Arch Linux

pratik_narain

Member

Registered: 2009-12-03

Posts: 37

Using arch to view tv on laptop

Hello dear archers. First of all thanks for giving me such a great OS. I just love arch on my laptop. Its the most efficient OS that I have seen. Well now I have a problem. I've bought a new TV tuner card. I'm in India. This card is "Intex Gravity USB2.0 TV Tuner". It works on windows as advertised but I want to use it on arch. I have searched the internet for information regarding my problem. I'm getting plethora of information but most of it is outdated(from approx 2008). I'm using fully updated arch linux installation as on 17/12/2010. My system specification is

Dell Inspiron 1545 laptop
Intel core 2 duo 2.0 GHz processor
ATI mobility radeon 256MB graphics card(with proprietary drivers)
Intex Gravity USB 2.0 TV tuner card

Please help me so that I can view TV on my laptop using my card on arch. I can also come on IRC if someone wants to help me live. My irc nick is "pratik_narain".

Thanx in advance.

kgas

Member

From: Qatar

Registered: 2008-11-08

Posts: 718

Re: Using arch to view tv on laptop

I suggest your search based on your lsusb / dmesg output instead of searching thro' card name.

pratik_narain

Member

Registered: 2009-12-03

Posts: 37

Re: Using arch to view tv on laptop

Yeah, I did that already but thats not very helpful. The matter of tv tuner cards in linux is not very well documented and I don't know how to handle hardware devices on my own. So, I seek some help here. I'm pasting the required command outputs here. Please state anything else that is required and kindly help me.

This is lsusb before attaching the device:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. USB 2.0 multicard reader
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0c45:63ee Microdia 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 05c6:9000 Qualcomm, Inc. SIMCom SIM5218 modem
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 0461:4d22 Primax Electronics, Ltd 
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

lsusb after attaching the device:

Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:0158 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. USB 2.0 multicard reader
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0c45:63ee Microdia 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 002 Device 004: ID 05c6:9000 Qualcomm, Inc. SIMCom SIM5218 modem
Bus 002 Device 006: ID 6000:0001  
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 005 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 006 Device 002: ID 0461:4d22 Primax Electronics, Ltd 
Bus 007 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 008 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub

dmesg | tail after attaching the device:

atkbd serio0: Use 'setkeycodes e00d <keycode>' to make it known.
b43-phy0: Loading firmware version 478.104 (2008-07-01 00:50:23)
wlan0: Trigger new scan to find an IBSS to join
wlan0: Trigger new scan to find an IBSS to join
wlan0: Trigger new scan to find an IBSS to join
wlan0: Creating new IBSS network, BSSID 4a:fd:a4:d1:f8:5a
wlan0: no IPv6 routers present
ip_tables: (C) 2000-2006 Netfilter Core Team
nf_conntrack version 0.5.0 (16384 buckets, 65536 max)
usb 2-1: new high speed USB device using ehci_hcd and address 6

As you can see I get only a generic usb device in the output of lsusb and dmesg and there is no indication about the device, therefore I absolutely don't know what drivers are required and if they are present or not. I plan to use tvtime for my purpose as it seems to be good solution. Please help me with this hardware problem.

Nixie

Member

Registered: 2008-09-24

Posts: 51

Re: Using arch to view tv on laptop

When I started using my Freecom DVB-T USB stick a few years ago I had to look around for the right driver/firmware to place in the /lib/firmware directory. But it seems very difficult to find anything similar for your Intext TV-Tuner based only on it's name. So far I've found nothing of use.

Do you think it would be safe to experiment and simply put different TV-Tuner drivers (one at a time) into the /lib/firmware directory and then plug-in the device to see if it works?

I plan to use tvtime for my purpose as it seems to be good solution. Please help me with this hardware problem.

There is an arch package called me-tv that is a very good digital TV viewer and recorder. Very simple to use.

http://www.vk7hse.hobby-site.org/blog/2 … -and-more/

Gusar

Member

Registered: 2009-08-25

Posts: 3,605

Re: Using arch to view tv on laptop

Trying out different firmwares will not to anything. The device first needs to be recognized by the appropriate driver, before said driver starts looking for a firmware file. We're waaay before that point here.

And I must say, it's impossible to find *any* info on this device, all a google search gives is a bunch of scamy "free drivers here" sites. Where's the homepage of the device manufacturer?

pratik_narain, would you be willing to open the device? Maybe the names on the chips would give some indication. Also, what kind of device is it, DVB-T, DVB-C, something else?

However, I'm quite sure this device won't work in Linux.

skottish

Forum Fellow

From: Here

Registered: 2006-06-16

Posts: 7,942

Re: Using arch to view tv on laptop

use lsusb -v then check to see if either of these pages help:

http://linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/Trident_TM6000
http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/G … USB_U6010A

pratik_narain

Member

Registered: 2009-12-03

Posts: 37

Re: Using arch to view tv on laptop

Bus 002 Device 007: ID 6000:0001  
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x6000 
  idProduct          0x0001 
  bcdDevice            0.01
  iManufacturer          16 Trident
  iProduct               32 TVBOX
  iSerial                64 2004090820040908
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           78
    bNumInterfaces          1
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration         48 2.0
    bmAttributes         0x80
      (Bus Powered)
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 
      bInterfaceProtocol    255 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0000  1x 0 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       1
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 
      bInterfaceProtocol    255 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x1400  3x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       2
      bNumEndpoints           2
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass      0 
      bInterfaceProtocol    255 
      iInterface              0 
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            1
          Transfer Type            Isochronous
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x1400  3x 1024 bytes
        bInterval               1
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x82  EP 2 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      1
Device Status:     0x0002
  (Bus Powered)
  Remote Wakeup Enabled

this is the concerned output of lsusb -v. I checked the links given by skottish above and it seems the device won't yet work on linux. I may try to compile the driver if possible through abs. I'll keep this thread updated of my progress. If anyone has additional information, please add here.