HowTo: Enabling lirc remote control includin mouse emulation

Diy and Tweaks Diy Volumio Projects
1

Hi
I didn’t found any instructions for the mouse emulation so I wanted to share the outcome of reading different pages accross the internet.

Partially adapted from:
https://volumio.org/forum/how-installed-lirc-with-receiver-and-remote-volumio-t360.html

Volumio2 basic remote control and mouse emulation using lirc.

You need:

Any working remote,
TSOP4838 receiver or similiar,
100 Ohm resistor,
0,1µF capacitor ,
Volumio with Touchscreen plug-in installed on your RPi.

Prepare Hardware:
(Check datasheet for pinning of your TSOP first!!!)

  1. Connect one side of 100 Ohm to V+ of TSOP (TSOP4838 => Pin3).
  2. Connect other side of 100 Ohm to either 3.3V or 5V of RPi (should work both).
  3. Connect one side of capacitor to TSOP GND (Pin2) and TSOP V+ (Pin3).
  4. Connect TSOP Data (Pin1) to any unused RPi GPIO. It can be any GPIO,
    but consider used pins of add-on boards such as sound cards etc. (see vendor
    documentation). Remember the logical GPIO number (!Not the physical pin
    of connetcor!).

Prepare volumio OS:

  1. Enable ssh via .local/dev/
  2. Login via ssh
    user: volumio
    pw: volumio
  3. Run
sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get install lirc

Customize lirc:

  1. Edit /boot/config.txt:
sudo nano/boot/config.txt

Add the following lines at end of config.txt:

#...
dtoverlay=lirc-rpi
dtparam=gpio_out_pin=26
dtparam=gpio_in_pin=17
dtparam=gpio_in_pull=down

Important for receiving is the line dtparam=gpio_out_pin=…
Enter the GPIO number from section Prepare Hardware step (4.).
(In my case, I choosed pin 26 because it does not conflict
with my Hifiberry Amp+)

  1. Edit hardware.conf of lirc:
sudo nano /etc/lirc/hardware.conf

modify the file with the following content:

#...
LIRCD_ARGS="--uinput"
# Enable the lirc mouse deamon
START_LIRCMD=true
#...
DEVICE="/dev/lirc0"
MODULES="lirc_rpi"
# ...
# Default configuration files for your hardware if any
LIRCD_CONF=""
LIRCMD_CONF="/etc/lirc/lircmd.conf"

Setting of LIRCMD_CONF=… is only needed if you want to
enable lirc mouse emulation.

  1. Stop lirc deamon and learn commands of your favourite remote

sudo /etc/init.d/lirc stop irrecord -n -d /dev/lirc0 /home/volumio/lircd.conf
(follow instructions on screen, names of the keys can be your choice)

  1. Copy previously recorded lircd.conf to /etc/lirc
cp /home/volumio/lircd.conf /etc/lirc/lircd.conf
  1. Start lirc deamon:
sudo /etc/init.d/lirc start
  1. Check if remote works by runnig:
irw

…and press some buttons, it should print the button names
that you have given under step (2.)

  1. Create .lircrc in /home/volumio
nano /home/volumio/.lircrc

See content of my .lircrc:

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = power
    config = shutdown -h now
end

# volumio direct control

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = mute
    config = volumio volume toggle
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = volume_up
    config = volumio volume plus
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = volume_down
    config = volumio volume minus
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = seek_forward
    config = volumio seek plus
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = seek_backward
    config = volumio seek minus
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = windows
    config = volumio random
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = tv_recordings
    config = volumio repeat
end


begin
    prog = irexec
    button = play
    config = volumio play
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = stop
    config = volumio stop
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = pause
    config = volumio toggle
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = skip_forward
    config = volumio next
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = skip_backward
    config = volumio previous
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = channel_up
    config = volumio next
end

begin
    prog = irexec
    button = channel_down
    config = volumio previous
end

(the names for “button =” must match the names that you
provided in the irrecord session under step (2.)

  1. Add irexec to rc.local:
sudo nano /etc/rc.local

see my rc.local:

#!/bin/sh -e
#
# rc.local
#
# This script is executed at the end of each multiuser runlevel.
# Make sure that the script will "exit 0" on success or any other
# value on error.
#
# In order to enable or disable this script just change the execution
# bits.
#
# By default this script does nothing.

(sleep 3;
sudo -u volumio irexec -d
)&
exit 0
  1. Reboot
    Now volumio should be able to be controlled by your remote.
    To enable the mouse emulation follow additional steps.
    My remote has arrow buttons for mouse movement
    and a center OK button for left click.
    Alternatively use your number buttons:
  • Center 5 for left click.
  • 2, 4, 6, 8 for North, West, East, South.
  • If you like: 1, 3, 7, 9 for diagonal movement such as NW, NE, SW, SE
  1. Edit /etc/lirc/lircmd.conf (again, log in via ssh):
sudo nano /etc/lirc/lircmd.conf

See my file:

[code]

To find out how to get a proper configuration file please read:

/usr/share/doc/lirc/README.Debian

lircmd config file

PROTOCOL IntelliMouse

ACCELERATOR start max multiplier

ACCELERATOR 2 30 5

#TOGGLE_ACTIVATE * ok

MOVE_N * up
#MOVE_NE * 3
MOVE_E * right
#MOVE_SE * 9
MOVE_S * down
#MOVE_SW * 7
MOVE_W * left
#MOVE_NW * 1
#MOVE_IN * CH+
#MOVE_OUT * CH-

#BUTTON1_TOGGLE * 5
#BUTTON1_TOGGLE * RADIO
#BUTTON2_TOGGLE * VOL+
#BUTTON3_TOGGLE * SOURCE

BUTTON1_CLICK * ok
#BUTTON1_CLICK * Asterix
#BUTTON3_CLICK * #

BUTTONx_CLICK, BUTTONx_UP, BUTTONx_DOWN are also possible[/code]

  • Again, after each “*” enter the name of the buttons
    from your irrecord session from step (2.).
  • “*” stands for any remote that is recognized by lirc.
  • TOGGLE_ACTIVATE: decide if you want to use a special
    button to enable/disable mouse emulation.
    In my case it is commented out and therefore always enabled.
  • Modify ACCELERATOR to adjust the behavior of movements to your needs.
  • You may comment in MOVE_NE etc. to enable diagonal movements.
  1. Modify X server configuration. Create a file:
sudo nano /usr/share/X11/xorg.conf.d/80-lircmouse.conf

(name of the file should start with a number and MUST end with .conf;
the rest is your choice)
See content of my file:

Section "InputDevice"
   Identifier  "LIRC-Mouse"
   Driver      "mouse"
   Option      "Protocol" "IntelliMouse"
   Option      "SendCoreEvents"
   Option      "Buttons" "5"
   Option      "ZAxisMapping" "4 5"
EndSection

(content from lirc.org)

  1. Reboot

The remote should now work as expected:

  • Basic remote control for volumio.
  • Mouse emulation

Have Fun!