![Patrick Boettcher](/assets/img/avatar_default.png)
Updated the readme file to point to the DVB USB wikipage to find out which firmware necessary, + minor updates. Signed-off-by: Patrick Boettcher <pb@linuxtv.org> Signed-off-by: Johannes Stezenbach <js@linuxtv.org> Cc: Greg KH <greg@kroah.com> Signed-off-by: Andrew Morton <akpm@osdl.org> Signed-off-by: Linus Torvalds <torvalds@osdl.org>
233 lines
9.9 KiB
Plaintext
233 lines
9.9 KiB
Plaintext
Documentation for dvb-usb-framework module and its devices
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Idea behind the dvb-usb-framework
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=================================
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In March 2005 I got the new Twinhan USB2.0 DVB-T device. They provided specs and a firmware.
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Quite keen I wanted to put the driver (with some quirks of course) into dibusb.
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After reading some specs and doing some USB snooping, it realized, that the
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dibusb-driver would be a complete mess afterwards. So I decided to do it in a
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different way: With the help of a dvb-usb-framework.
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The framework provides generic functions (mostly kernel API calls), such as:
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- Transport Stream URB handling in conjunction with dvb-demux-feed-control
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(bulk and isoc are supported)
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- registering the device for the DVB-API
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- registering an I2C-adapter if applicable
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- remote-control/input-device handling
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- firmware requesting and loading (currently just for the Cypress USB
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controllers)
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- other functions/methods which can be shared by several drivers (such as
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functions for bulk-control-commands)
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- TODO: a I2C-chunker. It creates device-specific chunks of register-accesses
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depending on length of a register and the number of values that can be
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multi-written and multi-read.
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The source code of the particular DVB USB devices does just the communication
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with the device via the bus. The connection between the DVB-API-functionality
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is done via callbacks, assigned in a static device-description (struct
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dvb_usb_device) each device-driver has to have.
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For an example have a look in drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb/vp7045*.
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Objective is to migrate all the usb-devices (dibusb, cinergyT2, maybe the
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ttusb; flexcop-usb already benefits from the generic flexcop-device) to use
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the dvb-usb-lib.
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TODO: dynamic enabling and disabling of the pid-filter in regard to number of
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feeds requested.
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Supported devices
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========================
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See the LinuxTV DVB Wiki at www.linuxtv.org for a complete list of
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cards/drivers/firmwares:
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http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
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0. History & News:
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2005-06-30 - added support for WideView WT-220U (Thanks to Steve Chang)
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2005-05-30 - added basic isochronous support to the dvb-usb-framework
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added support for Conexant Hybrid reference design and Nebula DigiTV USB
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2005-04-17 - all dibusb devices ported to make use of the dvb-usb-framework
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2005-04-02 - re-enabled and improved remote control code.
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2005-03-31 - ported the Yakumo/Hama/Typhoon DVB-T USB2.0 device to dvb-usb.
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2005-03-30 - first commit of the dvb-usb-module based on the dibusb-source. First device is a new driver for the
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TwinhanDTV Alpha / MagicBox II USB2.0-only DVB-T device.
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(change from dvb-dibusb to dvb-usb)
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2005-03-28 - added support for the AVerMedia AverTV DVB-T USB2.0 device (Thanks to Glen Harris and Jiun-Kuei Jung, AVerMedia)
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2005-03-14 - added support for the Typhoon/Yakumo/HAMA DVB-T mobile USB2.0
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2005-02-11 - added support for the KWorld/ADSTech Instant DVB-T USB2.0. Thanks a lot to Joachim von Caron
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2005-02-02 - added support for the Hauppauge Win-TV Nova-T USB2
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2005-01-31 - distorted streaming is gone for USB1.1 devices
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2005-01-13 - moved the mirrored pid_filter_table back to dvb-dibusb
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- first almost working version for HanfTek UMT-010
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- found out, that Yakumo/HAMA/Typhoon are predecessors of the HanfTek UMT-010
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2005-01-10 - refactoring completed, now everything is very delightful
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- tuner quirks for some weird devices (Artec T1 AN2235 device has sometimes a
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Panasonic Tuner assembled). Tunerprobing implemented. Thanks a lot to Gunnar Wittich.
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2004-12-29 - after several days of struggling around bug of no returning URBs fixed.
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2004-12-26 - refactored the dibusb-driver, splitted into separate files
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- i2c-probing enabled
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2004-12-06 - possibility for demod i2c-address probing
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- new usb IDs (Compro, Artec)
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2004-11-23 - merged changes from DiB3000MC_ver2.1
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- revised the debugging
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- possibility to deliver the complete TS for USB2.0
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2004-11-21 - first working version of the dib3000mc/p frontend driver.
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2004-11-12 - added additional remote control keys. Thanks to Uwe Hanke.
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2004-11-07 - added remote control support. Thanks to David Matthews.
