[Super Paul]

I've been trying to get this figured out over on the raspbmc forums but so far after trying to execute various suggested commands, I am unable to get to the bottom of this issue.

In a nutshell, in RC4 and previous builds, a Harmony (in my case, but I'd assume it's across the board) remote configured as an MCE Keyboard would send any configured command (as expected) as a keyboard press. The issue in these builds was that the Pi would receive/interpret multiple keypresses. There were a couple of suggested work arounds, but long story short... the "fixes" didn't work for everyone.

Fast forward to RC5, and the devs there have reported that by changing the priority of the xbmc process, this repeating keystroke issue is fixed. However, the RC5 builds don't seem to recognize a device configured as an MCE Keyboard, at all.

I have tried every combination of "irw" and "ir-keytable -t" that I could find and/or has been suggested to me. I can function in linux but I am by no means an expert and I lack an understanding of how the whole remote control related stuff works in raspbmc, as far as... is LIRC in use... is it build into the kernel? If so, how are these modules/drivers loaded, etc.

I guess what I'm trying to say is that I'm MORE than willing to troubleshoot and do whatever leg-work I need to do. It's just that I don't really know where/what to look (at). I'm including what I hope to be some relevant information below. I'm really hopeful somebody can point me in the right direction, even if we end up with "well X needs to be running and isn't, so you need to talk to the raspbmc devs." type of thing.

What I do know:

1) This "worked" fine in RC4 and previous, with double presses. So the receiver is fine.
2) In RC5, configured as an MCE Remote, everything works. I prefer the MCE Keyboard setup. This does NOT work.
3) "irw" shows inputs from an MCE Remote device, nothing from the MCE Keyboard
4) "ir-keytable -t" shows no inputs from any device
5) "ir-keytable" returns the following:

Code:

pi@raspbmc:~$ ir-keytable
Found /sys/class/rc/rc0/ (/dev/input/event0) with:
        Driver mceusb, table rc-rc6-mce
        Supported protocols: NEC RC-5 RC-6 JVC SONY SANYO other
        Enabled protocols: RC-6
        Repeat delay = 500 ms, repeat period = 125 ms

6) "ir-keytable -v" returns the following:

Code:

pi@raspbmc:~$ ir-keytable -v
Found device /sys/class/rc/rc0/
Input sysfs node is /sys/class/rc/rc0/input0/
Event sysfs node is /sys/class/rc/rc0/input0/event0/
Parsing uevent /sys/class/rc/rc0/input0/event0/uevent
/sys/class/rc/rc0/input0/event0/uevent uevent MAJOR=13
/sys/class/rc/rc0/input0/event0/uevent uevent MINOR=64
/sys/class/rc/rc0/input0/event0/uevent uevent DEVNAME=input/event0
Parsing uevent /sys/class/rc/rc0/uevent
/sys/class/rc/rc0/uevent uevent NAME=rc-rc6-mce
/sys/class/rc/rc0/uevent uevent DRV_NAME=mceusb
input device is /dev/input/event0
/sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols protocol rc-5 (disabled)
/sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols protocol nec (disabled)
/sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols protocol rc-6 (enabled)
/sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols protocol jvc (disabled)
/sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols protocol sony (disabled)
/sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols protocol sanyo (disabled)
/sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols protocol mce_kbd (disabled)
Found /sys/class/rc/rc0/ (/dev/input/event0) with:
        Driver mceusb, table rc-rc6-mce
        Supported protocols: NEC RC-5 RC-6 JVC SONY SANYO other
        Enabled protocols: RC-6
        Repeat delay = 500 ms, repeat period = 125 ms

I observed in the latter, that protocol "mce_kbd" is disabled. However when I try to load that protocol I get:

Code:

pi@raspbmc:~$ sudo ir-keytable -c -p mce_kbd
Invalid parameter(s)
ir-keytable: -p: (PROGRAM ERROR) Option should have been recognized!?
Try `ir-keytable --help' or `ir-keytable --usage' for more information.

A suggestion to stop lirc over on the raspbmc forums results in an error that I'm unsure of how to get around:

Code:

pi@raspbmc:~$ sudo /etc/init.d/lirc stop
[FAIL] Stopping remote control daemon(s): LIRC: failed!

In summary, since it USED to work. I'm really hoping it's just some minor oversight that somebody with more knowledge of linux might explain to me how to figure out, or perhaps somebody with a Pi and this knowledge can explain how to fix.

Of course, this is a fresh RC5 install to rule out any upgrade/configuration issues. Here's hoping somebody has some ideas. I'm stumped.

[BigHomer666]

Hi all, Linux newbie here with fresh RC5 install as well;

I have this exact problem with same result. mce_kbd protocol won't load with ir-keytable.
With the rc-6 protocol enabled, I'm able to use the MCE remote as intended AND the remote keys on the keyboard work as well (play, rew, ffwd, mute, etc.)
My IR device shows up in dmesg as: Philips eHome Infrared Transceiver with mce emulator interface version 1

However, as per this post (XBMC + Ubuntu) I was able to switch between rc-6 and mce_kbd.
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=141868

sudo su
echo mce_kbd > /sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols
exit

Then:
cat /sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols

Returns:
rc-5 nec rc-6 jvc sony sanyo [mce_kbd]

Keyboard is functional immediately, EXCEPT for remote keys, and the MCE remote no longer works. I can't seem to figure out how to get both rc-6 and mce_kbd enabled at the same time.

As I said, I'm just starting out with Linux and Rasp PI, so any input is appreciated.

[Super Paul]

@BigHomer666 over on the raspbmc forums we figured out how to get the mce_kbd driver loaded (which you appear to have already figured out).

To have both protocols functioning you'll want to use "echo +mce_kbd > /sys/class/rc/rc0/protocols" (note the plus sign).

However in our cases we're getting repeated keypress events with the mce_kbd driver. This goes on outside of xbmc as well... so I think the problem is at a lower level. I don't know enough about ir-keytable to really know what to do at this point.

Edit:

If you'd like this driver to persist through a reboot you'll need to edit "/etc/rc.local" (with nano) and add that echo + line before the last line that says "exit".

[BigHomer666]

Cool, thanks for the info. I'll give it a shot over the next little while and see if I get the repeating keys issue.

Also had to remap a couple keys (remote.xml and /etc/eventlircd.d/03_0471_0815.evmap) to get media (home) button and 'ContextMenu' working.
But the remote is working smooth now at least.

Cheers.