The model MX3 is also known as the Aerb Air Mouse.
Review
Two and a half starts out of five because Aerb is half way there. For under $30.00 this remote is not a bad deal. Yet it has some shortcomings which might cause some users to start pulling out some hair. The main problem with this remote and many similar 2.4Ggz products of this nature is range. The unit has a terribly weak transceiver. The range is well below 10ft. The FCC allows for a more powerful radio than what is being used. The USB specification supports power drain for a more powerful internal radio in the receiver usb plugin component. Come on Aerb! Crank up the juice on this!
Using the motion sensor to control the mouse feels like using a Nintendo Wii controller. If you liked the Wii then you will like this remote. Precision control can be difficult. You might want to use an accessibility key-mouse control as a backup for precision mouse pointer control.
The unit also needs an LED to indicate whether it is in mouse pointer mode is active because the blue OK button is dual function. It acts as a left mouse button when the pointer is active. For HTPC software like MythTV, this is confusing because it is difficult to tell whether or not it is in pointer mode, and what behavior is going to occur when the OK button is pressed since MythTV hides the mouse pointer.
A big positive for this remote is the five learning IR buttons. The remote processor and IR code detection is good. It is even possible to program the red power button at the top to do something besides turn your television on and off. It is possble to use it to do something useful such as instruct the TV to switch inputs from, for example, the internal TV tuner, a DVD player, to your HTPC computer.
They keyboard on the back is nice yet it is missing some import keys. It is not possible to, for example, ALT-TAB. Some of the missing keys and also the hotkeys can be more usefully assigned using an alternate keyboard mapping facility within your operating system.
Almost there Aerb! Just give us some realistic range and work on the precision of the pointer and button response. There also seems to be a shutter issue where sometimes a battery-pull is necessary to reset the unit. It is a "beta" quality product that is "better" than most other mini keyboard and mouse remotes in this price range.
User Guide
Product Diagram
Important Notice: This is a universal controller. It is normal that few keys might not be applicable to your device because of different codec by different manufacture.
Instructions
(1) Pair: Insert enclosed dongle into your device's USB port; pairing is completed once you can see and move mouse cursor on the screen. If pairing was unsuccessful, 2.4G Air Mouse & Keyboard Manual press the OK button and TV button at the same time. Your device should now be connected.
(2) Function Keys Home: Go back to the home menu; Return: Go back to previous screen; OK: Confirm action or insert cursor; Cursor Locking: Short press to lock the wireless mouse, another press to unlock it.
Illustration
(1) LED indicator will light up each time you press any key;
(2) IR Learning There are five buttons you can use as IR remote buttons: the very top left button (Power) and the bottom four color buttons (Red, Green, Yellow, and Blue). To learn, your Aerb remote will require assistance from your standard TV remotes.
- Position the IR emitters so they are pointing to each other;
- Long press (4-5 seconds) the TV key until LED slowly flashes;
- While you see LED slowly flashing, press the key on your TV remote you want to set;
- If LED notification is solid, it has successfully received your TV signal. At this time, choose one of the 5 learning keys ;
- Press TV button to confirm changes. Go back to step 1 and start a new set up. These keys can be changed, at any time, at your desire.
Wireless Keyboard
2 AAA Batteries imp This keyboard has 38 keys as shown above.
- Backspace: Delete
- CAPS: Caps Lock (Switch Caps ON or Off)
- ENTER: Confirm the operation
- SPACE: Spacebar
- ALT: Press Alt, to switch to blue characters, and press Alt again, to switch to white characters.
Specifications
(1) Transmission: 2.4G RF wireless;
(2) Sensor: 3-Gyro + 3-Gsensor;
(3) Number of keys: 81;
(4) Range: 10m;
(5) Battery Type: AAA*2;
(6) Material: Plastic and silicone;
(7) Size: 172*52*19MM; (8) Weight: 100g.
MythTV Support
This remote is supported out-of-the-box by [Mythbuntu], the Ubuntu Linux Distribution built specifically around MythTV. The kernel recognized the remote upon the receiver being connected to a live USB 2.0 port. Not all of the buttons are useful in MythTV. The specific layout of the remote does not necessarily serve MythTV best, however, serves the HTPC model and is reported to work with XBMC, Android, and generic HTPC software.
MythTV usefulness can be greatly increased by creating custom mappings for Multimedia Keys and other keyboard keys. Implementing Multimedia Key Mapping in Mythbuntu using Modkeymap is one very effective way to increase the usefulness of this remote. To accomplish this you will need to know the keycodes for the front buttons on the remote. For Aerb Remote Control MX3 button keycodes refer to the illustration below:
There are 5 IR keys which do not interact with the wireless input. There are internally alternate function keys which will not have a key code. Other than the alternate function key on the back, all other key codes will be identical with any standard keyboard.
An advantage to using a remote like this with MythTV is that it is not necessary to configure and deal with the complicated and sometimes problematic LIRC kernel driver.