by kjt » Fri 10. Jul 2009, 11:53
Many thanks for the clarifications. I've responded at length because I think that there are some places where the manuals or web pages could be more explicit. I had already read the main and Ethernet manuals several times.
(1) Indeed there isn't an "IRDB" on the label. The manual might usefully mention that the devices are distinguished this way. It's not clear when ordering an Ethernet module what the implications of having an IRDB or not are. In fact, I'd interpreted the IRDB option as meaning the device had a preloaded database of common devices - and that wasn't relevant to me. I think the web pages could clarify what this option means - and what the lack of the IRDB option implies.
(2) As far as I can see, the Ethernet manual (v 3.8) doesn't cover the case where there is no IRDB capability. It looks like I need to start up the server on the local host with the remote IP address as parameter, and then send commands to the server on the local host. As a matter of curiosity, can I have multiple server instances at different ports on the same host? I don't see a port parameter for irserver/irtranstray (main manual v3.03, section 4.1). This situation could arise if I wished to control a local USB device and a remote Ethernet device (or multiple remote devices).
(3) It turns out that TCP at port 21000 needs to be enabled in the firewall. Because I've been using USB devices up to now, the firewall settings hadn't been an issue. I imagine that initial software setup would enable this port, but because I've been using only USB devices up till now the port wasn't enabled. The manual might usefully mention this. With the TCP port enabled, I can now successfully start "irtranstray ip_address". Incidentally, the use of an IP address as a parameter doesn't seem to be in the main manual (v 3.03, section 4.1 - though it's almost in section 4.2).
(4) If I run "irremote" without any parameter I get "the application failed to initialize properly (0xC0000022)" even though the server is running. (I also tried it with an IP address parameter, but that does nothing.) What I can get to work is the command-line "irclient" (using UDP). Fortunately that's enough for now.