Using a infrared (IR) remote control for Linux consists of getting
several pieces to be configured correctly, and to talk to each other
correctly.
STEP 1 -- install Lirc
apt-get install lirc
STEP 2 -- configure your remote
In this case, I have a Microsoft Media Center remote. Therein the problems start. It
has a Vista logo, but is marked "HP" on the bottom, and is recognized
as a "Philips" USB device:
$ lsusb
Bus 005 Device 002: ID 0471:060c Philips
To tell Lirc which remote you have, type:
$ sudo dpkg-reconfigure lirc
and follow the prompts. This changes settings in /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
and probably other files.
To verify this worked, use the "show cooked codes" command and press
keys on your remote. To quit, press control-C.
$ irw
000000037ff07bed 00 ChanUp mceusb
000000037ff07bed 01 ChanUp mceusb
000000037ff07bf2 00 Home mceusb
000000037ff07bf2 01 Home mceusb
At this point, your remote works, and your computer is correctly
translating the bitstream into keys.
STEP 3 -- translate keys into actions
Add this to your ~/.lircrc file:
begin
prog = irexec
button = Home
config = echo "Hello world!"
end
To test this, run the "how does program X translate key Y" command,
ircat. In this case, we're intercepting the irexec command:
$ ircat irexec
echo "Hello world!"
Once the translation step works correctly, run it for real:
$ irexec
Hello world!
STEP 4 -- translate keys into "smart" actions (VLC media player)
Change your ~/.lircrc file into this:
begin
prog = irexec
button = Home
config = echo "Hello world!"
end
begin
prog = vlc
button = Home
config = key-stop
end
Start irexec again, and also VLC on a video:
$ killall irexec
$ irexec &
$ vlc mymovie.avi
Pressing "Home" should stop the video, but it doesn't work -- VLC has
to know to subscribe to Lirc events:
$ vlc --control lirc sample.avi
When Home is pressed on the remote, Lirc sends the event to *all*
applications that are interested. In this case, pressing Home prints
"Hello world!" in the terminal, and the movie stops.
The Lirc service, lircd, grabs infrared data from the USB device and
translates it to button names. In this case, it knows I
have a Media Center remote "mce", so the IR squiggles it got when I
pushed the Home button, it understands as "the user pressed the Home
button".
Each application subscribes to Lirc events. The lircd service
translates specific buttons for specific applications. In this case,
the "vlc" media player received the "key-stop" message, and it stopped
the video. The "irevent" application also received a message, in this
case the "echo hello world" string, so it printed a message to the
terminal.
If something goes wrong, look at each part of the setup:
- IR signals to buttons with lircd
"irw" displays buttons
- buttons to actions
"ircat vlc" shows actions for a specific program, in this
case vlc
"irexec" does things directly, like printing messages
Different applications understand different messages. Many programs
don't understand remote buttons at all, so an intermediate programs is
used to do the translation.
STEP 5 -- translate buttons into "dumb" mouse/keyboard events (Google Chrome)
Add this to ~/.lircrc:
begin
prog = irxevent
button = Home
config = Key CTRL-t CurrentWindow
end
Test the mapping:
$ ircat irxevent
Key CTRL-t CurrentWindow
Now run irxevent directly. It intercepts the Home button, then sends
a keypress to the current window. In this case, Control-T on a Google
Chrome window opens up a new tab.
$ killall irxevent ; irxevent
Hope this helps!
- john
REFERENCES:
- lircd.conf, mapping buttons to actions:
http://www.lirc.org/html/configure.html#lircd.conf
- keys for Google Chrome:
http://www.google.com/support/chrome/bin/answer.py?hl=en&answer=95743
- VLC
http://en.gentoo-wiki.com/wiki/VLC/LIRC
- my setup:
