Using SATA link power management with Microsoft's driver

Microsoft's default SATA driver starahci.sys appears not to support SATA link power management. So far, I've always installed Intel's Rapid Storage Technology driver iaStor.sys in order to get the benefit of SATA link management.

As it turns out, Microsoft's driver supports link power management, but the setting is hidden in the control panel and the default settings are HIPM only (balanced), HIPM+DIPM (power saving) and deactivated (high performance). However, PowerCfg can be used to change this hidden setting using certain GUIDs.

PowerCfg.Exe /SetACValueIndex SCHEME_MAX SUB_DISK 0b2d69d7-a2a1-449c-9680-f91c70521c60 2
PowerCfg.Exe /SetACValueIndex SCHEME_MIN SUB_DISK 0b2d69d7-a2a1-449c-9680-f91c70521c60 2
PowerCfg.Exe /SetACValueIndex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_DISK 0b2d69d7-a2a1-449c-9680-f91c70521c60 2
PowerCfg.Exe /SetDCValueIndex SCHEME_MAX SUB_DISK 0b2d69d7-a2a1-449c-9680-f91c70521c60 2
PowerCfg.Exe /SetDCValueIndex SCHEME_MIN SUB_DISK 0b2d69d7-a2a1-449c-9680-f91c70521c60 2
PowerCfg.Exe /SetDCValueIndex SCHEME_BALANCED SUB_DISK 0b2d69d7-a2a1-449c-9680-f91c70521c60 2

The following method can be used to show the link power management settings in control panel. All that is required is to change two values in the registry:

Windows Registry Editor Version 5.00

; Created by: Shawn Brink
; http://www.sevenforums.com
; Tutorial: http://www.sevenforums.com/tutorials/177819-ahci-link-power-management-enable-hipm-dipm.html

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442\0b2d69d7-a2a1-449c-9680-f91c70521c60]
"Attributes"=dword:00000002

[HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Power\PowerSettings\0012ee47-9041-4b5d-9b77-535fba8b1442\dab60367-53fe-4fbc-825e-521d069d2456]
"Attributes"=dword:00000002

Doesn't even require a restart!

Setting WiFi regulatory domain on OpenELEC

When I connected my new 802.11 dongle to a Raspberry Pi running OpenELEC, I got the following messages in the system log:

cfg80211: World regulatory domain updated:
cfg80211:  DFS Master region: unset
cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp), (dfs_cac_time)
cfg80211:   (2402000 KHz - 2472000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
cfg80211:   (2457000 KHz - 2482000 KHz @ 20000 KHz, 92000 KHz AUTO), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
cfg80211:   (2474000 KHz - 2494000 KHz @ 20000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
cfg80211:   (5170000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 80000 KHz, 160000 KHz AUTO), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
cfg80211:   (5250000 KHz - 5330000 KHz @ 80000 KHz, 160000 KHz AUTO), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (0 s)
cfg80211:   (5490000 KHz - 5730000 KHz @ 160000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (0 s)
cfg80211:   (5735000 KHz - 5835000 KHz @ 80000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
cfg80211:   (57240000 KHz - 63720000 KHz @ 2160000 KHz), (N/A, 0 mBm), (N/A)

A quick check with cat /sys/module/cfg80211/parameters/ieee80211_regdom revealed that the regulatory domain was set to 00.

In order to fix this, I executed

# echo 'options cfg80211 ieee80211_regdom="DE"' > ~/.config/modprobe.d/cfg80211.conf

and rebooted.

cfg80211: Regulatory domain changed to country: DE
cfg80211:  DFS Master region: ETSI
cfg80211:   (start_freq - end_freq @ bandwidth), (max_antenna_gain, max_eirp), (dfs_cac_time)
cfg80211:   (2400000 KHz - 2483000 KHz @ 40000 KHz), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
cfg80211:   (5150000 KHz - 5250000 KHz @ 80000 KHz, 200000 KHz AUTO), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (N/A)
cfg80211:   (5250000 KHz - 5350000 KHz @ 80000 KHz, 200000 KHz AUTO), (N/A, 2000 mBm), (0 s)
cfg80211:   (5470000 KHz - 5725000 KHz @ 160000 KHz), (N/A, 2700 mBm), (0 s)
cfg80211:   (57000000 KHz - 66000000 KHz @ 2160000 KHz), (N/A, 4000 mBm), (N/A)

Denon RC-1146 remote with Kodi

Today I created a configuration file for my Denon RC-1146 remote. Since Kodi is connected to the DVD input of my amp, I used the remote's default DVD profile.

