Re: A Very Basic Question

Bengt Martensson <[email protected]>
Newsgroups gmane.comp.hardware.lirc
Message-ID <[email protected]>
On 08/28/17 17:34, The PC Medic in Iowa wrote:
> Greetings to all...
> 
> I am fairly new to Linux. I am using Mint 18.2. At present I am in the 
> midst of building a home theater PC. I want to be able to use a 
> universal remote control that I have to control its functions to the 
> extent that is possible.

A program like Kodi in general has its own  means of supporting IR 
control, often based on MCE technologies.

>  My ignorance regarding infrared remote 
> technology is vast. I understand the underlying principles (I think), 
> but I have a very basic question that I would like to have answered. My 
> apologies if it sounds stupid.

I use to say "you should not feel ashamed of the questions you are 
asking; you should feel ashamed of the questions your are *not* asking" :-).

> I will be using a IrDA compliant, generic IR receiver that will connect 
> to the computer via a USB 2.0 port.

That is a very bad idea. IrDA 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Infrared_Data_Association) is a 
completely different animal from customer IR 
(https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_IR).

>  Does the IR receiver have any kind 
> of driver software that needs to be installed beyond what is already 
> included with Mint 18.2?
> 
> I thank you all for your patient understanding as I try to develop my 
> knowledge about this very interesting subject.  And in that same vein, 
> can any of your recommend an online 'primer' for the topic of Infrared 
> remote control applied to Linux?

I usually recommend http://www.sbprojects.com/knowledge/ir/.
Then I would recommend to install IrScrutinizer and play around with it,
preferably with a sensible IR sender/receiver.

Greetz,

Bengt

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