IR decoding with BPF

lwn.net

58 points·signa11··8 comments

I vaguely remember IR capability on PC's or laptops in the late 90's. Haven't seen anything like that since other than odd USB devices for fun/hobbyists.

What is the intended use-cases for the capability of decoding IR. Why would you want to talk with your PC in IR?

I guess it the article is a bit weird going into all this detail but there's no discussion about _WHY_ or what for?

One reason is to use infrared remotes with an HTPC.

With LIRC (and now possibly this more performant solution), you could use pretty much any remote you could find with your computer, with cheaply available and DIY receivers.

It's great not to need to use a keyboard and mouse to control something like Kodi, and be able to use the same remote you use for your TV.

Linux runs on millions of set-top boxes, TVs, DVRs, ...

Infrared used to be used prior to Bluetooth to transfer data between phones and PCs. The speed was useless for anything significant but you could send small files (business cards, text files, etc).

Why the hell is this in every kernel?

It's not, they're optional modules (drivers/media/rc).

So in every kernel source tree, not in every build. Good!

Its buried in the discussion why this might make sense to have in a kernel: being able to control the system as soon as it boots. Think keyboard, but via IR.

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