Unable to get UltraView (Dvico ) remote working

[Nick B. <nbr...@op...>]

Hi List.

Im getting sick of banging my head against the wall, and have exhausted 
most all of what I can think of to get this damn thing working.  I would 
be most appreciative if someone can point me in the right direction (if 
it exists).

My setup is a seperate MythTV FrontEnd / Backend, with an Ultraview 
DVB-T Plus in the backend, running Fedora Core 2, Mythtv 18.1 and the 
frontend running Fedora core 4, mythtv 18.1, lirc 0.7.2 compiled from 
source.

I am trying to get the supplied UltraView remote working on the frontend.

I am led to believe that the Ultraview / Dvico cards are/were offered 
with two remotes.  A slimish one, and a 'chunky' one.  I have the chunky 
one.  I have read (perhaps erroneously) that this is an 'MCE' remote.  
They appear to use the same USB receiver.

When I plug the receiver in, I get the expected output from dmesg
---
usb 1-2: new low speed USB device using uhci_hcd and address 7
hiddev96: USB HID v1.10 Device [DVICO DVICO USB HID Remocon V1.00] on 
usb-0000:00:11.2-2
---

If I cat the /dev/hiddev0 device file, pushing buttons on the remote 
generates characters.  Fair assumption that the device works and the 
batteries are good (I replaced them just to be sure.)

lirc compilation and installation with the driver configuration for the 
dvico remote is successful.  lircd is launched with --driver=dvico 
--device=/dev/hiddev0 after copying the 
remotes/dvico/lircd.conf.FusionHDTV file to /etc/lircd.conf.

At this stage, if I run irw, the lirc logfile shows
---
Dec  5 22:13:41 localhost.localdomain lircd 0.7.2: accepted new client 
on /dev/lircd
Dec  5 22:13:41 localhost.localdomain lircd 0.7.2: initializing 
'/dev/hiddev0'
---

But that is where my luck runs out!  irw never displays anything on the 
screen. (No matter how hard I push the buttons ;)  )

Ive tried alternate drivers in the configuration, and all of them result 
in the following log entries when irw runs...
---
Dec  5 22:07:13 localhost.localdomain lircd 0.7.2: could not get 
hardware features
Dec  5 22:07:13 localhost.localdomain lircd 0.7.2: this device driver 
does not support the new LIRC interface
Dec  5 22:07:13 localhost.localdomain lircd 0.7.2: major number of 
/dev/hiddev0 is 180
Dec  5 22:07:13 localhost.localdomain lircd 0.7.2: LIRC major number is 61
Dec  5 22:07:13 localhost.localdomain lircd 0.7.2: check if /dev/hiddev0 
is a LIRC device
Dec  5 22:07:13 localhost.localdomain lircd 0.7.2: caught signal
---

So I assume I have the correct device, but perhaps not the correct 
config file for the 'Chunky remote?' (Ive tried the mceusb config files 
aswell with no luck)

 From this point, I tried to 'roll my own' lircd.conf by running 
irrecord.  The app starts ok (I have to specify the /dev/hiddev0 device) 
and asks me to push and hold a button.  I do so, and a bunch of dots 
appear in succession for about 10 seconds, after which it comes back 
withe a 'Found gap length: 195961'.  It then wants me to name a button 
and push and hold it.  When I push the button however, it comes back 
after about a second with...
---
Now hold down button "ok".
Something went wrong. irrecord: closing '/dev/hiddev0'
irrecord: initializing '/dev/hiddev0'
Please try again. (9 retries left)
---

Sorry for the long post, but better too much info than too little I 
spose... Can anyone help me here?  Does it sound like just a wrong 
lirc.conf file or something strange my remote is doing?

Cheers and TIA
Nick Bradford (nbradford_at_optushome_dot_com_dot_au)