I tested these steps under WSL with Ubuntu.
I no longer have an official LEGO IR Tower, but in 2014 I created one with a simple IR receiver and an IR LED. The Arduino firmware and Eagle files are here: https://github.com/JamesHagerman/HardwareProjects/tree/master/LEGO_RCX_Tower Boards can be ordered from OSHPark here: https://oshpark.com/shared_projects/MtLGHYuW
Big shout out goes to John Holbrook (@johnholbrook on GitHub, @whole_brook on Twitter) for his awesome, up to date article found here: https://www.johnholbrook.us/RCX_guide.html
The following writeup (and my 2014 IR Tower hack) should provide a more complete answer to one of the FAQ's on that page ("Can I send data to the RCX from a [TV remote/IR port on an old laptop/IR LED and an Arduino]?").