[birdwatcher]

You can use LIRC in Ubuntu 18.04, just not the version in the Ubuntu repositories.  See this article: Make LIRC work in Ubuntu 18.04, so that you can use your infrared remote in Kodi

[fbacher]

There are multiple issues with lirc in 18.04. The first thing I would try is to make sure that "lirc-compat-remotes" is also installed. I believe that if did this first that my system would have just started working again. If not, read on.

The most visible thing wrong with 18.04 lirc is that the configuration gui doesn't run. I tried multiple suggested workarounds but ended up installing lirc from a pre-built tar from the SourceForge site, which you can find on the home lirc.org page. You still have to do a 'config' and 'make install'. You can configure manually, or run the tool, which is different than the one Ubuntu supplies (but doesn't work). You will need to know a bit more about lirc setup or do some reading.

Hope this helps some. If you have questions, I will try to help.

[Metra]

Ok, so I tried countless combinations and solutions, and now I'm back to square 1.
I removed lirc completely, currently only ir-keytable is installed.

Code:


ir-keytable
Found /sys/class/rc/rc0/ (/dev/input/event5) with:
Name: Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote Transceiver (1934:5168)
Driver: mceusb, table: rc-rc6-mce
lirc device: /dev/lirc0
Supported protocols: lirc rc-5 rc-5-sz jvc sony nec sanyo mce_kbd rc-6 sharp xmp
Enabled protocols: lirc rc-6
Extra capabilities: <access denied>


Code:

lsusb
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1934:5168 Feature Integration Technology Inc. (Fintek) F71610A or F71612A Consumer Infrared Receiver/Transceiver


I have my keymap config, and assigned it using

Code:

sudo ir-keytable -c -w /etc/rc_keymaps/rc6_mce

I can see button presses when I test events with

Code:

sudo ir-keytable -t

Example of what this command returns: 

Code:


1673.547598: event type EV_KEY(0x01) key_down: KEY_RIGHT(0x006a)
1673.547598: event type EV_SYN(0x00).
1673.653709: event type EV_MSC(0x04): scancode = 0x800f0421
1673.653709: event type EV_SYN(0x00).
1673.908461: event type EV_KEY(0x01) key_up: KEY_RIGHT(0x006a)
1673.908461: event type EV_SYN(0x00).


Kodi doesn't see key presses at all (I checked its debug log), no matter what I did! I tried various ways of editing keyboard.xml, copied it to various folders (because turned out there are several options where it might be picked up by kodi).

I tried installing an older, more stable lirc, and tested it with my old solid config, but it didn't work.

Is there any solution for my situation? Drives me nuts.

Please help!
Thank you.

[Anothers]

This is not a one off, something somewhere has broken on the Infra Red input/passthrough sequence.

https://forum.kodi.tv/showthread.php?tid=338910

I've spent a few days now trying to get to the bottom of this.

In summary.....I run Fedora 29 x64 and have been using Kodi successfully without an problems using Infra Red for at least a couple of years now.

I DO NOT use lirc, instead using just the kernel rc options via ir-keytable and an rc6_mce file in /etc/rc_keymaps

Sometime around the end on November something got broken, some keys would pass their information to Kodi, however the bulk were 'disappearing'.

I had intended to look into it over Christmas but got diverted into another issue, so started looking at it properly only about a week back.

My 'test' environment to try to see where it was breaking was.....

open two terminal sessions, side by side

in one terminal session:-

>sudo ir-keytable

generates

Found /sys/class/rc/rc0/ (/dev/input/event18) with:
Name: Media Center Ed. eHome Infrared Remote Transceiver (0471:0815)
Driver: mceusb, table: rc-rc6-mce
LIRC device: /dev/lirc0
Supported kernel protocols: lirc rc-5 rc-5-sz jvc sony nec sanyo mce_kbd rc-6 sharp xmp imon
Enabled kernel protocols: lirc rc-6
bus: 3, vendor/product: 0471:0815, version: 0x0000
Repeat delay = 500 ms, repeat period = 125 ms

So I can see that the infra red receiver is being 'seen' by the kernel as I would expect.

then in that same terminal session now run

>sudo ir-keytable -t

This should force that terminal session to listen to the IR receiver as detailed above and report any button presses on the remote and their corresponding 'mapping'' to the DE.

