InstantFM

DISCUSSION Ted To 3 participants 14 messages May 19, 2013 – May 27, 2013 Media (V4L/DVB)

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Ted To

author

2013-05-19 20:25 UTC #0 lore raw

Hi,

I purchased this device and while the device driver loads and I can set up gnomeradio to access it, it picks up no radio stations, despite being the model with an external antenna. The log output says "software version 0, hardware version 7". I'm running Debian Wheezy and the output from dmesg is:

[66842.724036] usb 2-3: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ohci_hcd
[66842.936144] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1, idProduct=a155
[66842.936150] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=0
[66842.936154] usb 2-3: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
[66842.936156] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
[66843.275730] Linux media interface: v0.10
[66843.296811] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[66843.321815] USB radio driver for Si470x FM Radio Receivers, Version
1.0.10
[66843.323136] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff
[66843.326127] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware version 7
[66843.326131] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with
software version 7,
[66843.326135] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software version 0.
[66843.326138] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: If you have some trouble using this
driver,
[66843.326141] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: please report to V4L ML at
[email protected]
[66843.338247] usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x
[66843.407477] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Any help on what I need to do to get this working would be much appreciated.

Cheers,
Ted To

Hans de Goede

2013-05-20 06:51 UTC #1 lore raw

Hi,

Quoted 30 lines · Ted To

Hi,

[66842.724036] usb 2-3: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ohci_hcd
[66842.936144] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1, idProduct=a155
[66842.936150] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=0
[66842.936154] usb 2-3: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
[66842.936156] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
[66843.275730] Linux media interface: v0.10
[66843.296811] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[66843.321815] USB radio driver for Si470x FM Radio Receivers, Version
1.0.10
[66843.323136] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff
[66843.326127] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware version 7
[66843.326131] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with
software version 7,
[66843.326135] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software version 0.
[66843.326138] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: If you have some trouble using this
driver,
[66843.326141] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: please report to V4L ML at
[email protected]
[66843.338247] usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x
[66843.407477] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio

Quoted 1 line

Any help on what I need to do to get this working would be much appreciated.

Can you try with the (console-based) radio app from the latest xawtv release, xawtv-3.103 ?

gnomeradio is not being actively maintained, so it could be your just hitting a gnomeradio issue.

Regards,

Hans

Ted To

author

2013-05-20 15:42 UTC #2 lore raw

Hi,

Quoted 43 lines · Hans de Goede

Hi,
Quoted 33 lines · Ted To
Hi,
I purchased this device and while the device driver loads and I can set up gnomeradio to access it, it picks up no radio stations, despite being the model with an external antenna. The log output says "software version 0, hardware version 7". I'm running Debian Wheezy and the output from dmesg is:
[66842.724036] usb 2-3: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ohci_hcd
[66842.936144] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1,
idProduct=a155
[66842.936150] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=0
[66842.936154] usb 2-3: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
[66842.936156] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
[66843.275730] Linux media interface: v0.10
[66843.296811] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[66843.321815] USB radio driver for Si470x FM Radio Receivers, Version
1.0.10
[66843.323136] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff
[66843.326127] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware
version 7
[66843.326131] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with
software version 7,
[66843.326135] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software
version 0.
[66843.326138] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: If you have some trouble using this
driver,
[66843.326141] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: please report to V4L ML at
[email protected]
[66843.338247] usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x
[66843.407477] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
Quoted 2 lines
Any help on what I need to do to get this working would be much appreciated.
Can you try with the (console-based) radio app from the latest xawtv release,
xawtv-3.103 ?

Quoted 7 lines

gnomeradio is not being actively maintained, so it could be your just hitting
a gnomeradio issue.
Regards,
Hans

I had tried "radio" from the debian repository (version 3.102) but sadly it did not work. I also tried 3.103 from the sid repository and I get the following error:

Invalid freq '138650000'. Current freq out of range?

I can get it to start if I use the "-s" option but still, nothing plays.
Moreover, if I give it a specific frequency, it does not start at that
frequency.

Could the problem be that my device does not have version 7 of the firmware? Google has not been helpful regarding how this can be upgraded.

