When the UIR module saves deported PC...

 
I - Real need no solutions...

• With the growing DVD stuff and TV tuner cards, the PC became the multimedia tool of 21th century. Why buying an Home Cinema expensive and limited as any DVD player and a sound dolby surround card (SBLIVE!5.1) will do the trick cheaper and with not limits ?
  
• I noticed that a lot of us did not accept the Idea to see showing wires in their saloon or cannot deal with the idea of a jungle of wires. It is true that in Dolby 5.1 , as it reuires 6 speakers (DT2200 ) , you shouldmake 6 links accross the room..(including one between bass speaker and the PC). But what shocks more the people is the fact that the noise of the PC is unbearable and it is always hard to enjoy special surround effects of the film. .I solved this trouble by exporting my PC in another room and closing the door.
  
  To do this, I have made some investment in the USB technology ( USB keyboard , USB mouse , USB modem , USB expander 5 m ..) and bought a 10 meters long VGA cable.. Arg !!! you will said to me, this adds two wires in the saloon! Yes I answer but you will have to know what you truly want. In my case, the serenity when I watch out a DIVX film or I listen MP3 music or I work on the PC... At the start, I though that it will be enought to put the PC into the armchair and close the doors..unfortunately the temperature of the processor rises very fast to 50°C !! Don't need either to buy special central unit with low noise as now a lots of graphic cards come with a noisy fan of the death..
  
• Right now, how do you control your PC behind the wall? This trouble leads a lots of people to work together on a common project : Lirc (Linux Infrarouge Remote Control). I have found the answer there..: the infrared Universal Receiver (UIR) from Tie Bos . I will show you it in thsi article and even give you the opportunity to build yours. Unfortunately you will have to add an additionnal 10 meters shielded cable in your saloon (this is the last I swear!) with 3 wires inside. In sumary, we will have 6+2+1, ie 9 cables to hide. I am looking for a solution to reduce this number .. if you have one please send me an Email, you are welcome...
• Thanks to Ties Bos for exposing his UIR module, Jen Madsen for his wonderful Pic programmer, people who has contributed to the Lirc project (Thousands in the world !!!!) and all except - those playing windows cards games on autonomous pc in the train  or brix games on their silly handphone in the tramway -  who allows me to realize this 4 inches square miracle m'ont permis de réaliser ce miracle de 9cm^2 and discover the pic world!!!!! 

II - FEATURES

• Remote control of the pc with any remote TV, remote of tape recorders (in the band of 36khz) at 2 to 3 meters (without obstacle). A key can be associated to a bundle of actions (open excel , format windows ;-), rises the sound volume , next clip in powerpoint...unlimitted possibilities).

 
• Ambient light protected as the transmission is coded and there is an built in UV filter.

.
• Does not load the PC as a microcontroler decodes the IR frame for the PC..

 
• Small in size- easy to put into a transparent film box of a camera .

 
• IRMAN 100% compatible (commercial stuff for those who can't build on their own) - It works either on Linux (lirc+libirman) or windows 9x, NT /2000 (irassitant+irman dll ) thanks to the irman dirver- only the soft you use is different..

No external power required as this is the 9 pin serial port which do this - Warning: some old stuff may such as Isa controller, multi I/0 as it does not deliver enough voltage...

III -REALIZATION

I have not manage to get the SFH506-36 (obsolete) diode but its equivalent , the SFH5110-36. If you use it like me , you should invert pinouts.
I give below the two possibilities of cards depending on which diode you will manage to buy.


1) Component location

UIR 506 version	UIR 5110 version

2) Pinouts and component list

COMPONENTS	P1 to DB9 PC
Diodes : D1,D2: 1N4148 Z1,Z2: ZENER 5V1	4 / DTR
Capacitors : C1,C2 : 15pF C3: 4.7uF	7 / RTS
IC1 : PIC12C509 or PIC12C508 M1* : SFH506-36 or SFH5110-36 Q1: QUARTZ 4MHZ	5 / GND
Connectors : Tiny 5 pin connector subd9 female connector	2 / RXD
Misc: Shielded cable with 3 wires(10m) DIL 8 socket (optional but recommanded)	3 / TXD


* choose the correspondant layout.

Nb: I have remove the D1 and D2 diode and welded into the DB9 connector . I think it more safe. The pin 5 is linked to the shield of the wire and pin 4 supplies the power for the card. Only pin 7 is disconnected.

3) Copper side

UIR 506 version	UIR 5110 version
Board File UIR506.lmc	BoardFile UIR5110.lmc



4) Programmation of the PIC (IC1)

The next step is to program the lmicrocontroler by uploading the file ir509b.hex into it. This can be done with the JDM PP2 programmer and the program prog508.bat for the PIC12C508 or prog509.bat for the PIC12C509.. These use an external program pp2.exe available on the JDM website.

