Thread: Prof 7301, 7500 and 8000 Tuners

Originally Posted by tester239

Hmm. I suppose I was wrong about support Looks like it's got a cx23883 PCI interface chip ("broadcast decoder"). Need to add a card def in the cx88 drivers. Do you know if we can just use some existing cx23883 firmware from another card, or are they all card specific? Fun times ahead! I'm at a loss right now, since I don't have hardware to test with yet. I've just been trying to more familiarize myself with the DVB-API v5.

That's basically the problem I ran into. However as the Prof 7300 also employs the CX23883 and there appears to be driver support for it, my plan was to see how far I can get in comparing the two.

The cx2388x based tuner cards of any flavor are pretty simple to add base support for since the cx88 driver is fairly mature/stable and there are quite a few cards (not just DVB-S) cards that use that interface chip. In the case of the Prof 7301, the integrated tuner/demodulator module has a chipset in it that also has driver support, so THEORETICALLY one could just write a card definition in cx88-cards.c and map the inputs and GPIO stuff correctly (using windows driver inf data and regspy). In practice, every card typically has their own implementation quirks, but we're in really good shape to get this sucker working.


pendragon: since you have a card already, I encourage you to look at cx88-cards.c and see how the definitions are done (if you haven't already) and see if you can obtain the necessary information to add it (PCI ids, gpio info, what inputs are used and connected, etc etc).

EDIT: in fact, if you look at the output of dmesg, you should see the kernel yelling at you because it knows that you have a cx23883 but no card definition matches, so the driver never attaches.

Which driver never attaches? Linux? How then this card works? Keep in mind, a lot of people of various background read this forum, hence more clear info is always welcome.

At the moment we're talking Linux. The Windows drivers seem to work fine with the Prof devices. Yesterday afternoon I did look at cx88-cards.c for the 7300 (older unit) definitions and they're there, although they are rather generic. This weekend is supposed to be pretty good weather-wise, so I hope to be working on my toroid dishes and master switch, but if I get a little time I plan to start pushing the 7301 farther along.

pendragon

Given your contribution to this forum , attached below are Prof 7301 Linux Driver files by Igor Liplianin, which are still work in progress, but working well and close to release version, and you're invited to contribute. You have 2 options:

a) Download and install Prof 7301 unofficial Linux driver of July 2009:
prof7301_ready_to_install.tar.gz

Instructions are available to install Prof 7301 as a 2-nd sat tuner card, but need translation effort;

OR

b) Download and install
DVB-S2 Linux Drivers


by Igor Liplianin
Apply 2 patches of Oct. 2009 attached. There are still minor issue with showing correct signal levels, etc, but everything works.

pendragon

Counting on even bigger contribution from your side , below is given today's maestro Igor Liplianin's reply to your issue with 2 identical DVB S2 cards in Linux:

"I suggest to open 4 consoles, start szap in two, and mplayer or ffplay in the other two as show below, and see what happen..."

szap -a1 mychannel1 -p
ffplay - </dev/dvb/adapter1/dvr0

szap -a0 mychannel2 -p
ffplay - </dev/dvb/adapter0/dvr0

Not sure, if he tried similar setup, but we can continue this dialog, and with his help the problem can be resolved for sure, as he wrote most of sat cards current Linux drivers himself and appears to be key expert on the issue. Usually he asks for detail system reports.

Originally Posted by zamar23

pendragon

Given your contribution to this forum , attached below are Prof 7301 Linux Driver files by Igor Liplianin, which are still work in progress, but working well and close to release version, and you're invited to contribute. You have 2 options:

Big thanks! I had looked around but didn't find anything. Sunday's weather doesn't look as good, now, so maybe that's the day for inside play.

Originally Posted by zamar23

pendragon

Counting on even bigger contribution from your side , below is given today's maestro Igor Liplianin's reply to your issue with 2 identical DVB S2 cards in Linux:

"I suggest to open 4 consoles, start szap in two, and mplayer or ffplay in the other two as show below, and see what happen..."

Actually I have no problem running two or more 2104s on Linux, and that is the long term destination for those units. At the moment the problem is having two Sage network encoders, for which Windows is the only current option. I solved my problem with a DVB World 2104 (USB) and a TechnoTrend S2-3200 (PCI). mkanet wants to use two identical units for the same purpose, so he has few if any proven options. I can get the two Prof units I have to work together on Windows, but one is USB and the other PCI. I'm hoping to try two of the same type soon.

Someday I'll write a Sage network encoder for Linux and that will let me choose just about anything, but it will have to be able to control my 44x8 switch matrix, have the smarts to run motors, select the best option from multiple dishes and resolve conflicts. It's not at the top of the list for now.

Thanks again for your research!

Originally Posted by pendragon

I have no problem running two or more 2104s on Linux

I can tell you, these drivers are very hard to find, mainly because Prof and TT don't want to pay Igor for his contribution, and due to other marketing considerations.

Do you use the same method to run two 2104s on Linux as Igor suggested? I don't have 2 identical cards at the moment to try, but will be glad to provide him some feedback. Did you try the method he suggested? If you want to improve Prof 7301 drivers in any way, you may want to communicate with Igor in basic English directly
here

.