My daughter suddenly couldn’t use the inventory anymore in Vivecraft, once opened. She couldn’t pick or move items in there. The cause was that Vivecraft’s window was not active on the PC at that moment.
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Vivecraft is a mod that turns Minecraft into an exceptional VR experience. Concretely, I use it to run the game from SteamVR and play with it using my HTC Vive pro setup (Be sure to setup and runthe game as explained here. Launching the game from the VR Room or Steam does not work).
When my daughter experienced her issue with the inventory, I was working on the PC at the same time. Vivecraft works indeed fine if someone else is using the PC, as long as you don’t need the mouse to interact with the game. And this is the case when you want to use the inventory or use some menus.
Concretely, on the screenshot here under, the cursor + will only appear if, on the PC, the window of the game is activated. I.e.: if you clicked on it with the mouse or used Alt-Tab to give it the focus.
Vivecraft inventory
So, each time my daughter want to use the inventory, I temporarily give the focus to the window of ViveCraft by switching to it with Alt -Tab. I can next continue to work…
Recently, I plugged on my PC various devices having an internal SD card or an internal Memory. And although I could hear the typical sound made by Windows when a device is plugged in, no new Drive appeared in Windows Explorer. The problem was with a Mounted Network Share using the same letter as the one assigned by Windows to the new Drive.
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Looking into the “Device Manager” console, I didn’t see any devices not recognized as illustrated here under. So, the device was correctly recognized and its drivers correctly installed.
I tried different USB cables and different USB ports (both 2.0 and 3.0), but without success either.
Finally, I opened the “Computer Management” Console and looked into the “Disk Management” part. There I saw a Drive greyed out. I noticed that it was assigned with a letter which was actually used by a Mounted Network Drive. I did simply right click on it to “change Drive letter” with another one and it appeared magically into the Windows Explorer.
To be complete, I have to mention that the conflicting Mounted Network Drive was not available and all letters between C: and the one used for the Mounted Network Drive where in use . This was maybe the actual root cause of Windows assigning the same letter to a new USB Drive.
I couldn’t find anymore where one can link Google Assistant with External Services in the Google Home App. Seems like Google changed the way to access the menu for that purpose in their App.
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Once in Google Home, click on the “Account” icon at the bottom right.
Next, click on the Gear icon “Settings”
Select the Tab “Assistant” and in there, the “Home Control”
And here, you can click on the blue “+” at the bottom right.
I have connected the DVI output of my PC on a HDMI input of my Yamaha HTR-4067 but was missing the sound. I solved that issue by connecting the S/PDIF output of my sound card on an AV port the Yamaha and “combining” both HDMI and AV.
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Theoretically, one should be able to have music via the DVI port of a PC by using an adequate DVI to HDMI adapter (19 pins). But my problem is that my internal sound card is dead and I am using an external one. The easiest for me was therefore:
to connect that external sound card directly on the AV1 port of the Yamaha, using an optical cable.
to select on the Yamaha Remote the HDMI input to be displayed
to click on “Option” on the Yamaha Remote to configure the “Audio Input”
and select “AV1” as “Audio Input”
Notice that one can select a different “Audio Input” for each HDMI input.
Nobody knows the mail address of my actual mailbox. Instead, I always communicate an alias (for example: Me @ BeatificaBytes.be).
Unfortunately, with the latest update of Outlook 2016, to use such an alias as “From” is not a piece of cake anymore… The trick is to use the good old “Mail” tool of the Control Panel.
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The reason for me to use an alias is that this alias is forwarded to a “gmail” mailbox, where the antispam is quite efficient. And gmail transfers the remaining emails to my actual mailbox (on my own server/within my own domain).
I access next my actual mailbox via IMAP with Outlook. I never use the intermediary mailbox on gmail.
With the latest version of Outlook 2016, I couldn’t configure a different mail address than the “user account” of my actual mailbox (which is the mail address that I want to keep secret 😉 ).
I.e.: if I type Me @ BeatificaBytes.be in the config screen above, outlook will use that both for the “From” Field and as user account to connect onto my IMAP server.
This is an issue as the alias Me @ BeatificaBytes.be is not valid as an account to connect on my actual mailbox.
Obviously, I could configure Outlook with my actual account and define next my alias as a Reply Address. But than, the recipient would see my actual mail address.
The easiest is to use to good old “Mail” tool:
Open it via the Windows Control Panel > User Account > Mail (Microsoft Outlook 2016).
There, click the “Email Accounts…”
In the tab “Email”, click “New”…
And here we go!
