[mythtv-users] How I got 2 LIRC devices working (PVR-250 and Homebrew Serial DISH/BEV IRD)

[Taylor Jacob]

I have seen this mentioned before, but hopefully I can add to the
information that is already out there, and help some others.

I needed my setup to control my Dish/Bev IRD via IR, and I still wanted to
use my i2c remote that came with my PVR250 card.  Since LIRC out of the
box does not support more than one device this is what I had to do.

To start with I already had lirc working with my PVR-250 remote (i2c
modules).

I needed to add support for a homebrew IR transmitter (Actually IR Blaster
than came with a TiVO).

To begin with I wired up a DB9 -> Head phone jack connector.  The jacket
of the headphone jack I had going to PIN5 of the DB9 (Ground), and the Tip
going to PIN4 (DTR I believe).

I copied all of the lirc source code to a new directory.

I ran the setup.sh file in the newly created folder, and set it up for
homebrew serial connector.

I edited the Makefiles and changed the major number from 61 to 72 (I chose
72 from another post I saw while searching the list).  I had to do this in
the lirc_device code folder, and the lirc_serial folder.  If your
secondary device uses a different type connection (i2c, etc) you would
need to change that folder.

I then compiled the code, and copied the newly created lirc_dev.o and
lirc_serial.o files into another directory and re-named then irtx_dev.o
and irtx_serial.o.  Note that I did not run make install.  If you change
kernels you will have to repeat the compliation process to since the
kernel versions will not match.

I then ran mknod to create a device called /dev/irtx that used a major
number of 72.

I then insmoded the 2 modules irtx_dev, and irtx_serial (with serial make
sure you use the right mod parameters).

Then I had to modify the source of jvc_send.c. I changed the deivce it was
looking for from /dev/lirc to /dev/irtx.  I re-compiled jvc_send.c.

Once that was complete I wrote a simple change_channel.sh script for csh
(Which I can post at a later time if anyone is interested) to change the
channel on my ird.

I got this controlling my Dish/Bev IRD and using my PVR250 remote control
with no issues.

I hope this helps anyone out there who is trying to do the same thing. I
don't see why this wouldn't work for any other LIRC input type of device.

If you need to use a device that require lircd there might be some code
changes require for it as well.  Since I am just sending I do not need the
lircd program running, so nothing was changed in it.