LIRC

Note this Article is a collection of all the LIRC related information scattered around this wiki. I (Xtra) tried to combine it into a all in one but device independant information resource to make it more easy for beginners that want to add a new remote to their LinuxMCE installation for which no installation guide is present at this wiki.

For details about lirc, please visit the official homepage.

Add a lirc Remote to your MD

If your remote is not already known to LinuxMCE (that means you can not locate a matching device template), you will have to make your own template. Refer to this section below for an explanation of how to add one.

1. In LinuxMCE Admin Website-->Wizard-->Devices-->Media Directors
2. Choose the Media Director you want to add the remote control to.
3. Click the "Add Remote" Button on the bottom of the Media Director in that screen.
4. in the popup that appears, you can either enter the number of the device template (if you know it) or you have to
   1. select the manufacturer and/or "LIRC Remote Controls < Remote Controls < Peripherals" for the device category.
   2. click "Apply filter"
   3. select the remote from the "Device Template" drop down list.
   4. Click "Pick device template"
5. Go back to "LinuxMCE Admin Website-->Wizard-->Devices-->Media Directors" and to the corresponding MD, you will notice that your remote will now be listed under "Infrared remote controls you will use" but no selection in "Infrared Receivers" has been mad yet, which renders your remote to be useless. So select the appropriate driver from the drop down there (For most lirc remotes the selection "default" will work. Refer to lirc documentation if unsure).
6. After you have selected the driver, scroll to the bottom and click "Update" which will make the selection permanent.
7. Go to your orbiter now and do a "Quick reload router".

Now you should be all set and LinuxMCE should install the lirc packages onto your Media Director. This is known to fail under LinuxMCE 0710 as the packages are missing dependencies. Refer to the troubleshooting section below.

Create your own device template

As mentioned above, if LinuxMCE does not know your Remote, you will have to create a template on your own.

For this, you will have to make lirc learn all the buttons on your remote. First I suggest you to have a look at the combined config for lirc, maybe someone already has done a lirc configuration for your remote. You can check here.

If you are really out of luck, you will have to go the real hard path of doing it all on your own. For this, you will have to record all the commands on your own. So go to the commandline in LinuxMCE (switch to KDE and open a terminal) and issue:

root@moon30:/# irrecord -H <drivername> /tmp/lircd.conf

For the driver name, you will have to know or guess the correct one. Issuing "lircd" without parameters will give you a list of valid drivers.

When you have started irrecord, you will have to press and release each button on your remote one time and type in a name for that button then. Make sure you enter the case-sensitive values understood by LinuxMCE which are listed below or your remote will not work.

When you are done recording your buttons, open the file /tmp/lircd.conf using your favorite text editor and copy the whole content.

1. Now got to the LinuxMCE Admin Website and in there select Advanced-->Device Templates.
2. Choose the Manufacturer (or add it, if it is missing)
3. For the category choose "LIRC Remote Controls < Remote Controls < Peripherals"
4. Click "Add Template"
5. In the next screen, select "No, this device doesn't require programming." (first option) and type the model name in the edit box below that selection.
6. Click add.
7. Now edit the device template and add a new data element of type "Configuration".
8. Paste the whole content of above created lircd.conf into this element.
9. Save the template and go back to above section Add a lirc Remote to your MD as the template is now added.

List of button names known to LinuxMCE

LinuxMCE knows the following button codes for lirc remotes (name is case sensitive):

Name 		Description
--------------------------
Shutdown	
Halt		
1		key press 1
2		key press 2
3		key press 3
4		key press 4
5		key press 5
6		key press 6
7		key press 7
8		key press 8
9		key press 9
0		key press 0
enter		key press <enter>
shortcut0
shortcut1
shortcut2
shortcut3
shortcut4
shortcut5
shortcut6
shortcut7
shortcut8
shortcutR
shortcutG
shortcutY
shortcutB
SkipNext	Skip forward in current media/playlist
SkipPrior	Skip back in current media/playlist
ChanUp		Switch to next channel (MythTV only?)
ChanDown	Switch to previous channel (MythTV only?)
Forward	seek forward
Rewind		seek backward
Pause		pauses the playback of the current media
Play		plays the currently selected media
Mute		Mutes the sound of the currently playing media
Stop		Stops the playback of the current media and returns to the default orbiter screen
Down		key press <down arrow>
Up		key press <up arrow>
Left		key press <left arrow>
Right		key press <right arrow>
ok		in most occasions works like <enter>
VolDown	reduces the playback volume
VolUp		increases the playback volume
RecTV		switch to TV recording
DVD		switch to DVD playback
menu		bring up the menu
tv		switch to TV media
Back		return to the previous screen
Clear		clears playlist??
Guide		brings up the EPG
Home		return to main screen
Music		switch to music media
Videos		switch to video media
Pictures	switch to picture media
Radio		switch to radio media
Record		start recording (AFAIK only working in MythTV but please prove me wrong)
info		
green		
yellow
red
blue

Troubleshooting

get lirc installed in LinuxMCE 0710

In LinuxMCE 0710, the automatic installation of the packages fails because of unsatisfied dependencies. So I had to install them via apt-get and dpkg by hand.

Switch to a console and issue the following:

# dpkg -i /usr/pluto/deb-cache/lirc_0.8.2-0ubuntu8+lmce2_i386.deb
# dpkg -i /usr/pluto/deb-cache/lirc-x_0.8.2-0ubuntu8+lmce2_i386.deb
# dpkg -i /usr/pluto/deb-cache/liblircclient-dev_0.8.2-0ubuntu8
# apt-get install lirc lirc-pluto pluto-lirc-wrapper

This resolved the issues for me and after a "Quick reload router", LinuxMCE started the lircd and my remote started to work.