STB-Tester Environment: LIRC support for RedRat3-II?

[Martin Persson]

Hi,

First of all, thanks a lot for your previous support. Really appreciate it!

I'm almost up and running with STB Tester now and all that remains is to get the remote control parts in place. I've purchased the RedRat3-II remote control that you refer to in the GetStarted guide but I'm having trouble connecting it with LIRC. 

I'm running Ubuntu 12.10 with Linux kernel 3.5.0 which according to the information I've got from RedRat should mean that there is built-in support for RedRat. However, when I install LIRC there is no RedRat driver to select and that's where I'm stuck right now. I don't know which information to add in the configuration files for LIRC.

Have you run STB-Tester with LIRC and RedRat3-II? Got any tips on what I can do to get up and running?

Lots of thanks in advance!

Best regards

Martin

[David Röthlisberger]

On 31 Jan 2013, at 19:45, Martin Persson wrote:
> when I install LIRC there is no RedRat driver to select

I'm not sure what you mean by this... you don't need to select a driver
anywhere, the RedRat driver is already present in the kernel.

> Have you run STB-Tester with LIRC and RedRat3-II?

Yes, definitely.

Here is what
http://stb-tester.com/getting-started.html#using-a-real-control says:

> Install the lirc package, start the lircd daemon, record a lircd.conf
> config file for your particular remote control with irrecord (you will
> need an infra-red receiver; the RedRat3 is both emitter and receiver),
> and test the emitter with irsend.

I'll explain the steps in more detail:

1. Install the "lirc" package with your system's package manager
(on Ubuntu I guess this is apt-get or aptitude).

2. Start the lircd daemon with:

sudo service lirc start

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/quantal/en/man1/service.1.html

You can check whether it is running with something like:

ps aux | grep lirc

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/quantal/en/man1/ps.1.html
http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/quantal/en/man1/grep.1posix.html

3. Generate a lirc config file with irrecord:

irrecord filename.conf

and follow the instructions it gives.

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/quantal/en/man1/irrecord.1.html
http://www.lirc.org/html/help.html#new_remote

4. Copy that file you generated with irrecord to /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
and restart lircd:

sudo service lirc restart

Now make sure that lircd is running; if it isn't, check the system
logs for error messages from lircd (maybe there was something wrong
with the lircd.conf file).

https://help.ubuntu.com/community/LinuxLogFiles#Messages_Log

5. Finally test the emitter by pointing the RedRat at your set-top box
and run irsend:

irsend SEND_ONCE remote-name button-name

(where "remote-name" and "button-name" will be the names you gave
when you ran irrecord).

http://manpages.ubuntu.com/manpages/quantal/en/man1/irsend.1.html

Good luck!

--Dave.

[David Röthlisberger]

On 5 Mar 2013, at 09:00, 007al...@gmail.com wrote:
> What I am observing is after rebooting the computer, when I am issuing the command, both irsend and irrecord, it is showing a black screen describing about some kernel bugs with in the file ir-raw.c.

What do you mean by black screen? Are you seeing a kernel panic, where
the whole computer freezes?

What kernel are you using (uname -a) and what distro?

[David Röthlisberger]

On 5 Mar 2013, at 07:01, 007al...@gmail.com wrote:
> Hello,
> I have got Redrat3-II and executed all the steps above. I have downloaded the lircd.conf file from net for my remote.
>
> Then I tried issuing the command as below:
>
> "sudo irsend SEND_ONCE Sony_RMT-B101A NAV_RIGHT"
>
> Error Message : irsend: hardware does not support sending
>
> Then I tried the below command:
>
> "sudo irsend -d /dev/lircd SEND_ONCE Sony_RMT-B101A NAV_RIGHT"
>
> Error Message:irsend: could not connect to socket
> irsend: Connection refused


If you do:

ls -l /dev/lirc*

what do you see? (with the RedRat3 plugged in)

[David Röthlisberger]

On 5 Mar 2013, at 07:01, 007al...@gmail.com wrote:
> "sudo irsend -d /dev/lircd SEND_ONCE Sony_RMT-B101A NAV_RIGHT"
>
> Error Message:irsend: could not connect to socket
> irsend: Connection refused

On 5 Mar 2013, at 09:11, 007al...@gmail.com wrote:
> THis is what I see with ls -ls /dev/lirc*
> crw------- 1 root root 249, 0 Mar 5 14:12 /dev/lirc0
> lrwxrwxrwx 1 root root 19 Mar 5 14:10 /dev/lircd -> /var/run/lirc/lircd


If /dev/lircd is just a symlink to /var/run/lirc/lircd, why did irsend
fail to connect to the /var/run/lirc/lircd socket? Are you sure that
lircd was running, and that /var/run/lirc/lircd existed, *at the time*
that you ran that irsend command and it failed?

You shouldn't need to specify "-d" to irsend, since it defaults to
/var/run/lirc/lircd (see the irsend man page).

[David Röthlisberger]

On 5 Mar 2013, at 09:09, 007al...@gmail.com wrote:

> Yes I am seeing a kernel panic.
>
> Below is the kernel I am using:
> 3.2.0-32-generic-pae #51-Ubuntu SMP Wed Sep 26 21:54:23 UTC 2012 i686 i686 i386 GNU/Linux (uname -a)


And you haven't built any drivers or kernel modules yourself, right?

