Sorry for the AI overview of what I did, but I’m really tired…
OSMC RF Remote — intermittent unresponsiveness on Zorin OS 18 (GNOME Wayland)
Setup:
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Zorin OS 18 (Ubuntu 24.04 base), GNOME on Wayland
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Plex HTPC (Flatpak) — not Kodi
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OSMC RF Remote Controller (USB dongle: ID 2017:1690)
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PC: Qoobe (media center)
What I’ve done:
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Ran the official linux_remote.sh script from download.osmc.tv — buttons are correctly mapped
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Created a udev rule to disable USB autosuspend:
ACTION=="add", SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTR{idVendor}=="2017", ATTR{idProduct}=="1690", ATTR{power/autosuspend}="-1"
Confirmed applied: autosuspend = -1, power/control = on
3. Created a Plex HTPC inputmap at ~/.var/app/tv.plex.PlexHTPC/data/plex/inputmaps/osmc-remote.json for I (info), P (play/pause), X (stop)
4. Fresh batteries installed
5. Removed Logitech K400 Unifying receiver to rule out 2.4 GHz interference — no improvement
6. Rebooted — no improvement
7. dmesg shows no USB disconnects/reconnects during freezes
8. evtest shows no events at all during unresponsive periods — the OS never receives the button press
Symptom:
The remote randomly becomes unresponsive for 3–4 seconds (or more), even during continuously pressing buttons. When it works, all buttons register immediately. The freezes happen at seemingly random intervals. This appears to be an RF-level issue between the remote and the dongle since the kernel never sees the events (evtest doesn’t show activity during these freezes)
Help please?
Your description perfectly describes how the remote responds to RF interference or weak signal. I believe the pause is it searching for a new channel to pair on. Unless your only seeing this behavior when you are particularly far away the most likely culprit would be the USB 3 on the Qoobe assuming you don’t have a wifi access point within a few feet of this device. Either way, the easiest and most effective fix is likely to be hanging the dongle off a USB extension so it is physically separated more from sources of RF radiation.
The Qoobe is a mini pc I’m using as a mediacenter that has an external hdd connected through a thunderbolt port. The PC uses Wifi, and the TV is close by too, but there is certainly no wifi router nearby (2 rooms away. I did try an isb extension cord (about 3 feet long) and had the same symphtoms.
While testing I used the remote about 6-7 feet away.
I’m not sure what to do, will do some more experiments later on… but you know, the dirt cheap aliexpress remote has no such problems…
Thunderbolt causes the same RF noise that USB 3 does. It happens that this noise is strongest around the 2.4ghz range and that seems to be what causes the OSMC remotes to have these types of issues. Having other devices using wifi or using this band (like your wireless keyboard) do not usually cause any issue. Wifi issues tends to just be with routers/AP’s as they tend to broadcast a higher strength signal. I would play around a bit more with where the dongle is physically placed and see if you can find a location where the problem goes away.
The only other things that I can think to suggest would be to try another battery and/or manually try other channels by holding down the home and OK buttons at the same time until the light starts blinking.