Gmote HowTo

How can I play a song on my computer from my Android G1 phone?

First, make sure that you have installed the Gmote server (http://www.gmote.org/server) on the computer you with to control. Also, make sure that your phone is connected to your home's WiFi network and that your computer is on the same network. Then, from the Gmote application on the phone, select Browse and navigate to a directory on your computer where songs such as mp3's are stored. Click on the file to have it play.

How can I stream a song from my computer to my Android G1 phone?

First, make sure that you have installed the Gmote server (http://www.gmote.org/server) on the computer you with to control. Also, make sure that your phone is connected to your home's WiFi network and that your computer is on the same network. Then, from the Gmote application on the phone, select Browse and navigate to a directory on your computer where an mp3 is stored. Make sure to select the 'play on phone' option from the top of the screen (if this option is not present, verify that you are running the latest version of the Gmote client and Gmote server. You need version 2.0 or above.). Click on the file to have it play on the phone.

How can I play a song that is on my computer on my Android G1 phone without being connected to the same wireless network as the phone?

It is possible to do this, but please keep in mind that this is for advanced users as it requires you to setup NAT forwarding on your router for port 8889. Also, please keep in mind that opening up a port in this manner may expose your computer to potential security attacks. Therefore, if you do decide to go this route, you do so at your own risk and agree not to hold the Gmote developers responsible for any dammage that may occur. Please visit I don't have a wireless router. Can I still use GMote? from our FAQ for information on how to set this up.

How can I play a movie on my computer from my Android G1 phone?

How can I control a DVD from my Android G1 phone?

These steps are identical to the steps to play a song on your computer from your Android G1 phone. If your dvd drive isn't in the list of files when you hit the 'Browse' button, go to your computer, right click on the Gmote icon and select 'Settings', 'Change media paths'. Then, click the add button and add your dvd drive to the list. Return to the Gmote remote screen on your phone and hit the browse button again. You should now see you dvd drive and can click on it to have the dvd play.

How can I skip to the next song when playing a playlist?

From the Gmote remote screen, simply hold down the right arrow key for about 2 seconds. On Android, this is known as a 'long press'. If you simply tap this key, you'll do a small fast-forward of the song or movie instead.

How can I enable shuffle? How can I play songs in a random order from a playlist?

(For windows and linux versions) From your computer, right click on the Gmote icon in the system tray, and select 'Settings', shuffle songs.

How can I easily return to the list of files that I was just looking at?

Say you just started playing a song and decide that you actually wanted to select another song that is much further down the list of songs. You could hold down the right arrow key for 2 seconds several times in a row to skip to the song that you want, or, simply hit Android's back arrow key to return to the list of files that you were previously viewing.

How can I launch and control a web video (for example youtube or hulu) from my Android phone?

Press Android's MENU button and select Web (beta). Navigate to a video that you would like to watch. Once there, click the 'open on computer' button. This will launch a new web browser window on your computer, which should start playing the video. You can now control the video (put it in full screen, pause, rewind etc.) by pressing on Android's MENU button and selecting Gmote Touch (see below for more information).

How can I put a web video in full screen?

Press Android's MENU button, and select Gmote Touch. Use the touch screen to move the mouse to the video's full screen button, and tap the screen once to send a mouse click to the computer.

How can I control  PowerPoint from my Android G1 phone?

To control a power point presentation from your g1 phone, from the Gmote remote control screen, press 'browse', and navigate to a power point file (fileName.ppt or fileName.pps). Press on the file to launch power point on your computer (be patient as this can take a bit of time). 

Once power point is open, press the 'play' button to the gmote remote control screen to start the presentation in full screen. 

Press the right arrow to advance, or the left arrow to go back.

Press the remote control 'close' button (the circle on the top right of the remote control screen) to close the power point presentation.

How can I control an image slideshow from my Android phone?

From the Gmote application on the phone, select 'Browse'. Navigate to the directory where your images are held, and click on the image. A slide show should now open up on your computer. To put the slideshow in full-screen, hit the 'play' button. To go to the next or previous image, hit the right and left arrow keys. To zoom into a picture, hit the stop button (the button above the play button). To zoom out, hit the 'pause' button. To close the slide show, hit the 'close' button (the circular button at the top right of the Gmote application on your phone).

How can I control a PDF presentation from my Android phone?

From the Gmote application on the phone, select 'Browse'. Navigate to the directory where your pdf's are held, and click on it. A pdf viewer should now open up on your computer. To put the slideshow in full-screen, hit the 'play' button. To go to the next or previous image, hit the right and left arrow keys. To zoom into the pdf, hit the stop button (the button above the play button). To zoom out, hit the 'pause' button. To close the slide show, hit the 'close' button (the circular button at the top right of the Gmote application on your phone).

How can I view all files that are in a directory, not just the ones that Gmote thinks it can play?

From the Gmote remote control screen, select 'Browse'. Now, press Android's MENU key. Select 'View Settings'. Press the 'Show all files' button.

How does Gmote Web (beta) work?

Gmote web allows you to navigate to web pages and launch them on your computer. Its very helpful when you want to sit back on the couch while controlling youtube and hulu videos. To use Gmote Web (beta), press Android's MENU key and select 'Web (beta)'. Now, using the web browser provided, navigate to a youtube video that you would like to watch. Once there, press the 'Open on computer' button. This will launch a new browser window on your computer where the video will play. If you would like to put this video in full screen or perform operations such as 'Pause', 'Play', 'Rewind' etc., click on MENU and select 'Gmote Touch'. You can now control your computer's mouse to click on the appropriate items on the screen.

Please note that Gmote Web (beta) is an experimental feature that was put in very near launch time. You may therefore encounter several problems. Please fee free to report them to hello@gmote.org. 

Some known limitations are: 

- Pressing 'Open on computer' always opens up a new browser window or new tab instead of opening up in the current tab. We know about this issue and will hopefully come up with a solution that will work across all browsers and operating systems.

- You can't control the different web sites using the normal Gmote remote control buttons such as the play, pause buttons. This is expected as you can launch any website from Gmote Web (beta) and each of them will have their own media player implementation. The best way to control them is to use the Gmote Touch feature to press the media player's options similar to what you would do if you were on your computer using your mouse. I have found that this works very well for youtube, comedy central and hulu (by the way, I believe that hulu is currently only available in the US only. If you happen to find other video sites that work particularly well with Gmote, please let us know and we may add it to the default sets of websites)

How can I play songs in a random order instead of sequentially?

If you are using the Windows or Linux version, right click on the Gmote icon from your computer and select 'Help', 'Show settings and logs folder'. Open the file called default_settings.txt. Find the field called SHUFFLE_SONGS=false, and change it to SHUFFLE_SONGS=true. Save the file.

How can I control my mouse and keyboard from the Android G1 phone?

For Gmote Touch information, please visit: http://www.gmote.org/gmotetouch

I did not find an answer to my question here. Where else can I look?

Please have a look at our FAQ: http://www.gmote.org/faq

Email hello@gmote.org for questions / comments.

Gmote FAQ
Gmote HowTo
Gmote Touch