HP MCE IR Remote on Fedora 16

There is a wide number of so called HP MCE IR Remote. Here is a description how to enable the OVU400102/71 (HP P/N 5187 4593) Transceiver + HP P/N 464961-001 remote in Fedora 16.

First a bit of "what is going on".

1. MCE is some kind of a standard for remote control that came with Windows XP Media Center Edition. This is a Microsoft stuff, but we may bless it ATM as, this is very widely used and most of MCE remote conform to it.
2. IR remote usually consist of two things - the IR Transceiver (this is some electronic + Infra diodes and transistors to transmit and receive). There also can be only IR Receiver only if there is no bi-directional communication. The second part is the remote itself.

Therefore to make successfully working IR Remote, you need:
1. IR transceiver supported by Linux
2. IR remote compatible with IR transceiver
3. Interpretation of codes from IR remote to something easy to understand
4. Interpretation what should buttons on IR remote do - i.e. the actions bind to keys

This is pretty wild.

Events vs. LIRC

Linux used to have most of IRs supported thru LIRC project. During linux kernel development around 2.6.38 and up, the LIRC drivers became part of the Linux kernel. These kernel drivers enable to accept the codes from remote keys and makes out of them linux /dev/input/event device. The rest - the interpretation of what to do, is either done by Xorg or by LIRC.

"The remote" - but which one?

This IR transceiver is identified as USB device:

1934:5168 Feature Integration Technology Inc. (Fintek) F71610A or F71612A Consumer Infrared Receiver/Transceiver

The MCE remotes are supported in Fedora 16 out of the box with

mceusb

module, but this way, the remote is used in Xorg as something like a special keys on keyboards - changing the volume, arrows keys etc. Not all keys are used and have some function. If you want to use the IR remote for different purpose - e.g. to drive some application like XBMC, MythTV or VLC you should disable it in Xorg and use LIRC.

To disable the remote in Xorg add this to /etc/X11/xorg.conf

Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Remote"
    MatchProduct "Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote Transceiver"
    Option "Ignore" "True"
EndSection
Section "InputClass"
    Identifier "Ignore MCE IR keyboard"
    MatchProduct "MCE IR Keyboard/Mouse (mceusb)"
    Option "Ignore" "True"
EndSection

Install LIRC packages

yum install lirclirc-libs lirc-remotes gnome-lirc-properties

Then you need to configure the LIRC. You either can try to do it in gui like

gnome-lirc-properties

or via configs and command line. I was not fully successful with GUI and have to modify it via command line.

Here is /etc/sysconfig/lirc made by gnome-lirc-properties:

# Note: in addition to these parameters, you need to have working    -*- sh -*-
# configuration file for lircd (and lircmd if enabled).

# Options to lircd(8).  Typically, this will be empty, as which driver to use
# should be specified using the LIRC_DRIVER variable below.
LIRCD_OPTIONS=""

# The infrared receiver (and/or transmitter) driver to be used by lircd(8),
# similar to passing "-H driver" to lircd(8).
# Run "/usr/sbin/lircd -H help" to get a listing of supported drivers.
LIRC_DRIVER="devinput"

# Which lirc device will be used by lircd(8).
# This is the same as passing "-d device" to lircd.
# An empty value will use the default /dev/lirc0 device.
LIRC_DEVICE="/dev/input/event6"

# If "yes", the init script will try to start lircmd(8) too.
ENABLE_LIRCMD="no"

# Options to lircmd(8).
LIRCMD_OPTIONS=""

# Remote settings required by gnome-lirc-properties
MODEL="Media\ Center\ Edition\ remote"
VENDOR="HP/Philips/Microsoft/Other"

# Remote settings required by gnome-lirc-properties
MODULES=""
LIRCD_CONF=""

# Receiver settings required by gnome-lirc-properties
RECEIVER_MODEL="Media\ Center\ Ed.\ eHome\ Infrared\ Remote\ Transceiver\ \(1934:5168\)"
RECEIVER_VENDOR="Linux\ Input\ Device"

You may notice the receiver model identification and remote model.

This remote model is then included in /etc/lirc/lircd.conf to define the key codes:

include </etc/lirc/lircd.conf.gnome>

and the lircd.conf.gnome contains the definition of keys + codes. However this does not work for me as the device is now used like and devinput. Therefore I had to change the /etc/lirc/lircd.conf to point to

include "/usr/share/lirc-remotes/devinput/lircd.conf.devinput"

Then you may test with

irw

if the key press generates appropriate key code and interpretation. Make a note what kind of events buttons/keys generates - you will need it in next section.

Fedora 18 notes

F18 removes HAL, for that reason gnome-lirc-properties are broken and wont start with dbus exception. Just remove all the junk around HAL and gnome-lirc-properties. I could not get lirc to read the /etc/sysconfig/lirc config, it complains it contains errors. The only option is to specify the lircd options directly in systemd unit at

/lib/systemd/system/lirc.service

ExecStart=/usr/sbin/lircd --driver=devinput --device=/dev/input/by-id/usb-FINTEK_eHome_Infrared_Transceiver_88636562727801-event-if00

systemctl start lirc
systemctl enable lirc

VLC with LIRC

Next you have to bind it to some application and action. In my case it is VLC. VLC have a definition of a lot of actions (config option) bind to buttons (KEY_). First change the VLC Preferences/Interface/Control interfaces and check the Infrared remote. (If LIRC is not installed this option is missing!)

Then you can create in your home the definition of LIRC to VLC mapping for keys in ~/.lircrc:

begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_PLAYPAUSE
 config = key-play-pause
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_PLAYPAUSE
 config = key-play-pause
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_STOP
 config = key-stop
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = skip
 config = key-jump+medium
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = replay
 config = key-jump-short
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_NEXT
 config = key-next
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_PREV
 config = key-prev
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_UP
 config = key-nav-up
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_DOWN
 config = key-nav-down
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_LEFT
 config = key-lav-left
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_RIGHT
 config = key-right
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_VOLUMEUP
 config = key-vol-up
 repeat = 1
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_VOLUMEDOWN
 config = key-vol-down
 repeat = 1
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_MUTE
 config = key-vol-mute
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = pictures
 config = key-audiodelay-up
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = music
 config = key-audiodelay-down
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = more
 config = key-crop
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = active
 config = key-nav-activate
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_CHANNELDOWN
 config = key-next
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_CHANNELUP
 config = key-prev
end
begin
 prog = vlc
 button = KEY_MEDIA
 config = key-toggle-fullscreen
end

Other actions e.g.:

key-chapter-prev
key-chapter-next
key-next
key-toggle-fullscreen
key-disc-menu
key-title-prev

Complete list at VLC wiki.

Redefine the keys to your needs and restart the VLC. You are done.

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