Snapstream Firefly non-functional

[Dan Christian]

Binary package hint: lirc

Using the mythbuntu control center configuration for a Snapstream Firefly and atilibusb, no key presses show up under mythtv or irw.

I couldn't get the userspace driver to work in 10.10 either (but didn't file a bug - bad user). In 10.10, I got it working using the lirc_atiusb module, but that also doesn't work under 11.04.

I've attached the hardware.conf below. The lircd.conf just includes /usr/share/lirc/remotes/atiusb/lircd.conf.atilibusb

ProblemType: Bug
DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
Package: lirc 0.8.7-0ubuntu4.1
ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
Architecture: amd64
Date: Tue May 24 12:39:59 2011
ProcEnviron:
 LANGUAGE=en_US:en
 PATH=(custom, user)
 LANG=en_US.UTF-8
 SHELL=/bin/bash
SourcePackage: lirc
UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-05-22 (1 days ago)

[Jarod Wilson (jarod-wilsonet)]

lsusb and dmesg output after a clean boot please. My suspicion: the in-kernel ati_remote driver is already bound to it.

[Dan Christian (danchristian65)]

$ lsusb
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 003: ID 046d:c505 Logitech, Inc. Cordless Mouse+Keyboard Receiver
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 0bc7:0008 X10 Wireless Technology, Inc. Wireless Transceiver (ACPI-compliant)
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 058f:6362 Alcor Micro Corp. Flash Card Reader/Writer
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

$ lsmod | egrep -i '(ati|ir)'
lirc_dev 17888 0
ir_sony_decoder 12549 0
ir_jvc_decoder 12546 0
ir_rc6_decoder 12546 0
ir_rc5_decoder 12546 0
ir_nec_decoder 12546 0
rc_core 26918 9 rc_hauppauge_new,ir_sony_decoder,ir_jvc_decoder,ir_rc6_decoder,cx88xx,ir_rc5_decoder,ir_nec_decoder
pata_atiixp 13165 0

$ cat /etc/modprobe.d/lirc-blacklist
blacklist lirc_atiusb
blacklist ati_remote

dmesg is attached.

[Jarod Wilson (jarod-wilsonet)]

Ah, so you've blacklisted ati_remote, ok, that makes more sense then. But why do that? Let ati_remote load, and then use lircd's devinput mode. (Not that atilibusb shouldn't work too).

[Jarod Wilson (jarod-wilsonet)]

Also, from dmesg:

[ 31.654252] lirc_dev: IR Remote Control driver registered, major 61
[ 31.654621] ir_lirc_codec: Unknown symbol lirc_dev_fop_poll (err 0)
[ 31.655146] ir_lirc_codec: Unknown symbol lirc_dev_fop_open (err 0)
[ 31.655242] ir_lirc_codec: disagrees about version of symbol lirc_get_pdata
[ 31.655245] ir_lirc_codec: Unknown symbol lirc_get_pdata (err -22)
[ 31.655361] ir_lirc_codec: Unknown symbol lirc_dev_fop_close (err 0)
[ 31.655453] ir_lirc_codec: Unknown symbol lirc_dev_fop_read (err 0)
[ 31.655536] ir_lirc_codec: disagrees about version of symbol lirc_register_driver
[ 31.655538] ir_lirc_codec: Unknown symbol lirc_register_driver (err -22)
[ 31.655731] ir_lirc_codec: Unknown symbol lirc_dev_fop_ioctl (err 0)

Please, please, please, remove the travesty that is lirc-modules-source and all its remnants. Its never going to work on 2.6.38.

[Dan Christian (danchristian65)]

I didn't create /etc/modprobe.d/lirc-blacklist, some package did (I had assumed it was lirc, but I can't find it in the package manifest and I'm not sure how to search for what package owns what file).

I'm not sure what you're saying about ati_remote. The lirc configuration has been noting but confusion to me. That only configuration that I ever had working (in 9.10 - 10.4) used the lirc_atiusb module .

I removed lirc-modules-source and rebooted. See new dmesg. Still not operational with atilibusb.

[Jarod Wilson (jarod-wilsonet)]

Okay, dmesg looks much better. I'm assuming some "helpful" Ubuntu lirc package bit is adding that blacklist file. Remove it. Let ati_remote load. Instruct lircd to use the 'devinput' driver, with device '/dev/input/by-id/<your snapstream>', and the lircd.conf.devinput config provided by lirc. Dunno how or if that's doable with the mythbuntu control center stuff, but its certainly doable by simply editing /etc/lirc/hardware.conf and lircd.conf by hand.

