How to get multiple instances of LIRC working and each using different GPIO with raspberry pi?

Question

I am new for LIRC programming. Right now I am using GPIO 18 for lirc implementation. But I want to implement multiple IR emitters with different GPIOs and working all as different remotes. This is because I have two same brand TVs in different rooms to control.

Answer 1

There is basically two ways of doing this:

• One is to use or possibly patch the driver to support the SET_TRANSMITTERS command as documented in irsend at http://lirc.org/html/irsend.html

• Or, to set up two independent lircd instances as described in http://lirc.org/html/configuration-guide.html#appendix-9. Note these docs refers to current lirc version 0.9.4

Answer 2

Instead of running two instances on my pi I opted to make what is essentially a transistor switchboard (on a breadboard). I call each send command from a script which first runs another script that turns on one of three GPIOs, activating one of three transistors, and thus exposing one of three IR transmitters to receive signal from the single LIRC gpio.

This actually works very well, and I was able to put this together in less time than it takes to read the tutorials on multiple instances and drivers. I needed this ability because I have multiple components which are of the same make and therefore receive some of the same codes such as power. If each device didn't have it's own transmitter I wouldn't be able to control one device without the other non intended device also responding to the command.