(There is now 2nd part of this post. Check it out.)

So, you want to use PS3 BD (bluetooth) remote with your computer which is running Ubuntu. Great. Here you can find all the information needed to accomplish this. All the scripts are written by me so your feedback is very appreciated. I’m using D-Link DBT-122 Bluetooth adapter (all bluetooth adapters should work) with already mentioned PS3 BD Remote (Model CECHZR1E) on Ubuntu 8.10 (Intrepid Ibex).

First of all, you need to install all the required applications: 


sudo apt-get install bluez-utils python-bluez

Next, we need to find out bluetooth address of remote. On remote press start+enter and on computer start hcitool for scanning bluetooth devices: 

hcitool scan

You will get output similar to this: 


Scanning ...
	00:82:7C:B9:14:7A	BD Remote Control

Copy address of remote as we will need it in a second. If the scanning command provide no results, you should try it several times.
Next, download required scripts and extract them: 


wget http://h00s.net/ps3bdremote.tar.gz
tar xvzf ps3bdremote.tar.gz
cd ps3bdremote

Now open ps3bdremote-test.py file (gedit ps3bdremote-test.py) and change address of remote (approx. 27th line) to match the address you did get with hcitool:


remote = ps3bdremote.PS3BDRemote("00:82:7C:B9:14:7A")

That’s all configuring. Let’s test it. On remote again press start+enter and start the testing script:


python ps3bdremote-test.py

Output should be similar to this:


Trying to connect to PS3 BD Remote...
Trying to connect to PS3 BD Remote...
Trying to connect to PS3 BD Remote...
Connected

If you have problems connecting to remote, terminate script. Press start+enter and immediatly after that start testing script. Eventually, it will connect with remote. After that press buttons on your remote and it will display pressed keys:


audio
releasedbutton
play
releasedbutton
eject
releasedbutton

That’s it. Now it would be cool if you could use these buttons to play/pause player on your computer, start tvtime etc. Well, you can. I will explain how in next post. To be continued :)

Scripts: ps3bdremote.tar.gz