Notices

Irreco is remote control application for controlling IR equipped devices.
N900 has IR transmitter. You know where this is going.

Irreco for n900 tutorial @Youtube.com
(Bad video quality, we know.)

Fremantle port is at extras-devel.
Just get irreco-for-n900 package and you are ready to shoot IR beams from your n900.
(Sadly, IR beam is invisible to human eye, so no Star Wars battles with N900's)

Controlling any device requires that some good soul has recorded it's remote controller in first place.
No much sense of bothering to install at all if your device isn't supported so check first.
http://lirc.sourceforge.net/remotes/
Lirc command database (^that there) isn't that comprehensive (+2000 devices), so good luck with it. Some models made by the same manufacturer work with similar devices, so maybe give it a try. Additionally you can try recording your remote with IR equipped computer or with external IR receiver.
Installing LIRC for recording remote controls on a ThinkPad @Youtube.com

Known bugs and stuff to do:
- LircDB browsing is awful. Items are activated on click so finding correct model takes time. Works on emulator though, fixed twice, no clues about solution.
- Button style selection activates on tap, no easy solution. Use that tiny scrollbar. Would require biggish rewrite.
- New button dialog offers last used command for new buttons. Mainly annoying.
- Removing theme containing BG image sometimes results BG dialog chrashing. Couldn't reproduce issue on emulator.
- BIG issue. Lirc daemon running background affects batterylife dramatically. <- Fixed
- General lack of usability and frustrading complexity. Hard times for first time users.

Note for Old irreco users who may remember these.
Old-timer backends are somewhat abandoned.
(browser, commandline, irtrans, mythtv and telnet)
Those may not be that hard to port though. UI reorganizations mostly I'd think.

There are no more developers left for this (GTK/C) project. Last three: Mäki, Parttimaa and Vattulainen are moving on.
Some of us are still here somewhere, but coding is somewhat done now. Lirc daemon issue is still on table, but no promises about that either. Some init.d signaling stuff under investigation.
Some talks still on way, about code sharing and giving project away.

P.S No fooling around with public tellies.
P.P.S Original n8x0 irreco talk here

Harriva

EDIT @Friday, September 11, 2009
Telnet and Commandline backends are added to Fremantle repository.

EDIT2 @Monday, September 14, 2009
Up to date sources here.
http://repo.or.cz/w/irreco.git

EDIT3 @Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Lirc daemon running all the time fixed some time ago but let's announce it here too. Latest Lirc daemon is running only when Irreco (or QTirreco) is started. This should help extend battery life.

So the little black window next to the camera button is actually IR transmitter! I knew it!
What is the range?

It is indeed IR thingy.

Don't know about final product so I don't guess it's range.

How far from the device you can use N900 to control ?

We don't have n900.
We have n900 prototype.
I can't provide any accurate information regarding ir range of final product.

Can someone with a final product test it?

This is a great product, and a must download for the N900.

I think this project sorely needs some design work and some UI work to make it more attractive and the UI better (as you know). Functionally, though, it's quite good!

Also, it would be good to have 'Generic' remotes with button layouts already set up. For example, if a person were to download from LIRC DB, the commands would be mapped to the generic remote. This would make it much easier for people to have something to customize based on.

Lastly, a one-handed portrait mode would be nice. As I understand it, it's in the top-right side of the device, so you'd have to hold the device in portrait-upside down (thumb along the bottom edge), but this would make it much more comfortable to control.

I think this project has TONS of potential, and can turn into something quite special with a bit more work. Way to go guys!

}:^)~

It's been thinked. No time, no doers.
Nope.
The blinky is right-top side. Same side where +/-, power and camerabuttons are.
Hope I understood this right.

Yes, I understand.

I guess it depends how bright the IR is, as when holding it portrait, you might still be able to have the signal reach the receiver even if it's coming out of the side of the device.

Well, perhaps there'll be a fork of this interesting project or another project that fixes some of these usability issues.

{:^!~

Don't think that would work. But you'll test it out when devices start shipping.


Hope so.
I'll talk about taking extra delevopers to QT guys who are making QT version of irreco.