[Dan Christian (danchristian65)]

Still not working. Here is what I did:
rm /etc/modprobe.d/lirc-blacklist
modprobe ati-remote

$ lsmod | grep ati
ati_remote 13942 0
pata_atiixp 13165 0

Here is what dmesg says when ati-remote is loaded:
[ 3893.666788] usbcore: registered new interface driver ati_remote
[ 3893.666792] ati_remote: 2.2.1:ATI/X10 RF USB Remote Control

Edit /etc/lirc/hardware.conf. Here are the diffs from the mythbuntu control userspace configuration:
$ diff -u hardware-userspace.conf hardware.conf
--- hardware-userspace.conf 2011-05-22 16:06:54.092442540 -0600
+++ hardware.conf 2011-05-25 17:34:13.498180752 -0600
@@ -1,9 +1,9 @@
-REMOTE="ATI/NVidia/X10 RF Remote (userspace)"
-REMOTE_MODULES=""
-REMOTE_DRIVER="atilibusb"
+REMOTE="ATI/NVidia/X10 RF Remote (ati_remote)"
+REMOTE_MODULES="ati_remote"
+REMOTE_DRIVER="devinput"
 REMOTE_DEVICE=""
 REMOTE_SOCKET=""
-REMOTE_LIRCD_CONF="atiusb/lircd.conf.atilibusb"
+REMOTE_LIRCD_CONF="atiusb/lircd.conf.atiusb"
 REMOTE_LIRCD_ARGS=""
 TRANSMITTER="None"
 TRANSMITTER_MODULES=""

No output from irw or mode2.

[Jarod Wilson (jarod-wilsonet)]

You need to fill in REMOTE_DEVICE, per my prior comment.

[Dan Christian (danchristian65)]

I think you are saying that REMOTE_DEVICE should be set to one of these:
$ ls /dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-*
/dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-event-kbd@
/dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-event-mouse@
/dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-if01-event-mouse@
/dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-if01-mouse@
/dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-mouse@

The only one that made sense to me was the kbd one.

Here is my hardware.conf file (skipping empty entries):
$ grep '="[A-Za-z0-9]' hardware.conf
REMOTE="ATI/NVidia/X10 RF Remote (ati_remote)"
REMOTE_MODULES="ati_remote"
REMOTE_DRIVER="devinput"
REMOTE_LIRCD_CONF="atiusb/lircd.conf.atiusb"
TRANSMITTER="None"
START_LIRCD="true"
FORCE_NONINTERACTIVE_RECONFIGURATION="false"

cp /usr/share/lirc/remotes/devinput/lircd.conf.devinput /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
service lirc restart

I still get nothing through irw.

Here is how lircd is getting run:
$ ps ax | grep -i lirc
 7360 ? Ss 0:00 /usr/sbin/lircd --output=/var/run/lirc/lircd --driver=devinput --device=/dev/input/by-id/usb-Logitech_USB_Receiver-event-kbd

This is made harder because there is no documentation about what the possible --driver values are! I'm running out of patience for this. lirc had bad gaps in documentation and is very hard to debug. Not fun.

[Jarod Wilson (jarod-wilsonet)]

ati_remote apparently doesn't have everything in the driver properly wired up for udev to create the persistent symlink in by-id/, so you'll have to use some other means of discovery. You can point straight to a /dev/input/eventX device, or by name or phys, per http://lirc.org/html/devinput.html.

[Mike Brinson (mbrinson)]

@Dan Christian - did you ever get it working?
I'm in the same boat except I can tell from your posts that you are a few grades above me in your linux knowledge. I can follow what you did, but I wouldn't know the commands on my own without someone showing me like you have in your posts.

I did a fresh install using the mythbuntu distro (11.04)x64, and I've got the same issue with my firefly remote.

I wish I had a solution to post rather than just another, "I have that problem too!"

[Dan Christian (danchristian65)]

Nope. Nothing worked for me. The one thing I didn't try was building
lirc 0.9.0 from source (Ubuntu shipps 0.8.7).

I bought a media center edition remote:
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16880121003&Tpk=80-121-003
There is a bug with it doubling every button press, but the solution
is here: http://ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=10709651#post10709651
I can send you my .lirc/mythtv if you want it (based on the one from
the mce remote wiki page).

If someone wants a Firefly for debugging purposes, I can contribute mine.

