The Restored Long and Hopefully Definitive IR BLASTER HOWTO for LIRC / MYTHTV
This version restored from google cache and given a home.
andy@benow.ca
Original follows:
The Long and Hopefully Definitive IR BLASTER HOWTO for LIRC / MYTHTV
By Robert Wamble (rwraithr@cox.net)
0411.03 11:00 v2.1
Download link: http://members.cox.net/rwraithr
The mission was to get MythTV to use my Actisys IR-200L blaster to change
channels on my Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000. Since MythTV uses lirc
for its remote control, and lirc hasn't (for me) easily handled two devices
simultaneously, I had to get an independent lirc running to drive the
blaster. To do this, I followed the recommendations found in mythtv-users
postings by Sriram Balakrishnan, Gary Te Young, and Mike Smith.
This HOWTO and accompanying scripts comprise my attempt to steamline the
process for others. While I can only say that this works for my setup,
hopefully it will be helpful with other hardware combinations.
I have MythTV installed on a Fedora Core 2 box, using Jarod C. Wilson's HOWTO at
http://wilsonet.com/mythtv/index.php", with a Hauppauge PVR 350. As stated, my
IR Blaster is the Actisys IR-200L, which I got from
http://store.snapstream.com/index.html under Accessories.
I've added notes throughout for the 2.6.x kernel changes.
Summary of sections:
1. Get lirc-0.7.0pre8.tar.bz2 *
2. Use lirc2remote.sh to convert to remote-0.7.0pre8 *
3. Configure and build remote-0.7.0pre8 (2.4 and 2.6 kernels)
4. Edit /etc/modules.conf (2.4 kernel) or /etc/modprobe.conf (2.6 kernel)
5. Edit /etc/rc.d/rc.local
6. Install /etc/remoted.conf for your tuner box
7. Check BIOS settings for serial port
8. Boot and test
9. Related Scripts (change_channel.csh, channel.pl, lirc2remote.sh) **
* An already converted remote-0.7.0pre8.tar.bz2 may be available for
download at the website mentioned above.
** A channel.pl that handles 4 digit channels is attached below, and may
be available from the website mentioned above.
Installation:
* If you use the remote-0.7.0pre8.tar.bz2 download, extract it with
tar xfj remote-0.7.0pre8.tar.bz2, then skip steps 1 and 2, proceeding
to step 3.
1. Get lirc-0.7.0pre8.tar.bz2. Follow the Download instructions in Section 22.2
"Hauppauge PVR-250 remote and MythTV's native LIRC support" in the MythTV
Documentation. In essence, do:
wget http://lirc.sourceforge.net/software/snapshots/lirc-0.7.0pre8.tar.bz2
Extract it with:
tar xjf lirc-0.7.0pre8.tar.bz2
2. Note that the lirc package has configure options that allow you to
set the alternate device major and port. But, if you specify those
options, you also need to specify the options that setup.sh would
normally construct for you. I've found it easier to just convert
the package and let setup.sh do its job.
Use lirc2remote.sh to convert lirc-0.7.0pre8 to remote-0.7.0pre8. This
step renames the directories, files, and variables in the files that have
"lirc" to "remote", changes the device major number from 61 to 72, and changes
the port from 8765 to 8768. It's still lirc, it'll just be able to run along
side the standard lirc.
Put lirc2remote.sh in the current directory. The lirc-0.7.0pre8 directory
should be in the current directory, too.
The script will move the lirc-0.7.0pre8 dir to remote-0.7.0pre8, rename the
lirc* dirs to remote*, rename the lirc* files to remote*, then change all
occurrences of "lirc" and "LIRC" to "remote" and "REMOTE".
The script will then open vi on each file, one at a time, that you need to
MANUALLY check for and change each occurrence of the device major number
from 61 to 72. Use /61 to search for 61, change it to 72, hit n to go to the
next occurrence of 61, etc. When done, use :wq to write and quit that file
to go to the next. Note that you're only changing the 61 for the device major
number, ie. char-major 61. Some of them don't refer to the device major
number, so leave those at 61. You can :q past the remote control
configuration scripts toward the end. Don't change lines that have hex,
ie. 0x61 doesn't refer to the device major number.
Then you'll do the same thing to change port 8765 to 8768. After than, it'll
fix some permissions and run mknod for the /dev/remote device.
As root, run the script:
./lirc2remote.sh
3. Setup, configure, and build remote-0.7.0pre8:
The build requirements are the same as the normal lirc package. Do the
following:
cd remote-0.7.0pre8
./setup.sh
Select 1 Driver configuration
Select 6 IrDA hardware
Select 4 Actisys Act200L SIR driver support (in my case)
Select 2 COM2 (0x2f8, 3) (in my case)
Select 3 Save configuration & run configure
After configure finishes, run make, but not make install yet. Make
appears to run through configure again to find aclocal, autoconf, etc.
