IR remote with handheld PC ?

[xyz2]

I have a couple of old Fujitsu hand held tablet computers that have IR
tranceivers built in. I am wonderign if anybody is aware of a software
package that will allow me to maek these into remotes for my tv and stereo?
I have seen a program for Windows CE based hand helds and for Palm type
devices, but none for Windows 98-XP machines. I'm not much at writing code
myself and building devices, must admit. I'm hoping I can find some
software that will allow the computers to emulate the remote controls.
There certainly must be way to make the computer learn and transmit the IR
signals from the remotes.

If you are interested in this sort of thing, I would think you could find a
Fujitsu LT for around $300 on EBay. They are awesome little computers, I
have been using them for mobile computing for six years now. I have a spare
that I'd liek to do this remote thing with. It has a docking station that
charges it, and lets me hook it into my network. It woudl be cool to be
able to put customized commend strings into it that would allow my wife to
actually OPERATE the stereo without calling me on the phone to ask which
buttons to push. :)

[Dave Houston]

There are differences between CIR (Consumer IR) and IrDA. CIR uses modulated
940nm IR and IrDA uses unmodulated 850nm IR. IrDA was designed to be very
short range (~1m). Your IrDA transceivers are not likely to provide adequate
range for consumer IR.

http://www.mbx-usa.com/ir-rf_fundamentals.htm

"xyz2" <a@fakeaddress.com> wrote:

>I have a couple of old Fujitsu hand held tablet computers that have IR
>tranceivers built in. I am wonderign if anybody is aware of a software
>package that will allow me to maek these into remotes for my tv and stereo?
>I have seen a program for Windows CE based hand helds and for Palm type
>devices, but none for Windows 98-XP machines. I'm not much at writing code
>myself and building devices, must admit. I'm hoping I can find some
>software that will allow the computers to emulate the remote controls.
>There certainly must be way to make the computer learn and transmit the IR
>signals from the remotes.
>
>If you are interested in this sort of thing, I would think you could find a
>Fujitsu LT for around $300 on EBay. They are awesome little computers, I
>have been using them for mobile computing for six years now. I have a spare
>that I'd liek to do this remote thing with. It has a docking station that
>charges it, and lets me hook it into my network. It woudl be cool to be
>able to put customized commend strings into it that would allow my wife to
>actually OPERATE the stereo without calling me on the phone to ask which
>buttons to push. :)
>

[Dan]

xyz2 wrote:
> I have a couple of old Fujitsu hand held tablet computers that have IR
> tranceivers built in. I am wonderign if anybody is aware of a software
> package that will allow me to maek these into remotes for my tv and stereo?
> I have seen a program for Windows CE based hand helds and for Palm type
> devices, but none for Windows 98-XP machines. I'm not much at writing code
> myself and building devices, must admit. I'm hoping I can find some
> software that will allow the computers to emulate the remote controls.
> There certainly must be way to make the computer learn and transmit the IR
> signals from the remotes.
>
> If you are interested in this sort of thing, I would think you could find a
> Fujitsu LT for around $300 on EBay. They are awesome little computers, I
> have been using them for mobile computing for six years now. I have a spare
> that I'd liek to do this remote thing with. It has a docking station that
> charges it, and lets me hook it into my network. It woudl be cool to be
> able to put customized commend strings into it that would allow my wife to
> actually OPERATE the stereo without calling me on the phone to ask which
> buttons to push. :)
>
>
There are some IR software packages out there for the PC, I have tried
it with my laptop, but usually IrDA won't do the job unless that IR
transceiver was built to control TV's etc. Unfortunately I don't
remember the names, but a quick search should help you find these
programs. I know a few Fujitsu tablet owners, and none of them have
mentioned to me that they are using the IR for control of their
stereo/tv. However, since the tablet has a network connection, some of
them use NetRemote
(http://www.promixis.com/products.php?section=netremote) on this
platform to build a very nice touchscreen interface, allowing them to
control their music library and more. There are several forum threads
out there which will show some nice screenshots of this setup, you
should be able to find these using a search engine such as google.

dan

[Dan]

xyz2 wrote:
> I have a couple of old Fujitsu hand held tablet computers that have IR
> tranceivers built in. I am wonderign if anybody is aware of a software
> package that will allow me to maek these into remotes for my tv and stereo?
> I have seen a program for Windows CE based hand helds and for Palm type
> devices, but none for Windows 98-XP machines. I'm not much at writing code
> myself and building devices, must admit. I'm hoping I can find some
> software that will allow the computers to emulate the remote controls.
> There certainly must be way to make the computer learn and transmit the IR
> signals from the remotes.
>
> If you are interested in this sort of thing, I would think you could find a
> Fujitsu LT for around $300 on EBay. They are awesome little computers, I
> have been using them for mobile computing for six years now. I have a spare
> that I'd liek to do this remote thing with. It has a docking station that
> charges it, and lets me hook it into my network. It woudl be cool to be
> able to put customized commend strings into it that would allow my wife to
> actually OPERATE the stereo without calling me on the phone to ask which
> buttons to push. :)
>
>
There are some IR software packages out there for the PC, I have tried
it with my laptop, but usually IrDA won't do the job unless that IR
transceiver was built to control TV's etc. Unfortunately I don't
remember the names, but a quick search should help you find these
programs. I know a few Fujitsu tablet owners, and none of them have
mentioned to me that they are using the IR for control of their
stereo/tv. However, since the tablet has a network connection, some of
them use NetRemote
(http://www.promixis.com/products.php?section=netremote) on this
platform to build a very nice touchscreen interface, allowing them to
control their music library and more. There are several forum threads
out there which will show some nice screenshots of this setup, you
should be able to find these using a search engine such as google.

dan