-Dan

On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 3:45 PM, Mike Brinson <email address hidden> wrote:
> @Dan Christian - did you ever get it working?
> I'm in the same boat except I can tell from your posts that you are a few grades above me in your linux knowledge.  I can follow what you did, but I wouldn't know the commands on my own without someone showing me like you have in your posts.
>
> I did a fresh install using the mythbuntu distro (11.04)x64, and I've
> got the same issue with my firefly remote.
>
> I wish I had a solution to post rather than just another, "I have that
> problem too!"
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/787735
>
> Title:
>  Snapstream Firefly non-functional
>
> Status in “lirc” package in Ubuntu:
>  New
>
> Bug description:
>  Binary package hint: lirc
>
>  Using the mythbuntu control center configuration for a Snapstream
>  Firefly and atilibusb, no key presses show up under mythtv or irw.
>
>  I couldn't get the userspace driver to work in 10.10 either (but
>  didn't file a bug - bad user).  In 10.10, I got it working using the
>  lirc_atiusb module, but that also doesn't work under 11.04.
>
>  I've attached the hardware.conf below.  The lircd.conf just includes
>  /usr/share/lirc/remotes/atiusb/lircd.conf.atilibusb
>
>  ProblemType: Bug
>  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
>  Package: lirc 0.8.7-0ubuntu4.1
>  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
>  Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
>  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
>  Architecture: amd64
>  Date: Tue May 24 12:39:59 2011
>  ProcEnviron:
>   LANGUAGE=en_US:en
>   PATH=(custom, user)
>   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
>   SHELL=/bin/bash
>  SourcePackage: lirc
>  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-05-22 (1 days ago)
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lirc/+bug/787735/+subscribe
>

[Jarod Wilson (jarod-wilsonet)]

I'm still quite sure ati_remote + lircd's devinput driver works just fine for the firefly hardware when you're talking to the right event device.

[Dan Christian (danchristian65)]

Ya, but that's not something an ordinary user knows how to figure out.
 I couldn't find any docs on how to setup devinput, what it is, or
when to use it.

It's not at all clear from the documentation how to find and debug
each of these steps:
Which driver (the docs say the atilibusb driver is right, not
ati_remote; but everything has changed in recent kernels).
What device (I didn't know which directory to look in the device tree,
which device file to pick, or why).
What configuration lircd needs for that (hardware.conf setup isn't
actually documented).
What lircd.conf is needed for the above steps (and why).
What .lirc/mythtv file (actually, once irw works, this step isn't so hard).

To make it even worse, what are the ir_* drivers that seems to get
loaded automatically? I couldn't find any info on them. Are they
stepping on the user's configuration?

The mythbuntu control panel is supposed to make this easy, but it was
crashing on me, and it's configuration was broken in 10.10 and 11.04.

The software stack may work, but user's can't figure it out. I don't
want to belittle much hard work, but things don't look good from a
user perspective.

Thanks you for all your effort. I hope this view from a user's
perspective is constructive (but it feels like I'm whining about
something I got for free :-).
-Dan

On Mon, Jun 6, 2011 at 8:40 PM, Jarod Wilson <email address hidden> wrote:
> I'm still quite sure ati_remote + lircd's devinput driver works just
> fine for the firefly hardware when you're talking to the right event
> device.
>
> --
> You received this bug notification because you are a direct subscriber
> of the bug.
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/bugs/787735
>
> Title:
>  Snapstream Firefly non-functional
>
> Status in “lirc” package in Ubuntu:
>  New
>
> Bug description:
>  Binary package hint: lirc
>
>  Using the mythbuntu control center configuration for a Snapstream
>  Firefly and atilibusb, no key presses show up under mythtv or irw.
>
>  I couldn't get the userspace driver to work in 10.10 either (but
>  didn't file a bug - bad user).  In 10.10, I got it working using the
>  lirc_atiusb module, but that also doesn't work under 11.04.
>
>  I've attached the hardware.conf below.  The lircd.conf just includes
>  /usr/share/lirc/remotes/atiusb/lircd.conf.atilibusb
>
>  ProblemType: Bug
>  DistroRelease: Ubuntu 11.04
>  Package: lirc 0.8.7-0ubuntu4.1
>  ProcVersionSignature: Ubuntu 2.6.38-8.42-generic 2.6.38.2
>  Uname: Linux 2.6.38-8-generic x86_64
>  NonfreeKernelModules: nvidia
>  Architecture: amd64
>  Date: Tue May 24 12:39:59 2011
>  ProcEnviron:
>   LANGUAGE=en_US:en
>   PATH=(custom, user)
>   LANG=en_US.UTF-8
>   SHELL=/bin/bash
>  SourcePackage: lirc
>  UpgradeStatus: Upgraded to natty on 2011-05-22 (1 days ago)
>
> To unsubscribe from this bug, go to:
> https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/lirc/+bug/787735/+subscribe
>

[Jarod Wilson (jarod-wilsonet)]

On Jun 7, 2011, at 12:31 AM, Dan Christian wrote:

> Ya, but that's not something an ordinary user knows how to figure out.
> I couldn't find any docs on how to setup devinput, what it is, or
> when to use it.

http://lirc.org/html/devinput.html

> It's not at all clear from the documentation how to find and debug
> each of these steps:
> Which driver (the docs say the atilibusb driver is right, not
> ati_remote;

What docs are you referring to here?

