lirc and remote controls on FC5

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Anyone have any luck getting lirc working on FC5? I'm sort of lost but what I would like to be able to do is read from my TV/VCR/DVD remote controls on my IR port on my Thinkpad to control software on the laptop and also to be able to send IR signals to the TV/VCR/DVD devices from the laptop instead of from the remote controls. I have tried getting this working over the years and never have been fully successful, I think mostly just because I don't know what the heck I'm doing. I am hoping someone who has gotten this to work may be able to give me some guidance.