How To: Control your Mac with a Wii Remote
For those of you who have an older Mac that doesn't have Front Row, there is still hope for you. What if I told you there was a way to control your Mac with a Wii remote? All it requires is a Bluetooth supported Mac, a Nintendo Wii Remote (use this if you don’t have a Wii), and a small free application called DarwiinRemote (Direct Link).
You can also configure the remote to control pretty much anything. Interested?
Getting Started
Once you have the Wii Remote, be sure to take it out of the package and put the batteries in it. Open up the disk image and drag the application into your Applications/Utilities folder. Go ahead and open it up. Grab your Wii Remote and be sure to check that bluetooth is on. Press the (1) and (2) buttons on the remote at the same time to allow DarwiinRemote to search for it. Once paired, DarwiinRemote will display a graph showing the forward, up and down, and left to right sensors on your remote. You can let go of the (1) and (2) buttons now.
Once you're done playing with that, press the (1) button on your Wii Remote once to toggle the motion sensor mouse feature. Tilt the remote to move you mouse up, down, left and right. To move it left and right, turn the remote instead of moving it. Press the (2) button to toggle the IR sensor mouse feature. Please note that this only works if you have a Mac that supports the original Apple Remote. Now you can literally point and click on the things on your screen. Cool no?
Connecting With iTunes
One of the great features in DarwiinRemote is the ability to match buttons on the remote to key combinations in Mac OS X. iTunes has many key combinations to control everything from the keyboard. To setup these mappings, go to DarwiinRemote > Preferences. Click on the Wii Remote tab. Now you can tie every single button on the Wii Remote to a key combination in any application. You can also create different settings such as Apple Remote or GarageBand for easy customizing.
Up, Left, Right, Down, and B can be left alone. Set the + and - buttons to change the volume if you'd like. Apple + Up turns the volume up and Apple + Down turns down the volume. Key commands can be found in iTunes's help menu. Once you've set it up, simply enter the new Full Screen CoverFlow feature in iTunes to control your music from a distance.
Other Options
CoverSutra is a great alternative to controlling iTunes from Full Screen CoverFlow. With CoverSutra, you can use it's key commands without having to select iTunes before hand. Use any key mapped iTunes controller for a great experience.
Sounds cool, I’ll have to check it out when I have time.
oooh! Is there a way to control VLC using this? That would be about 6 cups of awesome!!
It’s called a Wiimote, not a Wii Remote…
I reccomend Remote Buddy for this (www.iospirit.com/remotebuddy/)
It lets you use a Wiimote to control almost any app (easily, all built in, but configurable). It does cost money, but it was well worth the small investment as far as I’m concerned.
It actually is called a Wii Remote. “Wiimote” is a nickname.
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[...] How To: Control your Mac with a Wii Remote | MacApper Como controlar o meu apple usando o controle do wii (tags: wii apple remote cool hacks) [...]
[...] – Via MacApper qualche consiglio su come far convivere amorevolmente Wii con Mac: How To: Control your Mac with a Wii Remote This entry was written by gpessia and posted on Maggio 1, 2007 at 10:16 am and filed under Tips, [...]
[...] Once Darwiinremote is running you can push buttons 1 and 2 and then button 1 again to have the Wii Remote working as a mouse. It is a little slower but pretty cool! You can also set command keys for your iTunes or other devices (check this here). [...]
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[...] are several software options that people recommend, my preference is the free app DarwiinRemote (recommended with nice instructions for using the the app on your Mac by MacApper.) MacTips.org recommends Darwiin as well, but prefers the paid app RemoteBuddy. Both apps are highly [...]
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You write very well.
[...] Wiimote/Infrared Control. Cameras inside Wiimotes and similar devices detect pairs of infrared lights, and maneuver a cursor on the screen relative to the movement of the points of light in their field of vision. [...]
thanks a lot, this is awesome…use it with quicksilver and every button can be configured to do something. I’ve got mine controlling everything on itunes from volume to next/previous song to play/pause.
This is good, but it currently limited. There is no joystick functions when adding a “Classic Controller” to the Wii Remote. Also “down” and “right” don’t seem to work on the CC. I’d like to see some more functionality for the CC to be used as a game controller with games such as the “Cube” games (http://cubeengine.com/) and others. Would that be possible?
I’m using my Wiimote to play nes games on a website I googled.
Im sure it’ll work this way with just about any gaming website.
I wonder if it helps in second life???
I wish you could use the Nunchuck joystick for the mouse.
Very Clever! Macs + Nintendo = Incredibly Awesome!
Bluetooth doesn’t seem to recognise my wiimote. Is there anything else that needs to be done before i can use this?
Thanks for this. It got me pointed in the right direction. For my son with disabilities using the Wii is easier for some tasks than using the mouse.
THIS IS AWESOME!!!!!!!!
[...] to use a mouse from the sofa? Wiimote. Use the Wii Remote (Wiimote) on your Mac – MacTips How To: Control your Mac with a Wii Remote | MacApper Using Nintendo Wiimote with the Mac Unofficial [...]
If you put 2 candles at the top or bottom corners of your screen the IR mouse should work as candles give off IR light, probably be safer to simply make a sensor bar with IR LED’s though
will an Intec Wii Retro Controller work in this same way?
There is a newer version available at http://sourceforge.net/projects/darwiin-remote/files/ , it list up to version 0.7 but the so-called latest that downloaded was version 0.6 . I found that I couldn’t get the version on this site to work (Mac OS 10.4.11 on Intel MacBook Pro) which was version 0.5, so this may help others as well.
If there was a free app similar to remote buddy that would be great. Also, I have some issues concerning the default horizontal plane DarwiinRemote uses (perhaps it aligns with my screen?) but it was nice that both IR and Bluetooth were workable. If the joystick and the face buttons on my labtop worked as interface, especially as a gamepad in terms of the joystick that would make this a more complete piece of software. Otherwise very neat.
P.S. Having the Joystick as mouse would be nice as well, I have some difficulties with the Wii Remote’s pointer sensitivity.
[...] are several software options that people recommend, my preference is the free app DarwiinRemote (recommended with nice instructions for using the the app on your Mac by MacApper.) MacTips.org recommends Darwiin as well, but prefers the paid app RemoteBuddy. Both apps are highly [...]
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For some reason, the IR thing won’t move the mouse. The iMac I’m using has a remote.
this is great, fast and easy setup,, however i have the intentions of using this hack for my half life 2 mod,, running this in parallels(windows xp),, the remote is communicating normally with mouse functions and i successfully mapped the keys,, but the motion sensors wont refresh in the game play unless i hit the trigger or attack command in the game ,, any advice in fixing this?
does this work on version 10.3.9?
Remote buddy twenty bucks awsome!!!! thirty day free trial..it does tons more than darwiin remote
it is so awesome!!! I am writing this with my wii remote!!!
for some reason the IR feature wont move the mouse.
any help?
i dont know why but the IR feature wont work…i have a 2007 macbook with a remote
You can use candles for the IR sensor to control it better than accelerometers do.
As for me,i prefer use ActyMac DutyWatch Remote http://www.actymac.com/dutywatch_remote/
.It’s prog for remote computer monitoring from iPhone.
I am happy to have found this blog, and more happy