Now in the second terminal session

Install key-mon (for me this is sudo dnf install key-mon, your distro may be different)

now in the second terminal session

>key-mon

This should generate an on screen GUI that shows you what keys and/or mouse buttons are being pressed.

while you have these two terminal sessions running side by side and the key-mon GUI visible try to press some buttons on your remote control

in terminal session number 1 (sudo ir-keytable -t) I think you will find that EVERY button press on the infra red remote is reported and should show you the hex value of that button and it's corresponding mapped output from the file in /etc/rc_keymaps/rc6_mce

however

in terminal session number 2 (key-mon) only some of the button presses on the remote are being reported, the majority do not register any output to the key-mon GUI.

So, while you may think that Kodi is not responding to button presses that worked previously, my investigation thus far seems to suggest something has broken between the way the button presses are either being passed to the DE or are interpreted by the DE, and as a result are just not being registered at all.

I would really appreciate it if some other forum members who are using the kernel-rc and ir-keytables (please NOT lirc as that seems to work) could undertake the testing as I did above and report back their findings.

As I stated earlier, this was all working fine till around the end of November so something has broken since then, and while it appears clear to me now this is not a Kodi bug it's more then likely to affect Kodi users down the line unless we can identify and fix exactly what has got broken.

[User 427324]

I didn't 100 % understand, what you wrote regarding testing your remote, cause english is not my native language.

But just one question: Are you sure that your remote is okay ?


I used a harmony since years and some month ago it happens some keys were (sometimes) without function.
during searching for buying a new one I saw a guidance to disassemble my harmony to clean the collected dust under the keyboard of the remote. [1]

maybe your remote "is crying for retirement" too ?

[1] it fixed my problem just for some weeks cause the coating of the printed circuit board is damaged too !

[Suljo]

People seem to be experiencing problems so can someone please clarify..

Is it possible to get a seamless remote experience on Linux, let's say latest Ubuntu 19, with a harmony remote?

I'm running Windows right now on my Intel nuc but want to switch to Linux as I'm more at home with certain server apps. But the remote function is so crucial to a HTPC that I can't risk having a worse experience than in Windows.

[disaacso]

People seem to be experiencing problems so can someone please clarify..

Is it possible to get a seamless remote experience on Linux, let's say latest Ubuntu 19, with a harmony remote?

I'm running Windows right now on my Intel nuc but want to switch to Linux as I'm more at home with certain server apps. But the remote function is so crucial to a HTPC that I can't risk having a worse experience than in Windows.

if you use a harmony hub and connect via bluetooth it's seamless.

[Suljo]

People seem to be experiencing problems so can someone please clarify..

Is it possible to get a seamless remote experience on Linux, let's say latest Ubuntu 19, with a harmony remote?

I'm running Windows right now on my Intel nuc but want to switch to Linux as I'm more at home with certain server apps. But the remote function is so crucial to a HTPC that I can't risk having a worse experience than in Windows.

if you use a harmony hub and connect via bluetooth it's seamless. 

But via IR ir it isn't? Only have an IR remote, harmony one.

[bubblegum57]

People seem to be experiencing problems so can someone please clarify..

Is it possible to get a seamless remote experience on Linux, let's say latest Ubuntu 19, with a harmony remote?

I'm running Windows right now on my Intel nuc but want to switch to Linux as I'm more at home with certain server apps. But the remote function is so crucial to a HTPC that I can't risk having a worse experience than in Windows.

if you use a harmony hub and connect via bluetooth it's seamless.   

But via IR ir it isn't? Only have an IR remote, harmony one.  

When you say Linux, do you mean a linux distro? Or LibreElec or CoreElec? they are what I used.

I used my 350, 650, on my old celeron nuc, just selected Intel & then model of nuc, from the harmony database

But, I think some newer versions of nuc, a bios update, there is an issue with the built in IR

[Suljo]

Something like Ubuntu. I'd setup a web/mail server also.

[black_eagle]

Something like Ubuntu. I'd setup a web/mail server also.

