if I want to type stuff I'll sit at my desk in the den and do it. Plus the wife really doesn't like anything too overtly techie cluttering up the lounge.

I've been using a Snapstream Firefly Mini remote for years. It uses IR and a USB dongle that shows up (even in the computer's BIOS and Linux) as just a keyboard, so no problems there. In Windows, use the EventGhost software to add functionality (such as all of what the GlideTV can do plus anything else you can think of). It's not ugly, and is quite small. I use it to control the Snapstream BeyondTV software, plus Boxee, Hulu Desktop, and VLC. Very easy.

Plus, at about $20 US, it's cheap.

For those wanting some more toys, check the full-on Firefly remote, which uses RF instead of IR, but requires drivers.

The only thing this has that I'd want is the touchpad for mouse control. But I don't miss it, since when you have the remote properly set up, you very rarely need a mouse.

The Linux version of the software will be released shortly, but as mentioned in the review, the basic mouse functionality works without any additional software.

good for flicking from TVX to Red hot tv after midnite then?

For iPhone/iTouch owners Mobile Air Mouse is worth a try.

Been using it for a while now and for only $2, well worth the purchase price!