Hey All,

I'm stumped on something, I was hoping somebody would be able to offer me some direction on this.

Basically, I have a homebrew ir blaster (ordered from irblaster.info)
I followed the directions here:
http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/my ... _LIRC.html

and when the compile gave me this error:
libtool: unrecognized option `--tag=CC'
i ran:
libtoolize --force

I then re-ran the script, and lirc compiled successfully. I did a make install, added the startup options to bootmisc.sh and made sure I had a good working config file. this is the exact same config file i was using on r4a5 on the 2.4 linux kernel.

so here's where i'm at:
/usr/local/bin/change_chan 222

cat /tmp/ledxmitd.log:
Mar 26 22:58:11 mythtv ledxmitd 0.7.0: accepted new client on /dev/ledxmitd
Mar 26 22:58:11 mythtv ledxmitd 0.7.0: removed client

also:
/var/log/messages:
Mar 26 23:14:46 mythtv kernel: ledxmit_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, at major 72
Mar 26 23:14:47 mythtv kernel: ledxmit_serial: auto-detected active low receiver
Mar 26 23:14:47 mythtv kernel: ledxmit_dev: ledxmit_register_plugin:sample_rate: 0

and dmesg:
ledxmit_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, at major 72
ledxmit_serial: auto-detected active low receiver
ledxmit_dev: ledxmit_register_plugin:sample_rate: 0

and..
root@mythtv:~# lsmod | grep ledx
ledxmit_serial 13824 0
ledxmit_dev 13452 1 ledxmit_serial
root@mythtv:~#


only, the channels aren't changing..
i've tried with both com ports.. and everything was working earlier today, when I was running r4a5 so I have a strong disbelief that its a hardware problem.

I'm stumped here, but I'm hoping somebody knows! Any info would be greatly appricated.. thanks in advance

(also, i've rtfm, and scoured the forums so if i've missed an article, my apologies)

i've just installed r4a5, and the ir blaster worked first try
so, clearly something has changed to make this work from r4 to r5
did anybody have to do anything different?

I'm having the same problem, and I don't want to go back to R4.

Can anoyone offer any suggestions or solutions, please?

msg from xtopher:
"i used the instructions found in the wiki:

http://knoppmythwiki.homelinux.org/inde ... olaDct2000

you will have to change the path to the new source files (.17) but other than that it worked for me ..

i am using the direct serial connection. but the ir blaster sould work the same...

are you getting any signal out of the balster.

The way i check that is to use a camcoder or digital cammera. the Photo-receters in it are sesivive to IR. point the remote at the cammera and push a button and you will see a white light emitted. This will let you know if yours is the right kind to see IR. then run the change chan script and see if the blaster emmits anything.

Did you try the direct cabel method.. i didnt think mine would work ether but it did."

thanks for the msg xtopher. Are you running R5A12, or some flavor of R5? Did you do a fresh install or upgrade?

If by "change the path" you mean on the instructions page, ya, I was able to find the src file and extract it. I found the dct-channel directory and compiled the program, I'm able to run the channel binary but it does not change the channel.

Thanks for the suggestion but a direct serial connection is not an option here in Canada. Shaw refuses to enable the serial port on the back of their digital cable boxes. Don't get me started. grrr...

I have one physical Serial port on the computer, but my BIOS has settings for two. I'm pretty sure COM2 is the actual physical port. I had this darn thing working under R4.
The Channel program defaults to COM1 so I had to manually specify COM2 with the "-p" option. I tried it with teh -v option too, but it didn't help.
Did you have anything like the following in your /etc/init.d/bootmisc.sh?
/bin/setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none
I tried with and without, but it doesn't seem to help.
Have you done anything to configure your Serial port?

