Re: how to identify serial IR hardware

[Jarod W. <ja...@wi...>]

On Jul 20, 2011, at 12:20 PM, Roland wrote:

> Hi list,
> 
> I'm trying to find out which kind of hardware my Samsung 400MXn-2 has on 
> it's ttyS0.

For the most part, you're out of luck. There's next to nothing in the
way of hardware auto-detection for serial receivers.


> About the system:
> - embedded system, inside an 40" LCD
> - dual core Athlon II X2, 1GB ram, 4GB hdd (some kind of flash)
> - original with Win XP embedded
> - now running debian 6.0.2, 2.6.32-5-amd64
> - remote is a Samsung IR, compatible with this one: 
> http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/samsung/BN59-00937A.jpg
> (I have both here for tests, the original & the BN59-00937A)
> 
> what I know already:
> - there is some kind of filtering between the IR receiver and the PC, 
> some buttons of the remote are directly handled by the OSD of the LCD 
> (menu button, source select button, ...)
> - I was able to use the 'arrow' and 'enter' buttons of the remote in 
> WinXP emb, exactly like keyboard buttons.

There's probably a Windows HID driver for it then.


> what I tried with lirc:
> After a few tries I found out, I can get some things out of mode2 if I 
> load lirc_sir on io=0x3f8 irq=4
> I've tried various versions of lirc modules: debian 0.8.3-5, sourceforge 
> 0.9.0 (don't build), git of sunday. Every time the same:
> Loading is fine:
> modprobe lirc_sir io=0x3f8 irq=4 debug=1
> gives:
> [  485.636008] lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, major 61
> [  485.643801] lirc_dev: lirc_register_plugin: sample_rate: 0
> [  485.643883] lirc_sir: I/O port 0x03f8, IRQ 4.
> [  485.643899] lirc_sir: Installed.
> 
> pushing a button:
> [ 1141.040887] lirc_sir: t 16777215, d 17
> [ 1141.040890] lirc_sir: add flag 0 with val 16777137
> [ 1141.041367] lirc_sir: t 480, d 6
> [ 1141.041369] lirc_sir: GAP
> [ 1141.041371] lirc_sir: add flag 1 with val 78
> [ 1141.041372] lirc_sir: add flag 0 with val 402
> [ 1141.088016] lirc_sir: timeout add 1 for 78 usec
> [ 1141.088019] lirc_sir: add flag 1 with val 78
> 
> same button from mode2:
> space 16777176
> pulse 39
> space 439
> pulse 39

Seems semi-promising. But lirc_sir is for serial IR hardware (IrDA),
not consumer IR, so I'd be surprised if this was actually the right
driver. lirc_sir is a hack to work with hardware never really intended
for use with a remote control. A TV is more likely to have CIR hardware.


> At this point I tried to build a config with irrecord (with debian and 
> git version, with original and BN59-00937A remote), result is every time 
> more or less the same:
> begin remote
> 
> begin remote
>   name   remote.lirc
>   flags RAW_CODES|CONST_LENGTH
>   eps            30
>   aeps          100
> 
>   ptrail         39
>   repeat     0     0
>   gap          212908
> 
>       begin raw_codes
>           name up
>                39     443      39
>           name down
>                39     443      39
>           name left
>                39     432      39
>           name right
>                39     444      39
>           name enter
>                39     487      39
>       end raw_codes
> 
> end remote
> 
> [there are a lot more buttons which are passed to the pc, but they give 
> all the same results...]
> 
> Now, if you build the lirc_sir module from source there are a few 
> possibilities which hardware to select. As far as I can tell, everything 
> is returning the same result for me.
> 
> I see 3 possibilities what to do to find out if it is a supported IR 
> receiver:
> - use the screwdriver and find it in on the board (bad idea I think)
> - get WinXP on it again, try to find out how it's working there (bad 
> thing without real win driver knowledge)
> - try every module with every compile options of lirc (very time consuming)
> 
> But as far as I can tell option 3 is the only thing which will maybe 
> work out for me.
> 
> So, my questions:
> - which modules do I have to try, as it is connected to ttyS0 and 
> nowhere else?

lirc_serial and some of the userspace serial-based drivers -- all of
which can be built into a single lircd, so you don't have to recompile
anything.


> - any ideas about which are the most promising modules or compile options?
> - any other ideas how get it working?

I'd try to figure out what the hardware actually is, rather than throwing
random drivers at it. Windows should at least give you *some* clue as to
what it actually is, based on whatever drivers show up in device manager.

-- 
Jarod Wilson
ja...@wi...