Yes that is the plan exactly - if you mean use the ability to execute shell commands thru evrouter based upon input character events on a USB HID device.
If there is a way to read and test input characters from the powermate directly from bash and execute a command please let me know how. That would be so much easier.
However using evrouter you must take all of the program when you compile and link it unless you completely rewrite the source code, and change the evrouter app.
Since evrouter does the Xkey and XMMMS remapping also it requires these libraries in order to compile even tho I have no intention of using this functional capability of the evrouter program.
I have the evrouter program running under a xvfb-run command and all is AOK. As soon as you touch the powermate the program aborts with an X windows I/O error. This IO error occurs (error 22) and is the same whether evouter is run as a daemon or from command line to query your devices output commands (so you can link them with a config file to the redirected shell commands or X key or XMMS). Don’t know if this is a permission issue.
Also I believe there may be an issue with the powermate driver on Volumio 1.55 on a RPI2. The powermate’s USB device number changes over time causing evrouter to stop working as its USB device number has changed. The powermate seems to unattach and reattach and when this occurs the device number goes up by one.
I have a rpi B+ (no evrouter on it tho) and when you plug in the powermate and boot it the device driver loads and the device number stays constant. You can do a lsusb and the device number does not change over time like on the rpi2.