Re: Computer programming of remote controls

[Eric J. <al...@xm...>]

On Mon, 13 Dec 2004 21:35:05 -0800 (PST)
Tom Watson <sd...@ya...> wrote:

> While this question is not strictly a LIRC question, it probably can be
> answered here, so...
> 
> I've got a Radio Shack remote 15-2117.  Underneath the battery cover are
> 6 pins.  I believe at one time there was a program (Linux, I hope) that
> can readout, and program the remote thru these pins.  I'm interested in a
> couple of things:
> 1)  Does anyone have the details of what these pins do?
> 2)  I assume that these will program the remote, what is the format? 
> RS-232? 3)  If I can read out the remote codes, can I translate them into
> a format that will work with LIRC, equivalent to 'irrecord'?

   It's an i2c interface. 

   The app still exists. You can *probably use any supported i2c interface
in linux to access the eeprom inside this remote. You'd use the eeprom.o
driver. Doing something with the data you can read and write is another
question. 

   There is a windows project out there that handles all this, includes
various win32 apps, various macro-laden excel spreadsheets, and a java app.

   There was some talk of linux support. I don't know if it got anywhere
before i lost interest / got busy with other things. 

   There was some talk of decoding the data for other uses. The major
players in this project are not interested. They are convinced of many
things which are not true - specifically they insist that you cannot write
a program that generates signals based on the downloaded data, and insist
that recording signals with a computer is silly and pointless. Both of
these prejudices have proved false, but they don't care. 

> The remote is wonderful, even if discontinued.  It sends RF to a remote
> box so I control a SAT receiver that is upstairs, from downstairs. 
> Wonderful box.


   Yeah, it's a nice remote. I have the non-RF version of it, with an RCA
label on it. 

   It was manufactured by One-4-All for Radioshack, and nearly all the OFA
remotes (which include the remote for my old Mitsubishi stereo, and the
remote for the original ReplayTV system, nearly all the radio shack
remotes, as well as many others) include this header, or some semblance of
it. Not all of them include a programmable eeprom. A lot of the time, there
is space on the board to solder in an eeprom. 

   The jp1 project tools can be used to convert learned signals to protocol
upgrades, saving significant memory. You can add functionality to your
remote, including more macro functions. You can add key maps ('remotes') to
the memory that were not known at the time of manufacture, making the
remote more 'universal'. They allow you to more easily manage complex
configurations. It's all in all a Good Thing(tm). 

   The parallel port bit-banging i2c interface they use is wired to
different pins on the parallel port than the parallel port bit-banging i2c
interface that linux already has a driver for. If you want to use their
design (which you can make in a few minutes with a soldering iron and a few
resistors and a diode) with linux, it shouldn't be more complex than about
a five minute edit in that driver. 

   Their windows app for upload/download works fine in wine. The java app
for editing it runs as long as you have a Sun JVM. The excel spreadsheets
do a bunch of stuff those don't, but you may not need them. 

   Anyway - go here: 

http://www.hifi-remote.com/jp1/
http://www.hifi-remote.com/forums/