IRDA -- Infrared
28 July 2004

Summary

The vpr matrix 200A5 does not have an IR port. The official spec sheet doesn't mention it, although a detailed comparison with a TiBook claims it does.

Software and guides

Installation history

I enabled all IRDA options in the 2.6.6 kernel and got this on boot:
Selecting previously deselected package irda-utils.
Unpacking irda-utils (from .../irda-utils_0.9.16-4_i386.deb) ...
Setting up irda-utils (0.9.16-4) ...
Starting IrDA service: irattach.
man irattach gave me this:
The currently known FIR drivers are:

  o  ali-ircc ALi FIR Controller Driver for ALi  M5123  (options:  io,
     irq, dma).  This driver supports SIR, MIR and FIR (4Mbps) speeds.
     This chipset is used by e.g.:

     The ALi M5123 FIR  Controller  is  embedded  in  ALi  M1543C,
     M1535, M1535D, M1535+, M1535D South Bridge.
Now, WinXP claims that the modem is an "Agere SoftModem Version 2.1.14, AMR ALi1535p MB" -- that could be the ALi1535P southbridge. lspci claims Sigillo has the "ALi Corporation M1533 PCI to ISA Bridge [Aladdin IV]" -- not M1535.  ALi (Acer Laboratories Inc.)'s own pages says this:
Why is it that my south bridge appears to be M1533 instead of M1543 under the Device Manager?

M1533 is ALi's southbridge chipset product ID. M1533, M1543, M1543C uses the same product ID(1533). So the information showed in your system is correct.

Note that of these three remaining possibilities, only the M1543C has the ALi  M5123 IR controller -- and it looks like this is not the chip you have. The clincher: the southbridge is called Aladdin IV, and  ALi's customer support page shows that ALADDiN 4 corresponds to the M1531/M1533 chipset. So there is no IR.

Instructions from ALi

Linux SIR & FIR Installation Guide (Kernel Version: 2.4.X)

Project Home: http://sourceforge.net/projects/irda/
http://irda.sourceforge.net/
Linux Infrared HOWTO: http://www.linuxdoc.org/HOWTO/Infrared-HOWTO/index.html
The Linux-IrDA Archives: http://www4.pasta.cs.uit.no/pipermail/linux-irda/
ALi IrDA patch : ftp://www.ali.com.tw/driver/ali-ircc-v05-240.zip

Default SIR Port Driver (irport.o) Installation Guide

Install the driver:

1. cd /usr/src/linux

2. make menuconfig, then

  • Select "IrDA (infrared) support --->"
  • Select "IrDA subsystem support" as module
  • Select "IrDA protocol options" as built-in
  • --- IrDA options
  • Select "Cache last LSAP" as built-in
  • Select "Fast RRs" as built-in
  • Select "Debug information" as built-in
  • Select "Infrared-port device drivers --->"
  • Select "IrPORT (Irda serial driver)" as module

3. make dep; make modules; make modules_install

Use the driver:

  • setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none -> Disable the default serial port driver
  • insmod irda -> Install IrDA protocol driver
  • insmod irport io=0x2f8 irq=3 -> Install IrPORT IrDA serial driver
  • irattach irda0 -s -> Start emit searching signal

Uninstall the driver:

  • killall -w irattach -> Stop emit searching signal
  • rmmod irport -> Remove the driver
  • rmmod irda -> Remove IrDA protocol driver

Here's my variant:

setserial /dev/ttyS1 uart none
modprobe irda
modprobe irlan
modprobe irport io=0x2f8 irq=3
irattach irda0 -s
I don't get any error messages from this, but /var/log/messages shows it failed:
Jul 28 19:11:59 sigillo irattach: Stopping device /dev/ttyS1
Jul 28 19:11:59 sigillo irattach: ioctl(SIOCGIFFLAGS): No such device
Jul 28 19:11:59 sigillo irattach: exiting ...
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: executing: '/sbin/modprobe irda0'
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: + FATAL: Module irda0 not found.
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: Trying to load module irda0 exited with status 1
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: executing: 'echo sigillo > /proc/sys/net/irda/devname'
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: executing: 'echo 1 > /proc/sys/net/irda/discovery'
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: Starting device irda0
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: ioctl(SIOCGIFFLAGS): No such device
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: Stopping device irda0
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: ioctl(SIOCGIFFLAGS): No such device
Jul 28 19:12:22 sigillo irattach: exiting ...

That's reasonably conclusive evidence the chip is not present. Still, I monitor boot and get this:

Starting IrDA service: irattach

Looks all right, but in dmesg I see this:

Serial: 8250/16550 driver $Revision: 1.90 $ 8 ports, IRQ sharing disabled
irda_init()
ttyS1 at I/O 0x1428 (irq = 10) is a 8250
irattach: Stopping device /dev/ttyS1
irattach: ioctl(SIOCGIFFLAGS): No such device
irattach: exiting ...

So this confirms that there is no IR chip present.


  

 

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