Only one serial port- complicated problem

[* <af...@ya...>]

Hi, I only have 1 serial port (and my parallel port is being
used) so I have a switcher box to switch between using my Palm
(it's a IIIc which unfortunately only works with serial, the
Palm USB adapter will not work) and using my cable box remote.
For the latter I use a homebrew IR Blaster and it works great.
My question is- how can I use both lircd and my Palm?  If I
make the kernel let go of the serial port, modprobe lirc_sir
and restart lircd, then it hangs onto the serial port forever
right?  Is it possible to somehow automate the sharing of the
serial port, even though I'm using a manual switcher box?

Another question..  I'm also using a Hauppauge PVR-250 which
has a remote and an IR receiver that plugs into the back of
the card.  If I compile lircd with the hauppauge driver it
works great- except now I have the lirc_i2c module instead of
the lirc_sir module and I can't change channels using my IR
Blaster.  Is there any way for lircd to manage the input from
the Hauppauge receiver and the output to the IR Blaster?

Btw, in case anyone asks- my cable box is the DCT2000 but the
serial port is not enabled (it's one of the ones that only
has output, not input).  So I have no choice but to use the IR
Blaster to change channels.

I know this sounds pretty convoluted.  Thanks for any help!





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