Installation - Sky Control Usb window command line app
======================================================

Hardware install (USB)
----------------

Connect the sky control device to a free usb port.

Connect the RF2 output on the sky/sky+ box to one of the RF connectors on
the sky control.

(Ensure that any aerial amplifiers you have connected between the sky box
and the sky control device are 'magic eye' compatible, or they will block
the remote control signal.)


Example commands (USB)
----------------

switch sky digibox on and send channel '105' (channel five):

sky-control --sky --channel 105


switch sky+ on and send channel '105' (channel five):

sky-control --sky+ --channel 105


send channel 123 to sky digibox on controller 0, output 1:
sky-control --controller 0 --output 1 0001 0002 0003

send channel 356 to sky+ on controller 0, output 2:
sky-control --controller 0 --output 2 0C03 0C05 0C06

switch sky digibox on and send channel '105' (channel five), logging
debug output to c:\debug.txt:
sky-control --debug --log c:\debug.txt --sky --channel 105

Example commands (Serial versions only)
----------------

switch sky digibox on and send channel '105' (channel five) using serial
sky controller connected to first serial port:

sky-control --scontroller COM1 --sky --channel 105

Full list of remote codes
-------------------------

http://www.heenan.me.uk/control-sky-from-pc/sky-control-codes.html


Usage with gbpvr
----------------

Run gb-pvr config and in the ".exe Channel Changer Config" window set
'Executable' as:

c:\sky-control.exe

and 'Parameters' as:
--sky --channel {channel}

Replace "--sky" with "--sky+" if using SkyPlus box.

See http://www.gbpvr.com for more info on GB-PVR.


Source code
-----------

C source code for Microsoft Visual C++ 6 is included. You'll also need
the windows DDK installed to build:

http://www.microsoft.com/whdc/ddk/winddk.mspx

Please drop me an email if you have any problems building it.


Advanced usage (USB controllers only)
--------------

If you want to try tuning the controller to send key presses faster, please
look at send_setup_command() in sky-control.c and tweak the first two
values in that function. Then run rebuild and sky-control --setup. Note
that any setup will be lost as soon as the controller is unplugged from usb
or the PC switched off.

Please note that the default settings were carefully chosen to ensure that
no commands are ever ignored or dropped when sent to a variety of sky
digiboxes. If your sky controller becomes unreliable, please go back to the
default settings.


Credits
-------

Thanks to Neale Swinnerton for providing the code for the --channel option.


--
Copyright (C) Joseph Heenan, 2005-2008.
joseph@dusky-control.com
