Serial IR Blaster setup

[gadget]

I have a serial IR Blaster ir Transmitter which is a recommended ir Transmitter for MythTV which I would like to setup to control a cable box. Can I do it all via the linuxMCE admin pages or do i hace to configure LIRC/mythTV manually.

[tschak909]

I'm about to say something you're not going to like....but it will save you trouble in the long run...

ditch the serial transciever. The amount of work you will need to do, to get it properly integrated with LinuxMCE is staggering, because it's a lot more than MythTV.

Use this, instead: http://www.usbuirt.com/   a much better design, and is plug and play with LinuxMCE.

-Thom

[gadget]

Thanks. I will get either that or a GC100.  Once I do is there is there an easy way for adding the Pace dc420 cable box as an AV device.

[tschak909]

absolutely, with either the GC100 or the USB UIRT, the web admin provides an interface for either entering in pronto codes for your new cable box template, or learning them from the remote.

-Thom

[ddamron]

BTW, there is a new(ish) IR blaster now for Insteon... so you can send IR codes in an Insteon Extended Message.

EZUIRT
www.simplehome.net

just my $.02

[gadget]

Well I finally have my GC100 and have had to upgrade the core to BETA4 to get it to detect as it is a v3.0 GC100 with DHCP support. I can see the GC100 in the devices and have tried to add an AV Device to it but can't seem to get it to work.
There are 3 devices under the GC100 for each of the IR ports but not the serial port.
I can't see the lights flashing on the GC100 when using the AV device but can see them when using the simpleirclient.

I am not sure what to do next.
I would like to use the GC100 ir port to control an ONKYO TX-DS787 Amp and the serial port for an Infocus IN74 projector

[Zaerc]

The GC100's serial port should show up as one of the Core's (or Hybrid's) serial ports like ttyS_<device-number-of-gc100>_0.

[nite_man]

Your GC100 (as mine) has three IR ports. In Beta 4 all of them are showed separately on the Interface page. So, you should specify one of them as controlled by for desired device - TV, cable box etc. Please, let me know about results of your installation. Because I cannot find appropriate codeset for my Toshiba TV to use it with GC100 IR emitter. In Beta 3 it works fine with Pronto Codeset - 0062. In Beta 4 it doesn't work with any codeset. So, I'm curious if it's a bug of I do something wrong.

[gadget]

I have setup the onkyo receiver as the device to be controlled by the GC100 but cant get anything to send to the GC100 port.  Doing a test with simpleirclient from global cache I can see the lights on the GC100 working but I cannot get similar results from LinuxMCE.

I have found pronto codes(I think) that are for the Onkyo but when sending them with simpleirclient the lights on the GC100 flash but nothing happens on the receiver. Is there any specific way to place the IR emitter. I am assuming the white sticky paper is the back of the emitter and should face away from the device.

[tschak909]

the side with the sticky matter should be affixed to the plastic window on the device, nearest the IR window.

-Thom

[gadget]

Hi Thom,

Thanks for the remote support last weekend. As you noticed the TX-SR304 was no longer controlled by the gc100 2:1 transmitter which I had definitely setup. I found that everytime i rebooted the core the link broke and I was always getting new hardware being detected on startup.

Did a re-install of core yesterday from dvd x64 but still have same issues.
1. always detects new hardware on startup
2. tx-sr304 and gc100 loose link
3. cant transmit IR ( probably because the link isnt working)  When I go to the help me choose page I can't select the output device. always goes back to 'please select'.

How do i find out which hardware is always being detected ie which log should i check.

gadget

[PeteK]

Gadget--

LMCE should create a new serial port on your core when you add a GC100.  If you have firmware 3.0, this should happen when you plug it in.  You should be able to choose that new serial port (it will have a much higher ttys_ number (ttyS_43_0 on my system).  Right now, you will have to configure the device's serial port through its web page.  I currently have a Denon receiver connected to the serial port on my GC100.  Unfortunately, the receiver is not consistently detected by LMCE and is sometimes disabled.  I'm thinking this may be due to the receiver communications being attempted before the GC100 serial port is set up, but I'm not certain how to find out if this is the case yet.

