this post was submitted on 25 Mar 2026
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I just wish there was a way to control the PC as easy as a tv remote. I would totally do this except my wife and kids just want to hit a button on the remote instead of fiddling with keyboard or a track pad or controller of some kind
My HTPC is running Bazzite and boots into Steam big picture mode. I watch media using Kodi and control everything using a Sofabatton remote.
This setup is almost as seemless as when I was using an Nvidia Shield and a Logitech Harmony remote.
The keyboard and controller are not needed, except for gaming.
The only negative I've found, is that I've not yet worked out a way to power on the PC from the remote.
FLIRC is your friend! It's a USB IR receiver that you can train with literally any IR remote you have. Once you set it up (and it does take a little elbow grease to train it), it just works.
I use LibreELEC on a mini-PC for my home TV. LibreELEC is a Linux distribution that runs Kodi and is pretty good for a media centre straight out of the box. I use a Rii Mini K25 remote (with a dongle) to control it: https://www.amazon.com.au/dp/B06XHF7DNQ
The downside is I can't control the TV itself with this, but this can be sorted out with a USB IR receiver (like this: https://amzn.asia/d/0hvzkP93), LIRC (https://lirc.org/) or something similar, *and a universal remote. On my to-do list lol
I have a DHCP reservation for the TV itself and it's blackholed on my network. The only reason it's connected at all is so I can monitor what it tries to do.
Edit: Also need a universal remote for the IR solution so it can talk to the PC IR receiver and the TV IR receiver separately.
I had this running on a raspberry pi, but it had constant crashing issues. I may give it another go with a mini pc
Keep an eye out for the new Steam controller. It can interact via gyro, touchpad, and traditional controller input methods.
Yes! I'm saving now for a steam machine when it comes out too
I believe Kodi supports IR remote controls.