I'm a very experienced Linux user.

I'm trying to set up Flirc on Ubuntu 17.04 to eventually control a Fire TV.

Downloaded the app, installed all the necessary i386 libs (my OS is 64-bit), set LD_LIBRARY_PATH to point to the downloaded libs, and this allowed me to get past all the dependency errors. However, if I run the flirc_util status, I get:

device disconnected, can't run command

I've verified that I'm running it as root, so perms shouldn't be a problem. 

lsusb shows:

Bus 001 Device 009: ID 20a0:0006 Clay Logic

In dmesg, I see:

[484407.027688] usb 1-1: new full-speed USB device number 8 using xhci_hcd
[484407.170118] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=20a0, idProduct=0006
[484407.170121] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[484407.170123] usb 1-1: Product: flirc
[484407.170125] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: flirc.tv
[484407.172932] hid-generic 0003:20A0:0006.0006: hiddev0,hidraw5: USB HID v1.11 Device [flirc.tv flirc] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input0
[484407.174980] input: flirc.tv flirc as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-1/1-1:1.1/0003:20A0:0006.0007/input/input29
[484407.231904] hid-generic 0003:20A0:0006.0007: input,hidraw6: USB HID v1.01 Keyboard [flirc.tv flirc] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input1
[484775.091944] usb 1-1: USB disconnect, device number 8
[484789.048351] usb 1-1: new full-speed USB device number 9 using xhci_hcd
[484789.190208] usb 1-1: New USB device found, idVendor=20a0, idProduct=0006
[484789.190211] usb 1-1: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
[484789.190213] usb 1-1: Product: flirc
[484789.190215] usb 1-1: Manufacturer: flirc.tv
[484789.192638] hid-generic 0003:20A0:0006.0008: hiddev0,hidraw5: USB HID v1.11 Device [flirc.tv flirc] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input0
[484789.194754] input: flirc.tv flirc as /devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb1/1-1/1-1:1.1/0003:20A0:0006.0009/input/input30
[484789.252487] hid-generic 0003:20A0:0006.0009: input,hidraw6: USB HID v1.01 Keyboard [flirc.tv flirc] on usb-0000:00:14.0-1/input1
 

Can anyone help please?

Did you install via apt-get and try running as sudo 

I didn't install via apt...generally prefer to install utilities like this manually...especially since I probably won't use after first configuration.

Yes, I am running as sudo (or, better yet, as full root).

I'll try the apt version now.

Fyi, on 17.04, your repos cause this error:

 

apt-get update
Ign:1 http://dl.google.com/linux/chrome/deb stable InRelease
Hit:2 http://packages.microsoft.com/repos/vscode stable InRelease                                                                                
Hit:3 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty InRelease                                                               
Hit:5 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-updates InRelease                              
Ign:6 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ InRelease                     
Hit:7 http://us.archive.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-backports InRelease      
Hit:8 http://security.ubuntu.com/ubuntu zesty-security InRelease         
Ign:9 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Release
Ign:11 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Packages
Ign:12 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en_US
Ign:13 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en
Ign:11 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Packages
Ign:12 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en_US
Ign:13 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en
Ign:11 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Packages
Ign:12 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en_US
Ign:13 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en
Get:11 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Packages [589 B]
Ign:12 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en_US
Ign:13 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en
Ign:12 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en_US
Ign:13 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en
Ign:12 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en_US
Ign:13 http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Translation-en
Fetched 589 B in 1s (407 B/s)
Reading package lists... Done
W: The repository 'http://apt.flirc.tv/arch/x64 binary/ Release' does not have a Release file.
N: Data from such a repository can't be authenticated and is therefore potentially dangerous to use.
N: See apt-secure(8) manpage for repository creation and user configuration details.
 

That seems to have gotten me further. Now, I get:

$ sudo flirc_util status
Last upgrade attempt: Error

So it seems to be communicating.

Any idea why the apt repo approach works but the manual download doesn't? Is it just that you only provide 64-bit support in the apt repo?

I have two repo's, one for 32 bit, and one for 64. I'll post a statically compiled binary soon. But I recommend the installer. You can ignore the last upgrade attempt, erroneous.

If you don't install it via apt-get, you wont get the udev rule, which will require you to use sudo.