[mythtv] Questions (UIRT2)

[Davide Chiarini]

On Wed, Apr 30, 2003 at 09:28:13AM +0100, Paul Smith wrote:
> Main question - does anyone know how to use an UIRT2 with Linux? LIRC 
> doesn't seem to support it yet and the UIRT2 people seem to only 'support' 
> it in Windows (with Girder).
> interface is well documented and this is pretty much standard C stuff) - 
> the thing I'm having difficulty with is how to transmit those commands to 
> MythTV.

i've been using my UIRT2 with mythtv successfully for quite a while now.

i would anyway suggest not to use LIRC: it's really a different kind of
thing. Since most of the receivers supported by lirc are 'dumb', it's up 
to lirc to do all the decoding work (with a kernel module iirc). with
uirt, you don't need any of this, since all the ir decoding is done by
the pic.
i've tried using lirc, but i think it was way much more than i needed. so
what i did was writing a simple perl script that talks directly with
the serial port, listening for codes. Then using an external program
(was included with lirc, can't remember it's name now, i think it was
'sendkeys') i send fake keypresses to the front window (wich should always
be mythtv). (i looked into sending keypresses directly to the correct windows,
but i don't think is necessary with mythtv, which is keyboard-based anyway,
and also it was beyond my abilities/time to research).

it really is a simple hack, configuration isn't very user-friendly and i'm
sure anyone could write a better version, but since it does the job
for me i stopped working on it.
i'm at work right now, but if you want i'll send you a copy when i get home.
also ther is a module for uirt for mr.house, that's where i got most
'inspiration', but it would require more overhead instead of just
perl and sendkeys.

regards,
davide