Hubert Feyrer <feyrer@rfhs8012.fh-regensburg.de>  wrote:
 > I have a shark that i'd like to use as a headless mp3 player. Does anyone
 > know how to use the IR port? I'm thinking of getting a programmable
 > remote-control, and then i'd nees some options like start, stop, next
 > track, last track, pause, and maybe shutdown, but I don't know how to
 > interface the hardware. (I'm the opposite of a hardware guru  - please
 > bear with me :)

Done it.  With Mark Fosters hacks to the IR stuff, you can then use the 
LIRC stuff to do exactly that.  You lose the serial ports though and the
control isn't exactly instantaneous, but it does work.