Upgrading a KnoppMyth system using kernel 2.6.18 to ivtv 0.10.x

Please note! You can not use these instructions with R5F27 which uses the 1.1.0 drivers, or use the ivtv 0.10.x driver with kernel versions older than 2.6.18.

Also, If you are using a PVR-350 for TV-out you should pay specific attention to chapter 4. You may have to recompile your kernel to use ivtv 0.10.x

All of the following commands must be run as root.

1. With R5E50 you'll need to get the kernel code tarball and unpack it, and follow the instructions below to correct the symlinks for the kernel headers. You do not need to do this with R5F1 and should skip this entire step and continue with step 2.

If you don't already have the kernel source files, get them

    cd /myth/downloads/temp # or go to your favorite temporary directory
    wget ftp://knoppmyth.net/R5/linux-source-2.6.18-chw-13_2.6.18-chw-13-10.00.Custom_all.deb
    dpkg -i linux-source-2.6.18-chw-13_2.6.18-chw-13-10.00.Custom_all.deb 
    

    cd /usr/src/
    ls -ald kernel-source*
    tar jxvf kernel-source-2.6.18-chw-3.tar.bz2  # Change this name to match what you have!
    

These steps get the kernel source built and sym links correct (copied from the vmware server article, with additional steps to correct a link in the lib/modules...). Note that running make on the linux kernel can take quite a long time (took me 90 minutes):

    cd /usr/src/kernel-source-2.6.18-chw-13 
    cp /boot/config-2.6.18-chw-13 .config 
    make
    cd /usr/src
    rm linux 
    ln -s kernel-source-2.6.18-chw-13 linux
    cd /lib/modules/2.6.18-chw-13
    rm build
    ln -s /usr/src/kernel-source-2.6.18-chw-13 build 
    

2. Download the new driver code, unpack it, build it, and install it. Substitute the appropriate version for ivtv in the commands below. As of this writing, the latest is 0.10.5

    cd /usr/src
    wget http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/ivtv/archive/0.10.x/ivtv-0.10.5.tar.gz
    tar zxvf ivtv-0.10.5.tar.gz
    cd ivtv-0.10.5/
    make
    make install
    

3. Get the required firmware in the hotplug directory where the driver expect it, and check the file signatures to make sure they're right. Remember, you need to turn the machine off completely, and leave it off for several minutes, for the old firmware to be cleared from the PVR cards memory.

    cd /usr/src
    wget http://dl.ivtvdriver.org/ivtv/firmware/firmware.tar.gz
    cd /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/
    tar zxvf /usr/src/firmware.tar.gz
    md5sum /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/v4l-*
    

The md5sum output should be:

    305dba74bbe5905447add8883f3ecb68  /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/v4l-cx2341x-dec.fw
    9b39b3d3bba1ce2da40f82ef0c50ef48  /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/v4l-cx2341x-enc.fw
    0661f8b2693fe3123e6234557353eacc  /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/v4l-cx2341x-init.mpg
    99836e41ccb28c7b373e87686f93712a  /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/v4l-cx25840.fw
    ffed594f0edea15de8c19cfd13bc4adf  /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/v4l-pvrusb2-24xxx-01.fw
    3b7288416144467369ed2b5b10cf931d  /usr/lib/hotplug/firmware/v4l-pvrusb2-29xxx-01.fw
    

4. If you have any ivtv options specified to add extra kernel buffers, you must remove them or the ivtv kernel module will not load. For example, I had to remove the following line from my /etc/mythtv/modules/ivtv file:

    options ivtv yuv_buffers=4 mpg_buffers=16 vbi_buffers=4 pcm_buffers=4
    

Be aware that you may also encounter problems with other ivtv options, either in that file or in your /etc/modprobe.conf file.

Note: Previously, when I was trying to reduce video glitches, I had blindly followed many instructions to add options ivtv mpg_buffers=16 into various files. Here is the list of all the places from which I had to remove it. I didn't remove the line, I simply put a # in front to comment it out.
/etc/mythtv/modules/ivtv
/etc/mythtv/modules/ivtv0
/etc/modprobe.d/options
/etc/modprobe.conf

If you are using a PVR-350 for video output please see the README for module options you may need to add. Look for the note about "ivtv-fb". The README basically tells you to recompile your kernel with a specific option. If you don't feel comfortable compiling a kernel you should refrain from upgrading to ivtv 0.10.x. If you didn't listen to the initial warning and already installed 0.10.x and TV output is not working for MPEG2 files and you don't feel like compiling a new kernel, you can just pretty much do the steps above with ivtv 0.8.x to get back to the old ivtv version.

5. Shut down your the system, and turn the power completely off for 2-3 minutes before rebooting. This may require turning the power off at the power supply or unplugging the system. Do not skip this step!!! This is very important to ensure that the PVR card loads the updated firmware.