igor plugin reception problems

[Ron]

This looks like an UIR. I'll let you in on a secret ;-) The IRman is simply the commercial version of the UIR. ( With some improvements ). And the UIR/Irman is non-polling, the 12c509 does the decoding. So this works great ( have one here ),... btw, this has nothing to do with the sfh-56 ( igor ) device.

[vynce]

Does it work ok under low CPU load?

[vynce]

These problems are caused by the way this type of IR receiver works. It is mostly software based. The hardware only receives the IR pulses and converts them to electrical pulses. Your CPU has to decode these pulses in software using the plugin (which is much slower than a true hardware device). This can use a lot of CPU power, especially on slower systems. This is also a polling device, which means that the hardware doesn't tell the plugin that it has received something - it is the opposite - the plugin has to continually monitor the hardware to see if the voltage levels change indicating that IR is being received. So, basically if you want something that works better under high CPU load, you will need to build a UIRT or buy an IRMan (or similar). Someone correct me if I'm wrong on this.

I currently use a LIRC-compatible receiver with Igor's plugin in Windows XP on a 1.4GHz system. I don't usually have any problems with it, but I'm also not running at 100% CPU usage often either. I'm planning on building a UIRT2 sometime in the near future.

[vynce]

That looks like a device that decodes in software. A device that does the decoding in hardware needs a microchip programmed with firmware that uses a protocol to communicate with Girder (ie. UIRT).

I'm not sure what is going on with your cpu usage. Setting the Igor plugin priority level to 8 sets it at realtime priority which will give a much higher cpu load - like you experienced. Hopefully Igor will be able to help you with this.

[cesko]

Hello!

During weekend I am working on my plugin - increasing receiving sensitivity of IgorPlug under WinXP. Now I included driver into plugin. This means, that receiving is now possible on Ring0. Receiving on Ring0 was possible only under Win9x, but now is possible under WinNT/2k/XP too !!! Only set this option in plugin settings. This ensures very good receiving sensitivity, but during code receiving (cca up to 100ms) all programs stops (processor is receiving code only). Try to use this my new version - I not published it on my site, but is possible to download it from my download section: http://www.cesko.host.sk/download.php or directly: http://www.cesko.host.sk/downloads/IgorPlugBeta.zip .
Attention: this is only beta version !!! May be you see some "blue screen" under Windows - but now I remove this problem. Version of this beta is 1.03. Now I am working on some improovements and then I release new version (if I will be sure that there are no bugs ;-) ).
Please give my your experiences with this beta PLEASE!!!
THANK YOU FOR YOUR SUGGESTIONS DEAR USERS!

Igor Cesko

[cesko]

Igor,

I am using WinXp and version 1.03 of your plugin but I still cannot enable Ring0 and even if I could, I am wondering why I would want to.

Thanks,
SD

Hello!

Small bug: On some WinXP is unable to switch on Ring0 - today I fix this bug.
Thank for report.
Igor

[cesko]

Igor,

I am using WinXp and version 1.03 of your plugin but I still cannot enable Ring0 and even if I could, I am wondering why I would want to.

Thanks,
SD
Corrected beta version is on :
http://www.cesko.host.sk/download.php
http://www.cesko.host.sk/downloads/IgorPlugBeta1_04.zip

Igor

[cesko]

Igor,

I have tried 1.04 and Ring0 is able to be selected and even when it is, I still have trouble with the plugin and my FastMedia remote. If I run a CPU intensive game even with Ring0 selected, when I then try to use the remote, all different codes are sent. So I am still having trouble and I would imagine others are also. I appreciate the effort and I think it might be unsolvable because these other applications (games) are just so CPU intensive.

