Re: request list of usb dvb-t devices that work with vanilla 2.6.29 kernel

[Jelle de Jong <jelledejong@powercraft.nl>]

Devin Heitmueller wrote:
> On Fri, Apr 3, 2009 at 9:36 AM, Jelle de Jong <jelledejong@powercraft.nl> wrote:
>> Hello everybody,
>>
>> I have been trying for years now to get support for usb based devices
>> that makes it possible to watch FTA dvb-t channels in Europa.
>>
>> I have bought more then 6 devices already and none of them work with the
>> stock vanilla kernel (or with fedora, debian kernel packages)
>>
>> I had hopes for the em28xx drivers, and spent a lots of time in the last
>> years to Markus Rechberger. I made documentation did testing, compiled
>> packages, did a lot of mailing and irc chats, etcetera.
>>
>> I always hoped the code and work would be merged back with the official
>> upstream kernel code so all this work would not be needed anymore and the
>> devices will all just work with the new kernel releases.
>>
>> I spent time sending emails and talking to developers to see how we could
>> help Markus get his code back into the kernel.
>>
>> But the situation is just sick, and there are real attitude issues on
>> both sides.
>>
>> I have gave up my hopes on getting a good healthy development process for
>> the em28xx project. I am kind of said about this, because I don't give up
>> easy and currently slowly feels that the em28xx project maybe hurting the
>> free software community more then its doing good...
>>
>> I now need new devices that do not need the em28xx code, I gave up hopes
>> on getting analog and dvb-t to work with one usb hybrid devices, so I am
>> going for a dvb-t only device.
>>
>> Can somebody help me provide a list of devices that i can buy in stores
>> and that are supported in the 2.6.29 stock kernel or have high
>> possibilities to get full support in the future.
>>
>> I would also like to point out I need a feature that allows scanning the
>> signal strength of a dvd-t channel so I can create an fully automated FTA
>> signal scanning systems that removes weaker supplicated channels.
>>
>> Best regards, (but kind of disappointed)
>>
>> Jelle de Jong
> 
> Hello Jelle,
> 
> I see an email like this every few months, and it continues to sadden
> me.  I'm not going to write yet another email casting blame on whose
> fault it is.  But let's look at what today's problems are and what
> would need to happen going forward.
> 
> First off, the problem is not really the em28xx driver itself anymore.
>  The in-kernel driver itself is relatively mature and capable of
> handling new devices provided a new device profile is created in
> em28xx-cards.c.  I've pushed something like 45 patches in in the last
> year, and Mauro has pushed many more.  Empia has provided datasheets
> for em2860/em2880 and em2874, and the driver is pretty feature
> complete.  Support for a variety of new devices has been added in the
> last year.
> 
> So what is the problem today?  Why do your devices not work?
> 
> I believe the answer is a combination of two problems:
> 
> 1.  A lack of driver support for Micronas demodulators - this is a
> sticky issue.  The Micronas demodulator is overly complicated relative
> to other demods, and there hasn't been an interest in investing the
> time to reverse engineer it (not when there are so many alternatives
> available that are much easier to program).  My efforts to get
> Micronas to allow me to release the reference driver code failed out
> of concern for "trade secrets and intellectual property concerns".
> The only reason those devices work in the mcentral.de tree is because
> he continues to redistribute their source code without a license.  If
> we had a proper license, I would be more than willing to merge this
> into the mainline.  With Empia using Micronas more and more in their
> newer reference designs, we should expect to see more products that
> fall into this category.
> 
> 2.  A lack of interest on the part of developers with access to DVB-T.
>  While support for ATSC based em28xx devices has grown considerably in
> the last year, there doesn't seem to be any developers with DVB-T who
> are interested in doing the work.  Many of the devices in question
> could be made to work with relatively little effort, but a developer
> needs to do the work to add the device profile (including the GPIOs)
> and iron out any integration bugs.  There haven't been any developers
> with both the hardware and access to DVB-T interested in stepping up
> to the task.
> 
> With this being a volunteer organization, there isn't really any well
> to compel developers to work on devices they don't have any interest
> in.
> 
> In my case personally, I am highly familiar with the em28xx family of
> devices, but I don't have access to any of the products in question or
> a DVB-T signal to test with (which is why I focus on the em28xx based
> ATSC and analog products).
> 
> Regards,
> 
> Devin
> 

Thanks for the quick response, I am aware of the situation and the
specifics of the Micronas case. I talked with Marcus several times about
ways to handle this to make the driver available for the gpl compliant
upstream kernel.

I can also confirm that the analog part of most of my em28xx devices do
work, so currently I am recommending customers two buy two usb devices
one for analog and one for dvb-t.

If you want I can sent you an em28xx device with dvb-t and analog i got
tree of those lying around here.

Best regards,

Jelle de Jong

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