It also has a 6 pin header in the battery compartment, but just pads, no pins.

Then it is likely that his unit is supported by the same IR.EXE hacking software that we're using on the 1994 unit. All you have to do is solder some kind of a connector onto those pads.

And now I learn that there's been this whole movement of people programming these things with a parallel interface? Damn! That would have saved me a lot of time. A lot.

When you see it in action, it's really quite cool. After having jumped through hoops to get codes punched into it through the thing's keypad, you will be amazed at what you can do with IR.EXE.

One of the most interesting things you can do is to drop little machine-language "extender" programs into the remote's memory. These are more than just macros, they are embedded code, and can make significant changes to the remote's behavior.

The first of these extenders was written by Nicola Salmoria of "MAME" fame. I remember when he first joined the JP1 mailing list and started messing with the stuff. Soon he was doing amazing things with the code that no one had ever dreamed of.

We need to get an empeg in Nicola's hands. Then he and Mark can compete for the most amazing hack prize.