The "normal" way for a dvb-usb driver to manage the remote is to get a
decoded key from the adapter, map it to a keypress and put it in the input
device.

OTOH the af9005 doesn't decode the ir data, it just gives the length of the
spaces/pulses. I decode them in software in af9005-remote.c (with the codes
of the remote that came with the stick) to do the same that the other
drivers are doing (i.e. emulate a keyboard).

Now I wrote another rather simple module that just passes on the raw data as
a lirc device for lircd to decode, so in theory it should work with any
remote.

If you want to use this method you need to compile the af9005-lirc.c file to
generate an dvb-usb-af9005-lirc.ko file, then you have to make sure that
this module is loaded instead of dvb-usb-af9005-remote.ko (e.g.:by making
sure that dvb-usb-af9005-remote.ko is not available or by manually loading
dvb-usb-af9005-lirc.ko before anything else).

Since I don't know the proper way to build the module (lirc is not in the
standard kernel), here is the hackish way:

0) get the driver from the v4l-dvb repository:
http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb
(here you'll find instructions for the download: http://linuxtv.org/repo/)
(it should also work with the driver in kernel 2.6.23, but I didn't try it,
so YMMV)


1) put the file af9005-lirc.c in the linux/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb
subdirectory (alongside the other files)

2) manually modify the Makefile in the same directory to add these 2 lines:

dvb-usb-af9005-lirc-objs = af9005-lirc.o
obj-m += dvb-usb-af9005-lirc.o

and in the last line (EXTRA_CFLAGS) append

-I/wherever/you/have/the/lirc/headers

(In my case, using mandriva, the complete line is:

EXTRA_CFLAGS = -Idrivers/media/dvb/dvb-core/ -Idrivers/media/dvb/frontends/ -I/usr/src/linux-2.6.17-6mdv/3rdparty/lirc/

)

3) build (and eventually install) the modules as usual (from the top level
v4l-dvb directory)


Now, if you make sure to load dvb-usb-af9005-lirc.ko instead of
dvb-usb-af9005-remote.ko, you should have a lirc device that you can use
with irrecord, lircd, etc.

It's not extensively tested (I already have a serial lirc receiver, so I
don't need this one) so you're on your own if it causes trouble.
I've tested it with the same remote and the same lircd.conf that I use with
the serial receiver, and recording with irrecord the keys of the "stock"
remote (though, if the stock remote is enough for you, it should also work
with dvb-usb-af9005-remote.ko emulating an input device).
You can lose some keys when the stick is busy (e.g. while switching
channels), otherwise it seems to work fine.