In order to program Flirc from a debian Linux OS such as Ubuntu, you must do so as a privileged user. try "sudo Flirc" from command line in your terminal and the status should show as connected and there is no need to use a second computer. If you are advanced with Linux configuration, you can configure your user account to have "root" privileges but that decreases system security.
TO ADMINISTRATOR: As a fellow Linux developer, I would recommend that the Flirc binary ask for administrator password and run as root automatically to make programming Flirc seamless on ANY Linux OS where sudo is allowed. Have a great day everyone! - Double T - doublet30@hotmail.com