As final note on the thread I got my IR remote working all fine and dandy in the end,.. although I did then invest in a logitech harmony remote as the all en-compassing remote.
The key to success with the remote though was using this xbmc thread
http://forum.xbmc.org/showthread.php?tid=104541 Get the ir-keytable stuff working,... using the -t option to see what is being pressed,.. then just load it ( don't use -t option ). I put a call to a small script with a delay in it in the rc.local file so keytable was loaded a boot time,.. I found the delay was essential otherwise it did not work for LIRC to use the table ,..
once ir-keytable is working,.. then irw should work,.. this assumes LIRC is all setup,.. so if irw does not load /run correctly then it is a setting probably within LIRC...
Hint:- before installing LIRC,.. do the following:-
------------------------------------------
cat /proc/bus/input/devices # and look for the following output
------------------------------------------
I: Bus=0001 Vendor=6982 Product=0002 Version=0001
N: Name="saa716x IR (TurboSight TBS 6982SE)"
P: Phys=pci-0000:06:00.0/ir0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.6/0000:06:00.0/rc/rc0/input5
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event5
B: PROP=0
B: EV=100013
B: KEY=3000000100c0000 34301100000000 0 100000 408000000800 8e168000000000 ffc
B: MSC=10
I: Bus=0001 Vendor=6284 Product=0001 Version=0001
N: Name="saa716x IR (TurboSight TBS 6284)"
P: Phys=pci-0000:07:00.0/ir0
S: Sysfs=/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:1c.7/0000:07:00.0/rc/rc1/input15
U: Uniq=
H: Handlers=kbd event15
B: PROP=0
B: EV=100013
B: KEY=3000000100c0000 34301100000000 0 100000 408000000800 8e168000000000 ffc
B: MSC=10
---------------------------------------------
this will show which device input has been associated to which ir input on the installed cards.
From here one is on the home straight,.. and it is just a case of using entries from within the file
include "/usr/share/lirc/remotes/devinput/lircd.conf.devinput"
make sure this entry is at the bottom of the lircd.conf file,.. and then use entries from this file to map with your .lircrc file to your required application designated to receive the ir commands..
Hope someone finds this useful,..
Regrds