User’s reported a bug in Lircd (v0.9.4 and below) that renders the DP Irtoy and the Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver modules unusable . When the lircd is started and and after sending a number of IR commands (sometimes it crashes after sending just one ir command ) to the Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver, the module gets de-enumerated and the only way to recover is to unplug and plug again the module in the USB port.
Last few months I am trying to fix this issue with no success then a few days ago I have received an email from a previous customer (Thomas Orgis l Tnak you very much Thomas! ) who managed to find the bug in Lircd. Thomas has used the GDB in order to debug the issue and he found out that all happens in the “setPin” function in irtoy.c file. He contacted me to provide a patch see below:
I have tried to open a ticket in sourceforge providing the bugfix to the community , but they replied that this should be now fixed in lircd 0.9.4d (which is not the case). So I am providing here the lircd 0.9.4d with the above mentioned patch already applied so that the users can directly download , compile and install lircd and continue using their Irdroid USB Infrared Transceivers. I have tested the above lircd version with the patch on Raspberry Pi3 with raspbian installed , but it should also work on other GNU Linux Systems.
This Blog post is a continuation of my previous Blog post for turning raspberry Pi into a Infrared Remote Control using the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver. This time we will be using the Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver HAT for Raspberry Pi. The Irdroid-Rpi Transceiver HAT has three powerful IR leds , that will allow wider remote control angle (you dont need to point it to the target IR controlled appliance – it can be behind it ) and improoved Infrared Remote control Range – more than 15 meters. The module also has a sensitive Infrared Receiver that will allow you to scan and digitize infrared remote controls of your choise.
In this example we will be using a Raspberry Pi model B+ with 512 MB of RAM as a system for running the open source software LIRCd , responsible for sending and receiving infrared commands in Linux.
I am using the following tools ( Hardware ) for our tests:
We will also use Raspbian , installed using NOOBS on a 16 GB sdcard.
The Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver HAT uses the Lirc-rpi and lirc-dev kernel modules, that normally comes with Raspbian
Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver
Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver
Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver_attached
Below are the steps for configuring Irdroid-Rpi with LIRC on Raspbian:
Attach the Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver HAT to your PI and turn your it on.
After it boots issue “sudo apt-get install lirc lirc-x” and wait until the lirc packages are installed on Raspbian.
cd to /boot and edit the config.txt file using your favourite text editor and uncomment “dtoverlay=lirc-rpi” . This will enable the lirc-rpi gpio kernel driver, and it will allow us to use the default IR Transmit and Receive GPIOs which are GPIO17 and GPIO18 (The Irdroid-Rpi board uses GPIO17 for IR TX and GPIO18 for IR RX , so you don’t need to change the pins. UPDATE!!! For Kernel 3.18+ where device tree is enabled by default you will need to add “dtoverlay=lirc-rpi,gpio_in_pin=18,gpio_in_pull=high,gpio_out_pin=17”
“device_tree=” in order to disable the device tree.
cd into /etc and edit “modules” using your favourite text editor add “lirc_dev” and under it “lirc_rpi” then save the file.
cd into “/etc/lirc” and edit the file “hardware.conf” with your favourite text editor add “–listen” as follows in “LIRCD_ARGS=”–uinput –listen” then save the file . That will instruct lirc to listen on the default port (which is tcp port 8765), allowing connections from the local network (We will need that later for our lirc client application).
Download an example lircd configuration file which includes some sample remotes. Issue “cd /etc/lirc” then issue “sudo wget http://irdroid.com/db/t.conf -O lircd.conf ” to download a sample config file with a sample “remote controls in it”
Reboot your Raspberry Pi and make sure lircd is running , if not start it by issuing “sudo /etc/init.d/lirc restart”
Now you can play with the LIRCd Android clients like “Amote” , and configure your smartphone as a custom user interface for controlling IR appliances using your newly configured Raspberry Pi Infrared Remote control.
As in my previous post I will again use the “Amote” lirc client application for Android in order to control my new Raspberry Pi infrared Transceiver.
The Amote app will allow you to:
Configure the network settings to connect to The lircd that runs innside Raspberry Pi
Allow you to connect to that lirc daemon and query for the remotes.
To assign and make custom buttons and interface for any of the remotes in the Lirc database . Below are some screenshots and videos.
We have a special discount ( 20% Off )offer for Raspberry Pi owners, you can purchase a Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver HAT with discount using the link below and applying the “raspberry” coupon on checkout .
We also provide a ready configured and tested install of the LIRC daemon on a sdcard so that you can directly plug the card to your Raspberry Pi (for model B+) and save you some typing in the terminal. You can purchase a 16 Gigs SDcard with Raspbian and LIRCd configured for Irdroid from the link below:
We have received many requests for assistance with making the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver to work with the Raspberry Pi and in particular with Raspbian Linux OS distribution. Below we provide a step by step guide for making the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver working with the Raspberry Pi. In this particular example we will be using a Raspberry Pi model B+ with 512 MB of RAM as a medium for running the open source software LIRCd , responsible for sending and receiving infrared commands in Linux.
