Topics

  • How it all works together
  • Build the lirc serial interface
  • Build the lirc serial driver
  • Compile & install the daemon
  • Hey! This thing won't work!
  • How does lirc_keybd do things?

    • MythTV - a Tivo on steroids

    If you just need the source tarball to the lirc_keybd daemon, this is it.

    As you may already know, MythTv is an opensource video recording system similar to the Tivo. My MythTV box has been running for over a year now and it has been a great pleasure to time shift my television viewing. The whole system is controlled by a Radio Shack 15-2116 8-in-1 remote control. IR control is build into MythTV where the software connects to the /dev/lircm socket to receive keypresses.

    Overall, this works well. However, the problem is that MythTV doesn't only require simple commands like: select, stop, info, etc. When you schedule a recording, sometimes you just have to use a keyboard. I've tried a bluetooth keyboard, this does work, but it chews up batteries and you have "wakeup" the keyboard & receiver pod. I've been looking for a replacement wireless keyboard and have found a solution that is fairly cheap. All it takes is a little time to interface the keyboard via the lirc_serial driver.

    TopThe IR Solution


    Sejin produced some IR keyboards which appeared on the Philips Shannon (TuxScreen) and NewCom WebPal products. Both these units are now out of production and while the Shannon is nearly impossible to find, you can usually find a WebPal on ebay selling for less than $10. This is a good deal, considering that most wireless keyboards sell around the $30 range or better!

    What I wanted was a wireless keyboard that not only would work with MythTV, but would nearly replace the PS/2 keyboard entirely. Also, it had to be an IR keyboard as the IR receiver was already mounted in the front panel of the computer case and I did not an external receiver. While it is not possible to use the IR keyboard to change CMOS settings, or to control the bootloader (lilo, grub, ...), the keyboard is installed into the system in such a way that it becomes the primary keyboard. The process is quite straightforward.