How to get Logitech Harmony Smart Control remote to work with Raspberry Pi running OSMC

Hello,
I have a gen1 raspberry pi and have OSMC installed on it. I bought a logitech harmony smart control remote recently and am trying to understand how can I get this to work with Raspberry pi.

I do not know a lot about the Pi so please bear with me; all I know at this point is that I will need a IR receiver (TSOP38238) to get the remote to work with Kodi. Is this true? If yes can someone please guide me step by step on how to add the piece to my Pi and then how to program the remote?

I presently am using a Logitech Bluetooth keyboard is there a way to program the dongle to work with harmony?

I apologize if I am not able to explain coherently if there are any questions please let me know and I will answer them so that you all can guide me better.

Did you search the forum? I’m pretty certain this has all be covered before.

I did and did not find the information I was looking for. Let me try again; if you come across a thread can you please post it here? Thanks for the reply back @ActionA!

I can help.
First did you just buy the remote or the bundle with the hub?
I highly recommend including a hub.
Why? → The remote alone uses infrared to send commands to compatible devices.
infrared needs line of sight, so you always have to directly point to the devices you want to control.
But your remote can also use radio frequency to send commands, but only to a harmony hub. The hub simply receives RF commands from your remote and translates them into IR. Imagine the hub like a reflector that gets the RF command and “shoots” out IR rays in every direction.
The hub also sends commands via bluetooth. So if you use a hub you can buy a bluetooth usb dongle for your raspi and control it this way.

If you stick with just the remote you have to buy a IR usb dongle to control your raspi.
Concerning your linked K400 plus keyboard you should be able to control osmc by just attaching the provided unifying usb dongle to a free usb port, give it a reboot just to be sure and it should work.
I tried it with a K400 (basicly older version of K400 plus with mostly same layout and same mode of transmission - I assume-) and it worked.

I myself first got a sole harmony touch remote, then got sick of having to point directly to devices to controll them and bought this: Harmony Smart keyboard.
Hub is included and I got it for 54€.
It’s a keyboard just like the K400 with 2 usb dongles included, so if you also use a “normal” PC besides the raspy you can plug in a usb receiver in each of the devices and control both.
Also features a Harmony app for android or ios. So now I just grad what’s lying around and can control every compatible device. Doesn’t matter if it’s my phone, tablet, remote or keyboard :smile:

Yes I have the one with the Hub! So based on what you are saying I should be able to use the K400 Bluetooth dongle correct?

Right now I have the dongle plugged into the Pi and using the keyboard. Now for me to program the dongle you saying that I restart the hub but I am not sure of the next steps. Can you please explain them in detail!

Thanks for the reply back and advise!

You ask if you can use the unifying usb dongle from K400 to control osmc via remote, right?
Unfortunatley not, as I wrote it is a unifying dongle, not a bluetooth dongle.
It’s logitechs own “transmission protocol”, I think it resembles more RF not bluetooth.
Only unifying compatible logitech devices will work with the dongle, there are some keyboards and mouses out there that work.

So you’ll have to pick up a bluetooth dongle, there’s one in the osmc store you can buy.

Here’s how you proceed:
-) via myharmony app add a new device: Manufacturer: Microsoft; Model: Kodi
-) plug the bluetooth dongle in a usb port on your raspi
-) reboot raspi
-) in Kodi go to settings → my osmc → networking → enable bluetooth

Now you should be able to control kodi with your remote, in my osmc there are also settings to pair a device via bluetooth but this wasn’t necessary in my case I think.

Got it!
Would this dongle work? If yes I will get it ordered right away.

Thanks!

I can’t answer that.
I would pick one of the dongles that are listet here: verified bluetooth usb dongles

This one: Bluetooth dongle - OSMC will also work out of the box.

@trohn_javolta It is the one that shipped with your Vero 2

Yep, I pointed out that there’s one in the osmc store :wink:

I understand; I will order this… if it works will add it to the list if not pick the one’s you recommended.

Thanks!

I recommend the Flirc USB ir receiver. Just plug it in and it will work with the harmony.

On a budget hence ordering the generic one with the hope that it works… if not I will go with the other expensive options… :pensive:

So I got the bluetooth dongle today and I followed the steps you suggested; in addition I also paired the Pi with the harmony but I can only program the 4 arrow keys. There is no option to add to other functions like okay or back. Any help? I know I do have the hardware you suggested but would you be able to suggest some troubleshooting…

You have to change that in the myharmony app. With the added device you get a big list of avaiable key presses and combinations. Assign the wanted commands to the remote buttons.

Edit: Or try without pairing the remote with osmc. Maybei with pairing the remote becomes a mouse/keyboard for osmc with limited commands…

Thanks TJ! Got it to work finally; I believe one of the issues was that when I set up the pi in harmony I had the model number as OSMC instead of KODI. Even after reading your instructions I messed up cause in my mind I use them interchangeably.

I do have a few other questions but those are for a later day! Right now I am going to enjoy the single remote. I was using 4 remotes earlier!!

Thanks again,
HI