When I run this:
./channel -v -p /dev/ttyS1 44
I get this:
------------snip--------------
Attempting to initialize DCT
No response to packet
No response to init_1; trying to continue
No response to packet
No response to initialize_2
Initialization failed
Attempting to initialize DCT
No response to packet
No response to init_1; trying to continue
No response to packet
No response to initialize_2
Initialization failed
Attempting to initialize DCT
No response to packet
No response to init_1; trying to continue
No response to packet
No response to initialize_2
Initialization failed
Attempting to initialize DCT
No response to packet
No response to init_1; trying to continue
No response to packet
No response to initialize_2
Initialization failed
Attempting to initialize DCT
No response to packet
No response to init_1; trying to continue
No response to packet
No response to initialize_2
Initialization failed
Communication failed after 5 tries
---------snip------------

My camera's battery is dead but I will recharge it and try your suggestion. I don't think the IR iblaster is blasting anything, but maybe I'm wrong.

instead of using lirc 0.7.0 as my writeup shows, try using one of the snapshot 0.7.1 CVS versions from
http://lirc.sourceforge.net/software/snapshots/

i have a feeling this issue is due to 0.7.0 not getting along with the 2.6 debian kernel. just a hunch.

jim
http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/my ... _LIRC.html

Thanks wrooster....
I will try it out in the next day or two.

_________________
-Montana

Running:
Fresh KnoppMyth R5A12
Celeron 700
512MB RAM
MSI Geforce3 MX4000 -> SVIDEO out
PVR-250

been a while since i saw anything posted on this thread;
has anyone gotten LIRC and an ir blaster to cooperate with R5A12?

thanks
jim

i have tried your page for the LIRC IRblaser and the writeup at lircsetup.com and have only broke my remote and not got it to work, thank goodness i know what im doing so i have been able to figure out how to fix it. Let me know if you need any of the problems i get or anything. let me know you come up with anything

I got your writeup at http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/my ... _LIRC.html to work on R5A12 using a homebrew IR blaster i made myself from the LIRC.org schematic. The only thing different i did was that i used the lirc-0.7.0 from the /usr/src directory. then i ran your myth-ledxmit.sh once and got errors, then typed in the myth-ledxmit.WIP directory libtoolize -f and then aclocal. Then re-ran your myth-ledxmit.sh and got the --tag=CC error. There is something wrong with autoconf that introduces an errant "--tag=CC" to libtool into three Makefiles in the lirc/remote tree. They nor I haven't figured what the problem is, but the string can be removed manually from the Makefiles when make fails. Per the writeup at iwamble.net I then removed both occurrences of "--tag=CC" from the files daemons/Makefile,
doc/Makefile, and tools/Makefile and then ran make again. Then make install. Then followed your directions from there on, INCLUDING the disabling the normal serial port driver, WHICH IS VERY IMPORTANT or you will get a device in use error. Just a side note after i would run /sbin/modprobe ledxmit_serial i would get almost 100% CPU usage and my system would crawl. According to PS i found the problem to be for some reason ACPI(kacpid was running up all of the cpu usage) so i just disabled ACPI in my BIOS and set No for ACPI aware OS and that fixed that problem. Anyone need help let me know, thanks you my trying and re-installing mythtv about 30 times im sure i could help a little.

I am getting a little confused (not a new experience) this topic seems to parallel another one on this form

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4284&highlight=transmitter

But that is not what confuses me, in the other post Xsecrets indicates that lirc 0.7.0 is already present in R5 and compiled for this kernel , so why do you need to run a make ? .

So would it be possible to just tweak the script so it moves and modifies the compiled files and then just remove the make from the script? I apologies in advance if this is a stupid question; I am not a linux native. I am eager to swim in the R5 pool, but I need the IR transmitter to control my expressvu 3100 box.

_________________
I climb mountains because of gravity.

the issue is that lirc, up until very recently, was not adept at handling multiple devices. for example, assuming you have knoppmyth installed with a PVR-250 or 350, there is an existing instance of lirc that handles receiving keycodes from the happauge remote control and in turn feeds them to mythtv. now then, when you try to introduce another function into this equation, namely having lirc transmit channel change information via the IR LED, things can get obtuse.

for this reason, the "two lirc instances" approach was invented. the essence is that there is a separate, standalone instantiation of lirc that is dedicated to transmission of keycodes to the IR LED. this allows the "original" lirc to do what it does best (handling incoming remote events), and thus there is a nice separation of church (RX) and state (TX). debugging is simplified and you don't have to muck with knoppmyth files to get the IR LED transmitter subsystem running. this makes it safe for linux novices. all this costs you is about 300K of memory -- no big deal.

