new kde project

[Gav Wood]

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hi,

i've recently created, developed and completed (as far as an os project can 
be...) an infra-red remote control (ir-rc) subsystem for kde using lirc.

the actual subsystem contains two main projects; "irkick", implemented as a 
kded daemon and it acts as the ir-rc server and communicates via dcop to any 
other processes that need to know about the ir capabilities of the computer. 
it also features as a dcop "mast", carrying out dcop tasks in other 
applications as and when the relevant buttons of remote control(s) are 
pressed.

the other project "kcmlirc" is a powerful control panel applet that allows 
configuration of irkick's actions. buttons on remote controls may be bound to 
any dcop function in any kde program. profiles of common programs may be used 
to give a user-friendly representation of the dcop functions, not exposing 
the raw dcop function prototypes/parameters/etc. so far three profiles are 
available (kalbums, noatun, kscd), however creating them is a _very_ simple 
task as they are written in simple xml (and have a howto and dtd).

remote controls also have profiles to give them descriptive names (though 
kcmlirc will fallback on the rough lowercase-only, no spaces names of lirc if 
no profile is available). again xml allows simple and easy creation of such 
definition files.

modes are used to allow the same button to do different actions in different 
circumstances, and are implemented in a highly flexible manner to give the 
user the ultimate power of a finate state automaton if necessary (though the 
simple interface allows a relatively shallow learning curve).

it uses lirc, a linux-only infra-red hardware kernel-module set, however it is 
designed with a solid and simple api to support other architectures 
transparently if and when they become available.

as it is finished my only plans are to extend the lirc configuration so that 
it provides a central place for all ir-rc configuration of the system.

the whole code as it stands is checked in at kdenonbeta/kdelirc --- it would 
be cool to get it in a relevant kde package (perhaps kdebase or 
kdemultimedia) for 3.2.

there are some screenshots for your perusal at 
http://www.indigoarchive.net/gav/kcmlirc/

cheers,

gav
- --
Gav Wood <gav at kde.org>

codito ergo non satis bibivi
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