serial_ir on Biostar J3060NH

  • I am wondering if anyone has successfully implemented a serial IR receiver on this particular mainboard?

    I have/had several other x86_64 hardware in use with serial IR receivers, using MCE remote controls. In the past, I configured lirc manually, now I am pleased to use the integrated new approach in LE.

    What I did: installed the same IR receiver, LE installation and remote control as in one of the working systems.

    ir-keytable -t doesn't show any events recognized.

    ir-ctl -r does show pulses and spaces, but also timeout events (which I haven't observed on the working system).

    I wonder if there is something special about the COM port on this mainboard?

  • Which LE version are you using?

    The timeouts reported by ir-ctl are fine, they should be shown after each pulse/space train (or at least after button release).

    I've tested serial_ir a couple of months ago on an ancient P4 motherboard with on-board COM port and it worked fine there.

    I can't really comment on your mainboard, but post the ir-ctl -r output of a short button press - this could already give some hints on what the issue could be.

    It could be an electrical problem, so it would be good if you described the hardware you are using. In my tests I used a 5V compatible TSOP IR receiver and picked up +5V from an USB port of my PC. Then just connected GND and the TSOP IR output to the COM port.

    so long,

    Hias

  • Hi, I am using this one: index.php (sorry, German)

    I assume in the end it's pretty simple TSOP, ir-keytable recognizes it as serial home brew.

    I assume +5V is fine as this unit also takes care to power on the system (as a remote function to the power button) and this depends on standby power.

    I will post the raw data later when I am back home.

    It's 8.2.5 and 9.0 alpha, tried both.

  • So, here is output of ir-ctl -r from a single button:

  • Thanks a lot for the ir-ctl output!

    It looks similar to a rc-6 signal, but not quite. The pulse/space lengths should be 222-666 or 666-1110 (except for the first one and another pulse/space mark at the beginning which are longer).

    Your output shows some very small values of about 100 or less, so the signal can't be decoded properly.

    Which rev of the atric IR-Einschalter are you using? The manual of rev5 mentions changes that resolved issues with some com ports. A mismatch in signal levels would explain these length deviations.

    There were a couple of posts on the atric forum mentioning issues with unclean/noisy power supplies (and having to add resistors and/or filtering caps or a newer/fixed IR receiver+cable to cure them). This could also explain the issues, most IR receivers are rather sensitive to noise on the power supply.

    On the system/software side the only thing the only thing that could cause these timing variations is IRQ latency. Check /proc/interrupts and make sure serial_ir is the only device using IRQ4, if some other device is using this IRQ as well go into the BIOS setup and move that device to it's own interrupt.

    so long,

    Hias

  • Hi, thanks for the very valuable input! Much appreciated.

    (Very) Randomly a key stroke is interpreted correctly, so the assumptions make sense to me.

    Given especially the fact that the case includes a picoPSU like PSU which I wouldn't trust too much.

    I will give a try later (latest tomorrow) with a different power supply attached.

    I've been using the IR-Einschalter for years, so it's still Rev 4. Most probably I'll go for a FLIRC for this setup, though.

  • Interesting. Another PSU didn't do the trick.

    So maybe something with the COM port is odd.

    Still wainting for the FLIRC dongle, but otherwise I won't bother anymore.

    Thanks for your support, guys!