As usually:
Select the option “Manual setup or …” and click “Next”
Select “Pop or IMAP” and click “Next”
Type your name and your alias email address in the user information part
Use your actual email address as user name in the logon information part (this is the ‘option’ never proposed by the new configuration wizard of Outlook 2016)
Since I have defined several “home” structures in the App “Google Home”, I can only add new rooms in the last one created.
Google Support told me that the only way to workaround that limitation was to delete all the homes, except the one to be completed, and re-create the others later.
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First, let me explain why I have created several home structure in the App “Google Home”: I wanted to grant my kids access on only a subset of the devices (lights, google home mini, chrome casts, blinds, …)
So, I have created
a “Main” home with all the devices that I may access,
a “Kid 1” and a “Kid 2” to grant each kid access on his own devices (lights, blinds) and
a “Common” to grant everyone access to the common devices (TV, speakers, Google Home Mini).
I have shared each “Kid” home with its owner and the “Common” home with everyone.
Here is the standard way to add a room into a home when one has only one home (Thx to Thomas Ott):
OPEN: Google Home (on a mobile device)
CLICK: “Account” icon (lower right corner – looks like a person in a circle)
CLICK: “Settings” (small gear)
CLICK: The “Assistant” tab (between Personal info & Services)
CLICK: “Home control”
CLICK: “Rooms” tab (to the right of “Devices”)
CLICK: The + button (lower right corner)
PICK: An existing room name (or skip to Step 9)
SCROLL: To the bottom of the screen
CLICK: “Custom name”
TYPE: The name of the new custom room
PRESS: “OK”
SELECT: One or more DEVICES by clicking on one or more checkboxes
CLICK: Check Mark symbol at the upper right of the screen to save the new room & device(s)
The advantage of grouping the devices into rooms is that you can simultaneously turn all of them on/off by saying the sentence: “Hey, Google: Turn off(on) the lights in <the name of the room>”. If your Google Assistant in also assigned to that room, you can even skip the name of the room in that sentence.
But since I have defined several homes, when I want too add new rooms in the home “Main”, they are news added into the home “Common”.
I did contact the online support of Google to find how to do it properly. As always, they did their best to understand my specific case and suggest appropriate solutions. Unfortunately here, they could only suggest to delete all the homes except the “Main”, add next the missing rooms, and then recreate the other homes. It seems that there is indeed no “feature” to add rooms into a specific home for the moment (Can you believe that ???).
Fortunately, I am hardheaded: I did search for an alternative to delete/recreate/reassign 10th of rooms/devices… and I found one. Using that workaround, I was able to create rooms in any of the existing homes.
OPEN: Google Home (on a mobile device)
CLICK: “Home” icon (lower left corner – looks like a house)
SELECT: the home structure where you want to create a new room (at the top of the screen)
SCROLL DOWN: to the very bottom of the screen. If you devices in a section “Linked to you – x devices not in home”, then go to §A here under – otherwise go to §B.
A: if you have devices not yet assigned to any home, you can use it to create a new room into which that device will be automatically moved:
CLICK: any not-unassigned device.
CLICK: The “Add to a room” button (at the bottom of the screen)
PICK: an existing “Home” where you want to create a new room
CLICK: The “Next” button (lower right corner)
CLICK: The “Move device” button (lower right corner)
CLICK: “Add a custom room…” (scroll down the screen to find the “Create New” section) or any predefined name you would like to create
CLICK: The “Next” button (lower right corner)
EDIT: The name of the new room
CLICK: “Continue” (lower right corner)
You can loop on this § A to create one room for each device not yet assigned.
B: if all your devices are already assigned to a home, use anyone to create a new room into which that device will be automatically moved and move the device back to the right room later.
CLICK: any device already assigned to an existing room.
CLICK: “Settings” (small gear in the upper right corner)
CLICK:
“Home” if you want to create a room in another home. Then go to step 3 of the §A here above
“Room” if you want to create a room in current home. Then go to step 4 of this §B
CLICK: “Add a custom room…” (scroll down the screen to find the “Create New” section) or any predefined name you would like to create
EDIT: The name of the new room
CLICK: “Save” (upper right corner)
Once the new room created, the device being now assigned to that room, you must move it back to its original location (or loop first on this § B to create all the new required rooms).
CLICK:
“Home” if you want to move back the device into another home. Then go to §B.1.
“Room” if you want to move back the device into another room of the same home. Then go to §B.2.
B.1.:
PICK: an existing “Home”
CLICK: The “Next” button (lower right corner)
CLICK: The “Move device” button (lower right corner)
PICK: an existing “Room”
CLICK: The “Next” button (lower right corner)
B.2.:
PICK: an existing “Room”
CLICK: The “Save” button (upper right corner)
Notice that you can empty rooms by moving the devices to other rooms. But a device can’t be removed from all rooms once it has be assigned once. This feature is also not supported…
I have just configured a Broadlink Mini R3 to be used within Google Home’s scenario to control several devices. Works really like a charm !
