DVB-Stick and B3 / jessie / Kernel 3.18.44

[MichaelK]

Hi,

thanks to this excellent forum I've got my b3 running with jessie and kernel 3.2.62 for a long time. The b3 is the center of the digital life of my family and hosts lots of services (dlna-media, file-Services, webmail, OwnCloud, pxe boot, ...)

One of these services is a tvheadend-backend using a DVB-T usb stick. As we live in Germany where DVB-T will be switched to DVB-T2 at the end of this month, I have to install an alternative DVB device. I decided to use Pinnacle TV Stick 461e that is supported with linux kernel since 3.16.

So I have to switch to kernel 3.18.44 provided by mouette (special thanks for this great work!), but as it is a 'small' kernel, no DVB support is included. Now I try for days to compile a kernel with the required modules, but I can't get the stick running on b3 debian (everything is ok with the arch linux live USB provided by sakaki, so it's not the stick!). I can cross compile the kernel and install it. I can compile the modules with the b3 in native mode, but I think there is something I'm missing (as I've never compiled a kernel before) to get all together. Has someone a updated HOWTO or a recipe to get this kind of configuration running?

Thanks for your help in advance!

Regards, Michael

[MouettE]

Hello MichaelK,

compiling modules natively on jessie from a cross compiled kernel is something that has not been tested and is likely to fail due to the way headers are (not) built on a cross compilation host.

From what I understand, the modules you need are not included in the kernel sources right ? You must compile them apart ?

[MichaelK]

I'm not really sure about the wording as I'm a 'kernel compilation newbie'. So the modules might be in the kernel sources but they are not compiled.

In the linuxtv wiki it says: (See: https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_via_USB)

For all DVB USB devices you will need to load (if not compiled into the kernel):
i2c-core
crc32
firmware_class
dvb-core.ko
dvb-pll.ko

I tried to load them with modprobe and that failed. With a cross compiled kernel and native compiled modules I can load i2c-core and crc32 but the other modules are still missing / not loading.

[MouettE]

OK so in that case I will add these modules to the kernel configuration and make a new release. it should be up in a couple of days, I also have someone who asked for other modules I will include too.

I'll let you know !

[MichaelK]

Great! Thanks a lot for your effort!

I missed a line when quoting, but I hope the above mentioned modules are enough:

For all DVB USB devices you will need to load (if not compiled into the kernel):
i2c-core
crc32
firmware_class
dvb-core.ko
dvb-pll.ko

and maybe others too. (...)

[Gordon]

Hi,

The pitfall with Debian is that the kernel version is changed on the fly when the package is built. You need to take care that you match EXTRAVERSION in the kernel source Makefile to that from `uname -r` when building additional modules. They won't work otherwise.

[MichaelK]

Hi Gordon,
yes, this was a pitfall in deed. It took a while until I realised that I have to set EXTRAVERSION="". Otherwise the modules will be installed as Version 3.18.44-1+ and the kernel will not load them.
The other thing is that I could not find out which command is right to bild the kernel. There is dpkg-pkg, dpkg-buildpackage, make, make install, make uInstall... Depending on the HOWTO that is found they say take this one ore do it that way. And I really don't know which configuration file will be taken.
I think I have to look at that matter with a little more patience and starting with an architecture that needs hours to compile a kernel is not a good thing. At least if at the end you see that you did something wrong. Or if the new kernel won't load any module because of the missing EXTRAVERSION .

So, once again, I'm glad that MuettE provides so many good solutions here. Thank you very much!!

Regards, Michael

[MouettE]

I've released kernel 3.18.48-1 in the main repository, you can install it via apt-get update/upgrade as usual (b3 only, the Bubba|2 will follow in a couple of hours, had to restart the compilation and it takes 8-9 hours). I've added most of the DVB modules, I hope it will work for you. Let me know and if not, we'll work something out.

[MichaelK]

Hi MouettE,

thanks a lot for this fast solution. I found out from here: https://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/ ... ick_(461e) that for the stick 461e the drivers em28xx, m88ds3103 and m88ts2022 are also needed. If I compare this with the modules that are loaded in arch linux it seems reasonable:

Code: Select all

>lsmod
Module                  Size  Used by
rc_pinnacle_pctv_hd      963  0
em28xx_rc               8110  0
rc_core                17184  3 rc_pinnacle_pctv_hd,em28xx_rc
m88ds3103              11432  1
i2c_mux                 4226  1 m88ds3103
em28xx_dvb             21028  0
dvb_core               78963  2 m88ds3103,em28xx_dvb
em28xx                 62145  2 em28xx_rc,em28xx_dvb
tveeprom               12347  1 em28xx
v4l2_common             3608  1 em28xx
videodev              140040  2 v4l2_common,em28xx
media                  18647  2 videodev,em28xx
(...)

Can you please compile and add these modules? Again, thanks a lot.

[MouettE]

I didn't add em28xxx because I had some errors when saving the config. I'll try to add it and I will return to you shortly.

[MichaelK]

I took your config and tried to add the missing modules. There was an error when I added all em28xx modules, as there is one that will support analogue dvb devices. I think this one is not needed. If it is deselected the config can be saved without errors.
I tried to compile the modules but I'm struggeling with with versions again. I set

Code: Select all

export ARCH=arm
export EXTRAVERSION=-1
export LOCALVERSION=""

Then I do

Code: Select all

make modules_prepare
make modules
make modules_install 

What I get is modules Version 3.18.48 instead of 3.18.48-1. May be you can point out what is missing?

[MouettE]

I've released version 3.18.48-2 with em28xx modules added. It should OK. Let me know !

What I get is modules Version 3.18.48 instead of 3.18.48-1. May be you can point out what is missing?

You need to build the kernel with debian packaging tools to have a working configuration.

[MichaelK]

Oh, I just wanted to tell you that I've found my mistake. I messed up with LOCALVERSION and EXTRAVERSION. Just in this moment I have sucessfully compiled the modules and they run fine with your yesterdays kernel(export LOCALVERSION="-1" did the trick).
I'll try your update later this evening and I'll report.

Up to now: thanks for your valuable time and the work you did. I hope you made our smart litte black box stay some more years with us!

If we should meet in real life, I'll spend you a cup of coffee!

Best regards, Michael

[MichaelK]

Hi MouettE,

works like a charm with your new version!!