EventGhost and PC idle timer *need some ideas*

[kricker]

My PC often goes to sleep even though I am navigating menus in Sage or XBMC with my remote. I use EG to control my apps. Since Windows uses mouse and keyboard input to determine standby status the PC thinks I am gone even though I am using my remote. Does EG not reset the PC idle timer when it receives a valid input from the remote? Will I need to add a "reset Idle time" action to every input for every context folder I am using? Is this something my USBuirt driver should already be doing?

[kricker]

No one have any ideas?

[stottle]

In my case, silence means I don't have any ideas, at least in terms of something automated. If you need to add a "reset idle time", you could at least use a wildcarded event that ran for everything recognized IR signal. I'm not sure if there's any way to tell the OS that IR signals should count as input. I usually use TMT and TheaterTek, and I think both of those turn of the sleep timer when they are playing. Maybe that is another approach?

Brett

[kricker]

Yeah Sage and XBMC turn it off while playing, but not while on menu screens. How does a wildcard event work? That sounds exactly like what I need.

[stottle]

If I use "USB_UIRT.Mce.*" as the trigger, any Mce event from USB_UIRT will run the macro. Pretty simple, really.

Brett

[kricker]

For my X10 device it looks like X10.* will do the trick.

[RandomEGUser]

What about wildcards that are part of the suffix, for example:
I have one button that sends this signal
USB_UIRT.NEC.47388D72
and another that sends
USB_UIRT.NEC.47388A88

how would i make one event that would say something like (this obviously doesnt work)
USB_UIRT.NEC.47388*

that would trigger when hitting any of those two buttons?

[teedublu]

I'm also having the premature suspend problem since I started using EG to handle the remote commands for Sage.

I tried adding 'reset idle time' actions to some macros for remote buttons that would normally be used (stop, pause, "directions", ok).

But adding the 'reset idle time' did not resolve the problem (always ?). I have to press a key on a real keyboard or mouse to ensure it won't suspend right away.

I did notice that when this is happening, the EG logs do not show Idle and UnIdle events, whereas if I restart the system, EG does log/show these events -- which means maybe something is degrading.
I do use the remote's power button to wake the system. I read elsewhere that may be a problem.

Do I have to Set Idle Timer or something after a Resume?

Also, one more ?. I've set up an exclusive for Sage, but when I Deactivate Sage (ie goto desktop), can I set an exclusive to an empty dummy folder, since I currently don't have another app to send focus to? (so that the remote stops controlling Sage when Sage doesn't have focus).

TW
0.3.7.r1462
Windows 7 32b
Windows MCE Remote (says eHome IR receiver)
SageTV is my main App/Output

[kricker]

Turns out the idle timer we are resetting is EG's idle timer and not the OS's. So doing this really does not do what we were hoping.

For your one more, yes you should be able to do that. But even better is setup up default folder you can switch to that you can add some commands to the remote that may be handy at the desktop.

[teedublu]

Shoot. I was starting to suspect that. To bad the documentation is so sparse.

I wonder if an emulated keystroke will work? They're too slow for remote navigation buttons, (I tried alternate method too) so it'll have to be something not used often (and to avoid wasting a button, a Sage keyboard command).

TW

[kricker]

Shoot. I was starting to suspect that. To bad the documentation is so sparse.

I wonder if an emulated keystroke will work? They're too slow for remote navigation buttons, (I tried alternate method too) so it'll have to be something not used often (and to avoid wasting a button, a Sage keyboard command).

TW

My problem was when using XBMC, but it has recently been patched to address this issue. I never had issue with Sage allowing the PC to suspend when it wasn't supposed to. I use the Sage commands and not keystrokes to operate it.

[teedublu]

Bingo!

I retried the emulate keystroke and this time I didn't have the slow response problem. Not sure why it was slow when I tried it earlier.

Anyway, emulate keystroke fixed the premature suspend problem. Win 7 32b is treating the emulated keystrokes as real keystrokes and resets its idle timer (it seems). I did this for the basic navigation buttons + stop and pause. I kept but disabled the app command for those. The only issue is that when I wake the system using the remote (the power button is passed thru, not captured by EG), I need to navigate/emulate-a-keystoke soon otherwise it suspends again. Minor issue really.

TW

[eatmeimadanish]

There are two idle timers. The one you want is under Power Managerment and is called Set System Idle Timer. This will reset the idle timer for the power management feature in windows.

[kricker]

There are two idle timers. The one you want is under Power Managerment and is called Set System Idle Timer. This will reset the idle timer for the power management feature in windows.

All that does is enable or disable the timer. It does not just reset the counter.

[back_ache]

Would disabling then re-enabling it, in effect, reset the timer?