[mythtv-users] irman & lirc help

Jeff Wormsley daworm at comcast.net
Wed Apr 20 00:07:59 UTC 2005


Bryce wrote:

>I've removed all lirc rpms and re-installed just lirc-lib and lirc and
>rebooted a couple of times.
>  
>
I'm using an IRMan with a different remote, but other than the 
lircd.conf and .lircrc files, it should be the same process.

Assuming you've followed Jarod's guide and installed apt, you should 
only need to do an apt-get install lirc to get the base installation.  
Then open up /etc/rc.d/init.d/lircd and change the daemon line to the 
following:

daemon lircd --driver=irman --device=/dev/ttyS0

(Use ttyS1 if you are on COM2).

Make sure /etc/rc.d/init.d/lircd is executable ( chmod +x 
/etc/rc.d/init.d/lircd ) (as root), as I seem to recall it wasn't for me.

Now check your modprobe.conf.  Remove (or comment out) anything that has 
to do with lirc, especially anything about lirc_serial.  That is stuff 
for the homebrew serial port receivers, and has nothing to do with 
IRMan.  Mine looks like this (I commented out the stuff and added some 
more comments to remind myself how it worked):

# Lirc - This really doesn't apply to IRMan.
#   Modify the /etc/init.d/lircd file to add --driver=irman 
--device=/dev/ttyS0 instead to replace LIRCD_OPTIONS
# alias char-major-61 lirc_serial
# options lirc_serial irq=4 io=0x3f8
# install lirc_serial /bin/setserial /dev/ttyS0 uart none ; 
/sbin/modprobe --ignore-install lirc_serial

Make sure the correct lircd.conf file is in /etc.

Most of this is going from memory, but I think the next two things are 
as follows, as root:

/sbin/chkconfig lircd on
/sbin/service lircd start

You should see "Starting infrared remote control daemon:   [OK]" after this.

Now fire up irw and see if you get output.  One sign that it is working 
at least partially is that irw doesn't return to the command prompt.  If 
it does, you have either used the wrong ttyS* or something else has 
grabbed it (usually lirc_serial if you didn't disable it in modules.conf 
--- if it was there and you just edited out, it may still be tying up 
the port, reboot and repeat from the /sbin/service point.)  If that 
still doesn't work, you may need to find a handy place to run 
"/bin/setserial /dev/ttyS0 uart none" (or ttyS1 for COM2).  I haven't 
had to do that, though.  If it doesn't immediately return to the prompt, 
but you get no keys when using the remote, lircd is working but you have 
the wrong lircd.conf file.  In that case, exit out of irw (press Ctrl-C) 
and load irrecord as follows:


irrecord /etc/lircd.conf.new

(The .new is so you don't overwrite the one you have.)

Now open up the "wrong" lircd.conf with more, or less, or your favorite 
text editor in another window/terminal.  Scroll down to where the key 
names are so that you can name the keys you are creating with irrecord 
the same thing.  This will allow your .lircrc file to work, since it 
presumably matches the lircd.conf file.  Otherwise, you'll have to edit 
it as well to match the key names you choose.

Follow the irrecord instructions.  It is a bit clunky, when they tell 
you to press a key over and over as fast as you can, they don't tell you 
when to stop!  Just do it for five or ten seconds, then stop, and it 
will time out and go on.  As it asks for remote keypresses and names, 
use the old names you have open in the other window/terminal to pick 
which key and what name to use.  When finished, rename your old file 
with "mv /etc/lircd.conf /etc/lircd.conf.old" and then put in your new 
one with "mv /etc/lircd.conf.new /etc/lircd.conf".  Restart lircd with 
"/sbin/service lircd restart" and try irw again.

That should do it. 

Also, consider using MythWeb to remap some of the keys for Myth.  Some 
portions of the UI use the same keys in different ways, which is 
annoying, but MythWeb is the only easy place to change them.

Hope this helps,
  Jeff.




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