[ltp] irda remotes on a R40?

[Ben]

I have an R40 2897gwu, and I'd love to get IR working.  For now I'm
not so interested in data transmission but in using a remote for, say,
controlling xmms, or presentations.  While loads has been written on
getting IR networking running (between laptops, or to sync a PDA or
phone) I am having trouble finding info on getting simple remote-
control signals.  Are they just different?  Here's what I've done:

In the BIOS, I turned on IR.  It's detected at boot-up:

ttyS1 at I/O 0x2f8 (irq = 3) is a NS16550A

"modprobe irtty_sir":

Mar  2 17:25:51 localhost kernel: irda_init()
Mar  2 17:25:51 localhost kernel: NET: Registered protocol family 23

"irattach /dev/ttyS1":
Mar  2 17:26:03 localhost kernel: sirdev_get_instance - ttyS1
Mar  2 17:26:03 localhost kernel: irtty_open - ttyS1: irda line discipline opened
Mar  2 17:26:04 localhost irattach: executing: 'echo bach > /proc/sys/net/irda/devname'
Mar  2 17:26:04 localhost irattach: Starting device irda0
Mar  2 17:26:04 localhost kernel: irlap_change_speed(), setting speed to 9600

Looks happy, I think...?  findchip still happily returns nothing,
though, which I find a little disturbing.

"cat /dev/ttyS1":
cat: /dev/ttyS1: Input/output error

That seems odd.  "irdadump" seems to run, but doesn't report anything
if I press a remote button.  xmms doesn't grab any remote buttons.

Any tips?  I assume I need to set a comm parameter, or use different
software that understands IR remote protocol, or something.  Tips?

Details: up-to-date Debian unstable, kernel 2.6.3, irda-utils 0.9.16-1

TIA!!
-Ben

--
Ben Pearre          http://hebb.mit.edu/~ben       PGP: CFDA6CDA
Don't let Bush read your email!             http://www.gnupg.org