Re: [PATCH 0/3] Support for AF9035/AF9033

[Oliver Schinagl <oliver@schinagl.nl>]

On 24-02-12 11:04, Oliver Schinagl wrote:
>
>
> On 23-02-12 23:02, Hans-Frieder Vogt wrote:
>> Am Donnerstag, 23. Februar 2012 schrieb Oliver Schinagl:
>>> Hi Hans,
>>>
>>> I also have an AF9035 based device, the Asus 3100 Mini Plus. It has an
>>> AF9035B demodulator and uses an FCI2580 tuner. I've used the driver
>>> supplied by afa in the past, but haven't tested it in the last few
>>> months. I have a git repository for that driver at
>>> http://git.schinagl.nl/AF903x_SRC.git (it is also linked from
>>> http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Asus_U3100_Mini_plus_DVB-T).
>>>
>>> So when you say it is also coupled with the same tuner, that's not true
>>>
>>> :) With that driver there where a bunch of other tuners that are used
>>>
>>> with this chip. I think the Asus EEEPC supported a USB dvb tuner at 
>>> some
>>> point and there are reverences in that code for it.
>>>
>>> As of the legality of the code, that is uncertain. The module (compiled
>>> from all these sources) is very specifically marked as GPL. Most
>>> headers/source files have no copyright notice at all, some however do,
>>> but no license in it.
>>>
>>> I asked about afa-tech and there driver status a while ago, but I guess
>>> there is no news as of yet?
>>>
>>> To summarize, I would love to test your driver, and I think i can code
>>> something up for my tuner, once these are split?
>>>
>>> Oliver
>>>
>>> On 22-02-12 23:20, Hans-Frieder Vogt wrote:
>>>> I have written a driver for the AF9035&   AF9033 (called af903x), 
>>>> based on
>>>> the various drivers and information floating around for these chips.
>>>> Currently, my driver only supports the devices that I am able to test.
>>>> These are
>>>> - Terratec T5 Ver.2 (also known as T6)
>>>> - Avermedia Volar HD Nano (A867)
>>>>
>>>> The driver supports:
>>>> - diversity and dual tuner (when the first frontend is used, it is in
>>>> diversity mode, when two frontends are used in dual tuner mode)
>>>> - multiple devices
>>>> - pid filtering
>>>> - remote control in NEC and RC-6 mode (currently not switchable, but
>>>> depending on device)
>>>> - support for kernel 3.1, 3.2 and 3.3 series
>>>>
>>>> I have not tried to split the driver in a DVB-T receiver (af9035) 
>>>> and a
>>>> frontend (af9033), because I do not see the sense in doing that for a
>>>> demodulator, that seems to be always used in combination with the very
>>>> same receiver.
>>>>
>>>> The patch is split in three parts:
>>>> Patch 1: support for tuner fitipower FC0012
>>>> Patch 2: basic driver
>>>> Patch 3: firmware
>>>>
>>>> Hans-Frieder Vogt                       e-mail: hfvogt<at>   gmx 
>>>> .dot. net
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>> Hi Oliver,
>>
>> the AF9035B is in fact a DVB-T demodulator with an integrated USB 
>> interface +
>> further interfaces (I erroneously called it receiver). It needs a 
>> tuner to be
>> a full DVB-T stick (it seems that the it9135 is basically the AF9035 
>> + an
>> integrated tuner).
>>
>> the Terratec T5 Rev. 2 and T6 consists of an AF9035B, an AF9033B (Second
>> demodulator) and dual FC0012 tuners
>> the Avermedia Volar HD Nano (A867) uses an AF9035B and an Mxl5007t tuner
>> your Asus 3100 mini uses the FCI2580 tuner.
>>
>> If there is a driver for the FCI2580 tuner then it is not a big issue 
>> to make
>> it usable with the af903x driver.
> The driver is 'available' but in the AF903x_SRC package. If I would 
> take the endevour into writing a driver for the FCI2580, what driver 
> would be best suited as template you reccon?
>> I know of these Afatech drivers, but the main disadvantage of them is 
>> in my
>> eyes that they
>> - have a lot of useless and unused code
>> - define own error codes (instead of using the standard error codes)
>> - have a compiled in firmware
> This bit I don't understand. I have not found any binary image in the 
> source tree at all. If the firmware is compiled from the sources, it 
> is compiled into the driver, and not uploaded to the stick when 
> plugged in.
>
> The other firmware is as mentioned the infrared receive 'table', which 
> provides some mapping I guess?
I was wrong, there is a headerfile, 'api/firmware.h' that does indeed 
contain binary only data. Very ugly indeed.

Is this firmware specific for the AF903x chip or for the tuners? Looking 
at the code it seems firmware.h contains firmware for a lot different 
combinations, but I think 1 image is 'used'.  I notice that one of your 
firmwares contains a version number of 0.00.00 and the other one 
v.10.something. Firmware.h lists the version as v.8.something so it 
seems that there's several firmwares in circulation. I wonder if 
firmwares are backwards compatible with various boards...
>> - have all supported tuners directly compiled in, which means that they
>> prevent tuner support to be shared between various drivers
>>
>> So, you see, there are good reasons to write a new driver for these 
>> devices.
>>
>> The point with the legality: I agree that the AF903X_SRC driver is 
>> unclear in
>> that respect. The glue code (under src) is explicitly marked as GPL, 
>> but the
>> api code (under api) isn't marked.
>> Luckily, there is the it9135-driver from Jason Dong which is clearly 
>> GPL and
>> which uses the same functions. Therefore there is effectivly example 
>> code from
>> Afatech/Ite technology available that is under GPL.
>>
>> Cheers,
>>
>> Hans-Frieder Vogt                       e-mail: hfvogt<at>  gmx .dot. 
>> net
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