Using FireDTV card on Ubuntu 8.10

Hi Duncan,
I've received the following url www.firedtv.bbackx.com/index.php?q=node/2
At this url is a clear explanation of how to install. But the link http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/people/gregkh/gregkh-2.6/patches/bad/ldp/dvb-add-firesat-driver.patch gives me a 404. I've received a new link http://www.kernel.org/pub/linux/kernel/v2.6/patch-2.6.29.1.bz2, but now I'm unable (as a newbee) to integrate that in the how-to. I've have tried to execute the patch (using --dry-run) but that gives unexplainable errors.
John

Duncan, I'll try this over appr. 5 hours when I'm at home. Thanks, I'll be back.

Hi Duncan, I've followed your instructions. Downloaded the new kernel, unpacked it and tried to applit the patch.
Below is the result of this. As you can see there is a dir with the new kernel. I have placed the downloaded patch in /usr/gz. When I run the last command in your example, I get the error messages at the and. I probably will have done something terrible wrong.

john@MediaCenter:/usr/src/linux-2.6.29.1$ dir
arch       CREDITS      drivers   include  Kbuild  MAINTAINERS      net            samples   sound
block       crypto            firmware  init         kernel  Makefile      README            scripts   usr
COPYING  Documentation      fs        ipc         lib         mm            REPORTING-BUGS      security  virt

john@MediaCenter:/usr/src/linux-2.6.29.1$ sudo bzcat /usr/gz/patch-2.6.29.1.bz2 | patch -p1
patching file Makefile
Reversed (or previously applied) patch detected!  Assume -R? [n] y
patch: **** Can't rename file Makefile to Makefile.orig : Permission denied
john@MediaCenter:/usr/src/linux-2.6.29.1$

O yeah, after I had made a root password, the permission denied is not an issue anymore :-)
Only now there is more to go wrong:

john@MediaCenter:/usr/src/linux-2.6.29.1$ su
Password:
root@MediaCenter:/usr/src/linux-2.6.29.1# bzcat /usr/gz/patch-2.6.29.1.bz2 | patch -p1
patching file Makefile
Reversed (or previously applied) patch detected!  Assume -R? [n]
Apply anyway? [n] y
Hunk #1 FAILED at 1.
1 out of 1 hunk FAILED -- saving rejects to file Makefile.rej
patching file arch/arm/include/asm/elf.h
Reversed (or previously applied) patch detected!  Assume -R? [n] ^C
root@MediaCenter:/usr/src/linux-2.6.29.1#

Sorry patch-2.6.29.1.bz2 is completely unnecessary. It is the patch to make linux-2.6.29.1 from linux-2.6.29. You already fetched 2.6.29.1 so no need for the patch. rm -r the directory you have now, and re-unpack it from linux-2.6.29.1.tar.bz2.
However, there is no firesat directory in that release. I guess it's no mainline yet. Googling for "firesat driver patch" found lots of URLs. It looks like you are back to using git but it seems firesat is available.
I couldn't find a good link for 2.6.29 but for 2.6.28 there is http://user.in-berlin.de/~s5r6/linux1394/firedtv/2.6.28/. This assumes you have some base revision of firesat.
I'm out of time right now but it looks like you have to go back to git. Try that, and a bit more Googling, and post your results.

Hi Duncun,

Thanks for the info. I'll try it and come back to you.

Regards, John

Hi Duncun, I'm really a good part further. I even have a decoder in the scream and working TV.
But....
During step before the last step in the howto I received error message. In de file attached you can see the out coming of the last 2 steps.
And..when I was prompted for regular Ubuntu updates, the update also game with this error message.

E: linux-image-2.6.29.1-firesat: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 2

Furthermore it looks like I have lost the driver for my graphics card.
I will try to download the driver again and install it. Is it possible that you give me an advise what to do with the error message?
Regards, John

Hi Duncun, during installation of the ATI card I get:

DKMS part of installation failed.  Please refer to /usr/share/ati/fglrx-install.log for details

I've enclosed the logfile.

Hope you have the time to help me out with this,

regards,

john

Hi Duncun, after updating the driver I had to reboot and that leaves me with a dead system. So I'm going to re-install the whole system (7th time).
Regards,  John

I think you lost the driver because of the failure in processing nvidia-common.
You might see the actual error message if you manually issue the command "/etc/kernel/postinst.d/nvidia-common".
I am not familiar with DKMS, or any Debian stuff really. But I suggest you try:

cd /usr/src/fglrx-8.602
make

You might get more information about the failing command if instead you type:

make V=1

(Linux kernel make understands that flag)

If the error messages don't give you enough info to solve the problem, post them here. Also post the failing script or Makefile.

Good luck ... Duncan.

Didn't see your last comment - was composing my post. You should keep a known backup kernel installed. Then if the new one is no good, select the old one from the GRUB menu. Again, I never use GRUB. I use LILO, as per /usr/src/linux/README

I meant to type: a known *good* backup kernel - D

Hi Duncun, can you please say something about:

E: linux-image-2.6.29.1-firesat: subprocess post-installation script returned error exit status 2

This was the first of the last 3 post......

I did comment on it - first para in http:#24174844 (first 2 lines, then I go on to deal with the 2nd error)
What you need to do is run the failing script by hand so we can tie down just what the error is.
run-parts is a standard utility (not a Debianism) which runs all executable files in a given directory. It reported /etc/kernel/postinst.d/nvidia-common failed, that's why I asked that it be run by hand.

Hi Duncun, I've installed the decoder. I have cable signal and can scan for channels. I've dobne the whole installation from scratch again. The only this I didn't do was the video card installation.
I use a ATI Radeon 4650. Do you have any experience with this card under linux? Is there a specific card that is better to use with Linux?
The only problem I have now is that the channels almost all are coded and for some reason not viewable for me. But that is an other case I will sort out on a more specific forum (unless you have an knoledge obout that issue :-))
Kind regards and thanks for now, John