On Wed, 27 Aug 2003, Lauri Pesonen wrote: > Hi, > > just a general call for comments about using DVB HW with Macs. > > I'm moving soon to another country and leaving all my PC stuff behind. I'm > planning on getting one of those cool looking iMacs once I get settled in > at the new place. I've never had a Mac before, so I think it's time to get > one :) > > I'm gonna miss my VDR a lot, so I was wondering has anyone used DVB > hardware with iMacs?
No, not an iMac, but yes for PowerMacs. > Can you connect a USB DVB device to an iMac? Yes. > Can you > compile the linuxdvb driver on OS X? Unlikely. The Mac OS X driver model is quite different to the Linux one. For example, if you are driving a PCI card, then you write a class that derives from IOService and connects to a provider nub of class IOPCIDevice. When a matching PCI card is found an instance of your driver class is automatically instantiated to drive that card. Also the task scheduling mechanism and the stuff that happens at primary interrupt time is different too (not that I really know that much about how Linux does it). Drivers for USB devices are similar, except that they usually execute in userspace, not in the kernel (because access to a USB bus does not compromise the system, unlike access to a PCI bus) When I wanted to get my PCI DVB-T card working in my Mac, I didn't really consider directly compiling the linux-dvb source. Although if I'd known what I know now then I might have tried it. I didn't even know what source files were relevant so I spent a fair bit of time flailing around in the dark, trying various things. Anyway, I ended up writing my own, gleaning the technical details from the linux drivers (thanks guys!) I am currently in the process of rewriting the Mac driver for the TehcnoTrend DVB-T PCI cards, after my first attempt which was a bit of a dog's breakfast. It is taking me a lot longer than I expected, partially because I want to make it good, and partially because now that I have something working I spend a lot more time watching TV :). The revised version should also make it easier to convert linux-dvb drivers to work on the Mac. Maybe even with source compatibility ... but that's a long way off :) When I'm done I'll post it all (including source of course) on my web site at <http://www.defyne.org/dvb/>. I haven't been in a big hurry either because up until last week I didn't have any known users. But now I know that I have at least one! Woohoo! OK, so he works in the same office as me, but still :) > Do the DVB devices provide their own > OS X drivers and SW? Are they any good? No, I don't think there are any DVB cards distributed with Mac drivers. Certainly no DVB-T ones anyway (might find something with DVB-C 'tho). > I'd be ultra happy if some one would tell me that I can run VDR on a iMac, > but I'm pretty sure that's not the case. At last not right now. Maybe I > could do some porting... I don't know about vdr, but you can run vlc and mplayer fine. And apparently QuickTime player can handle MPEG2 if you pay Apple US$20 for the codec (grumble, grumble). I use mplayer. > All comments are welcome! Hope this helps! > -- > Lauri {P^/ -- Info: To unsubscribe send a mail to [EMAIL PROTECTED] with "unsubscribe linux-dvb" as subject.
