WinLIRC

Basic Differences (and similarities) between LIRC and WinLIRC

• Platform
  If you didn't already notice, WinLIRC runs under Windows 95, 98, ME, NT, 2000, and XP. LIRC runs under Linux.
• Hardware Support
  LIRC supports serial, parallel, Irman, and other receivers as well as several types of transmitter. WinLIRC only supports serial receivers and transmitters. Note: WinLIRC also supports a special type of serial receiver that is attached to the irDA header pins on the motherboard. LIRC does not.
• System Requirements
  The requirements for WinLIRC are a bit higher than those for LIRC due to the nature of Windows.
• Program Model
  The LIRC server has two basic modules: the low-level driver and the signal-decoding daemon (lircd). WinLIRC, on the other hand, combines the driver and deamon into one program, and also has the "irrecord" signal-learning functionality built in. LIRC also includes computer control programs; WinLIRC users must use separate programs for this.
• Client/Server Communications
  LIRC can use both UNIX-domain sockets and TCP/IP sockets for client/server communications. Since UNIX-domain sockets don't exist under Windows, only Internet-domain (TCP/IP) sockets are used. The WinLIRC server listens on TCP port 8765 by default. Client/server communications are otherwise identical (with a few exceptions).
• Configuration
  Some configuration aspects of WinLIRC (e.g., port settings) are stored in the registry instead of hard-coded as with LIRC.  Remote control configuration files (lirc.conf, sample.cf, etc.) are identical and interchangable.

Copyright (C) 1999 Jim Paris <jim@jtan.com>.
Last update: Thursday, June 13, 2013 at 08:28 PM
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