[mythtv-users] Mac mini, ubuntu, IR remotes

[Tino Keitel]

On Sat, Apr 05, 2008 at 13:59:38 +0100, Shaun Lowry wrote:
> Hi,
> 
> I have a mac mini running Ubuntu & MythTV.  I've read several rumours 
> that the built-in IR receiver can handle alternate remote controls but 
> no actual confirmation.  I have the dev/input driver for the ir 

I use a Mac mini with a learning remote and lirc, and it works fine.

> receiver in the kernel and that seems to be working OK.  It appears 
> that the input-utils can't reconfigure the keymap for this device but 
> I've managed  to sort of get it going with xmodmap.  Problem is, 6 
> keys aren't really enough to drive MythTV comfortably, I figure I need 
> at least up, down, left, right, Esc, P and M (7 keys) and would prefer 
> Enter and a numberpad too.
> 
> Has anyone actually got the built in receiver working with an 
> alternate remote control, and if so, which one and how?

I'll first write something about the "how".

Above you mentioned the dev/input lirc driver. This requires a kernel
patch so that the IR device is seen as an input device. The patch never
was in the vanilla kernel. The driver also has the disadvantage of
being broken after a suspend, so you have to reload the driver and
restart the lircd after resume, including all applications that use
lirc.

As of lirc 0.8.2 you can use a driver called "macmini". This uses the
IR device as a USB HID device, so you need a corresponding
/dev/usb/hid* device file. Take care not to use kernel 2.6.22, as this
version blacklisted the IR device in the HID driver.

Now you can set up lirc as usual (irrecord) with the Apple remote, to
test that everyting is working.

I wanted to use a remote with more than the 6 keys that the Apple
remote has. So I bought a learning remote and configured it to use the
Apple remote IR codes. Now you need to press the menu and play buttons
on the Apple remote for a few seconds, so that it generates different
IR codes. Configure the next 6 keys on the learning remote. Repeat
this, until all keys are configured.

After this, use irrecord to learn all the keys on the learning remote,
and you are done.

Regarding the learning remote: I used a Sony RM-VL600T.

If you have further problems on this, you should ask on the LIRC
mailing list, where this more on topic.

Regards,
Tino