The RedRat website recommends kernel 3.3 or later:
http://www.redrat.co.uk/software/linux/RR-LIRC.html

Have you tried googling for your kernel version plus the error message
from the kernel panic?

[Máté Szendrő]

Hi,

>"sudo irsend SEND_ONCE Sony_RMT-B101A NAV_RIGHT"
> Error Message : irsend: hardware does not support sending

I've had the same error message a few times. I could make it work by restarting the service with `sudo service lirc restart` and after that unplugging and replugging the RedRat device. It seems that sometimes LIRC needs to reinitialize the hardware after the service has been restarted.

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[David Röthlisberger]

On 5 Mar 2013, at 09:29, 007al...@gmail.com wrote:

> I didnt build any driver as it was stated in their website that it is in-built from the version 3.0 onwards. I tried googling with my version of kernel and the message I am seeing on screen. But unfortunately didn't find anything meaningful.......lircd is running is my maching and the same is cross-checked with issuing the command "irw".....May be the last thing I will try is to upgrade kernel version....


You might also consider contacting RedRat support...

[David Röthlisberger]

Any luck with the RedRat3?

[David Röthlisberger]

On 14 Mar 2013, at 16:09, 007al...@gmail.com wrote:
>> Any luck with the RedRat3?
>

> Hi,
> I am extremely sorry I forgot to update the development from my side. I contacted Redrat support with messages logged by the device driver of the device. They told the kernel panic was because of the presence of too much of noise while recording IR signal. They advised me to record IR signal making the room as dark as possible to minimize interference with the IR signal. Though they admitted this as bug and confirmed it has been fixed in the version that is shipped with kernel-3.3 onwards.
> Secondly, the problem I was experiencing with IR blaster was also confirmed by them as bug and has been claimed to be fixed with device driver shipped with kernel-3.3 onwards.
>
> So the bottom-line is they advised me to upgrade to kernel-3.3 or higher and they expect this problem will be solved that way. Otherwise they asked me to send the lircd.conf file to them so that they can reproduce the issue.
>
> I am in the process of the up-gradation of kernel. Will post about further developments.


No worries. Thanks for the update!
Dave.

[sushma...@gmail.com]

Hi,

I am able to record the IR keys using sudo irrecord --device=/dev/lirc0 filename.conf.
Copied it to the lircd.conf under /etc/lirc/ and /var/run/lirc/
Now that I have the lirc config files ready, I should be able to send the IR signals using
eg:irsend SEND_ONCE lircd.conf KEY_POWER

I am able to send the keys but the stb doesn't respond to the IR signals and LED does not blink.

Can anyone help me on this, please?
It urgent...!!

[David Röthlisberger]

> irsend SEND_ONCE lircd.conf KEY_POWER

The second parameter to "irsend" should be the remote name specified
*in* the config file, not the name of the config file itself.

> I am able to send the keys but the stb doesn't respond to the IR signals
> and LED does not blink.

First check that the infrared hardware is actually sending something. I
point my phone's camera, which can see infrared, at the emitter.

If the hardware is definitely sending infrared, but your set-top box
doesn't understand it, then you probably failed to record the remote
control's infrared protocol correctly. Some infrared protocols are
very difficult to record. See if there is an existing LIRC config file
for your remote here: http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/
or try googling for "lirc" and the brand & model of your remote control.

[Sushma Vedavyasachar]

Thank you David.
I am able to Learn IR keys for the Remote on windows machine by changing the setting to Keyboard type using RED Rat  Scheduler. 
Since I am using Fedora 16 Linux machine, I need  to know what are the packages to be installed for lirc in order to record the signals in KEYBOARD type?
or Is it something  with the protocol type we need to change or update for lirc package  before recording the signals.

Regards,
Sushma

[David Röthlisberger]

On 19 Jun 2013, at 07:17, Sushma Vedavyasachar wrote:
>
> I am able to Learn IR keys for the Remote on windows machine by changing the setting to Keyboard type using RED Rat Scheduler.
> Since I am using Fedora 16 Linux machine, I need to know what are the packages to be installed for lirc in order to record the signals in KEYBOARD type?
> or Is it something with the protocol type we need to change or update for lirc package before recording the signals.

I don't know what you mean by "keyboard type", but lirc's "irrecord"
tool takes a config file that specifies the infrared protocol. See
the "irrecord" manual: http://linux.die.net/man/1/irrecord

Config files for many brands of remote controls are available here:
http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/

Otherwise you might want to try irrecord's "raw mode".

Or you could try further with RedRat's Windows utility, which can export
to lirc format. Does it work if you use the RedRat Windows utility
to *send* the signals you recorded? If not, you could perhaps check
the RedRat forums or official RedRat support for help.

Depending on your remote control, you might have to do a bit of trial
and error. You could also try the lirc mailing list if you can't get
it to work. Good luck!

Dave.

[you...@gmail.com]

On Friday, February 1, 2013 1:15:51 AM UTC+5:30, Martin Persson wrote:

Hi Martin,
Which device have you used for audio video capture??