How I got my TV-tuner's remote control to work (almost...)

LazyP · 06-15-2006, 06:45 PM

Well first of all this is a complicated issue and I still need some help (if possible).

Hardware: Avermedia 303 Studio TV-tuner in other words Conexant cx88 (cx23881) + an infrared sensor (reminds me Dallas one wire sensors) + a remote control(identical to the one of Avermedia 203)

Software: Slackware 10.2 + kernel 2.6.16.16 + lirc 0.8.0 + lircd.conf for a remote identical to mine(see above)

I had made some attempts to make my remote to work with previous versions of lirc and the linux kernel with 0 success. After upgrading to 2.6.16.16 lsmod would list the following modules:

Code:

fuse                   33292  2
tda9887                16528  0
tuner                  54124  0
cx8800                 27916  0
cx88xx                 59940  1 cx8800
video_buf              17476  2 cx8800,cx88xx
ir_common               8196  1 cx88xx
tveeprom               14032  1 cx88xx
btcx_risc               4168  2 cx8800,cx88xx
nvidia               4546708  12

Pay some attention to: ir_common 8196 1 cx88xx which made me start googling for a way to make the remote function. At once I found the following URL (V4LWiki) (read through it if you are interested). Anyway I compiled lirc 0.8.0 and followed the instructions of the URL above. Now here is the strange thing. This is the output of:

Code:

cat /proc/bus/input/devices
...
I: Bus=0001 Vendor=1461 Product=000b Version=0001
N: Name="cx88 IR (AverTV Studio 303 (M12"
P: Phys=pci-0000:00:09.0/ir0
S: Sysfs=/class/input/input3
H: Handlers=kbd
B: EV=100003
B: KEY=403c310 82140000 0 0 0 0 2048000 180 4001 921680 7bb80 0 0

Notice that I only get kbd as a handler while I should also get some number (like event2). Anyway I noticed the output of:

Code:

cat /proc/bus/input/handlers
N: Number=0 Name=kbd
N: Number=1 Name=mousedev Minor=32

so I decided to use 0 as the number of the handler. According to the V4LWiki now I should run:

Code:

irrecord -H dev/input -d /dev/input/eventX /tmp/my-remote (where X=0)

Remember that I had tried to make it work in the past? Well unfortunately I had forgotten my lircd.conf in /etc/ and it seems that this lircd.conf corresponds to my remote control.So after running the above command I got the following prompt:

Code:

Then pressing (1) at my remote resulted in "1" (without quotes) at the prompt(Same for all the numbers 0-9). Considering this a success I quit irrecord and ran lircd with exactly the same parameters (that is "lircd -H dev/input -d /dev/input/eventX" where X=0). After that lsmod would also list a lirc_dev module. I tried to configure KDE (Control Center -> Peripherals -> Remote Controls) but it would say there where no remotes present. It seems that lircd died immediately after starting. I took it all from the start and here a lot of strange things begin to happen

Code:

irrecord -H dev/input -d /dev/input/eventX /tmp/my-remote (where X=0)

gives the following error

Code:

Driver `dev/input' not supported.
Supported drivers:         default

Then I supply default instead of dev/input to get the following

Code:

irrecord: could not open /dev/input/event0
irrecord: default_init(): No such device
irrecord: could not init hardware (lircd running ? --> close it, check permissions)

Now lircd is not running (ps ax | grep lirc gives only grep lirc as a result) and all the above commands were ran with root privileges (running them as a normal user gives exactly the same results!). I cannot get lircd to start succesfully with those parameters as it dies within milliseconds. And here is the best: The remote functions perfectly well! I started tvtime and I could change channels with ch up/down, also increase/decrease/mute volume. At the console/editors/desktop the channel up/down and volume up/down buttons seem to work just like up/down/left/right! I quit X and got the same result in a terminal. And here is the best: I removed the lirc_dev module (with "rmmod lirc_dev", lsmod doesn't list it any more) and nothing changed. Seems like the kernel is taking care of it right now! Although this is good news (my remote finally works!!!) it doesn't allow me to customize it's functions and I'm tied down with some defaults that can't be changed. If there is someone out there with the same problems or if you have any ideas please give me some help!