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Looking for a better HTPC setup

Hey all! I’m planning on redoing my setup on my PC hooked up to my TV. What I have now works, but I want something a little more streamlined. I mainly use it for watching videos on Piped (YouTube frontend) and tv/movies in Jellyfin, but I recently set up Sunshine/Moonlight for game streaming, and my current setup doesn’t allow me to use my existing controller for games.

Right now, I’m using sway on Arch. I have AntimicroX setup to bind a controllers left joystick to mouse, right joystick to scroll, and the buttons to some unused function keys. I also have keyd set up to bind those function keys to combos, which get handled by binds in my sway config. I have it setup so the start button opens my program launcher, the triggers control volume, etc. I chose to do it this way because Kodi/OSMC/Elec do not have a functional web browser, which I need for Piped. I did test using Kodi just for media viewing, but my entire media library (which I currently access with jellyfin) is HEVC, and nothing would play in kodi. I would love to use AV1 instead, but I don’t have any hardware than can encode it and software transcoding my whole library would take forever, so I’m limited to using Jellyfin Media Player.

My current upgrade plan is to use Flex Launcher running in cage for a home screen with icons for Firefox, jellyfin, and my games. For web browsing I could use a script that launches AntimicroX+keyd before opening Firefox, so that I can still have controller based web browsing. Jellyfin Media Player supposedly supports gamepads, so that should just work.

Before I set up this mess of an environment, does anyone have any suggestions? Is there an existing solution that supports the features I want? Or if you were setting this up, would you use any different approaches or tools? Thanks!

Edit: I’m not looking for keyboard recs. I already have a mini Bluetooth one for tvs and it’s not the experience I’m looking for.

frap129 OP ,

For the sake of anyone who finds this looking for a proper answer, SteamOS/Bazzite/ChimeraOS are all suitable for this purpose. I didn’t consider them when writing this because I thought they were primarily game focused, but for non-games like Jellyfin or a web browser, you can just add them to your steam library as non-steam games.

Deconceptualist ,

You don’t need weird controller macros if you just get a keyboard with a trackpad.

I use a Logitech K830 with my HTPC. It’s not the cheapest but it’s been reliable for 10+ years. It’s backlit and uses a USB WiFi dongle.

If you want something small and low price, the Rii i4 has mushy keys but gets the job done. I mainly use that with my Steam Deck but it connects to almost anything USB (WiFi dongle) or Bluetooth.

frap129 OP ,

I have a bluetooth keyboard/trackpad combo, and the experience is not good. If I wanted to use a computer, I’d just sit at my desktop. I’m mostly looking for gamepad/controller driven software, but I appreciate the reply.

moody ,

You could see if you can get a hold of Steam controller. It has built-in touchpads and fully-customizable buttons.

Longmactoppedup ,

I have one of those keyboards too. The track pad on it is way better than others I have tried.

For controlling kodi though I mostly use Kore from a phone.

staticlifetime ,
@staticlifetime@kbin.social avatar

I have the same Logitech keyboard, but I don't recommend it. The touchpad has no multitouch and scrolls terribly. For what we paid for it, you'd think it would be better than that. Beautiful design and solid feel otherwise though.

Deconceptualist ,

I think I got mine before multitouch was even a thing, so I can’t really hold that against it. And of course it’s not as responsive as modern touchpads. But that’s unfortunate if Logitech isn’t updating the spec.

Who has a better model these days? Wireless and backlit with an integrated trackpad and rechargeable battery was always a rare combination.

beeng ,

www.amazon.com/…/B083M5TN6N

I use this with gnome. It’s pretty great.

No controller support needed, interact with all applications as needed. Type when necessary

frap129 OP ,

I have something similar to this, but 99% of the time I don’t need a keyboard, just a mouse and a couple specific keys. Would much rather use a controller personally

beeng ,

No need for keyboard when web browsing? All good, I do lots on my htpc

frap129 OP ,

Nope, most of the websites I use on my TV are pinned on my home screen, and I have wvkbd (on-screen keyboard) bound to the select key on my controller for the times I do need to type

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