Re: vbox cat's eye 3560 usb device

Re: vbox cat's eye 3560 usb device

[Amy Overmyer]

> Lastly, are there any other IC components on the back or front of the
> PCB ?  Can you provide pics (upload them to the wiki article)) ?

The back only has a couple components, probably for electrical, no ICs.
The
front only has the cypress (100 pin pkg) chip and the NIM, with a
couple small components, that I can't read what they are. The PCB is
stamped osc by one of them and usbid on the other, so I'm guessing one
is an oscillator and the other the PROM where the cold USB id is stored.

I
opened up the NIM (hey, they're $30 at my local computer store right
now, so even if I kill it, I have an extra), and I saw my old friend
the BCM3510 (I have a 1rst gen air2pc pci card that works pretty well
for me) and a smaller chip marked tua6030 (or could be 6080, the
writing is faint, but infineon doesn't look like they make an 6080). 

I have photos but need to upload them.

> have a look at the cxusb, its likely closer to what you want:
> http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb/file/tip/linux/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/

OK, I'll take a look there. Thank you.


      

Re: vbox cat's eye 3560 usb device

[CityK]

Amy Overmyer wrote:
>> Lastly, are there any other IC components on the back or front of the
>> PCB ?  Can you provide pics (upload them to the wiki article)) ?
>>     
>
> The back only has a couple components, probably for electrical, no ICs.
>   
okay

> The
> front only has the cypress (100 pin pkg) chip and the NIM, with a
> couple small components, that I can't read what they are. The PCB is
> stamped osc by one of them and usbid on the other, so I'm guessing one
> is an oscillator and the other the PROM where the cold USB id is stored.
>   

okay. I rather imagine that your guesses are correct

> I
> opened up the NIM (hey, they're $30 at my local computer store right
> now, so even if I kill it, I have an extra), and I saw my old friend
> the BCM3510 (I have a 1rst gen air2pc pci card that works pretty well
> for me)
Wow, I'm kind of surprised about that one -- I would have expected the
NIM to have been a little more contemporary (given that I believe these
devices (150/151/3560) came out in the ~2005 time frame).

> and a smaller chip marked tua6030 (or could be 6080, the
> writing is faint, but infineon doesn't look like they make an 6080). 
>   

Yes, that would be 6030

> I have photos but need to upload them.
>   
okay


This device might also be close in design to the original Technisat
Air2PC-ATSC-USB device
(http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/TechniSat_Air2PC-ATSC-USB) --
though, obviously it doesn't use a Flexcop controller ... I say might
be, as I don't know what the USB bridge is in the Technisat device, nor
the exact tuner module employed. Patrick might recall though

vbox cat's eye 3560 usb device

[Amy Overmyer]

I’m trying to write a driver for the 
device, just as a learning exercise. So far, I’ve got the firmware in intel hex 
format (from usbsnoop on windows, then a couple perl scripts to mutate it) and 
am able to use fxload to load it with –t fx2 and there are 2 separate files, a 
short one (the loader) and the firmware proper; so in fxload I have a –s and a 
–I. 
 
I’m able to take it from cold to 
warm that way solely within Linux. 
 
The device itself has a cypress CY7C68013A fx2 chip and a large tin can tuner/demod stamped with 
Thomson that has a sticker on it identifying it as 8601A. Helpfully, the 3560 
opens up easily with the removal of two screws on the shell.
 
It’s cold boot usb id is 14f3:3560 and its warm boot is 
14f3:a560.
 
I have taken that hex file and 
created a binary file out of the 2nd file (-I in fxload speak). I 
think, correct me if I’m wrong, there is already a fx2 loader available, thus I 
will not need the loader file.
 
One of the stranger things I saw in 
the usbsnoop trace in windows was when it came to reset of the CPUCS, the driver 
sent down both a poke at x0e600 and a poke at 0x7f92. One is the fx CPUCS 
register, I believe the other is a fx2 CPUCS register. 
 
Currently I am mutating dibusb-mc 
just to see if I can get it to the point of going from cold to warm in the 
driver. 
 
I have taken usb sniffs from windows 
of doing things such as scanning for channels, watching a channel, etc. so I can 
try to figure out if anything else in the v4l-dvb collection behaves 
similarly.
 
I guess what I’m looking for is any 
hints that might be useful to figuring this out. 
 
Like I said, it’s a learning 
exercise, I already have enough tuners, and anyway, the cost of buying a 
supported tuner is far cheaper than the time needed to develop 
this!
 
Thanks for any info! I’ve pretty 
much devoured everything available on the wiki.
 
Amy


      

Re: vbox cat's eye 3560 usb device

[CityK]

Hi Amy,

Amy Overmyer wrote:
> I’m trying to write a driver for the 
> device, just as a learning exercise. So far, I’ve got the firmware in intel hex 
> format (from usbsnoop on windows, then a couple perl scripts to mutate it) and 
> am able to use fxload to load it with –t fx2 and there are 2 separate files, a 
> short one (the loader) and the firmware proper; so in fxload I have a –s and a 
> –I. 
>  
> I’m able to take it from cold to 
> warm that way solely within Linux. 
>  
> The device itself has a cypress CY7C68013A fx2 chip and a large tin can tuner/demod stamped with 
> Thomson that has a sticker on it identifying it as 8601A. Helpfully, the 3560 
> opens up easily with the removal of two screws on the shell.
>   

The Thomson NIM is the same one that they use on their 150/151 PCI
cards.   I don't know what the internal components of it are, but the
digital demodulator may be somewhat exposed to view -- the metal can has
a ventilation opening, though the metal may actually be bent inwards for
contact with the chip (so as to allow the casing to act as a
heatsink)).   If you can ascertain the identity of the unknown
components then you  will be  in a better position to gauge whether you
should bother continuing or not  (i.e. if the demod is currently
unsupported, you would have to develop support for it in order to ever
get the device working under Linux).  My suggestion here is:
- non-invasive: search for any clues from the Windows driver inf files
- invasive:  as non-destructively as possible, open the can ... I don't
advise this unless it looks do-able ... proceed at your own risk.

Lastly, are there any other IC components on the back or front of the
PCB ?  Can you provide pics (upload them to the wiki article)) ?

>  
> It’s cold boot usb id is 14f3:3560 and its warm boot is 
> 14f3:a560.
>  
> I have taken that hex file and 
> created a binary file out of the 2nd file (-I in fxload speak). I 
> think, correct me if I’m wrong, there is already a fx2 loader available, thus I 
> will not need the loader file.
>  
> One of the stranger things I saw in 
> the usbsnoop trace in windows was when it came to reset of the CPUCS, the driver 
> sent down both a poke at x0e600 and a poke at 0x7f92. One is the fx CPUCS 
> register, I believe the other is a fx2 CPUCS register. 
>  
> Currently I am mutating dibusb-mc 
> just to see if I can get it to the point of going from cold to warm in the 
> driver. 
>  
> I have taken usb sniffs from windows 
> of doing things such as scanning for channels, watching a channel, etc. so I can 
> try to figure out if anything else in the v4l-dvb collection behaves 
> similarly.
>  
> I guess what I’m looking for is any 
> hints that might be useful to figuring this out. 
>  
> Like I said, it’s a learning 
> exercise, I already have enough tuners, and anyway, the cost of buying a 
> supported tuner is far cheaper than the time needed to develop 
> this!
>  
> Thanks for any info! I’ve pretty 
> much devoured everything available on the wiki.

have a look at the cxusb, its likely closer to what you want:
http://linuxtv.org/hg/v4l-dvb/file/tip/linux/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/