> but everything has changed in recent kernels).
> What device (I didn't know which directory to look in the device tree,
> which device file to pick, or why).

See prior link.

> What configuration lircd needs for that (hardware.conf setup isn't
> actually documented).

hardware.conf is a Debian creation that Ubuntu inherited from there.
Upstream lirc has nothing to do with it, so I can't help there.

> What lircd.conf is needed for the above steps (and why).

The question of which lircd.conf is covered at that link. The why
is because all devinput devices have keys mapped to the standard
linux input layer key namespace, as defined in include/linux/input.h,
so its impossible for a key to have any other value than the ones
that are defined in that config.

> What .lirc/mythtv file (actually, once irw works, this step isn't so hard).
>
> To make it even worse, what are the ir_* drivers that seems to get
> loaded automatically? I couldn't find any info on them.

'modinfo <drivername>' is usually a start. You could also ask about
them on the lirc or linux-media mailing lists.

They're in-kernel decoders for raw IR hardware, used to map raw IR
scancodes to linux input layer key namespace.

> Are they stepping on the user's configuration?

In this case, no, not at all. The firefly is RF. The IR decoders only
have something to do if your receiver passes along raw IR samples.

> The mythbuntu control panel is supposed to make this easy, but it was
> crashing on me, and it's configuration was broken in 10.10 and 11.04.

Well, the mythbuntu control panel is another piece of software that is
completely and totally out of upstream lirc's control. I've never even
seen it, let alone tried to use it. If its broken, well, that's on the
people who maintain it. A fair amount has changed in the IR world lately,
and its all been discussed 100% in the open on the lirc and linux-media
mailing lists. (Nb: if it wasn't already understood, I don't actually
use Ubuntu myself).

> The software stack may work, but user's can't figure it out. I don't
> want to belittle much hard work, but things don't look good from a
> user perspective.

Honestly, I have to blame hardware.conf's auto-population thing that
the lirc deb runs and/or the mythbuntu control center for most of this.
Its actually *very* simple to set these things up by hand. It seems
like the tooling is just out of date with reality.

> Thanks you for all your effort. I hope this view from a user's
> perspective is constructive (but it feels like I'm whining about
> something I got for free :-).

Yes and no. I do know that a central documentation repository kept up
to date with the latest and greatest information for how to configure
every remote und...

[Dan Christian (danchristian65)]

On Tue, Jun 7, 2011 at 8:43 AM, Jarod Wilson <email address hidden> wrote:
> On Jun 7, 2011, at 12:31 AM, Dan Christian wrote:
>
>> Ya, but that's not something an ordinary user knows how to figure out.
>> I couldn't find any docs on how to setup devinput, what it is, or
>> when to use it.
>
> http://lirc.org/html/devinput.html

I read that and it didn't make much sense. It doesn't tell me when I
would want devinput. The (scarce) advice it gives about what device
to use with it was different than what you told me. It tells me how
to list possible event devices, but not how to pick which one is
right. Most of it is how to debug HAL conflicts and HAL is a (scary)
mystery to me (and most users).

Also, the lircd documentation (http://www.lirc.org/html/lircd.html)
never tells me what are the valid values for --driver (or how to find
that if they are dynamic). It has some vague words about dev/input
and match strings, but it doesn't make sense to me. Some examples
here would be gold.

>> It's not at all clear from the documentation how to find and debug
>> each of these steps:
>> Which driver (the docs say the atilibusb driver is right, not
>> ati_remote;
>
> What docs are you referring to here?

Firefly is listed in http://www.lirc.org/html/table.html
There is also a devinput listing later on, but it isn't clear when to
use that. I saw an entry that matches what I see in front of me and
used that.

>> but everything has changed in recent kernels).
>> What device (I didn't know which directory to look in the device tree,
>> which device file to pick, or why).
>
> See prior link.

I read that link and it didn't succeed in answering any of the questions listed.

>> What configuration lircd needs for that (hardware.conf setup isn't
>> actually documented).
>
> hardware.conf is a Debian creation that Ubuntu inherited from there.
> Upstream lirc has nothing to do with it, so I can't help there.

