Universal Remote for CE/HA? (openmoko)

[Joshua Judson Rosen]

Jed <jedi.theone at gmail.com> writes:
>
> > > Does anyone know of any OSS supported devices that do have IR integrated?
> > 
> > Psion 5, 5mx, Ericsson mc218. Slow cpu, limited memory, monochrome and old 
> > kernel, but excellent battery life on a pair of AAs. Probably not the form 
> > factor you're after though.
> 
> Interesting idea thanks, perhaps a tad too old though as you say.
> Form-factor would be closer to a standard remote but with an LCD, 
> ideally touch-screen but not imperative.
> 
> > Neuros OSD - for a low power consumption ethernet to IR gateway
> > and standard def media player. Again probably not what you're
> > after.
> 
> yeah really looking for hand-held device but thanks!

Hah :)

Using the Neuros OSD as an ethernet->IR gateway is actually an
interesting idea, and one that I've had before myself: it would be
really neat to use something like a FreeRunner as a TV remote with a
built-in real-time channel-guide, i.e.: one could get a listing of all
of the TV shows airing at present (or in the upcoming hour), and just
*tap the show's title* on the screen to select it.

My own initial idea was, of course, to just find a handheld device
with inbuilt IR functionality, but then not only did I see that there
was the issue of finding something with `inbuilt IR' functionality at
all, but that the meaning of "IR" actually varied (computing devices
support IRDA; TVs and other such devices use different protocols, and
it appeared that an IRDA device may not be able to support any of the
non-IRDA protocols). Also, prior to the FreeRunner, I found it
difficult to justify to myself the idea spending $500 or more on a
more functionally-limited device like an iPaq or something that would
probably just end up being a $500+ TV remote control.

But then I got an OSD and realised that it came with a IR dongle and
that I could use it as a gateway, which made the problem easier.

One of the interesting things about the IR functionality of the OSD,
though, is that it doesn't appear to be built-in to the OSD per
se--the IR transmitter is a small device that just connects to the
OSD's serial port.

I believe that there are universal `consumer electronics'-type IR
transceivers (UIRT) currently on the market that function as USB
devices, and some of them are even quite cheap--in the worst case,
this might be a less-invasive option: to simply plug one of these into
a FreeRunner's USB port.

-- 
Don't be afraid to ask (Lf.((Lx.xx) (Lr.f(rr)))).