The binary file to upload (ir509b.hex) works for the two types of circuit, this can be downloaded from the UIR official Tie Bos website. Take care, there is two release: christal or RC, only christal is interesting. I don't want to substitute to his website so if you want the schematics or further explanations go there and get it..Then ,put the chip to program (PIC50x ) on the PP2 programmer socket , connect the programmer to one of your PC serial port and tape the following command in the DOS (to work , it assumes that you downloaded the previous programs).

prog508 ir509b.hex X where X is the le number of your serial on which your programmer is plugged..

You should get the following messages:

Reading 12C50X from COM X
Reading file 'ir509b.hex'
Oscillator calibration value: (15) 255
Programming ...
Verify TRUE
Verify TRUE


indicating that all works fine and the programmation is over. Congratulation! you can go to the next chapter and make your wishes reality...

If not, no panick, try an another port number 1,2,3,4.. if nothing works for you , check connections, the chip on the socket well fixed and located ? If so, tour programmer may have a problem (shortcut? missing track? use a continuity tester) or the port doesn't supply the board as it should be..


IV - SOFTWARE PART


Before anything , link your UIR module to one serial port (COM1 ou COM2) and check if the DB9 is well inside.

1) W
IA) WINDOWS INSTALLATION PROCEDURE

• a) Irassistant
 
1) Download and Install Irassistant with winzip by double-clicking on setup.exe. Then copy irman.dll into irassitant installation directory (Program files \ Irassistant )

2)Launch Irassistant . Don't be surprized , i bet you will get "device not detected" as the default serial port is not those you put your UIR module . To declare on which port your UIR is, tape simultanously CTRL-S. 



The setting window appears , in the drivers section select Irman UIR, PCCommander (if you don't see it that mean you have forgotten to copy irman.dll). Change the port to match the port you connect the UIR module (for example COM2 if COM1 is busy as the mouse is plugged in). Validate by ok /apply your changes.

3)A learning phase of ech key of your remote control should be done as well as the action triggered by these keys. For each Remote Control key, follow these steps:
 

a) Add a button group (shortcut CTRL-A)

In the area labelled (1) give a name. As this will appear on the button, give one you can understand (here, Son+=Sound+ and Augmenter son=Increase Sound).

b) Assocate a bundle of tasks or macro (2) by pressing on new:



The button "Son+" (sound+):
 - has for action named "augmenter le volume"(increase the sound volume) 
- which is done by the command volume up (sélect one or more action command (s) in the macro list and then press add to build your sequence of actions) .

c)Finally, by clicking on Learn, irassistant will learn the infrared code of one remote control key - press several times the same key (4 times at least).


 

4)That is over. Don't forget now to activater irrassistant with the activate button so that it will launch the predefined actions for each remote Control key you configured previously.
 
 

• b) Winamp
 
1)Download Winamp

2)Get and install the Irman plugin (this will install for you gen_ir.dll into the winamp plugin directory) by starting gen_ir???.exe



3)Launch Winamp  

4)Activate /Configure plugin. For this, Press simultanously CTRL et K.



In the left window , choose plugins > general and select PEP1UY .
You wil get the window as drawn on the picture.Change the serial port com (if necessary) to match with your UIR module. If it not good, you will get can't open Ir port.
 

5)Associate like for irassistant , a remote control key for a winamp button by clicking on Play button of this panel and the Play key of your remote control and do the same for ...Next Track,Volume up....etc.
 

6)Now you got a mp3 jukebox remote controlled!

 

Notice: Irassistant and Winamp plugin cannot be run together. Irassistant is as for more powerfull as it can interact with other external software (example powerpoint)
 

B )UIR INSTALLATION UNDER LINUX

 

• a)Lirc with libirman

 

1)Download libirman and lircxx.tar.gz from the official LIRC website

2) Decompress libirman-xx.tar.gz :


tar xvzf libirman-xx.tar.gz


3)Compile libirman-xx
 

cd libirman-xx
./configure
make 
make install
ldconfig


Look at the Readme file for further explanations. 

 Launch  `test_io' to check the connection with your uir module. Press any okey of your remote control, it should react ont you will see lines code. If it is not the case, that probably mean your configuration file (aka irman.conf) does not use the right serial port /dev/ttySx  or /dev/cuax with x=0,1,2 number of the port.
Incrément x form the start value 0  until test_io gives some codes.

Now as the link is okay , launch  `test_func' to adapt libirman to your remote control..

The config file `irman.conf' has to be copied to the directory /usr/local/etc/irman.conf.  Press one key after the other and write down each generated code. Thsi code is specific for a key of your remote control , edit the  irmanrc file and add a line ::

  bind  name_ of_the_buton  buton_code
.

To use libirman v0.4.2 with lirc , you should have lirc 0.5.5 or greater . 

4) Decompile lirc-x.y.z.tar.gz :
 


tar xvzf lirc-0_6_0.tar.gz


5)Compile lirc
 

cd lirc-0.6.0
./configure
make 
make install
ldconfig
Follow the Lirc documentation to know how to associate an action to the key with lircd

Have some fun!.