IrDa

[irhacker]

Hello,

Could anyone tell me if PC IrDA interfaces that are commonly available are able to pick up signals from common remote controls. The reason I ask is that I would be interested in writing software to capture the signals, allowing people to do so without having to build an interface themselves.

As far as I can see from google, this may be possible with some IrDA hardware but not all.

Has anyone tried?

[The Robman]

How much does IrDA hardware cost? It would have to be less than $34 (ie, the cost of a URC-8811 & JP1 cable) for this to be worthwhile.

[irhacker]

Hi,

First off - I'm new round here, so I might have the wrong end of the stick about some things.

An IrDA is about 10 pounds in the UK.

I've just finished making a jp1 ultra cable - and it works I'm now in the process of learning codes from various remotes to my URC-8060.

What I'd be trying to acheive with PC IR interface is the ability to sit in front of my PC with all my remotes and rapidly learn the codes, without having to go through the arduous process of learning individual key codes to the remote, checking that it picked them up ok etc.

I've looked into the GetIR program and interface on the yahoo group, but I was just wondering if there was a possibility of using an IrDA interface, as lots of people have them, either built in to laptops, or purchased for mobile phone interfacing.

I'm really looking forward to getting in to jp1 stuff. I'm also quite keen on contributing to the development in any way I can, particularly in adding to ease of use and accessibility for non techies.

Cheers!

[The Robman]

If you do get something working, the next step would be to make your software use John Fine's DecodeIR.dll program. This DLL program will convert your learned signals into JP1 info (ie, protocol, device code, etc).

If you're a software developer that's looking to contribute, let us know what languages/platforms, etc you work with and I'm sure we can find something for you to do!

I'm going to move this thread over to the software forum as I think that's the direction it's headed.

[johnsfine]

I wrote some driver software for some IrDa chips many years ago. Those chips had various raw send and receive modes which could be used (and I did) to capture and decode ordinary remote control signals. I expect the more recent chips still have raw send and receive modes.

Working for a small manufacturer that used only a few thousand of the IrDa chips, it was impossible to get any support from the chip manufacturer. The documentation needed to program those chips was hard to get and hard to read once we got it.

Later, I did a minimal investigation of the possibility of reinventing the decode capability for some PCs with built-in IrDa. I couldn't find any way (as an end user, rather than Motherboard manufacturer) to get the chip documentation. I don't know how you could operate the chip in raw capture mode without the register level documentation normally given only to the companies writing BIOS's for boards containing the IrDa chip.

[irhacker]

Yes I'm a developer. Java is my day to day language at work, along with XML oriented technologies and database bits and bobs. I'm also pretty familiar with some other languages including c++, perl and various others.

I'd like to get involved, and I'm sure I can spare some time to devote to it. Just point me at some source and I'll familiarise myself with it

[irhacker]

Thanks for the interesting info john. Sounds like things may be more difficult than I hoped. I've been doing some reading over at www.lirc.org and there is some useful discussion here:

http://www.tuxmobil.org/Infrared-HOWTO/ ... -irda.html

[gfb107]

Any and all Java coders are welcome to join the effort developing RM.
RM development is hosted on SourceForge.

There has been a feature request to add the ability to import CCF files into RM. Might be a good place to start.

Another possibility is adding the equivalent of KM's "Key Moves" tab.

[irhacker]

I'll take a look at things over the next few days.

Cheers.