Serial Remote

This is about a very useful thing I found long time ago to control WinAmp, a 4-button cable remote for my computer which I can attach to the serial port:

Hardware: http://www.mattsclearpcs.com/...
Software (WinAmp-Plugin): http://diba.hotbox.ru/...

Then, some time ago, I switched to Linux. That also meant I could no longer use the WinAmp Plug-In for my self-soldered remote control. So I had to find something else, and I found a program which appeared in the german Linux Magazin in September 2000:

Article: http://www.linux-magazin.de/... (also available as English PDF)
Linux Software: ftp://ftp.linux-magazin.de/...

So I tried it, and it did work! The special thing about this new Linux approach is that it can execute any command when I press the buttons and is not only able to control WinAmp! I changed the structure a bit, and now I don't have to compile the program (or even restart it) if I change the key function settings. Download the whole package including all sources from here:

Download via Sourceforge.net File Release System (12 kB)

Some general things (read this before trying to install or use cpanel):

• You don't need to compile it, but of course you may: simply type "make".
  
• Type "make globalinstall" if you have root privileges, "make localinstall" else (this will put the executable into ~/bin).
• Attention: If you do "make globalinstall" and want to use it as normal user, do a "make functionsinstall" as this normal user! This copies the file with the key bindings into your home directory. It is named ".cpanel-functions.sh", you may edit this to meet your needs.
• Don't start the "cpanel" executable as root (though many daemons have to be started this way), it will not have your normal user's preferences (e.g. the wrong ~/.xmms)!
• If you use a window manager, put a "cpanel /dev/ttyS0 &" (or whatever serial interface you want to use) call into its startup. Else it has to go into the "xsession" file, but I have not tested this.
• cpanel runs in the background and consumes less than 0.05% of your processor cycles (in fact, I never saw it using top!).