hence, my writeup, titled "Notes on building a separate instance of LIRC to control a satellite receiver or cable box using a simple IR LED transmitter connected to a serial port on a MythTV system" at
http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/my ... HOWTO.html
describes how to implement the second instance of lirc, and how not to break anything else in your working knoppmyth system.

the second instance is configured strictly to handle manipulation of the IR LED, and this is the reason for compiling (i.e. the "make" step") the lirc tree. i've about 250 emails in my "saved" folder from folks that wrote to tell me that by following my writeup they got their IR LED talking to their set top box without a hitch.

all that said, my process worked for the last 2 years worth of knoppmyth releases. however, the introduction of knoppmyth R5 and it's 2.6 kernel has mucked things up a bit -- such is the cost of progress. the lirc folks struggle from time to time with the nuances of the 2.6 kernel interfaces, and the various linux distros all have idiosyncracies that need to be addressed on a bug-by-bug basis. as you can see from the posts above, some progress has been made in applying the "two lirc instance" approach to the 2.6-based R5; nonetheless some work remains to streamline the process again.

unfortunately i am a happy R4V5 customer, and have no immediate plans to upgrade my mythtv box. perhaps at the end of the summer when the sun isn't out all day i will get around to it. but until then i would like to hear as much as possible from the R5 users on how they have made out with incorporating my writeup into their R5 boxen. i will, as always, make continuous updates to my writeup as new information becomes available.


i hope that all that answered your question about "why do i need to run a make".

regards,
jim / wrooster

ps
if you care to have a go at making a single instance of lirc handle both the reception of keycodes from your happauge remote AND the transmission of keycodes to your expressvue box, refer to the info here:
http://www.lircsetup.com/
note that the above writeup currently is only suited for fedora FC3-based mythtv boxes, so you will have to adapt the information, procedures, and scripts for the knoppmyth environment. if you are successful in doing so, be sure to feed back that information to the authors of the above page.

Thanks Wrooster, that does help clear things up. I am actually one of the thankful minuns who have used your write up http://losdos.dyndns.org:8080/public/mythtv-info/IR-BLASTER-HOWTO.html
to very successfully create a second instance of lirc to control my BEV 3100 box (R4V5) and can't thank you enough. It has truely made the knoppmyth experience great, and I can't go back to the way it was before .

This of course leads me to my delema; the WAF is high enough that I have purchased new hardware and am planning to replace the yellowing PIII box with shinny black athlon 2400 box and I would like to go the R5 route especially now that it has myth .18

Anyway, I won't go into detail about how my thought path lead me in the wrong direction, you'll have to trust me that there was a logic to it. I have found that bad logic is too seductive and it will just create more confusion. I see where I skipped the track.

I think I can decode Heapmasters explanation of how he managed to get it to work and I might try that. I also might try the url you suggest in the ps http://www.lircsetup.com/ . I can hear Clint Eastwood as Dirty Harry saying "Well..., do you feel lucky? Punk!"

Or I just may stay with R4 for now. If I am successful with R5 I will try and follow up with a very clear how to post, those are ultimately the rules of the game are they not? It might take a while though as the weather has been too nice to sit around the house.

Thank you all for raising the issue.

Cheers

_________________
I climb mountains because of gravity.

i tried it on r5a15, using the lirc from r5a12 which was mentioned to work above. followed the same procedures and i get a kernel smp bug..


so.. back at square one, have a homebrew ir reciever i can't get working properly with 2.6 kernel also.

has anybody had any success / failures or any tidbits??

[/code]

There seems to be a couple of people who have had success using the instructions at www.iwamble.net. to remove the --tag=CC flags to get it to compile

heapmaster and elgordo123 both seem to have been successful.

http://mysettopbox.tv/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4291&highlight=iwamble+net



I am still trying to fight off my need to have the newest and shiniest toy (R5V15.1) and stay with a working R4V5, but my resolve is weakening! Seems like it will happen sooner than latter wife just phoned while I was writing this to say myth pooped out. Had to ssh to restart. Will document my experiences, as they happen.

Cheers

_________________
I climb mountains because of gravity.