I am using the following tools ( Hardware ) for our tests:
A custom port of LIRC for the Irdroid USB Infrared Transceiver (Source code available for download – see the links at the end of this Blog post)
We will also use Raspbian , installed using NOOBS on a 16 GB sdcard.
The Irdroid USB Infrared transceiver uses the standard Serial ACM drivers in Linux that come with most Linux Distributions. Raspbian also has this driver built-in , so we do not need to compile custom drivers etc for making it work with this Linux Distro.
You will have to download the custom version of LIRC (that support the Irdroid USB IR transceiver) from our website, so step #1 is downloading LIRC
Below are the steps for compiling and installing LIRCd for the USB Infrared Transceiver on your system:
Open a console via SSH to your Raspberry Pi, and type the following command to download LIRC:sudo wget https://irdroid.com/wp-content/uploads/downloads/2014/01/USB_transceiver_LIRC.tar.gz
Extract the archive and “cd” in the “irtoy” directory
Type “./configure.sh” Once it completes issue:
“sudo make install” , this will compile LIRC and it will install it. Once the operation completes. You have a LIRC installed on your system, we still have to make install a lircd.conf file with the remote control “database” in it , so that LIRC can generate IR commands and blast the commands over the Irdroid USB IR Transceiver module.
Issue the following command “cd /etc” then issue “sudo mkdir lirc” “cd /lirc”
Then Issue “sudo wget http://irdroid.com/db/t.conf -O lircd.conf ” to download a sample config file with a sample “remote controls database”
Then insert the Irdroid USB infrared transceiver module in a free USB port on your Raspberry Pi, the module should be enumerated and it should show in the system as a serial ACM device (by default if no other serial ACM devices enumerated it should be ttyACM0)
to start LIRC issue “sudo lircd –device=/dev/ttyACM0 –listen=8765” this will instruct LIRC to listen on port 8765 on All interfaces
You can also add the command above into the rc.local file , so that you have a lircd running on boot. (before that command you need to add “sudo mkdir /var/run/lirc” so that allowing lircd to create its pid file in that directory).You should be able to connect to the LIRC daemon on the Raspberry Pi IP and Port 8765
Now you can play with the LIRCd Android clients like “Amote” and also Irdroid Macro Remote / NFC Remote , and configure your smartphone as a custom user interface for controlling IR appliances using your newly configured Raspberry Pi Infrared Remote control.
In my particular configuration, my WiFi router is in a room where there was no TV. I had to find a way to assure one ethernet port available in the living room in order to connect to my Raspbeery Pi board. I have found that I have two SMC powerline adapters, that work in transparent bridge mode, so voila I got that remote ethernet port for my Pi.
In my case the Raspberry Pi board is connected to my home WiFi router and the router has provided the Pi with a 192.168.1.4 IP address. To use it as a remote control with Any android device you will need to download the “Amote” application for android which will allow you to setup the lirc client network setting, and to configure a custom remote with layout and button naming.
The amote app will allow you to.
Configure the network settings to connect to The lircd that runs in the Raspberry Pi
Allow you to connect to that lirc daemon and query for the remotes in its lircd.conf file.
To assign and make custom buttons and interface for any of the remotes in the Lirc database . Below are some screenshots and videos.
Amote Screenshot
Amote Screenshot
Amote Screenshot widget
Irdroid USB and Raspberry Pi
For convenience you can make the LIRC daemon to start on boot as a service.
We have a special discount ( 20% Off )offer for Raspberry Pi owners, you can purchase a Irdroid USB IR Transceiver with discount using the link below and applying the “raspberry” coupon on checkout .
We also provide a ready configured and tested install of the LIRC daemon on a sdcard so that you can directly plug the card to your Raspberry Pi (for model B+) and save you some typing in the terminal. You can purchase a 16 Gigs SDcard with Raspbian and LIRCd configured for Irdroid from the link below:
We have received a number of requests for making Infrared Transmitter / Receiver modules compatible with Raspberry Pi. Our USB Infrared Transceiver module is compatible with Rpi , however we have decided to actually make a add-on Infrared Transceiver board / HAT for Rpi. The board is designed with Infrared Transmitter , Infrared Receiver and Olimex UEXT interconnect sections.
Irdroid-Rpi Infrared Transceiver Features:
Infrared Transceiver add-on / HAT for Raspberry Pi
Infrared Transmitter @940nm with 10+ meters range
Infrared Receiver up to 40khz and 10+ meters of receive range
On-board UEXT Interconnect for connecting Olimex sensors and boards.
Open Source Hardware.
We have completed the design of the board. We expect to have it in stock in mid April 2016.
Read more by following the link below ( http://www.irdroid.eu )