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2004-11-05 - added support for a new devices (Grandtec/Avermedia/Artec)
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- merged my changes (for dib3000mb/dibusb) to the FE_REFACTORING, because it became HEAD
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- moved transfer control (pid filter, fifo control) from usb driver to frontend, it seems
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better settled there (added xfer_ops-struct)
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- created a common files for frontends (mc/p/mb)
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2004-09-28 - added support for a new device (Unkown, vendor ID is Hyper-Paltek)
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2004-09-20 - added support for a new device (Compro DVB-U2000), thanks
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to Amaury Demol for reporting
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- changed usb TS transfer method (several urbs, stopping transfer
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before setting a new pid)
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2004-09-13 - added support for a new device (Artec T1 USB TVBOX), thanks
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to Christian Motschke for reporting
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2004-09-05 - released the dibusb device and dib3000mb-frontend driver
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(old news for vp7041.c)
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2004-07-15 - found out, by accident, that the device has a TUA6010XS for
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PLL
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2004-07-12 - figured out, that the driver should also work with the
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CTS Portable (Chinese Television System)
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2004-07-08 - firmware-extraction-2.422-problem solved, driver is now working
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properly with firmware extracted from 2.422
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- #if for 2.6.4 (dvb), compile issue
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- changed firmware handling, see vp7041.txt sec 1.1
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2004-07-02 - some tuner modifications, v0.1, cleanups, first public
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2004-06-28 - now using the dvb_dmx_swfilter_packets, everything
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runs fine now
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2004-06-27 - able to watch and switching channels (pre-alpha)
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- no section filtering yet
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2004-06-06 - first TS received, but kernel oops :/
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2004-05-14 - firmware loader is working
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2004-05-11 - start writing the driver
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1. How to use?
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1.1. Firmware
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Most of the USB drivers need to download a firmware to the device before start
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working.
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Have a look at the Wikipage for the DVB-USB-drivers to find out, which firmware
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you need for your device:
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http://www.linuxtv.org/wiki/index.php/DVB_USB
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1.2. Compiling
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Since the driver is in the linux kernel, activating the driver in
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your favorite config-environment should sufficient. I recommend
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to compile the driver as module. Hotplug does the rest.
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If you use dvb-kernel enter the build-2.6 directory run 'make' and 'insmod.sh
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load' afterwards.
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1.3. Loading the drivers
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Hotplug is able to load the driver, when it is needed (because you plugged
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in the device).
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If you want to enable debug output, you have to load the driver manually and
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from withing the dvb-kernel cvs repository.
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first have a look, which debug level are available:
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modinfo dvb-usb
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modinfo dvb-usb-vp7045
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etc.
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modprobe dvb-usb debug=<level>
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modprobe dvb-usb-vp7045 debug=<level>
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etc.
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should do the trick.
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When the driver is loaded successfully, the firmware file was in
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the right place and the device is connected, the "Power"-LED should be
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turned on.
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At this point you should be able to start a dvb-capable application. I'm use
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(t|s)zap, mplayer and dvbscan to test the basics. VDR-xine provides the
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long-term test scenario.
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2. Known problems and bugs
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- Don't remove the USB device while running an DVB application, your system
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will go crazy or die most likely.
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2.1. Adding support for devices
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TODO
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2.2. USB1.1 Bandwidth limitation
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A lot of the currently supported devices are USB1.1 and thus they have a
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maximum bandwidth of about 5-6 MBit/s when connected to a USB2.0 hub.
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This is not enough for receiving the complete transport stream of a
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DVB-T channel (which is about 16 MBit/s). Normally this is not a
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problem, if you only want to watch TV (this does not apply for HDTV),
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but watching a channel while recording another channel on the same
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frequency simply does not work very well. This applies to all USB1.1
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DVB-T devices, not just the dvb-usb-devices)
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The bug, where the TS is distorted by a heavy usage of the device is gone
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definitely. All dvb-usb-devices I was using (Twinhan, Kworld, DiBcom) are
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working like charm now with VDR. Sometimes I even was able to record a channel
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and watch another one.
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2.3. Comments
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Patches, comments and suggestions are very very welcome.
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3. Acknowledgements
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Amaury Demol (ademol@dibcom.fr) and Francois Kanounnikoff from DiBcom for
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providing specs, code and help, on which the dvb-dibusb, dib3000mb and
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dib3000mc are based.
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David Matthews for identifying a new device type (Artec T1 with AN2235)
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and for extending dibusb with remote control event handling. Thank you.
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Alex Woods for frequently answering question about usb and dvb
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stuff, a big thank you.
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Bernd Wagner for helping with huge bug reports and discussions.
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Gunnar Wittich and Joachim von Caron for their trust for providing
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root-shells on their machines to implement support for new devices.
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Allan Third and Michael Hutchinson for their help to write the Nebula
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digitv-driver.
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Glen Harris for bringing up, that there is a new dibusb-device and Jiun-Kuei
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Jung from AVerMedia who kindly provided a special firmware to get the device
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up and running in Linux.
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Jennifer Chen, Jeff and Jack from Twinhan for kindly supporting by
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writing the vp7045-driver.
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Steve Chang from WideView for providing information for new devices and
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firmware files.
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Michael Paxton for submitting remote control keymaps.
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Some guys on the linux-dvb mailing list for encouraging me.
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Peter Schildmann >peter.schildmann-nospam-at-web.de< for his
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user-level firmware loader, which saves a lot of time
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(when writing the vp7041 driver)
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Ulf Hermenau for helping me out with traditional chinese.
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Andr<64> Smoktun and Christian Fr<46>mmel for supporting me with
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hardware and listening to my problems very patiently.
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