Thanks,
SD

And are you set priority to 7 or 8 ? Ring 0 means, that no program interrupt during receiving, but wake time (time when comes first signal to receiver to time when my plugin begin receiving) depends from priority settings. But the end of code may be the same. This problem I am solving now.
Best Regards
Igor

[cesko]

You could always try WinLIRC http://winlirc.sourceforge.net
with the WinLIRC plug in for Girder. It is interupt driven.
(Maybe the Igor plug-in could be modified to use interupts rather than polling).
You might not find it to be too much better, because it has the same hardware limitations. When there's a lot of disk activity, the interupts are not received in a timely manner. (Serial ports have lower priority than disks). This hardware requires many interupts per command, while devices like the UIR/irman use only 1 interupt per command, and take advantage of the small buffer on the UART.

My plugin is interrupt driven too!!! But the interrupt is on application level - not in driver level. If you set Ring0 using, then the receiving is on driver level - polling during receiving on driver level. But the first interrupt (which switch receiving to driver level) is on application level. If some other application have higher priority, then the switching to driver level may be delayed. Now I'm working on version which will be working on driver level without polling - ADVANTAGE: very low CPU usage, and very good receiving. But this is difficult work - I must write special device driver.
Best Regards
Igor

[chrisi]

Did you check the batteries of the remote? :wink:
Did you check the setting "command order" try to set it to "1"

Maybe you should build the more sensitve Igor shematic...

[mhe]

I have the exact same problem. I have a receiver that works just superb, very nice sensitivity on the receiver..

But since i changed computer, (new is GA-7VRXP-1800XP/256MB) now i get different signals on every key press, and none is the right one. However if i raise the receiving sensitivity to 8 (highest) in igorplugin it works just like before. Only now it lags the whole computer down when i use the remote (like 50-80% CPU load).

I tried the IR device in the old computer just to se if it was broken but it worked perfectly. CPU load 1-3%, and i can use receiving sensitivity 7.

Im positive this is a igorplug bug.. Ive sent him two e-mails but havent got any replys, he might be on vacation or something.

[mhe]

http://mhe.mine.nu/pictures/badreceiving.jpg

With this device (no idea what scheme it comes from) girder + igorplugin works fine with my new computer GA-7VRXP/1800XP. But it has terrible receiving sensitivity, i guess it might be because of the smaller IR eye.

Can someone confirm if this is a device that uses the CPU to decode signals or if it has built in decoding?

vynce: with the igordevice i get around 1-3% CPU load with a celeron2 850Mhz system. And with a more powerful system (XP1800) i get 50%+ CPU load. It feels very much like a bug somewhere.

Even tho im sure you can get less than 1-3% cpu load with a better device, im not really interested ;-D

gabbo: i will! I even asked for a read receipt and i havent received one yet so i guess he is on a long vacation or something..

[gabbo]

i got the same problem (also a new ga-7vrxp / athlonxp2100+ / 512mb) and only a lot of different signals while using the ir.
priority 8 fixes it, but uses 50% of the cpu rescources

@ mhe: plz post igors answer here, when he contacts u.

- gabbo -

[Tugo]

NICE :)

We will keep our fingers crossed that everything will go as it should :)

btw, I tested v1.04 beta in it looks good in XP... keep up the good work :)

bye, Tomaz from Slovenia

[baily]

You could always try WinLIRC http://winlirc.sourceforge.net
with the WinLIRC plug in for Girder. It is interupt driven.
(Maybe the Igor plug-in could be modified to use interupts rather than polling).
You might not find it to be too much better, because it has the same hardware limitations. When there's a lot of disk activity, the interupts are not received in a timely manner. (Serial ports have lower priority than disks). This hardware requires many interupts per command, while devices like the UIR/irman use only 1 interupt per command, and take advantage of the small buffer on the UART.

