Well I've decided to do something about the speed limitation. Looking in the kernel source, it accepts a wide range of IR periods. So I figured I could speed up the IR pulse train and see what happens.

I don't have the code for the PIC chips, and they're probably code protected so I can't read it out. But I *can* change the clock frequency. They run at 20 MHz, but I see the some newer revisions of the PIC16C54C can go all the way to 40 MHz. These old chips aren't rated to 40 MHz but they use the same fab process, so...



It works! The knob is much more responsive, and no glitching. But the display dimmer is fudged up because that same PIC decodes a pulse train for the dimmer function. Running at 32 MHz works fine, however. But at 40 MHz the knob really shines and at 32 MHz, while much better than 20 MHz, still misses steps when going fast.

Maybe I can convince Mark Lord to add in a custom feature for me in Hijack to change the timing to work with the button control PIC at 40 MHz. <wink, wink> I could provide a patch...