Tablet Home Theatre Remote Control

Support and Help
1

Hi.

I apologize if this is not the right forum for this post.

System: Juno Tab 4, Dual Boot Ubuntu Unity 24.04 or Mobian.

I would like my Tablet to control my Home Theatre.

I would ‘learn’ all the IR Codes from the various Remotes via a ‘USB IR Reader’, and store these Codes in a file.

Icons would be placed for each button of each Remote on the Tablet Screen. Pressing an Icon would read an IR Code, and emit the Code to the applicable device in my Home Theatre via a ‘USB IR Blaster’. The system would be able to detect whether there is a ‘short’ or ‘long’ press.

TWO Questions:
What software should I be investigating that would allow me to do this (Javascript, HTML, Python, FreeBASIC, Software Package, …) ?

I am investigating the various ‘USB IR Readers/Blasters’. Do you have any insight or experience with any of these products ?

Thanks for any help,
M…

2

Looks like an interesting project. Perhaps LIRC - Linux Infrared Remote Control (see also apt list | grep lirc) is a starting point and fits some of your software needs.

3

Thank you for the lead. I will investigate.
Have a nice day,
M…

4

Mike - There are many Android apps that will do as you want, but lirc is fast becoming outdated with no devs doing any further work on it. Lirc had many issues and was a bit of a dog’s breakfast to be honest.
For Ubuntu you only need systemd. The basic commands are already built-in to the kernel for many remotes, a typical Microsoft MCE remote (there are a multitude of clones) works out of the box.

I use a cheapie £75 Android tablet and one of the Android apps, smooth as silk and a lot cheaper and easier than my £600 Logitech Elite system.
This controls my Mythtv HTPC and as an added bonus also controls my smart home system, heating, lighting and security systems.

If you want a guide to systemd and ir control, see my tutorial here:
https://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?t=2403337&highlight=ditching+lirc

1 Like
5

@vidtek99 If I get your project right you’ve set up a receiver on your system to accept input from IR remote control to control your apps. And you use an Android tablet (which one?) as remote control?
But as far as I understand @mikegreen8, the final goal is to use the Juno Tab 4 as an IR remote control for various devices.

6

@g-schick Yes, I understand he wants to use his present tablet which uses Ubuntu as its o/s. That’s why I pointed him to systemd instead of the now redundant lirc.

I have no Idea what my Android tablet is, it’s a no-name generic, I bought two on special at £75. I plug a cheapo universal ir-blaster into its usb-c port. It also works on my Teclast P20. The Juno Tab 4 was about $600.

Here is one on eBay: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/286031981647?_skw=ir%20blaster%20on%20tablet&itmmeta=01JW6JJQWE65G2H4646EYWYVY1&itmprp=enc%3AAQAKAAAA0FkggFvd1GGDu0w3yXCmi1c9wtyBV8gaRzo4gftc%2FabYTr3LDNh6AMr8brfNT8Y13GENRyc%2FHqAfi5eZujzLtQYLfSViwqHQNdBybjydH1Z%2B0bZfLiB5W0LzVR9s93xzeQR%2FLhlcDfPtCBSCm%2Ba%2Ba06xgeh1ul6MbkPKv4VoGSU%2BDFyYrvqEZlyvIT0GTycwOi%2B%2F1wBeMFwEuRalUWJzr5x9qap89hcTRsK%2BnhArko38bkRQTUcrKPhk7KblbgyLlDAIeF1Y4HE1vkPnpQ7Yd6o%3D%7Ctkp%3ABk9SR7z-ytLhZQ

7

I tried to figure out how sending IR signals using systemd works. I started with ir-keytable which you used in your above mentioned project.
In the man page to ir-keytable in the section “See also” it reads “To transmit IR or receive raw IR, see ir-ctl(1).” From the Name section for ir-ctl: “ir-ctl - a swiss-knife tool to handle raw IR and to set lirc options”.
It seems ir-ctl is some kind of wrapper and/or extension for lirc with easier usage.

8

@g-schick - The ir-keytable utility has been around for a long time, so has references to lirc as a consequence.
It works with systemd. The devs in their wisdom keep moving the .toml irkeys directory seemingly at random. Here is their latest location from an earlier post of mine:> With new releases the location of the Infra-red files required for systemd have now been relocated

from: /lib/udev/rc_remotes
to:
/usr/lib/udev/rc_keymaps/

There was no documentation anywhere relating to this change as far as I can ascertain. I hope this post helps others who have been searching for these infra-red remote files.

I earnestly advise you to forget all about lirc, it is no longer supported. The kernel implementation of infra-red commands is a far more elegant and easy solution.
EDIT!!
It looks as though they have moved it again!
/usr/lib/modules/6.14.0-15-generic/kernel/drivers/media/rc/

Tony

1 Like
9

Thanks guys.

I like the idea of using ubuntu - I want to avoid microsoft and android.

However, what about running waydroid on ubuntu ? Then I could use android apps.

I have yet to purchase the Juno Tab 4 as it is coming out later this year. I will also be looking into linux laptops with touch screens and detachable keyboards.

I’ll keep you posted.

Thanks for all your input, and have a nice day,
M…

10

You obviously have your heart set on that tablet!
I have never used waydroid so cannot advise on that. Does it have a built in ir controller?
Tony

11

A Tablet or a small touch Laptop with detachable keyboard. Either of these can serve other purposes besides being a remote. IR and BT are built into the Tablet I’m looking at.

Have a nice day,
M…

1 Like