JP1 Remotes

Greetings Fellow Unix/Linux/Solaris/etc Users,

Due to problems in the current JP1.x (Flash) serial library code, some of the most serious of which are specific to Linux users of that library, I've made some important bug fixes and improvements and uploaded a new beta version of the library for anyone who'd like to try it out.

The critical changes in this new library are as follows:

1. Fixed a bug whereby the routine used to delay ('sleep') in a non-Windows (Unix, Linux, Solaris, et al) environment was off by a factor of 1000, erroneously sleeping for the specified number of MICROseconds instead of the specified number of MILLIseconds.
2. Fixed a bug whereby the code intended to set and hold a UART 'break' condition in a
   non-Windows (Unix, Linux, Solaris, et al) environment was erroneously using code to set the 'break' condition, sleep for a while (250 milliseconds in many implementations), then release the 'break' condition.
   
   This problem was substantially masked by the 'sleep' bug mentioned above, which was causing the process of putting a remote control into 'serial communication' mode to succeed where it would have otherwise failed with this bug in place.
   
   A corresponding fix was also needed to release the UART 'break' condition when commanded.
3. Properly preserve and restore the port settings of any opened RS-232 serial port. Previously, the port's settings were overwritten, corrupting the settings for all ports (and therefore potentially all devices connected to them, like a dial-up modem) which may have been opened in the search for a valid JP1.x (Flash) remote control.
4. Added support for Solaris environments, courtesy of 'Barf' and 'osolfan'.

This library is intended for 32-bit use only, so if you're using this new library with RMIR, you should rename the 'Linux-i386/libjp12serial.so' file to preserve it and put the new library file in that directory.

For anyone using the command-line utilities under Linux, this library should be useful too. I think those utilities are still being distributed to expect the 'libjp12serial.so' library to be in the same directory as the command-line executable, so you should be able to replace the file pretty simply.

I'd greatly appreciate any feedback on this new library, both positive and negative. If it works well, I plan to recommend it for inclusion in the next release of RM/RMIR.

Please let me know if there are any questions or problems....

Regards,
Bill

Which reminds me, I was probably running a 32bit version when it worked for me. Got a 64bit version?

wnewell wrote:Which reminds me, I was probably running a 32bit version when it worked for me. Got a 64bit version?

Sorry, not yet. Hang tight and I'll try to whip one up....

Bill

There's no rush. I've already created the upgrade I needed and used ir.exe under wine to upload it. But I'll be happy to test it for you when you get it done.

wnewell wrote:There's no rush. I've already created the upgrade I needed and used ir.exe under wine to upload it. But I'll be happy to test it for you when you get it done.

Thanks for your cooperation -- much appreciated!

I definitely plan to release the 64-bit version (or certainly Greg will, I suspect, if he releases a new version of RM/RMIR before I get a 64-bit version compiled!). I just tried compiling for 64-bit on my Slackware 12.1 (32-bit) installation and found that 'gcc' isn't configured for cross-compilation (i.e. to a 64-bit target host). The just-released Slackware 13.0 is the first Slackware version to support 64-bit machines and I suspect that it will come with the compiler configured accordingly. Unfortunately, since Slackware 13.0 DVDs aren't in production just yet, I haven't placed my order. And I don't want to mess with configuring my main 'gcc' for cross-compilation (at least not just yet).

Since you're in no rush, my plan is to see what happens first:

• I get Slackware 13.0 on DVD, install it, and compile a 64-bit version for public use.
• I release the source code publicly, allowing you to compile your own 64-bit version.
• Greg releases a new RM/RMIR and in so doing (assuming he uses the new version of the library) makes the 64-bit version available that way.

So, sooner or later, there will be a 64-bit 'libjp12serial.so' for you and everyone else.

If you get desperate for it, just send me a private message with an email address and I'll email you an interim version of the serial library source code. I'm not intentionally holding on to this code (it's not even mine to hold onto!), just trying to get the "i"s dotted and the "t"s crossed for a public release!

Thanks again for your offer to test!

Bill

The source code for this library has just been made public. See this thread for details.

Bill