JP1 Remotes

What's the status of IR.exe, now that all (or almost all) of its functionality is available in RMIR?

The current version is 8.03, and it hasn't been updated on over a year. Is it still being actively maintained, or is it kept around now for those who can't (or don't want to) use Java? IIRC, this version requires at least Windows 98, which doesn't have a Java 1.6 runtime available. Java 1.6 requires at least Windows 2000 SP3.

OTOH, I see KM is still being maintained. What about the other JP1 tools (Extender Installer, Protocol Builder, ToadTog Calculator, ProntoHex, CCF2EFC, etc.)? Do I still need them, or can these be safely trashed?

IR is stable, not obsolete. RMIR and IR are fundamentally different so you will either gravitate to one or the other.

Extender installer - necessary for IR, this functionality is built in RMIR.

Protocol Builder - still maintained, and so far the only game in town, although the functionality is being built in to RMIR.

ToadTog Calculator - Obsolete, BUT its nice to have around when you are developing a new special protocols and want to modify it to build keymoves for your new special protocol.

ProntoHex - I've never seen this program

CCF2EFC - no substitute that I know of, although I've never used it, I use decodeCCF which is another older program with no substitute.

My view is that most functionality is slowly moving to RM-IR.

Users who are not doing development work should be well served by RM-IR now, and we want any feature requests and developer work going that direction now.

Just my opinion

xnappo

I agree with Vicky regarding IR.exe vs. RMIR. I don't expect that there will any new development done to IR.exe, unless someone steps forward to do it.

RMIR is being tailored to the newbie in that it attempts to make things simpler by hiding certain things, so I think the experts will probably always need to keep IR.exe around.

I was the last maintainer of IR.exe, and nominally I suppose I still am. I do not foresee, however, doing any further development work on it. It still has facilities not yet available in RMIR, eg the ability to import and export Pronto hex, but they are getting fewer as RMIR development continues.

I disagree with Rob when he says that RMIR is tailored to the newbie and that experts will continue to need IR.exe. RMIR has in some ways a different underlying philosophy from IR.exe, but in my opinion the main differences are forced on RMIR by its more comprehensive scope. IR.exe can treat device upgrades, protocols and key moves as entirely separate entities because it is not integrated with an upgrade editor. RMIR, on the other hand, is integrated with, and indeed built on, the RemoteMaster device upgrade editor and device upgrades include protocols and key moves. RMIR isn't hiding the protocols and key moves of a device upgrade, it is putting them where they belong, within the device upgrade from which they originate.