Smarthome 1623PC IR Link.....plug-in anyone??

[mihooper]

I discovered some serial port documentation for the Smarthome PC to IR Linc device ($99 IR transmitter w/learning remote input). Anyone care to tackle a plug-in for this device? Looks like nice hardware, but apparently the software application that comes with it is very slow. The Sourceforge site apparently provides good serial I/O command documentation.... :D

Mark...you up to it? Or has it already been done?

http://sourceforge.net/docman/display_doc.php?docid=10401&group_id=50024

[Mark F]

It doesn't need a plugin. A device support file (using LUA event handlers) for the serial plugin should be able to handle this.

If I find myself with free time in the next couple of weeks, I'll see what I can put together.

[mihooper]

Mark...I really appreciate your help. I'm still struggling with understanding LUA and the intricacies of the Serial comms.

What's your opinion of this device (PC IRLinc)? See any major drawbacks?

thx

[Mark F]

The only drawback I see is the device doesn't support handshaking to control the communications. This can cause over-runs but is not a show stopper. :)

Do you want to use the learning part of this or just the universal remote portion? If I get the universal remote part working quickly, can we delay the learning part until sometime later?

[mihooper]

I will need learning of some kind. I currently have IRman (which I NOW know is a RECEIVER :oops: )... Would it be possible to learn with IRman and use the learned code to transmit from IRLinc?

[Mark F]

Not likely. :(

EDIT: I'm assuming you want to learn a code with IRMan and send THAT code via IRLinc. This is the "not likely" part. If you want to learn a code from IRMan and have that trigger a different learned code from IRLinc, this is possible.

EDIT 2: Change word fragments to English. :(

[mihooper]

Clarification:
I would like to learn a code from my (ie) Apex-800AD DVD player remote via IRman/Girder. I would then use NetRemote (using IES/IEC) to trigger an event that sends that SAME LEARNED code via IRLinc to my Apex-800AD DVD player. The PCIRLinc comes with a database of codes, but I don't want to have to rely on my devices being in their database.

Are you saying that a code learned via IRman may not be the same code learned thru the PCIRLinc?

[Mark F]

Yes, that is what I was trying to say.

[Mark F]

I did some thinking about this last night.

Would it be acceptable to:

Use the supplied software to learn buttons from your remote to the registry.
Use Girder to read those values and send them to the IRLinc when triggered.

OR

Does the Girder solution need to do the learning and saving also?

[mihooper]

Excellent!! Yes, it would be totally acceptable to use the supplied SW to learn and only ask Girder to send what was already learned...!!

Great thinking!!
:D
thx

[Mark F]

By the way, the probe input is detectable on one of the modem handshaking lines which is ALSO supported by the serial plugin. :)

I may need to buy one of these so I can fully debug this stuff. :D

[mihooper]

I would be happy to loan you mine (shipped yesterday form Smarthome) for your gracious work on the GML support. :)

[mihooper]

Mark..check this out...
http://auction.smarthome.com/XcAPBidHistory.asp?AucID=21810
:wink:

[mihooper]

Mark,

I have the basic communications working (serial plug-in communicating with IRLinc device). I can send pre-set commands and recieve the ACK from the device.

Any suggestions how I can send learned commands stored in the registry? Where/how would I access the stored commands?

[Mark F]

Crap! I forgot all about this. I'm really sorry. :(

I was thinking that you could save the stored commands (using the supplied software) to .ir files. These .ir files will have the learned type of data stored in them in hex codes. (the ones for universal type codes have a different data format)

What needs to happen is:
the single line of text in one of these files gets read
the "L" is stripped from the end of the line
the correct header information is applied
the string is passed to the serial plugin and it translates (hex->bin) the data before sending to your box


Again, I'm sorry for forgetting this. I'm pretty scatter-brained right now.

[mihooper]

For gosh sakes...don't apologize. You guys do enough to support all of us morons.... :-?

Also, you've given me a breakthru. I had previously looked at the file format of the .ir files and saw a look-up code (sent to the IRLinc to send a pre-stored command). Turns out that there are 2 different file formats. AS you point out, the learned/saved .ir file format contained the actual hex codes!! This will work fine!

Thanks again!
:D

[Mark F]

Thanks for being so understanding. :D

When we first were talking about this, I looked at the basic code for the supplied application and figured we could "re-use" their algorithm. :)

They look for a string ending in "L" to determine which type of file they are processing. Perhaps you could do the same thing and support both universal (look up) type files (no "L" at the end) and learned files ("L" as the last character).

[mihooper]

You're absolutely right! In fact, I have successfully sent both types of commands.

Send Preset IR file format (03-0775-14) stored as text in .ir file.
After doing bit-wise formatting and adding header (050133070e00)
This is the "Send Learned Command" string with header:
(231000000100001B00C7040136282204AA013C02610115013 601158D1323223322320000)

I think I'm on my way!!

Thanks again!

[Mark F]

This is cool! :) When you get this in a form you like, would you mind if I included it in the serial plugin distribution? I would add comments (if needed) and a readme (with an acknowledgement of your work, of course, and the original basic program).

[mihooper]

No problem! I'll send you something a little later when I've had a chance to refine things a bit.

This may end up being a pretty neat little device!! However, the "learn" process is very sensitive to distance and angle of sending remote. I guess that's typical, but this one seems to be worse than others I've tried.

Anyway, thanks again for the help!!