Just let it run, and it'll do the build. If it fails, perform the
steps in the segment below to configure your kernel source.
======== skip the below section if make succeeds
If you get an error to the effect that TOPDIR parameter is null or not
set, or myriad other errors, you probably need to get your kernel dependencies
in order.
Try this:
cd /usr/src/linux (linux linked to your kernel)
make mrproper
cp /boot/config-`uname -r` .config
On 2.4 kernels, do:
Check /usr/src/linux/include/linux/version.h and /usr/src/linux/Makefile and
remote the word "custom" from UTS_RELEASE and EXTRAVERSION, and/or change
".atc" into ".at".
make oldconfig ; make dep
On 2.6 kernels, do:
Check /usr/src/linux/Makefile and remove the word "custom" from EXTRAVERSION.
make oldconfig
make prepare
The make prepare will generate the required "version.h" file.
Then go back to remote-0.7.0pre8 and, as root, do the setup.sh/configure,
and run make again. It should work this time.
======== skip the above section if make succeeds
Before you make install, note that the tools will overwrite the normal lirc
tools, only if they are installed in /usr/local/bin. If you used apt-get to
install lirc, then you don't have to back up the lirc tools. So, if you
need to backup and restore the lirc tools, perform all steps, A, B, and C.
If you don't need to back up the lirc tools, just perform step B.
A. Back up the lirc tools:
cd /usr/local/bin
mkdir orig
cp ircat irexec irpty irrecord irsend irw irxevent mode2 xmode2 orig
cd - (back to the remote-0.7.0pre8 directory)
B. Install the blaster tools:
make install
cd /usr/local/bin
mv ircat remote_ircat
mv irexec remote_irexec
mv irpty remote_irpty
mv irrecord remote_irrecord
mv irsend remote_irsend
mv irw remote_irw
mv irxevent remote_irxevent
mv mode2 remote_mode2
mv xmode2 remote_xmode2
C. Restore the lirc tools:
mv orig/* .
rmdir orig
4. Module configuration
For 2.4 kernels, edit /etc/modules.conf. Add the following:
alias char-major-72 remote_sir
below remote_sir remote_dev
options remote_sir irq=3 io=0x2f8
At the top of the file, add:
path[toplevel]=/lib/modules/`uname -r`/misc
For 2.6 kernels, edit /etc/modprobe.conf. Add the following:
alias char-major-72 remote_sir
options remote_sir irq=3 io=0x2f8
Your options may be different. My blaster is on COM2, irq=3, io=0x2f8
5. Edit /etc/rc.d/rc.local for auto-starting the daemon:
Add to rc.local:
echo "Starting remoted..."
setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none
/sbin/modprobe remote_sir
/usr/local/sbin/remoted
6. Put in the receiving device's config file. Check http://www.lirc.org/
for remotes.tar.bz2. I found my Cox box in remotes/scientific_atlanta, the
Explorer_2000 file. I just copied that file to /etc/remoted.conf.
7. Check BIOS setting for your serial port. On my box, I had to use COM2,
and I had to have it set to NORMAL, *not* IrDA or ASKIR.
8. Boot and test. The change_channel.csh and channel.pl scripts are below.
Put them in /usr/local/bin, and don't forget to chmod +x both of them.
Note that the command to change the channel in channel.pl is remote_irsend.
You can use remote_irrecord --device=/dev/remote filename just to see if the
blaster is receiving signals from the remote it's supposed to know how to act
like. I saw dots while hitting buttons, but it didn't detect something it
needed, so it didn't actually create a file. I didn't need a file, since my
Explorer 2000 is in the remotes database.
If it's working, you should be able to aim the blaster at the tuner and type
change_channel.csh 13 and it'll send 1 and 3 to your tuner. Then you can
set up MythTV to use change_channel.csh as the external channel changing
command. It was quite a joy when I finally saw it happen for the first
time. Mine works from five feet away, though I won't need it that far back.
Well, hopefully this Howto and script come in handy to users of IR Blasters
and MythTV. Feel free to email me questions, corrections, or comments at
rwraithr@cox.net.
9. Related Scripts:
The change_channel.csh script (set MythTV to use this script):
----cut below this line for change_channel.csh, don't include this line----
#!/bin/csh
echo "changing to $1"
/usr/local/bin/channel.pl $1 &
----cut above this line for change_channel.csh, don't include this line----
The channel.pl script (edit your $remote_name):
----cut below this line for channel.pl, don't include this line----
#!/usr/bin/perl
# rwraithr added segment for 4 digit channels
# make sure to set this string to
# the corresponding remote in /etc/remoted.conf
$remote_name = "SA2000";
sub change_channel {
my($channel_digit) = @_;
system ("/usr/local/bin/remote_irsend SEND_ONCE $remote_name $channel_digit");
sleep 1;
}
$channel=$ARGV[0];
sleep 1;
if (length($channel) > 3) {
change_channel(substr($channel,0,1));
change_channel(substr($channel,1,1));
change_channel(substr($channel,2,1));
change_channel(substr($channel,3,1));
} elsif (length($channel) > 2) {
change_channel(substr($channel,0,1));
change_channel(substr($channel,1,1));
change_channel(substr($channel,2,1));
} elsif (length($channel) > 1) {
change_channel(substr($channel,0,1));
change_channel(substr($channel,1,1));
} else {
change_channel(substr($channel,0,1));
}
system ("/usr/local/bin/remote_irsend SEND_ONCE $remote_name SELECT");
