Gentoo DVB driver

Drivers for Kernel 2.4

Support for evdev, input, i2c and videodev is required, module or compiled in makes no difference.

Kernel-Configuration

Input core support  --->
    <M> Input core support
    <M>   Event interface support

Character devices  --->
   I2C support  --->
    <*> I2C support
    <M> I2C bit-banging interfaces
    <M> I2C device interface
    <M> I2C /proc interface

Multimedia devices  --->
    <*> Video For Linux
    Video For Linux  --->
     [*]   V4L information in proc filesystem

If these functions are compiled as modules, one must also remember to load them automatically at system start. For this under Gentoo the file /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.4 (for other Kernel revision replace the 2.4 by i.e. 2.6) is used. This file should contain these lines:

i2c-core
i2c-proc
i2c-dev
evdev

Now the linuxtv-dvb ebuild can be installed. (If it is not installed now, emerge vdr will install it as needed dependency.)

emerge linuxtv-dvb

Drivers for Kernel 2.6

Kernel 2.6 already contains a version of the DVB-drivers, that means there are two possibilities. Either one uses the included drivers or one installs the newest drivers out of the CVS from [linuxtv.org].

Method A - Kernel-Drivers

Kernel-Configuration

Code maturity level options --->
    [*] Prompt for development and incomplete code / driver
    [*] Select only drivers expected to compile cleanly

Loadable module support --->
    [*] Enable loadable module support
    [*] Module unloading
    [*] Automatic kernel module loading

Device Drivers --->
    Generic Driver Options --->
        [*] Select only drivers that don't need compile-time external firmware
        [*] Prevent firmware from being built
        <M> Hotplug firmware loading support

    Block Devices --->
        <*> RAM disk support
        [*] Initial RAM disk (initrd) support

    Input Device Support --->
        <M> Event Interface (i.e. necessary for included IR-Receiver of the Hauppauge Nexus)

    Character Devices --->
        Serial Drivers -->
            [ ] 8250/16550 and compatible serial support (or as module, only necessary for LIRC)

        [*] Legacy (BSD) PTY support
        <M> /dev/nvram support
        <M> Enhance Realtime Clock support

    I2C support --->
        <M> I2C support
        <M>   I2C device interface

        I2C Algorithms --->
            <M> I2C bit-banging interfaces
            <M> I2C PCF 8584 interfaces

    Multimedia Devices --->
       <M> Video For Linux aktivieren

       Digital Video Broadcasting Devices --->
           [*] DVB For Linux
           <M> DVB Core Support

           <M> AV7110 cards
           [*]   AV7110 OSD support

           (enable every module in here)

File Systems --->
    <*> Kernel automounter version 4 support (also supports v3)

    Pseudo filesystems -->
        [*] /proc file system support
        [*] Virtual memory file system support (former shm fs)
        [*] /dev/pts file system for Unix98 PTYs

Method B - Drivers from CVS

Here are only the basic requirements compiled into the Kernel itself (like done with Kernel 2.4). The drivers for the DVB cards are compiled aparz from the Kernel.

Kernel-Configuration

Code maturity level options --->
    [*] Prompt for development and incomplete code / driver
    [*] Select only drivers expected to compile cleanly

Loadable module support --->
    [*] Enable loadable module support
    [*] Module unloading
    [*] Automatic kernel module loading

Device Drivers --->
    Generic Driver Options --->
        [*] Select only drivers that don't need compile-time external firmware
        [*] Prevent firmware from being built
        <M> Hotplug firmware loading support

    Block Devices --->
        <*> RAM disk support
        [*] Initial RAM disk (initrd) support

    Input Device Support --->
        <M> Event Interface (i.e. necessary for included IR-Receiver of the Hauppauge Nexus)

    Character Devices --->
        Serial Drivers -->
            [ ] 8250/16550 and compatible serial support (or as module, only necessary for LIRC)

        [*] Legacy (BSD) PTY support
        <M> /dev/nvram support
        <M> Enhance Realtime Clock support

    I2C support --->
        <M> I2C support
        <M>   I2C device interface

        I2C Algorithms --->
            <M> I2C bit-banging interfaces
            <M> I2C PCF 8584 interfaces

    Multimedia Devices --->
       <M> Video For Linux aktivieren

       Digital Video Broadcasting Devices --->
           [ ] DVB For Linux

File Systems --->
    <*> Kernel automounter version 4 support (also supports v3)

    Pseudo filesystems -->
        [*] /proc file system support
        [*] Virtual memory file system support (former shm fs)
        [*] /dev/pts file system for Unix98 PTYs

Now install the linuxtv-dvb-cvs ebuild:

echo "media-tv/linuxtv-dvb-cvs ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
emerge linuxtv-dvb-cvs

Finding the right drivers to load

As there are a lot of DVB cards available we now have to find out which driver to load. For PCI-cards we can use for example pcimodules. In case not in place already we have to install pciutils.

emerge pciutils

Now we look which drivers recognize the installed hardware:

vdr # pcimodules
ohci-hcd
ehci-hcd
sis900
snd-emu10k1
dvb-ttpci
b2c2-flexcop-pci
nvidia
nvidiafb

In this case these are the drivers dvb-ttpci and b2c2-flexcop-pci. These two are now appended to /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6 (Kernel 2.4 analog):

echo dvb-ttpci >> /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6
echo b2c2-flexcop-pci >> /etc/modules.autoload.d/kernel-2.6

Installing firmware files

Since not too lang there is an ebuild for the Firmware files. For this one can set in /etc/make.conf for which DVB cards one needs firmware files. If one ommits this step all firmware files are installed (Warning: around 60MB of download).

In /etc/make.conf:

DVB_CARDS="..."

At the moment these values are supported for DVB_CARDS:

dibusb-usb1 dibusb-usb2 nxt2002 nxt200x or51132 or51211 sp8870 sp887x
tda1004x ttpci ttusb-dec usb-a800 usb-dtt200u usb-umt usb-vp702x
usb-vp7045 usb-wt220u

In most cases this name corresponds to the name of the driver which needs the firmware.

If one has a FF-card and one with the nxt2002 chip installed, DVB_CARDS should at last look like this:

DVB_CARDS="ttpci nxt2002"

After that linuxtv-dvb-firmware is emerged.

echo "media-tv/linuxtv-dvb-firmware ~x86" >> /etc/portage/package.keywords
emerge linuxtv-dvb-firmware

Loading the drivers

Now we either load the drivers found before by hand:

modprobe dvb-ttpci
modprobe b2c2-flexcop-pci

or we start the script loading the modules at system boot (not the cleanest method):

/etc/init.d/modules zap start

After loading one can view the output of the drivers with the help of dmesg.

For a card with own MPEG-Decoder (FF card) the output of dmesg should look similar to this:

DVB: registering new adapter (Siemens/Technotrend/Hauppauge PCI rev1.3).
saa7146_core.o: adjusting pci latency to 64
DVB: registering frontend 0:0 (Grundig 29504-491, (TDA8083 based))...
DVB: AV7111(0) - firm f0240009, rtsl b0250018, vid 71010068, app 80002613
DVB: AV7111(0) - firmware supports CI link layer interface

If this is the case: congratulations. If not there could be missing some Kernel-modules / functions.