Thanks,
Ted

Ted To

author

2013-05-20 18:38 UTC #3 lore raw

Quoted 65 lines · Ted To

Hi,
Quoted 43 lines · Hans de Goede
Hi,
Quoted 33 lines · Ted To
Hi,
I purchased this device and while the device driver loads and I can set up gnomeradio to access it, it picks up no radio stations, despite being the model with an external antenna. The log output says "software version 0, hardware version 7". I'm running Debian Wheezy and the output from dmesg is:
[66842.724036] usb 2-3: new full-speed USB device number 3 using ohci_hcd
[66842.936144] usb 2-3: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1,
idProduct=a155
[66842.936150] usb 2-3: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2,
SerialNumber=0
[66842.936154] usb 2-3: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
[66842.936156] usb 2-3: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
[66843.275730] Linux media interface: v0.10
[66843.296811] Linux video capture interface: v2.00
[66843.321815] USB radio driver for Si470x FM Radio Receivers, Version
1.0.10
[66843.323136] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff
[66843.326127] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware
version 7
[66843.326131] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with
software version 7,
[66843.326135] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software
version 0.
[66843.326138] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: If you have some trouble using this
driver,
[66843.326141] radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: please report to V4L ML at
[email protected]
[66843.338247] usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x
[66843.407477] usbcore: registered new interface driver snd-usb-audio
Quoted 2 lines
Any help on what I need to do to get this working would be much appreciated.
Can you try with the (console-based) radio app from the latest xawtv release,
xawtv-3.103 ?
Quoted 7 lines
gnomeradio is not being actively maintained, so it could be your just hitting
a gnomeradio issue.
Regards,
Hans
I had tried "radio" from the debian repository (version 3.102) but sadly it did not work. I also tried 3.103 from the sid repository and I get the following error:
Invalid freq '138650000'. Current freq out of range?
I can get it to start if I use the "-s" option but still, nothing plays.
Moreover, if I give it a specific frequency, it does not start at that
frequency.

Quoted 5 lines

Could the problem be that my device does not have version 7 of the firmware? Google has not been helpful regarding how this can be upgraded.
Thanks,
Ted

Actually, playing around with it some more (the version in the stable repository), it appears to be picking something up. "radio -s" produces the following:

$ radio -s
baseline at 1.00
Station  0:  88.10 MHz - 4.00
Station  1:  88.90 MHz - 3.00
Station  2:  89.70 MHz - 2.00
Station  3:  91.50 MHz - 2.00
Station  4:  92.35 MHz - 3.00
Station  5:  93.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  6:  95.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  7:  95.90 MHz - 2.00
Station  8:  97.80 MHz - 4.00
Station  9:  99.10 MHz - 2.00
Station 10: 100.45 MHz - 2.00
Station 11: 101.90 MHz - 2.00
Station 12: 102.70 MHz - 2.00
Station 13: 104.25 MHz - 4.00
Station 14: 105.75 MHz - 3.00
Station 15: 106.50 MHz - 5.00
tuned 88.10 MHz

I assume that the last number is a measure of signal strength?

The problem is that no sound is produced. FYI, gnomeradio gives a 'Could not open "/dev/mixer"!' error. There seem to be some bugs reported regarding this problem.

https://bugs.launchpad.net/ubuntu/+source/alsa-driver/+bug/613809

Hans de Goede

2013-05-21 07:31 UTC #4 lore raw

Hi,

On 05/20/2013 08:38 PM, Ted To wrote:
<snip>

Quoted 5 lines

Actually, playing around with it some more (the version in the stable repository), it appears to be picking something up. "radio -s" produces the following:
$ radio -s

q> baseline at 1.00

Quoted 16 lines

Station  0:  88.10 MHz - 4.00
Station  1:  88.90 MHz - 3.00
Station  2:  89.70 MHz - 2.00
Station  3:  91.50 MHz - 2.00
Station  4:  92.35 MHz - 3.00
Station  5:  93.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  6:  95.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  7:  95.90 MHz - 2.00
Station  8:  97.80 MHz - 4.00
Station  9:  99.10 MHz - 2.00
Station 10: 100.45 MHz - 2.00
Station 11: 101.90 MHz - 2.00
Station 12: 102.70 MHz - 2.00
Station 13: 104.25 MHz - 4.00
Station 14: 105.75 MHz - 3.00
Station 15: 106.50 MHz - 5.00

Quoted 3 lines

tuned 88.10 MHz
I assume that the last number is a measure of signal strength?

Yes, more or less.

Quoted 3 lines

The problem is that no sound is produced. FYI, gnomeradio gives a 'Could not open "/dev/mixer"!' error. There seem to be some bugs reported regarding this problem.

Right, have you also tried with the latest version of radio ? The 3.103 version has digital audio loopbacking support, so it will read audio from the usb stick (which show up as a usb soundcard) and then send it to your default alsa device, also see radio -help output.

About setting the frequency not working, I've just tried with my own si470x device, and this works fine:
radio -f 97.6

As for the reported hardware / software version, my usb-stick has:

radio-si470x 4-2:1.2: software version 1, hardware version 7

Where as your has:

radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware version 7 radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with software version 7, radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software version 0.

Since my device works fine, in the latest driver the software version check has been lowered to version 1. And if we can get yours to work too, we can lower it even further.

Which kernel version are you using ?

