Re: LIRC - Failed to initialize hardware - Mac & IrDroid

I’m happy to replace the IrDroid with something else. I purchased to last
year without knowing all of these problems. I don’t really do hardware work
myself, so I just need something that’s USB-based for my iMac.

Anyways, a device that isn’t very expensive and is commercially available
would be ideal. What would your personal recommendation be that I buy so
that I can resolve these strange issues that I’m having with Lirc?

Thanks,

—Joe

On Wed, Sep 25, 2019 at 12:09 AM Bengt Martensson <[email protected]>
wrote:

> On 2019-09-25 02:53, Joe Dugandzic wrote:
> > Hello again,
> >
> > So I've made some good progress thanks to Alec & Bengt, but it seems
> > that my Lirc install just won't work with my IrDroid. I managed to use
> > Bengt's IrScrutinizer to capture and export the .conf file for my custom
> > remote, and Lirc doesn't seem to have an issue parsing it. But somehow
> > it just won't initiate the hardware.
> >
> > To be specific, I'm running Lirc 0.9.4d installed via MacPorts on macOS
> > Sierra - https://ports.macports.org/port/lirc/summary
> >
> > Here's the error log that I get when running Lirc as a daemon
> > "interactively"...
> >
> > Sep 24 12:27:05  lircd-0.9.4d[33564] <Info>: Info: lircd:  Opening log,
> > level: Info
> > Sep 24 12:27:05  lircd-0.9.4d[33564] <Warning>: Warning: Running as root
> > Sep 24 12:27:05  lircd-0.9.4d[33564] <Info>: Info: Using remote: Candles.
> > Sep 24 12:27:05  lircd-0.9.4d[33564] <Notice>: Notice: lircd(irtoy)
> > ready, using /var/run/lirc/lircd
> > Sep 24 12:27:07  lircd-0.9.4d[33564] <Notice>: Notice: accepted new
> > client on /var/run/lirc/lircd
> > Sep 24 12:27:07  lircd-0.9.4d[33564] <Warning>: Warning: Failed to
> > initialize hardware
> ...
> General comments:
>
> 1. For support on this list, preferably use the current upstream lirc on
> Sourceforge. For support "foobar version", ask foobar.  Current version
> contains several fixes relevant to IrToy/IrDroid.
>
> 2. Raise the loglevel (in the installation phase). It is --loglevel
> trace1 (for example) in the current version, for MacPorts... you have to
> ask someone else.
>
> One of the reasons for not buying IrDroid is that it comes with an
> obsolete firmware (bad), and it comes without a bootloader (worse), so
> you cannot easily update it. Some versions of Lirc does not cope with
> the firmware version of IrDroid (2.0?), the current one does (I think at
> least).
>
> If you are somewhat hardware savvy you CAN update the firmware the hard
> way: Solder five pins to the unoccupied holes on the PCB, making an ICSP
> connector. Get a MicroChip compatible programmer, like PicKit3. They
> used to be in the upper two-digit range (€ or $), but recently I have
> seen very cheap ones (clones?) on ebay. I have done this update myself.
> The compiled FW you find by dangerous prototypes. Also, the housing does
> not fit any more after soldering the ICSP pins (voiding IrDroid's only
> advantage :-)).
>
> Greetz,
>
> Bengt
>
>
>