First, I wired up the IR detector to the Raspberry Pi's GPIO pins as shown in the tutorial.

Because I use OpenELEC rather than RaspBMC, I then had to edit the configuration file to load the device tree overlay.

# mount -o remount,rw /flash
# echo dtoverlay=lirc-rpi >> /flash/config.txt
# mount -o remount,ro /flash

From LibreELEC 9, rc-core is used instead of lircd, so the instructions below will need to change.

For the /storage/.config/lircd.conf file, I tweaked some of the codes for Kodi: the key labelled »menu« on the remote sends a KEY_INFO code since that seems to be the most useful code in Kodi (file info or playing info, respectively). The »top level« key sends KEY_MENU which takes you to Kodi's main menu and toggles the play menu. I assigned KEY_EPG to the »setup« key since KEY_SETUP doesn't seem to do anything while KEY_EPG invokes the context menu in the menu and the decoder info while playing. Finally, I cheekily remapped the »10+« key to KEY_SUBTITLE since the former seems to be unused and I use the latter a lot.

The numeric keys are assigned KEY_NUMERIC prefixes because Kodi requires it.

Also, the key labelled »enter« is assigned to KEY_OK and »return« is assigned to KEY_EXIT since that seems to be more appropriate in the context of lircd.

# Please make this file available to others
# by sending it to <lirc@bartelmus.de>
#
# this config file was automatically generated
# using lirc-0.9.1-git(default) on Tue Apr  5 23:36:06 2016
#
# contributed by <jocki84@googlemail.com>
#
# brand: Denon
# model no. of remote control: RC-1146
# devices being controlled by this remote: Denon DVD Players
# This multi-purpose remote has many emulations, these codes
# were generated using the default setting for DVD, 32134.
#

begin remote

  name  DENON_RC1146_DVD
  bits           15
  flags SPACE_ENC|CONST_LENGTH
  eps            30
  aeps          100

  one           290  1815
  zero          290   760
  ptrail        290
  gap          66911
  toggle_bit_mask 0x0

      begin codes
          KEY_POWER                0x300C
          KEY_UP                   0x08D4
          KEY_DOWN                 0x092B
          KEY_LEFT                 0x082B
          KEY_RIGHT                0x09D4
          KEY_OK                   0x088B # KEY_ENTER
          KEY_INFO                 0x09DB # KEY_MENU
          KEY_MENU                 0x090B # KEY_DVD
          KEY_EPG                  0x08F4 # KEY_SETUP
          KEY_EXIT                 0x0924
          KEY_REWIND               0x089B
          KEY_PLAY                 0x0814
          KEY_FASTFORWARD          0x0964
          KEY_PREVIOUS             0x099B
          KEY_PAUSE                0x091B
          KEY_STOP                 0x09EB
          KEY_NEXT                 0x0864
          KEY_NUMERIC_1            0x0904
          KEY_NUMERIC_2            0x08FB
          KEY_NUMERIC_3            0x0884
          KEY_NUMERIC_4            0x097B
          KEY_NUMERIC_5            0x0984
          KEY_NUMERIC_6            0x087B
          KEY_NUMERIC_7            0x0844
          KEY_NUMERIC_8            0x09BB
          KEY_NUMERIC_9            0x0944
          KEY_NUMERIC_0            0x09FB
          KEY_SUBTITLE             0x08C4 # KEY_102ND
      end codes

end remote

Note for LibreELEC 8.2 In order for lircd to start, it's necessary to

$ touch /storage/.cache/services/lircd.conf

Note for LibreELEC 7.90.008: lircd should be started when the /dev/lirc0 device is created by the lirc_rpi kernel module. This is achieved using udev which starts an appropriate instance of /usr/lib/systemd/system/lircd.service (such as lircd@lirc0:default:lircd.conf.rpi) from /usr/lib/udev/rules.d/98-lircd.rules when the device appears. Occasionally, there might be a link in .config/system.d/multi-user.target.wants which leads to lircd being started before the device node has been created. Such a link should not exist.