I'm in the process of setting up a Raspberry Pi with Kodi. I'm trying to figure out what to use as a remote. 

I actually have one of those mini keyboards, which works well, but it's a pain to keep it on my side table. 

Would it be possible to get a Flirc USB, plug it into my Pi, program it for my Roku remote, and then use my Roku remote to control both my Roku and my Pi/Kodi?

I'm fairly certain I can use the remote on the RPi (but would like confirmation), but if I set it up for the RPi, could I still also use it for my Roku? If so, how would it know which device to send the codes to? (Could it perhaps tell which one is communicating with the TV?)

On 3/17/2025 at 10:04 PM, wdixon said:

I'm in the process of setting up a Raspberry Pi with Kodi. I'm trying to figure out what to use as a remote. 

I actually have one of those mini keyboards, which works well, but it's a pain to keep it on my side table. 

Would it be possible to get a Flirc USB, plug it into my Pi, program it for my Roku remote, and then use my Roku remote to control both my Roku and my Pi/Kodi?

I'm fairly certain I can use the remote on the RPi (but would like confirmation), but if I set it up for the RPi, could I still also use it for my Roku? If so, how would it know which device to send the codes to? (Could it perhaps tell which one is communicating with the TV?)

 

 

 

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You can still use your Roku remote. An infrared remote is a transmitter. It doesn't receive any information from the devices it controls. It just sends out a coded signal every time you press a button.

 

I just tried this out myself. I programmed Flirc to learn my Roku remote. Now on a button press, both Roku and Kodi will react to the button press. So if you press the Select button, Kodi will select the item highlighted AND Roku will bring up its select menu. So it won't be a very good experience. 

The only way around this to use a single remote for both Roku and Kodi that I can think of is to use a universal programmable IR remote. You could pair some of its keys (like navigation keys) to Flirc and other keys (like power and volume) could be cloned from the original Roku remote.