TV Tunner not working in OSMC since kernel update

As you read in some messages, RTL2832u tunner is not working since kernel update (to 4.x). dmesg shows a “i2c” error and removes it (it never is listed, is automatically extracted)

I tested this tunner in a x64 Linux 4.0 and is working fine, but in OSMC is not.

Other test that I need to do is try in OpenElec (I don’t know if they use Kernel 4).

We have this problem since summer, so we was half year with a broken TV tunner.

Of course, we can install kernel 3.xx but we can’t update the system.

To get a better understanding of the problem you are experiencing we need more information from you. Please see How to submit a useful support request - General - OSMC for advice on how to help us.

Yes we are well aware of issues with some TV Tuner drivers in the 4.x kernels on OSMC. If this was an easy fix we would have fixed it long ago, but the upstream drivers are broken.

Testing the device on x64 Linux doesn’t really prove anything because the Raspberry Pi is an arm architecture and drivers are not the same as intel x64 Linux. It requires someone working on the upstream drivers to take the time to fix the drivers on arm. So far this has not happened.

Thank you.

I was some months tracking this issue in the forum. In the first release it has some feedback from the devel team, but in some weeks the problem was ignored. Some users reported the same problem and they had no answer.

I’m happy to receive a answer about this topic. Of course, you said that is hard and is not fixed, but this is better that have no anwer or updates in the last 5 months.

I supose that this is not your problem, only a problem that need to be reported to the people who modified RTL2832u driver for ARM, but you can open a but report in some repository.

The problem has not been ignored - our hands are tied and there is nothing that we can really do to fix it ourselves as we don’t have any kernel developers on the OSMC dev team.

Fixing/rewriting kernel drivers is very specialist work and only those with plenty of time on their hands, access to all the hardware to test with, and all the chipset documentation (some of it proprietary and confidential requiring a signed NDA to even get hold of it) and who are very familiar with how that hardware works have any hope to develop and fix such drivers.

I’m sure they’re aware that the drivers are broken on arm but it may simply be a lack of time or resources on the part of those in a position to fix it. A large percentage of the drivers in the Linux kernel are maintained by volunteers in their own spare time.

The linux kernel is a constantly moving target and when the main upstream kernel moves forward sometimes the drivers on the periphery fall behind and end up broken until they are updated. So even though they may still be shipped with the kernel does not mean they have been kept up to date and in a good working order. This is also the case with many wireless adaptor drivers which can be very problematic.

OSMC (as is Linux) is an open source project so anyone who is knowledgeable in kernel driver development is free to step up and have a go at fixing the problems with these drivers.

This will be fixed in the November update.

Sam

Thanks for the update on this. It is great to hear that there is a plan to sort this. Cheers

Glad to see all this feedback from the support, devel and creator in this post (an better to see that the problem will be fixed in november update).