-PeteK

[gadget]

peteK--

when I am talking about the link breaking i mean in the device tree of the web admin page. I do have the gc100 serial port available but I haven't bothered configuring it yet as i can't get the IR port to control the receiver/amp.

gadget

[nite_man]

The same here. I tried to follow by John Taylor's recommendations - http://mantis.linuxmce.org/view.php?id=4086 and updated wiki page - http://wiki.linuxmce.org/index.php/Gc100. But without luck. My GC100 still doesn't work under Beta 4.

[gadget]

Thom,

I have been doing further setup with the GC100 and think I have found the reason for it not working in BETA4.
The reason that the TX-SR304 keeps detaching itself from the GC100 IR port is that the ports get a new number everytime the gc100 is reset.

This is the log for the gc100 after a device reset.

========= NEW LOG SECTION ==========
1   04/05/08 09:50:25   37 (spawning-device)   Starting... 1
1   04/05/08 09:50:25   37 (spawning-device)   Found /usr/pluto/bin/LaunchGC100.sh
05   04/05/08 9:50:26.684      Connect() failed, Error Code 111 (Connection refused)) <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:27.684      Connect() failed, Error Code 111 (Connection refused)) <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:28.696      Connect() failed, Error Code 111 (Connection refused)) <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Creating child 110 <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Creating child 111 <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Creating child 112 <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 9:50:29.795      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2ae656770ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:47.321      Got a reload command from 0  <0x41001950>
05   04/05/08 10:31:48.236      void ClientSocket::Disconnect() on this socket: 0x647230 (m_Socket: 7) <0x2ae656770ad0>
Return code: 2
2   04/05/08 10:31:48   37 (spawning-device)   Device requests restart... count=1/50 dev=37
Sat Apr  5 10:31:48 EST 2008 Restart
========== NEW LOG SECTION ==========
1   04/05/08 10:31:56   37 (spawning-device)   Starting... 1
1   04/05/08 10:31:56   37 (spawning-device)   Found /usr/pluto/bin/LaunchGC100.sh
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Creating child 117 <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Creating child 118 <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Creating child 119 <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:31:56.438      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b07a7429ad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:44.024      Got a reload command from 0  <0x41001950>
05   04/05/08 10:53:44.936      void ClientSocket::Disconnect() on this socket: 0x647230 (m_Socket: 7) <0x2b07a7429ad0>
Return code: 2
2   04/05/08 10:53:44   37 (spawning-device)   Device requests restart... count=1/50 dev=37
Sat Apr  5 10:53:45 EST 2008 Restart
========== NEW LOG SECTION ==========
1   04/05/08 10:53:53   37 (spawning-device)   Starting... 1
1   04/05/08 10:53:53   37 (spawning-device)   Found /usr/pluto/bin/LaunchGC100.sh
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.222      Creating child 120 <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.222      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.222      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.222      Creating child 121 <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.223      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.223      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.223      Creating child 122 <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.223      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 10:53:54.223      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b2faa61cad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:49.662      Got a reload command from 0  <0x41001950>
05   04/05/08 11:01:50.555      void ClientSocket::Disconnect() on this socket: 0x647230 (m_Socket: 7) <0x2b2faa61cad0>
Return code: 2
2   04/05/08 11:01:50   37 (spawning-device)   Device requests restart... count=1/50 dev=37
Sat Apr  5 11:01:50 EST 2008 Restart
========== NEW LOG SECTION ==========
1   04/05/08 11:01:58   37 (spawning-device)   Starting... 1
1   04/05/08 11:01:58   37 (spawning-device)   Found /usr/pluto/bin/LaunchGC100.sh
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.752      Creating child 120 <0x2b936a2e3ad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.752      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b936a2e3ad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.752      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b936a2e3ad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.752      Creating child 121 <0x2b936a2e3ad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.752      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b936a2e3ad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.752      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b936a2e3ad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.753      Creating child 122 <0x2b936a2e3ad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.753      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom event handler for.  It will not fire events. <0x2b936a2e3ad0>
05   04/05/08 11:01:58.753      Note: Device manager has attached a device of type 1912 that this has no custom handler for.  This is normal for IR. <0x2b936a2e3ad0>


gadget