18.04 with infrared how-to ir-keytable-ditching lirc completely

[vidtek]

I found this tutorial to make it work

https://wiki.odroid.com/odroid-c2/ap...rc_ubuntu18.04

Basically just some configuration files changed from 16.04 to 18.04...

JV- The whole point of this tutorial is to completely remove the dog's breakfast of LIRC. Why have you posted this here? Perhaps you should put it on the Kodi forum instead, it is really not helpful here. Thanks.

[bullwinkle2]

Bullwinkle- Thank you for this contribution.

I'll try to address these 3 issues with my limited knowledge and experience.

1) As lirc fades more into the distance now being unmaintained it's easy graphics are no longer there for newer systems. Yes, it is regrettable. Maybe someone with better programming skills than mine can come up with an evdev equivalent programme.

2) I thought this too, until an eureka moment happened. see my post here:- https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread-280.php?t=2403500 My post #2. It is so easy, any remote, any button, any function.

3) I still am at a loss to understand why the blasting function is so problematic. All the blasters I have used just resend an infra-red purely as a relay, whether infra-red receivers or bluetooth/zigbee connections, they are just a relay device, why do you need some sort of separate control for them?

With regard to your final comment, I used to be an advocate of how wonderful LIRC was, but I have seen the light, and realise how much more elegant the evdev solution is, it is so much easier to configure. Let's be honest, the dog's breakfast that was LIRC was a dreadful thing to configure and get going properly.

Best regards, Tony.

Since you replied so long after my original post I never saw your reply until today, when I stumbled across it as part of a related search. So I will try to respond to your responses, although who knows if you will ever read them at this late date.

1) You're basically admitting that the easy configuration menu in the old version of LIRC was a necessary thing for some users. Not all of us want to spend days trying to get our remotes to work properly. Even in Ubuntu 20, installing the older version of LIRC has been the easiest way to go - you are up and running in a couple minutes! If you don't have the coding skills to create a configuration program, I'm not knocking you for that because I don't have those skills either. But just saying that "it is regrettable" that the easy configuration menu isn't in the newer versions isn't a solution, nor is it at all helpful.

2) I read your post #2 but you still never really explained how you launch a program or script. In particular I need the ability to launch bash scripts, and that is easy in LIRC, you just create a .lircrc file and define what you want your buttons to do in there. Being able to only launch programs with desktop icons isn't sufficient.

3) This had nothing to do with an IR repeater, it was all about being able to send IR command under the control of a script or program. For example with a Raspberry Pi you can use a circuit consisting of an infrared LED and some parts, and then use LIRC to send specific IR sequences to the LED that would emulate various remote button presses, all under program control. So you could send IR command based on time of day or input from a sensor or just about any condition that can be determined by a computer program. Just because you may not have any need for such a thing doesn't mean that nobody did, and now as far as I know there is no program at all that will work for this purpose on a Raspberry because they regrettably updated their repositories to the new useless version of LIRC.

You seem to be one of those people who think that if a certain way of doing something fulfills your requirements then it should be good enough for anybody. The old version of LIRC had several features that no other software (including the crap newer version of LIRC) has. Some of us actually use(d) those features and this is why we persist in running the old LIRC as long as it is possible. Just because you don't use those features doesn't mean that your method is the way it must be done, nor that your "light" leads to the right path for everyone.

[vidtek]

Since you replied so long after my original post I never saw your reply until today, when I stumbled across it as part of a related search. So I will try to respond to your responses, although who knows if you will ever read them at this late date.

1) You're basically admitting that the easy configuration menu in the old version of LIRC was a necessary thing for some users. Not all of us want to spend days trying to get our remotes to work properly. Even in Ubuntu 20, installing the older version of LIRC has been the easiest way to go - you are up and running in a couple minutes! If you don't have the coding skills to create a configuration program, I'm not knocking you for that because I don't have those skills either. But just saying that "it is regrettable" that the easy configuration menu isn't in the newer versions isn't a solution, nor is it at all helpful.

2) I read your post #2 but you still never really explained how you launch a program or script. In particular I need the ability to launch bash scripts, and that is easy in LIRC, you just create a .lircrc file and define what you want your buttons to do in there. Being able to only launch programs with desktop icons isn't sufficient.

3) This had nothing to do with an IR repeater, it was all about being able to send IR command under the control of a script or program. For example with a Raspberry Pi you can use a circuit consisting of an infrared LED and some parts, and then use LIRC to send specific IR sequences to the LED that would emulate various remote button presses, all under program control. So you could send IR command based on time of day or input from a sensor or just about any condition that can be determined by a computer program. Just because you may not have any need for such a thing doesn't mean that nobody did, and now as far as I know there is no program at all that will work for this purpose on a Raspberry because they regrettably updated their repositories to the new useless version of LIRC.

You seem to be one of those people who think that if a certain way of doing something fulfills your requirements then it should be good enough for anybody. The old version of LIRC had several features that no other software (including the crap newer version of LIRC) has. Some of us actually use(d) those features and this is why we persist in running the old LIRC as long as it is possible. Just because you don't use those features doesn't mean that your method is the way it must be done, nor that your "light" leads to the right path for everyone.

Bullwinkle- Like you I only saw your post at this late date......

1) I totally agree with you the old way with LIRC with it's gui config was easier, especially with Mythbuntu Control Centre. That no longer works and we are just going to have to live with it going forward. Lirc is no longer maintained in the way it once was, and MCC has now died.

2) Launching a script. I am not a guru just another user who struggles the same as many others. I use KDE and within the KDE settings there is a place to start a script it is located here: SystemSettings->Startup and Shutdown->Autostart

There surely must be an equivalent Gnome utility.

I use it to launch mythtv from my remote. So I used a spare button I have no use for on my keyboard-in my case a calc button. I remapped that button to KEY_CAMERA in my configuration file /etc/rc_keymaps/rc6_mce.toml.

That's it.

3) You are not thinking the mythtv way. Instead of ir commands, think keyboard presses. To use a blaster in the way you want to you will need to create a job in mythtv with the various keyboard presses and key combinations to make your blaster send the commands you want.

With regard to your last comment-I am not some sort of evangelical zealot who leads the charge for udev and ir-keytable. I would have been quite happy for LIRC to continue and be maintained. I am a realist. I can see there will be fewer and fewer devs willing to put time and effort into maintaining LIRC as the years go on, and we simply have to move with the times - like it or not.

Cheers Tony.