move stuff around for Posty2, add base config

posts/2010-06-19_frustrations_with_xbmc.yaml

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+date: 2010-06-19
+tags: 
+  - linux
+  - htpc
+title: LIRC and XBMC
+---
+Those of you who know me fairly well know that I'm a total HTPC
+geek. It's to the point where I outright refuse to subscribe to cable television
+or even hook up an antenna to my TV. This geekery combined with my affinity
+for Linux leads me to running XBMC on Linux on my little home theater machine.
+It's been a pretty smooth experience with the exception of getting my remote
+work with it. If you're struggling with it too, hopefully my tales will help you
+get it going.
+---
+So, here's my setup. I've got an Antec Fusion 430 (a silver one
+with the VFD), a Logitech Harmony remote, and Ubuntu 10.04. The Antec case is
+pretty cool since it looks like it belongs 
+in my home theater setup, and it
+even includes an IR receiver built right into the case! Cool! It should accept
+signals from any IR remote, right?
+
+*Wrong*
+
+In the hardware developer's infinite
+wisdom, they made it only work with Windows Media Center remotes instead of just
+making it a dumb device that passes data along. They actually put 
+**more** effort
+into designing the thing just to make my life harder. Augh! Luckily, when I got
+this case my [then-roommate](http://benmurrell.com/) had an Xbox 360 remote which
+magically 
+worked! So I eventually got a Logitech Harmony remote and told it
+that my HTPC was actually an Xbox 360. Step one complete.
+
+The next step was
+to get LIRC to accept the remote. This is a bit tricky, but luckily I had backed
+up my configs. If you're starting out from scratch, here's how to do it in an
+Ubuntu system.
+
+First of all, you need to install LIRC:
+
+        sudo aptitude
+        install lirc
+
+During the configuration phase of the install, it'll ask you for
+what kind of device you have. I selected *Soundgraph iMON PAD IR/VFD*, which uses
+the lirc_imon driver. Unfortunately, since I have the silver Antec Fusion
+430 I have the VFD and not the LCD display, which has a slightly different IR
+receiver. You have to specify the display_type=1 when the module is loaded.
+You can do this by adding a file called lirc-imon.conf to /etc/modprobe.d/ with
+[these contents](http://nickpegg.com/stuff/lirc/modprobe.d-lirc-imon.conf). 
+
+If you don't want to restart, you'll have to throw commands at the system to reload
+the module with the correct options.
+
+        sudo service lirc stop
+        sudo rmmod lirc_imon
+        sudo modprobe lirc_imon display_type=1
+
+While you have LIRC stopped, you might as well double-check that the IR receiver is
+actually receiving data with the following command (hit Ctrl-C to stop):
+
+        sudo cat /dev/lirc0
+
+You should see a bunch of garbage get printed to
+the terminal when you press buttons on your remote. If you don't, then either
+you have the wrong type of remote or you don't need the 
+display_type argument to modprobe.
+
+Next, you need to setup the button config for your remote. Since
+I'm using a Logitech Harmony remote to emulate an Xbox 360 remote, I used the
+irrecord command to generate [my config](http://nickpegg.com/stuff/lirc/xbox360.conf).
+Luckily there's [plenty of people out there](http://www.google.com/search?&q=lirc++microsoft+remote+config)
+who have already done this for you for a large amount of remotes 
+([here's a good list](http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/), for example). 
+Once you have the remote config file downloaded or created, 
+add an include to your [lircd.conf](http://nickpegg.com/stuff/lirc/lircd.conf)
+for it, fire up LIRC, and test it out with the irw command.
+
+        sudo service
+        lirc start
+        irw
+
+When you press buttons, you should see the button commands
+scroll by in the terminal.
+
+*\*whew\** Almost there. Still with me? Good, because
+we only have one thing left, the XBMC Lircmap.xml file! I'll spare you the nitty-girtty
+of it and just give you 
+[mine](http://nickpegg.com/stuff/lirc/Lircmap.xml) (right-click
+and save it). If you feel like making your own or need to tweak mine a bit, the
+XBMC wiki has some 
+[good information](http://wiki.xbmc.org/index.php?title=Lirc_and_Lircmap.xml)
+on how to do it.
+
+### For the impatient, here's all of my files associated with getting this to work:
+[lircd.conf](http://nickpegg.com/stuff/lirc/lircd.conf) (LIRC)  
+[hardware.conf](http://nickpegg.com/stuff/lirc/hardware.conf) (LIRC)  
+[xbox360.conf](http://nickpegg.com/stuff/lirc/xbox360.conf) (remote)  
+[Lircmap.xml](http://nickpegg.com/stuff/lirc/Lircmap.xml)(XBMC)