Thinkpads Forum

I’m getting tired of the universal control for the TV, cable box, DVD Player … not having the functions that I need when I need them. Some time back (10 years or so) there were programs that could be run on the older laptops like 740s, 600s or 240s that would use the IrDA of the laptop for TV remote control. I understand that Microsoft changed all of the IrDA drivers for Windows ME and forward but the 98 OS will still allow the IrDAs to work as remote device.

I have tried searching for currently available software but not having any luck. I did find http://www.mediatexx.com/tour.htm but their software was to allow remote controllers to control software on the computer. The wrong way from what I want to do.

Does anyone have any suggestions where I can look for any software like this?

Linux would be a much better OS if there were software.

EDIT: Sorry, I misread your post. Maybe the following info will help others.

There was a thread on this forum from a year or two back that showed a method. I tried it but found it very limiting. Do yourself a favor and buy a Cyberiink Remote Control. It has a dongle that plugs into your USB port and receives IR commands from the remote. Works great with Windows Media Center (incl. in some versions of Vista). The remote does not work with the built-in IR port of the ThinkPad - only with the dongle.

http://www.cyberlink.com/multi/cybersto ... 4_ENU.html

I have the older remote shown in the following link.
http://www.cyberlink.com/prog/product/m ... &Cat_Id=12

I spent awhile hunting this down myself. I was able to find one program (I can't recall the name presently) that would let you program input from the IR port to specific functions. However, it wasn't reliable with an the the remote controls I had, so I abandoned the idea. I'd go with GomJabbar's suggestion and get a remote with a dongle and included software. If you are looking for something portable, try this:
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?Vi ... 0293887748

Again, All of the universal remotes seem to be lacking functions critical to me enjoying watching and using my home entertainment unit. I watch TV on the TV, not the laptop. I use the stand alone DVD player, not the one in the laptop.

I want to find something (USB or other sort of external thing) that connects to a laptop so I can program the laptop to be the remote controller. I figure that I can program all of the keys and functions for all of the devices that I have into the laptop. Then I will have a true universal remote device (the laptop with the external thing).

The e-bay device doesn’t give much description as to what it does and I can’t find anything on it by googling. However, I will contact the vender and ask if he has more information.

If someone has something else to offer, I would be very interested.

oooh I misread your post as well. There are a lot of universal remotes that have programmable buttons. Some are learning remotes, where you press the function you want in front of the learning remote and it will assign the key, while others have large databases of codes. If I remember correctly, the ones from RadioShak are best supported by these databases. Sorry I don't know any programs to use the laptop as the remote, but wouldn't that be awkward because the IR port is usually near the front of the laptop?

I wonder if I could use my lego IR tower as a remote... >_O