As advertised, FLIRC USB was able to easily learn the keys for arbitrary remotes I tried, and the device could then be used deliver standard media keys in the target system. My major caveat relates to the security aspects of the device. Afaict, the programming software is only distributed as an unsigned binary (not even https download)--then you must run it as root! The firmware for the device also seems to be closed source, so in effect, you are hooking up an autonomous keyboard that can inject any keystrokes it cares to emit. Its one thing to trust Logitech or Microsoft with such a device, but another to trust a company whose support forum seems to be moribund and opsec seems to be dismal. I endded up running the programmer on an isolated system, and then blew away its disk and reinstalled the OS--quicker than studying the tens of megabytes of strace logs. My application is not networked or security sensitive so I don't worry too much about runtime security. If your systems are any more sensitive, take a pass, or get the vendor to open up the sources so we can see everything and compile it ourselves.