Firewire Channel changing in Linux

[Wrx4me]

I am in the middle of an unraid trial as I’d like to migrate to version 9 on a Linux VM running in unraid. So far I have my VM up and running thanks to SageWizdom’s excellent script and everything from Opendct to Comskip works well.

My only challenge is my HDPVR which on my current Windows 7 Server is using Firewire for Channel changing as it is a 32bit system. I understand Firewire can be used in 64bit Linux but I am lost as to where to start. Can someone please give me a hand with setting up Firewire channel changing in Ubuntu Linux 14.04? I would hate to go back to blasters as my Win 7 Firewire has been rock solid. I'd appreciate any suggestions as well, Thanks!

[Wrx4me]

I guess not many people are using Firewire Channel changing in Linux. Is the USB-UIRT a good alternative?

[bcjenkins]

Take a look at this: https://www.mythtv.org/wiki/FireWire...s_via_Firewire

What kind of cable box do you have?

[Wrx4me]

Interesting...I have FIOS and the Motorola QIP7100-1. Thanks for the link, let me see how far I get with it.

[bcjenkins]

If you can get the standalone binary tuning channels, you can use the generic tuner plugin to integrate it.

[wayner]

Did anyone make any progress on firewire?

[Wrx4me]

Originally Posted by wayner

Did anyone make any progress on firewire?

Not only did I make progress, but it works flawlessly in Linux as it is builtin.

Once your card is detected by the OS it will be listed as a tuning option in Sage and you just select it and it works.

No messing around with the configuration like I did trying to get USB-UIRT to work. This was the easiest tuning setup I have done so far.

The hardest part of the process for me was to Passthrough my Firewire card in unRAID to my Ubuntu VM. Once I got that squared away everythng within Sage was straightforward.

[wayner]

Awesome to hear that you got it working. I think you are right that the passthrough is the trickiest issue. I don't think I can get this working without changing some hardware, but that could be as simple as replacing my i5-2500k with an i5-2500 or other socket 1155 CPU that supports Vt-d or IOMMU or whatever it is called.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Wrx4me

Not only did I make progress, but it works flawlessly in Linux as it is builtin.

Once your card is detected by the OS it will be listed as a tuning option in Sage and you just select it and it works.

No messing around with the configuration like I did trying to get USB-UIRT to work. This was the easiest tuning setup I have done so far.

The hardest part of the process for me was to Passthrough my Firewire card in unRAID to my Ubuntu VM. Once I got that squared away everythng within Sage was straightforward.

Does it not work accessing the firewire port directly from the docker container?

[wayner]

I don't think he is running unRAID/Docker, at least not yet.

[Fuzzy]

The most recent sagetv docker should have the 1394 package included, so it likely will work. I have neither a firewire port or a firewire capable STB to test it with, but it should be accessible.

[wayner]

Originally Posted by Fuzzy

The most recent sagetv docker should have the 1394 package included, so it likely will work. I have neither a firewire port or a firewire capable STB to test it with, but it should be accessible.

But I believe that assumes that you can passthrough the firewire port to VMs/Dockers which, I am pretty sure, requires a CPU that supports Vt-d.

[Fuzzy]

Passing it through to VM's, yes. That's not the same as the way docker deals with hardware. You aren't 'passing through' devices in the same way with docker. Essentially, if your /dev/video* devices of your HD-PVR's are accessible from the docker, then the /dev/fw* devices should as well. Docker is not a virtual machine, it is an isolated environment ON the host OS, so host OS accessible hardware is mostly available within the docker.

[wayner]

So how do I get firewire working in my docker container? When I type lspci from the unRAID bash prompt I can see the firewire port. When I do that from a bash prompt from within the docker container the lspci command doesn't exist.

[Wrx4me]

The reason I am not using the Docker container is that the first time I set it up a couple of months ago Opendct could not detect my tuners but could detect other network tuners so I decided to use a VM until the Opendct issue was sorted out.

I haven't checked into that since as my VM has been working well.

The Docker should be able to access the Firewire port as Fuzzy mentioned because you are not passing anything through as I am doing.

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by wayner

So how do I get firewire working in my docker container? When I type lspci from the unRAID bash prompt I can see the firewire port. When I do that from a bash prompt from within the docker container the lspci command doesn't exist.

lspci simply isn't installed inside the container. Shouldn't matter. Check if you have and /dev/fw* devices inside the containers.

[wayner]

There is no /dev/fw* in either the docker container or the unRAID system.

[wayner]

Anyone have any advice on where to start troubleshooting this?

Here is the output of an lspci command done in the unrAID prompt:

03:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6315 Series Firewire Controller (rev 01)

But as I posted above there is nothing under /dev/fw*

edit - here is the c source code for sa3250ch which is from the mythtv wiki and changes channels on SA boxes, such as the one that I have. There are similar files for a few other boxes. But I think I still need to get the device recognized before I get to the step of using this.

[Wrx4me]

Originally Posted by wayner

Anyone have any advice on where to start troubleshooting this?

Here is the output of an lspci command done in the unrAID prompt:

03:00.0 FireWire (IEEE 1394): VIA Technologies, Inc. VT6315 Series Firewire Controller (rev 01)

But as I posted above there is nothing under /dev/fw*

edit - here is the c source code for sa3250ch which is from the mythtv wiki and changes channels on SA boxes, such as the one that I have. There are similar files for a few other boxes. But I think I still need to get the device recognized before I get to the step of using this.

I have a similar output as you do in unRAID for my firewire card however, I also don't have anything under /dev/fw*. I read somewhere that unRAID does not natively support firewire. My Ubuntu VM does and has the drivers thats why it works there for me. Type the following commands in your unRAID prompt and if they are empty then you know the drivers are not included in unRAID.

lsmod | grep firewire
lsmod | grep 1394

Below is the output from my VM showing I am using the new firewire stack and not the older 1394 stack.

sage@sage1:/$ lsmod | grep firewire
firewire_ohci          40960  0
firewire_core          65536  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t              16384  1 firewire_core

[Fuzzy]

Originally Posted by Wrx4me

I have a similar output as you do in unRAID for my firewire card however, I also don't have anything under /dev/fw*. I read somewhere that unRAID does not natively support firewire. My Ubuntu VM does and has the drivers thats why it works there for me. Type the following commands in your unRAID prompt and if they are empty then you know the drivers are not included in unRAID.

lsmod | grep firewire
lsmod | grep 1394

Below is the output from my VM showing I am using the new firewire stack and not the older 1394 stack.

sage@sage1:/$ lsmod | grep firewire
firewire_ohci          40960  0
firewire_core          65536  1 firewire_ohci
crc_itu_t              16384  1 firewire_core

Do you happen to know what would need to be added to the kernel to get firewire support at the server level? It may be possible to get the linuxserver.io guys to add it into their kernels.