[Speed Demon]

I have the same problem and have posted on it before and no one bothers to respond. I have a Fast Media remote and it works fine until I run an app that uses a lot of priority I think. I use Win XP and I sent Igor a log of my usage, both when everything is fine and when the strange codes are sent. He replied back with some graphs of what the log file displays for good and bad usage times. He also said that I might want to change the priority of such applications (for instance Tony Hawk 2 or NHL 2002 on my machine) by ctrl-alt-deling it and changing it to a lower priority. I have tried this but to no avail. Plus even if it worked, it would mean that I would have to change the priority EVERY SINGLE time I run each app. Also, since each of these apps run in a "non-Windows" environment and since to change priority one must get the taskman up on the screen, it becomes very difficult to change the priority for these apps. The last email I sent to Igor he has not responded to so I imagine he is away right now. Hopefully he can figure out what is wrong with his plugin and release a new version soon. Thanks in advance, Igor.

SD

[Speed Demon]

Igor,

I am using WinXp and version 1.03 of your plugin but I still cannot enable Ring0 and even if I could, I am wondering why I would want to.

Thanks,
SD

[Speed Demon]

Igor,

I have tried 1.04 and Ring0 is able to be selected and even when it is, I still have trouble with the plugin and my FastMedia remote. If I run a CPU intensive game even with Ring0 selected, when I then try to use the remote, all different codes are sent. So I am still having trouble and I would imagine others are also. I appreciate the effort and I think it might be unsolvable because these other applications (games) are just so CPU intensive.

Thanks,
SD

[Speed Demon]

I have tried setting the priority to 7 or 8 but then my computer freezes at random times and even when I use Ring0, all games that I play are very slow and no remote control is worth a lag in computer usage. I would rather everything work smoothly and only one thing not work so great than everything else not work smoothly and this one thing work fine. Thanks for trying.

SD

[Speed Demon]

hey baily,
thanks for replying. yeah i think i have tried WinLIRC and i remember it not working with my PB remote on XP. Hopefully Igor can eventually figure it out and I think I should have gone with an IRman but I liked the simplicity of going on eBay and searching for remote and getting one for 8 bucks, with no technical work to do. I guess my impression of the IRman was there was some assembly required but I could be wrong and that it is more expensive. The PB remote is good for everything else, I have everything on there, it's just that I cannot go play a game and then use it.

SD

[t_only_ttt]

Hi. I'm using girder 3.2.4, an aiwa remote control, and igor with plugin v1.01. Its running on a p4 with winxp.
I started having problems a few weeks ago when i upgraded girder.At first everything worked fine, then girder started receiving different IR codes for the same button presses. e.g. This means that if i press volume up repeatedly, it receives several different IR codes, none of which are the correct code for the command.
I've tried changing the settings of the plugins, and adjusting things in the settings menu, but nothing seems to work. I then reinstalled girder, and it started working again. However, as soon as i use the remote when the processor is under stress, it mucks up, and i have to repeatedly reinstall girder til it works again.
Has anyone got any ideas? its getting kinda annoying.
Apart from that, its a great program!

[t_only_ttt]

Hi. Yeah ive tried with 4 different remotes, all have the same result. Ive tried setting the command order to 1 as well, but none of it seems to help.
I think building the more sensitive sensor would help, but since this one worked fine for ages, i think i'll stick with it for now. Any other help much appreciated

[Holger]

Hi,

I found a device (UIR) that should be compatible to IRman and is easier to build up than the UIRT. At the moment I am looking for the circuit diagram, but I am not sure if it is not also a polling device.

Is a IRman compatible UIR automatically a nonpolling device?
Here are pictures of the device:
http://sisko.ram.rwth-aachen.de/~kasi/kasi-net.org/uir/oberseite.jpg
http://sisko.ram.rwth-aachen.de/~kasi/kasi-net.org/uir/unterseite.jpg

[Holger]

...btw, this has nothing to do with the sfh-56 ( igor ) device.

Not really - you are right. But I got the same problems with the performance and Igor and so I will go today to the electronic-shop... :)

Regards
Holger

[lvwAC]

Hi,

I have the same problems with Igor's plugin for a IR remote
control. I tried WinLIRC and it didn't work either, also tried
different IR controls.

On the webpage for uICE, I saw a comment that
problems might be related to using non-Intel CPU/board
equipment.

Any comments on this?

Lars