If you know how to ditch ir-keytable and set up lirc (from the xenial repo as the version that ships with 18.04 doesn't work properly), then yes, ir is seamless.  Or at least, it has been for me for over 5 years now.

[Suljo]

Any indication that it's fixed in 19?

[black_eagle]

No idea.  I accidentally updated mine recently to 0.10.0-2 and immediately started suffering double presses with certain keys on my remote (play/pause in particular) so I reverted it again and pinned it this time !

[disaacso]

People seem to be experiencing problems so can someone please clarify..

Is it possible to get a seamless remote experience on Linux, let's say latest Ubuntu 19, with a harmony remote?

I'm running Windows right now on my Intel nuc but want to switch to Linux as I'm more at home with certain server apps. But the remote function is so crucial to a HTPC that I can't risk having a worse experience than in Windows.

if you use a harmony hub and connect via bluetooth it's seamless.  

But via IR ir it isn't? Only have an IR remote, harmony one. 

I used ir keytable for several years with a harmony one.  You can get close, but multiple presses in succession  was never perfect (like when keying in a search). swapped to bluetooth and the difference was pretty clear.  I never used lirc because setup was a hassle.

[chak1990]

I just upgraded me HTPC to Linux Mint 19.3 (which is a derivative of Ubuntu 18.04, if memory serves) from Mint 17.3.  My remote worked just fine under Mint 17, (I'm 99% sure I installed LIRC and it was done) but now it's a mess.  I have tested the controller on a different HTPC and I'm confident that it is working just fine.

I installed Mint 18 and 18.3 as a workaround, but hit multiple problems there.  I had more success than with 19.3, but I could still never get the play/pause and stop buttons to work with Kodi.  As the Mint 18 series will reach end of support this year, it seemed like I should refocus on getting 19.3 to work.

I have a cheap IR receiver.  I mean, it was the cheapest thing I could find a couple of years ago.  But it does everything I want/need it to do, so it was fine.  And, as I said, it worked just fine under Mint 17.3 and seemed to be working under 18.  (irw, at least, reported the correct commands, even if Kodi didn't act on them.)  The detailed tutorial at the beginning of this thread really didn't work.  I realize that the Kodi wiki says to use LIRC, but most other tutorials I have read indicate that the version included is faulty and recommend forcing installation of the older version from the Ubuntu Xenial repo.  Not only is this "hacky" but it seems to me likely to cause future potential problems.  Besides - it didn't work.  So decided to take the original author's advice and avoid LIRC and stick with the kernel.

I installed ir-keytable  get the following message:

/sys/class/rc/: No such file or directory
No devices found

This is not helpful.  The relevant lines from lsusb show:
Bus 006 Device 003: ID 1d57:0001 Xenta
Bus 003 Device 002: ID 1d57:ad02 Xenta SE340D PC Remote Control

and the relevant lines from dmesg show:
[    2.419573] input: HID 1d57:ad02 Keyboard as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.0/0003:1D57:AD02.0001/input/input5
[    2.476229] input: HID 1d57:ad02 Consumer Control as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.0/0003:1D57:AD02.0001/input/input6
[    2.476384] input: HID 1d57:ad02 System Control as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.0/0003:1D57:AD02.0001/input/input7
[    2.477190] hid-generic 0003:1D57:AD02.0001: input,hiddev0,hidraw1: USB HID v1.10 Keyboard [HID 1d57:ad02] on usb-0000:00:12.0-2/input0
[    2.477452] input: HID 1d57:ad02 Mouse as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:12.0/usb3/3-2/3-2:1.1/0003:1D57:AD02.0002/input/input9
[    2.477631] hid-generic 0003:1D57:AD02.0002: input,hiddev1,hidraw2: USB HID v1.10 Mouse [HID 1d57:ad02] on usb-0000:00:12.0-2/input1


The device is there.  I know this because some buttons work, but ir-keytable can't seem to understand that.  Honestly, the only buttons I NEED are the direction arrows, enter, esc, play/pause, and stop.  The others are nice, but not necessary.  (The mouse functionality seems to work just fine.)

I'm open to just about anything.  Please help.  Thanks.