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It’s just amazing that this little device can perfectly remote control my projection screen 7 meters away, the projector 2 meters away on the ceiling and the ampli which is in the room but not in sight.
I bought 3 of them from China for 13€ each.
Quick memo about how to configure them:
First step, install the App “ihc for EU” (special version compatible with GDPR for EU) to detect the device, assign it to the right room and add appliances (either from the library available out of the box or custom ones)
Attention: if you change later the room assigned to the RM mini 3 in the app, you loose all the appliances configured with it.
Next, configure some scenes to be used via Google Home. Their name will be used by Google Assistant.
Then, make the mini R3 accessible via your Google Assistant : Go to “Google Home” and “click Add” > “Setup a device” > “Works with Google”. There, link your “BroadLink Smart Home for EU” account with Google Home
Finally, use ‘in french’ : “Ok Google, active {le|la|l’} <xxx>” where <xxx> is the name of a scene and “le”, “la”, .. is optional
Google Home Add Device
Tip:
use “Ok Google, synchronise les appareils” to refresh the name of the scene in Google Home if you did rename them in the “ihc” app.
use scenario (“routines”) in Google Home to combine “IFTTT actions”, “scenes of other products like Philips Hue” and scenes from “Broadlink”.
Using the “ihc” app, you can update the firmware: click on the RM mini > the three dot in the top-right corner > “Check for firmware updates”
To configure an appliance, don’t hesitate to use one which does not work perfectly. At least, you will have all the related icons and be able to reconfigure them. Creating a “UserDefine” appliance, you won’t have many different icons available. Also, the configuration of “UserDefine” appliance can’t be “backuped”. Not problem however to use “UserDefine” appliances in “scenes” to be called from Google Home.
Once an appliance added, you can reconfigure the buttons: click on the appliance > the three dot in the top-right corner > Learn
Don’t forget to backup the settings of your appliances once reconfigured!!! It’s the best ways to reuse them on other RM mini later: click on the appliance > the three dot in the top-right corner > Backup IR code sets
I did spent a lot of time trying to connect Smart/Cheap Ikea bulbs on my Philips HueBridge.
I finally found an easy way: use the Android App HueDynamic !
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First, you must be sure to have Ikea Tradfri bulbs with a firmware >= 1.2.x
To be sure about the firmware of Ikea bulbs, no choice but buy the Ikea Bridge and at least one Ikea Remote, then connect the bulb to the Android App “Tradfri”. If the firmware is obsolete, then the App can be used to trigger an update. But my experience is that even to connect the Ikea bulbs with their App, it’s a real pain in t…. Also, before connecting next the bulbs to the Philips Hue Brige, you will have to disconnect them from any Ikea remote and from to the App “Tradfri” (Check here).
An option is however to check the batch id of the production, on the box. It is said that all bulbs produced with a batch id equal or above 1721 should have a firmware compatible with the Philips Hue Bridge.
Here a sample of Ikea bulbs with a batch id 1733. I bought 6 of those and had (nearly) no issue to connect them.
Ikea Tradfri Batch Id
Once you have a bulb with adhoc firmware, turn it on and place it very close to your Philips Hue Bridge (less than 2 cm ;). The easiest for that is to use a cable like this one (I did one myself):
Cable with adapter E14
The bulb being on and next to the Hue Bridge, open the App HueDynamic and click on the three horizontal lines in the upper-left corner to open the menu. Then scroll down to the “Settings” section and pick the entry “Lights”:
Click on the sign +, in the top-right corner to add the bulb:
And select the option “With TouchLink” (This is the magic trick !!):
Now, press the “TouchLink” button of your Philips Hue Bridge:
The App HueDynamic will search for the bulb during 1 or 2 minutes… Once in touch with the bulb, this one will start to dim and bright several times before finally turning off. The App will continue to search for several minutes (for other bulbs) after that. When it stops to search, you see the bulb found on the screen. Accept it !
Notice that this process failed for one of my bulb (out of 6). I tried twice and got each time the message here under:
But when I came back to the list of bulbs, I saw that the bulb was actually in the list (Maybe I did something wrong without noticing ?!).
Since the bulbs are connected, I have been able to combine them into rooms and control them with Philips Hue Motion Sensors. They work great so far !
NB.: I read that Ikea remotes may not be used as once connected to a bulb, the bulb disappear from the Philips Hue Bridge… I didn’t try that yet and won’t 😉