----cut above this line for channel.pl, don't include this line----
The Main Script: lirc2remote.sh
----cut below this line for lirc2remote.sh, don't include this line----
#!/bin/bash
#
# lirc2remote.sh -- Convert lirc dirs/files/vars to remote for IR Blaster.
# Version 1.3
# Updated for lirc-0.7.0pre8
# 0410.15 No rights reserved. Deploy and use as desired. YMMV.
#
# Download link: http://members.cox.net/rwraithr
#
# The idea is to run an independent version of lirc to handle the IR
# Blaster, so that conflicts with the lirc running for MythTV are avoided.
#
# This script and Howto created by Robert Wamble (rwraithr@cox.net) because
# I just had to get my Actisys IR Blaster working with MythTV and
# my Cox Cable issued Scientific Atlanta Explorer 2000 digital tuner.
#
# Special thanks to Sriram Balakrishnan, Gary Te Young, and Mike Smith
# whose mythtv-users list inputs on the subject pointed me in the right
# direction and provided valuable information.
# Rename main lirc dir
echo ""
echo "Moving main dir"
if [ ! -d lirc-0.7.0pre8 ] ; then
echo ""
echo "lirc-0.7.0pre8 not found"
exit
fi
if [ -d lirc-0.7.0pre8 ] ; then
mv lirc-0.7.0pre8 remote-0.7.0pre8
fi
# Rename the lirc directories
echo ""
echo "Moving lirc directories"
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_atiusb remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_atiusb
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_bt829 remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_bt829
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_dev remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_dev
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_gpio remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_gpio
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_i2c remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_i2c
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_igorplugusb remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_igorplugusb
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_it87 remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_it87
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_mceusb remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_mceusb
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_parallel remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_parallel
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_sasem remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_sasem
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_serial remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_serial
mv remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/lirc_sir remote-0.7.0pre8/drivers/remote_sir
# Rename the lirc files
echo ""
echo "Moving lirc files"
find remote-0.7.0pre8 -name '*lirc*' -print > lircfiles.txt
for i in `cat lircfiles.txt`
do
if [ -f $i ] ; then
NewFileName=`echo $i | sed 's/lirc/remote/'`
mv $i $NewFileName
fi
done
# Rename lirc occurrences in the files
echo ""
echo "Renaming lirc vars in files"
find remote-0.7.0pre8 | xargs grep -l lirc > lircvars.txt
for i in `cat lircvars.txt`
do
if [ -f $i ] ; then
cat $i | sed 's/lirc/remote/g' > $i.newfile
mv $i.newfile $i
fi
done
# Rename LIRC occurrences in the files
echo ""
echo "Renaming LIRC vars in files"
find remote-0.7.0pre8 | xargs grep -l LIRC > LIRCvars.txt
for i in `cat LIRCvars.txt`
do
if [ -f $i ] ; then
cat $i | sed 's/LIRC/REMOTE/g' > $i.newfile
mv $i.newfile $i
fi
done
# Check for device number 61, manually change to 72. Then :wq the file to
# check the following file.
echo ""
echo "Manually change device number 61 to 72, then :wq for next file."
echo "Note that not every 61 refers to the device number."
echo "You can :q to skip the remote control config files."
echo "Use /61 to search for 61, and hit n for next occurrence."
echo "(15 second pause)"
sleep 15
find remote-0.7.0pre8 | xargs grep -l 61 > device61.txt
for i in `cat device61.txt`
do
vi $i
done
# Check for port number 8765, manually change to 8768. Then :wq the file to
# check the following file.
echo ""
echo "Manually change port number 8765 to 8768, then :wq for next file."
echo "Use /8765 to search for 8765, and hit n for next occurrence."
echo "(15 second pause)"
sleep 15
find remote-0.7.0pre8 | xargs grep -l 8765 > port8765.txt
for i in `cat port8765.txt`
do
vi $i
done
# Restore exec permissions
echo ""
echo "Restoring exec permissions"
chmod +x remote-0.7.0pre8/configure remote-0.7.0pre8/*.sh
# Make the remote device
echo ""
echo "Mknod remote device /dev/remote"
/bin/mknod /dev/remote c 72 0
echo ""
echo "Conversion done. Refer to the Howto for build, install, and"
echo "configuration."
echo ""
----cut above this line for lirc2remote.sh, don't include this line----