Difference between revisions of "How to make use of IrDA"
(all long fixed - leaving just one that might still be relevent) |
(I got LIRC working on a T41 after a bit of experimenting. Cleaning up the documentation) |
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==LIRC and IrDA== | ==LIRC and IrDA== | ||
− | Usually, IrDA ports are not compatible with LIRC, but you may have luck using lirc_sir | + | LIRC allows the use of infrared remote controls with Linux. Usually, IrDA ports are not compatible with LIRC, but you may have luck using lirc_sir, as follows; |
− | + | Go into your BIOS setup, and ensure that Infrared is fully enabled and that resources are assigned. I suggest using IO 2f8 and IRQ 3. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | + | Boot into Linux, and first ensure the setserial program is installed. Running {{cmdroot|/bin/setserial /dev/ttyS1}} should return at this point: | |
+ | /dev/ttyS1, UART: undefined, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3 | ||
+ | If setserial cannot be found, install the setserial package with your distributions package management software | ||
− | + | Then in Linux create a file {{path|/etc/modprobe.d/lirc.conf}} with the following content: | |
+ | # prevent nsc_ircc from loading (blacklist might not be enough) | ||
+ | # and pass options to lirc_sir to load it on ttyS1 | ||
+ | blacklist nsc_ircc | ||
+ | install nsc_ircc /bin/true | ||
+ | options lirc_sir io=0x2f8 irq=3 | ||
+ | install lirc_sir /bin/setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none port 0 irq 0; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install lirc_sir | ||
− | + | At this point it is best to reboot, to ensure that nsc-ircc was never loaded. Several things can go wrong if the steps are not followed accurately. You might get an error when loading lirc_sir that the device is busy, or your system may even hang. | |
− | + | Now do a {{cmdroot|modprobe lirc_sir}} and check {{cmdroot|dmesg}} output. You should see something like this: | |
− | + | lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, major 61 | |
− | + | lirc_dev: lirc_register_plugin: sample_rate: 0 | |
− | + | lirc_sir: I/O port 0x02f8, IRQ 3. | |
− | + | lirc_sir: Installed. | |
− | |||
− | |||
− | |||
+ | Now we are ready to start configuring LIRC. | ||
+ | {{Todo|cleanup LIRC config}} | ||
Also, do not forget to start the lirc daemon, otherwise no output will be given (you better try running it not as a daemon first, so you can see the output). | Also, do not forget to start the lirc daemon, otherwise no output will be given (you better try running it not as a daemon first, so you can see the output). | ||
lircd -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lircd.conf --nodaemon | lircd -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lircd.conf --nodaemon |
Revision as of 12:53, 20 March 2009
The purpose of this document is to get the IrDA hardware in your ThinkPad operational, setting up communication to other devices is not covered. However, the external links section can prove useful for this. |
Serial IR (SIR)
SIR is limited to serial datarates up to 115.2Kb/s
On modern distributions all configuration might be taken care of automatically by starting the irda service # service irda start
. If not try the following;
To use it, run # irattach /dev/ttyS1 -s; modprobe ircomm-tty
Then turn on your IrDA-capable device and put it within range, and point your software (e.g., minicom) to /dev/irda0.
Kernel configuration
Edit /etc/modprobe.conf and add the following lines
alias tty-ldisc-11 irtty-sir alias char-major-161 ircomm-tty
Fast IR (FIR)
FIR is the preferred mode of IrDA operation and operates at a maximum bandwidth of 4 Mbps
On modern distributions this should all be automatically handled by simply starting the idra service # service irda start
. If not try the following;
Kernel configuration
Edit /etc/modprobe.conf and add the following lines
alias irda0 nsc-ircc
Make sure that setserial is in right directory (e.g not in /usr/bin/setserial).After that if irdadump still gives nothing try:
echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/irda/discovery
Known problems
- If you read something like "ttyS1: LSR safety check engaged!" and "irattach: tcgetattr: Input/output error" in the system log, try limiting the FIR max baud rate (echo 57600 > /proc/sys/net/irda/max_baud_rate). This did the trick for me when I was trying to synchronize my Ericsson T39m with my Thinkpad R51 (multisync, evolution-2.8, KDE 3.5.5, openSUSE 10.2).
Some other things you might want to do with IrDA
- add fast PPP support:
# modprobe irnet
- if needed, limit further the size of the transmit window
# echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/irda/max_tx_window
- set the connection speed to 4Mbit in FIR mode:
# echo 4000000 > /proc/sys/net/irda/max_baud_rate
LIRC and IrDA
LIRC allows the use of infrared remote controls with Linux. Usually, IrDA ports are not compatible with LIRC, but you may have luck using lirc_sir, as follows;
Go into your BIOS setup, and ensure that Infrared is fully enabled and that resources are assigned. I suggest using IO 2f8 and IRQ 3.
Boot into Linux, and first ensure the setserial program is installed. Running # /bin/setserial /dev/ttyS1
should return at this point:
/dev/ttyS1, UART: undefined, Port: 0x02f8, IRQ: 3
If setserial cannot be found, install the setserial package with your distributions package management software
Then in Linux create a file /etc/modprobe.d/lirc.conf with the following content:
# prevent nsc_ircc from loading (blacklist might not be enough) # and pass options to lirc_sir to load it on ttyS1 blacklist nsc_ircc install nsc_ircc /bin/true options lirc_sir io=0x2f8 irq=3 install lirc_sir /bin/setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none port 0 irq 0; /sbin/modprobe --ignore-install lirc_sir
At this point it is best to reboot, to ensure that nsc-ircc was never loaded. Several things can go wrong if the steps are not followed accurately. You might get an error when loading lirc_sir that the device is busy, or your system may even hang.
Now do a # modprobe lirc_sir
and check # dmesg
output. You should see something like this:
lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, major 61 lirc_dev: lirc_register_plugin: sample_rate: 0 lirc_sir: I/O port 0x02f8, IRQ 3. lirc_sir: Installed.
Now we are ready to start configuring LIRC.
TODO
|
cleanup LIRC config
|
Also, do not forget to start the lirc daemon, otherwise no output will be given (you better try running it not as a daemon first, so you can see the output).
lircd -d /dev/lirc0 /etc/lircd.conf --nodaemon
You should see:
lircd: lircd(serial) ready
This means you are good to start # irrecord
or # xmode2
and check for input.
Once that shows a good output you can configure your remote control. then use it in applications like mplayer, xine, or KDE's remote controls server.
External Sources
- Linux-IrDA Project (External)
- Linux PCMCIA Project (External)
- tpctl homepage (External)
- Linux Infrared Remote Control (External)