Re: LIRC on Mac via MacPorts - no /dev/lirc0

On 2019-09-23 08:26, Alec Leamas wrote:
> 
> On 23/09/2019 02:46, Joe Dugandzic wrote:
>> So I have LIRC 0.9.4d installed on macOS Sierra via MacPorts, and the 
>> install ran w/o any issues or errors.
>>
>> My goals are just to record a couple of button presses from a remote 
>> and then send them out (automating the send via my smart home server).
>>
>> Anyways, I haven't done anything to the default config, and when I try 
>> to fire up irrecord (with the appropriate params so it won't 
>> complain)...it says that /dev/lirc0 doesn't exist and thus can't run.
>>
>> After running through a lot of the forums, I can't seem to find an 
>> answer to this. I tried a reboot, but that didn't help. My Mac does 
>> successfully see the device ( IRDroid USB from 
>> https://www.irdroid.com/irdroid-usb-ir-transceiver/ ) and I can get 
>> the details in System Info, but without /dev/lirc0 being established, 
>> I seem to be stuck.
>>
>> While I know my way around "UNIX" relatively ok and I used to be an 
>> app developer, I'm just kind of lost here on what steps to take to 
>> debug this. I have not yet setup LIRC to run at system startup...is 
>> that something I'm missing here? (Doubtful) I've seen other posts 
>> where LIRC has to be stopped so that it will free up the port for 
>> irrecord, etc. Anyways, it just seems like something else has to be 
>> run or config'd to get the port to show up.
>>
>> Thanks for any help!
>>
>>
> 
> The /dev/lirc0 device is by no means necessary, you could use any device 
> actually connected to your irdroid. However, this also means that you 
> cannot use the default driver, which is just a thin layer on top of the 
> linux kernel.
> 
> You have the complete docs at 
> http://lirc.org/html/configuration-guide.html, although being on mac is 
> a special situation. Basically, the first steps are to identify the 
> device and driver to use.
> 
> 
> Cheers!
> 
> --alec
> 
> 

Let me add to Alec's answer:
The IrDroid is a stripped down IrToy for a beefed up price, which I have 
previously explained on this list. You use it with the IrToy driver, 
which is described here: http://lirc.org/html/irtoy.html. It uses (on 
mac) a device node like /dev/tty.usbmodem00000001 and 
/dev/cu.usbmodem00000001. It does not use /dev/lirc.

Let me suggest that you use IrScrutinizer instead of irrecord to capture 
your signals. It supports IrToy/irdroid directly, both for capturing and 
sending, and can generate your lircd.conf directly.

Greetz,

Bengt