Notices

get a linux working usbtv stick and disassemble it
for example
kworld vs-pvr-tv 305u ( dvb only ) have inside :
-tuner Xceive xc2028 source code driver http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kerne...6b5588faf5fb4b
-frontend Empia EM2860 source code http://git.kernel.org/?p=linux/kerne...6b5588faf5fb4b

so if you found source code for chips with some work a driver can be made.

tuner is one well known
[EM2870_BOARD_KWORLD_350U] = {
.name = "Kworld 350 U DVB-T",
.valid = EM28XX_BOARD_NOT_VALIDATED,
.tuner_type = TUNER_XC2028,
.tuner_gpio = default_tuner_gpio,}

any stick draw max 500 mA and a powered hub is needed

All DVB-T USB sticks I own work under ubuntu/linux

I have an Anysee E30, a PCTV nanostick and a PCTV picostick 74e.

The picostick is the smallest and has "low power consumption" according to the manufacturer. But only the Anysee is rated (at 500mA). So how do you know that all DVB-T sticks require 500mA if it isn't in the specs ?

The nanostick and the picostick use a different chip, and the picostick requires a v4l patch before it works in Ubuntu. The Nanostick support is included in newer Ubuntu versions. Both require a firmware file. I assume all DVB-T USB adapters do (but not entirely sure about that).

I want to focus on getting the picostick to work on Maemo because it is the smallest and newest. It uses a chip from Abilis Systems AS102.
http://www.abilis.com/products_usb.php.
According to the reference design "low power", really is low:
Operational mode < 900 mW
so at 5V, that would be less than 200mA. And should be low enough to work on a N900 without a powered USB hub. (if the PCTV picostick has similar power consumption)



Streaming the MPEG2 streams from the Dutch Digitenne service from my ubuntu machine to the N900 (using tv headend ) I can tell you that the higher quality streams (Ned1, Ned2, Ned3) don't run smoothly in mplayer, but the lower quality streams do if you overclock the N900 slightly (Comedy Central etc.)

drivers pandora compiled for n900+ h.e.n(usb host beta 0.31 proyect) = dvb-t running ok?

don't know. I don't understand half of the steps in the pandora tutorial.
But I think you will probably need to compile your own from source.
this guy does that also. compile ON the device.

Maybe I should also get the MSI DVB-T stick with realtek chip. it isn't very expensive. Any idea if the power consumption is also less than 200 mA?

hmm, seems that even on an ubuntu machine with the 2.6.28 kernel (9.04), the picostick isn't detected correctly after installing the patched and updated v4l-dvb subsystem. Some module(s?) doesn't seem to be installed.

Also I found some very good information on compiling a custom kernel and module. Most on this site (so the link might be a bit "duh"):

http://wiki.maemo.org/Documentation/...o_Kernel_Guide
http://www.natisbad.org/N900/n900-custom-kernel.html

I would love to be able to compile my own kernel with driver for a specific USB device. Well I am learning, hopefully soon

So did you get the picostick working on the N900?
I was thinking of sharing my Digitenne card with oscam with my N900.

Sadly, no.

I got stuck some time ago, and haven't found the time to work on it after that.

Well I can setup the SDK on my computer and compile the v4l modules against power v47, then you can try if you can watch some FTA channels.
If that works, I'll compile oscam for the n900 too and everything should open

EDIT: Will your picostick work with one of the modules of v4l stack?
Or does it need a external driver outside of the kernel tree?

oscam can easily be compiled for the N900 (I have already done that too).
But you may not need to do that. If you use TVheadend on the N900, than you can just point it to a oscam server on a remote desktop/server.
Since you have only 1 USB port you will want to use it for the dvb-t adapter, not a smartcard reader.
The problem is that Tvheadend does not compile for ARM using the old version of gcc used by scratchbox, you need an updated version.

The other problem is that the kernel used by the n900 does not contain drivers for de Picostick. On ubuntu I only got it to work by installing a new version of v4l that I patched for as102 support.

If you could give a how-to guide, on how I can compile the v4l modules for power kernel myself, that would be a lot more useful. I have already setup a the SDK, and I build my own power kernel package and installed it on my n900 successfully, that isn't the problem.
I don't know how to add a driver from on updated v4l to the kernel.
So if you could give me a step by step guide on how you compile your v4l modules for power kernel, I might be able to figure out the rest. (and will share any progress made, off course)

yes, picostick needs external drivers:


The openee project has a recipe patch for the v4l tree:

Now you have a v4l tree that you can install on ubuntu that has Pictostick support.
After that the only thing you need to do is copy the firmware that is in the openee code, and the picostick works on ubuntu.

I tried similar steps on maemo, but there were errors, don't know the specifics anymore.