Android as a remote control

[dabbi2000]

I've been reading alot to being able to remote control my linux running computers at home. I have a 60gig music collection and want to be able to play it smoothly on any of the computers or my Android. Of course I want to remote control the computers since most of them are headless (=without monitors) and until now I've remote desktop-ed them from the laptop. Oh and all the computers are Ubuntu installed.

It turns out there are many different media players, even allowing DAAP or UDNP setup so that the media library is shared over my LAN, even to the Internet (subsonic). The best application I've found are Spotify and Grooveshark, they're a beauty to use since the music is always available - but unfortunately they don't allow for any kind of remote control.


So I thought; what if I could use some of the great media players for Android but just change the audio device they're playing on. Since Lucid Lynx actually brought an updated version of Pulseaudio (the default audio device) which allows you to play music onto another computer on the network!!


So all that would be needed is to somewhere/somehow change the default audio device and voila...



Before I dwell into this I wanted to check if someone here has tried this?

 

[airtonix]

Actually you've always been able to send audio streams out across the network with pulse-audio for quite a while now.

It's something I've always done since intrepid.

But in regards to doing this with an android device, my best hope is to wait till pulse-audio is ported over to the android OS.

But even when you have the audio streaming over, you'll need to use some kind of remote control program like remotedroid.

The other thing I just found was that VLC allows for many different interfaces, one of which is a web interface (that you can customise).

 

[Demache]

I like to use XBMC. Its very good if you have an original Xbox laying around, or an HTPC that's connected to your home network and has a Android remote control app. I just have it connect to my file server and read my music off there, since my Xbox only has a 40 GB hard drive in it and a lot is used for games.

I'm not sure if that's what your looking for though.

 

[dabbi2000]

Yeah I tried XBMC and it's the best solution I've found so far. I can remotely control my music/video collection on client computer and soon play on Android device also. It also works as a UPnP server for all other computers at home. Still it's a hassle. I want to be able to tell Android to "play that music on that computer, or Android"... like Sonos
Turn Your iPhone or iPod Touch Into a Multi-Room Wireless Music Remote


Regardind Pulse audio and network audio.. it would be the ultimate solution.. do you know when it will come to Android? Do you have any guides for me if I would try it through laptop first?

 

[Andy in NY]

i use gmote to control music and movies on my pc that is connected to my tv. once i open the app on the phone i can browse my media, have the movies or music start and also use the phone as a mouse and keyboard.