Some documented examples that list every step would help. I looked at
the spawned lircd to see exactly what hardware.conf was doing, but I
had nothing to compare it to. As I said before, it isn't clear what
the possible drivers are, what devices would go with them, or (in the
case of devinput) what search strings to use.

>> What lircd.conf is needed for the above steps (and why).
>
> The question of which lircd.conf is covered at that link. The why
> is because all devinput devices have keys mapped to the standard
> linux input layer key namespace, as defined in include/linux/input.h,
> so its impossible for a key to have any other value than the ones
> that are defined in that config.

True. I never got any output, so I could really determine if it made sense.

>> What .lirc/mythtv file (actually, once irw works, this step isn't so hard).
>>
>> To make it even worse, what are the ir_* drivers that seems to get
>> loaded automatically?  I couldn't find any info on them.
>
> 'modinfo <drivername>' is usually a start. You could also ask about
> them on the lirc or linux-media mailing lists.

I didn't know about modinfo. Now that I know... it doesn't actually
give much information. The descriptions are very short and
finding/reading the source is beyon...

[Launchpad Janitor (janitor)]

Status changed to 'Confirmed' because the bug affects multiple users.

[Alec Leamas (leamas-alec)]

This bug is old.

The loast release (0.9.4c - zesty) deals with this. Actually the default configuration (--driver devinput --device auto) should cover the devinput case. Here is also new documentation on how to setup the default driver (also available at http://lirc.org/html/configuration-guide.html. Clsoing.

lirc (0.9.4b-0.1) experimental; urgency=medium

  * Non-maintainer upload.
  * First shot on major upstream updates.
    - Re-packaged from scratch based on new dh primitives.
    - Thanks for help on debian-mentors!
  * New upstream release 0.9.4
    - Release 0.9.1 .. 0.9.3 was never packaged.
    - Old 'lirc' service split into separate systemd services:
      lircd.service, lircmd.service and irexec.service.
    - Remote definitions moved out of lirc to new project
      lirc-remotes; affects large number of LP issues.
    - Builds also on FreeBSD 10.3.
    - Fixes "Not updated to last version" (Closes: #777199),
      LP: #1443590.
    - Fixes "Default device for mode2 is /dev/lirc" (Closes: #702140).
    - Fixes "/var/run/lirc contents disappear..." (Closes: #676343).
    - Fixes "lircrcd segfaults" (Closes: #780062).
    - Fixes "'/etc/init.d/lirc restart' is broken" (Closes: #782091).
    - Fixes "Prompting due to modified conffiles..." (Closes: #655969).
    - Fixes "LIRC installs bad udev rule" (Closes: #804397),
      users depending on this rule will need to explicitly start lircd.
    - Fixes "lirc init script can create circular symlinks", LP: #698007.
    - Fixes "Update Uploaders List (Closes: #762554).
    - Fixes "Please switch to libftdi1" (Closes: #810370).
    - Fixes LP: #153457 "iguanaIR support not functional".
    - Fixes LP: #460027 "using lirc init script restart function fails
      sometimes".
    - Fixes LP: #499588 "lirc udev rule causes unreliable startup".
    - Fixes LP: #567519 "lircd(8) mentions non-existent
      /dev/input/uinput".
    - Fixes LP: #1029604 "mce remote doesn't work due to out of date
      lircd.conf.devinput".
    - Fixes LP: #1312287 "lircd start problem".
  * The built-in irman support is moved to the lirc-drv-irman package.
  * Revised package structure: keep old liblircclient0 (renamed to
    liblirc-client0). Adding new packages liblirc0, liblirc-dev and
    lirc-doc. Former liblircclient-dev merged into new liblirc-dev.
  * Don't overwrite existing lircd.conf file.
  * Ship sysV scripts from the svn tree [Stefan Lippers-Hollmann]
  * Add handling of obsolete 0.9.0 udev rule restarting lircd
  * Old lircd output socket link /dev/lirc dropped. Use
    /var/run/lirc/lircd.
  * Updated copyright
  * Update compiler flags: -Wl,as-needed + hardening
    [Stefan Lippers-Hollmann]
  * Avoid negative architecture deps like [!hurd] (Closes: #634807)
    [Stefan Lippers-Hollmann]
  * Add patch 0007-tools-remove-configs-symlink.patch + explicit link
    to walk around #801719 (dh_python3 shortcomings).
  * Last parts of libirman dependencies removed.
  * Changing Vcs-* headers to point to upstream packaging branch.
  * Fixes existing large number of upgrade bugs.
  * Enhance hardening flags.
  * Add a lintian pbuilder test, this requires --hookdir and B92-test-pkg
    therein.
  * Tes...