[mythtv-users] Setting up IRBlaster for Dishnetwork VIP222k

Marc Chamberlin marc at marcchamberlin.com
Tue Apr 6 19:14:09 UTC 2010


I tried posting this to lirc-list at lists.sourceforge.net but for some 
reason it is not being posted, so guess I will try here...

I have a media center, running under openSuSE11.2, KDE4.4.2 and have 
been struggling to get an IRBlaster up and running to control a 
Dishnetwork HD VIP222k satellite set-top. I think I might be fairly 
close but so far no joy... So I wonder if someone could look over what I 
have done (described below) and give me some feedback....

I started out with the instructions I found at

http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/mythtv-info/MythTV_DISH_IR_LED_TX_via_Modified_LIRC.html

While somewhat outdated, this seems like a pretty clear step-by-step 
approach and I found I could comprehend it much better that the 
instructions on the LIRC or mythTV websites. This approach installs a 
parallel set of files for the ledxmit daemon as was set up for the lirc 
daemon. (While there are some websites talking about being able to 
combine both the receiver and sender, I think keeping things separate 
makes it logically easier to understand.)

Instead of using the version of LIRC that was referenced on the above 
website, I fetched and download a copy of the same version that came 
from the openSuSE11.2 installation repositories - LIRC 0.8.5. That 
required a bit of modification to the supplied compilation shell script 
(which basically renames files and variables so as to avoid a namespace 
collision) but not much. It pretty much compiled and installed just 
fine, which completed "Stage One" of the instructions.

For Stage 2, I discovered that things have apparently changed somewhat 
in how kernel modules are handled and installed, from when these 
instructions were written. Also setting up a daemon under SuSE is quite 
a bit different.

Instead of the ledxmitd.conf that was referenced on this website, I 
Googled and found one at 
http://canzanese.com/wordpress/wp-content/uploads/2009/08/vip222k-v2.conf which 
claims to contain the remote codes appropriate to my Dishnetwork 
VIP222k. (ledxmitd.conf is equivalent to the /etc/lircd.conf, and in 
fact I linked to to lircd.conf and put all of my remote codes in one file.)

I don't claim, by any means, of being an expert on installing new 
modules in the kernel, so please bear with me on this part. Following 
the instructions for Stage 2, with some departures as explained below, I 
installed the new kernel module and started up the daemon as shown in 
the following steps -

--> Create /etc/modutils/lirc-ledxmit, which will be used by 
update-modules to configure the loadable kernel modules, with the 
following: (Does not apply to Fedora)

In the files that configures options for loading modules, my 
understanding is that it is no longer necessary to specify exactly what 
modules need to be loaded and in what order. In openSuSE the modutils 
directory does not exist, instead configuration files are placed in 
/etc/modprobe.d with an extension of .conf So I created and changed the 
/etc/modprobe.d/lirc-ledxmit.conf to the following -

alias char-major-72 ledxmit_serial
# below ledxmit_serial ledxmit_dev
# !!! note DEFAULT is COM2 !!! how, you ask? see configure statement in 
myth-ledxmit.sh script above.
# for COM1, simply uncomment the following:
options ledxmit_serial irq=4 io=0x3f8
# for COM2, do nothing, or uncomment the following:
# options ledxmit_serial irq=3 io=0x2f8

(note: I commented out the line - below ledxmit_serial ledxmit_dev)

--> Build the new module list, incorporating the above: (Does not apply 
to Fedora)
$ /sbin/update-modules

Instead of executing the update-modules command, which I learned is 
depreciated, I executed - depmod -a.

--> Make the char-special ledxmit device:
$ /bin/mknod /dev/ledxmit c 72 0

--> Disable the normal serial port driver:
$ /bin/setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none # (or use /dev/ttyS0 for COM1)

--> Install the ledxmit_serial module:
$ /sbin/modprobe ledxmit_serial

--> Confirm all is well:
$ lsmod | grep ledxmit
ledxmit_serial 7104 0
ledxmit_dev 8560 1 [ledxmit_serial]

--> Start up the ledxmit daemon (w/ optional logging enabled for initial 
debugging):
$ /usr/local/lirc-ledxmit/sbin/ledxmit-ledxmitd -L /tmp/ledxmitd.log
(this starts the deamon ledxmitd which in turn creates a listening 
socket at /dev/ledxmitd)

--> Check that both ledxmit-related devices are now present and have the 
proper attributes:
$ ls -sl /dev/led*
0 crw-r--r-- 1 root root 72, 0 May 4 20:57 /dev/ledxmit
0 srw-rw-rw- 1 root root 0 May 4 20:57 /dev/ledxmitd


I did not modify the /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh as described, or use that 
approach to start up the lirc-ledxmitd daemon. Instead I followed the 
model in openSuSE for starting up daemons at various runlevels. My guess 
is that it is not necessary that I describe the details of that here, 
but will gladly supply the various configuration files I set up, should 
it be necessary or someone asks...

Stage 3 - I bought an IRBlaster.

Stage 4 - Suffice it to say that the lirc-ledxmit daemon is starting up 
ok, and I tested it as described, and using the following script -

$ while [ 1 ]
do
/usr/local/lirc-ledxmit/bin/ledxmit-irsend SEND_ONCE vip 2
sleep 1
done

I looked at the led's of the IRBlaster, with my video camcorder since it 
is sensitive to IR, and indeed I can see the led light blinking once a 
second.

So it appears I got most of this installed correctly, up and running! 
Only problem is that my Dishnetwork satellite settop box is NOT 
responding to any of the codes that I am sending it. I have sent a query 
to the person who developed the remote codes for ledxmitd.conf that I am 
using, but it seems like a long shot, that something is wrong with that 
file, as he is describing the same Dishnetwork satellite set top box 
that I am using..

Frustrating to get this far (took a lot or research and work!!) and not 
have it actually work yet... Anyone got any ideas? Much appreciate all 
help offered

Marc..

P.S. I would have wanted to try irrecord to setup and record the remote 
codes myself, unfortunately the only IR receiver I have is in a 
Hauppauge PVR-350 tv card and it only responds to and decodes signals 
from the Hauppauge remote and thumbs it's nose at any other remote 
signals...





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