Regards,

Hans

Ted To

author

2013-05-21 12:12 UTC #5 lore raw

Hi Hans,

Quoted 37 lines · Hans de Goede

Hi,
On 05/20/2013 08:38 PM, Ted To wrote:
<snip>
Quoted 5 lines
Actually, playing around with it some more (the version in the stable repository), it appears to be picking something up. "radio -s" produces the following:
$ radio -s
q> baseline at 1.00
Quoted 16 lines
Station  0:  88.10 MHz - 4.00
Station  1:  88.90 MHz - 3.00
Station  2:  89.70 MHz - 2.00
Station  3:  91.50 MHz - 2.00
Station  4:  92.35 MHz - 3.00
Station  5:  93.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  6:  95.10 MHz - 3.00
Station  7:  95.90 MHz - 2.00
Station  8:  97.80 MHz - 4.00
Station  9:  99.10 MHz - 2.00
Station 10: 100.45 MHz - 2.00
Station 11: 101.90 MHz - 2.00
Station 12: 102.70 MHz - 2.00
Station 13: 104.25 MHz - 4.00
Station 14: 105.75 MHz - 3.00
Station 15: 106.50 MHz - 5.00
Quoted 3 lines
tuned 88.10 MHz
I assume that the last number is a measure of signal strength?
Yes, more or less.
Quoted 3 lines
The problem is that no sound is produced. FYI, gnomeradio gives a 'Could not open "/dev/mixer"!' error. There seem to be some bugs reported regarding this problem.

Quoted 5 lines

Right, have you also tried with the latest version of radio ? The 3.103 version has digital audio loopbacking support, so it will read audio from the usb stick (which show up as a usb soundcard) and then send it to your default alsa device, also see radio -help output.

Unfortunately 3.103 (from the debian unstable repository) does not appear to work at all for me. If I set the frequency:

radio -f 88.5

I get:

Tuning to 88.50 MHz
Invalid freq '138650000'. Current freq out of range?

When scanning:

radio -s

produces no output whatsoever before going to the curses interface set at frequency 138.65.

Quoted 14 lines

About setting the frequency not working, I've just tried with my own si470x device, and this works fine:
radio -f 97.6
As for the reported hardware / software version, my usb-stick has:
radio-si470x 4-2:1.2: software version 1, hardware version 7
Where as your has:
radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: software version 0, hardware version 7 radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: This driver is known to work with software version 7, radio-si470x 2-3:1.2: but the device has software version 0.

Quoted 5 lines

Since my device works fine, in the latest driver the software version check has been lowered to version 1. And if we can get yours to work too, we can lower it even further.
Which kernel version are you using ?

3.2.0-4-amd64

I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.

Thanks,
Ted

Hans de Goede

2013-05-22 08:11 UTC #6 lore raw

Hi,

Quoted 1 line · Ted To

Hi Hans,

<snip>

Quoted 5 lines

Quoted 1 line
Which kernel version are you using ?
3.2.0-4-amd64
I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.

Yes, if you could try that that would be great.

Regards,

Hans

Patrice Levesque

2013-05-22 14:34 UTC #7 lore raw

Quoted 3 lines

Quoted 2 lines
I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.
Yes, if you could try that that would be great.

If I may join the party, I too own an InstantFM USB device and I can't get it to play radio. All of this under kernel 3.9.3-gentoo.

dmesg:

	usb 4-2.4: new full-speed USB device number 5 using uhci_hcd
	usb 4-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1, idProduct=a155
	usb 4-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0
	usb 4-2.4: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
	usb 4-2.4: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
	radio-si470x 4-2.4:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff
	radio-si470x 4-2.4:1.2: software version 0, hardware version 7
	radio-si470x 4-2.4:1.2: This driver is known to work with software version 1,
	radio-si470x 4-2.4:1.2: but the device has software version 0.
	radio-si470x 4-2.4:1.2: If you have some trouble using this driver,
	radio-si470x 4-2.4:1.2: please report to V4L ML at [email protected]
	usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x
	usbcore: registered new interface driver radio-si470x

xawtv-3.95-r2 (gentoo):

	radio:

	// The interface shows up with 0.00 tuned, and across the screen I
	// see
	VIDIOCGAUDIO: Inappropriate ioctl for device
	VIDIOCSAUDIO: Inappropriate ioctl for device

	radio -f 98.5:
	// The interface shows up with 98.5 tuned, and across the screen I
	// see
	VIDIOCGAUDIO: Inappropriate ioctl for device
	VIDIOCSAUDIO: Inappropriate ioctl for device

	radio -d -i:
	// Seems to scan the proper range, then returns nothing:
	[Stations]
	get_baseline:  min=0.000000 max=0.000000

xawtv3-320b1ab (seemed to be the latest version snapshot yesterday):

	radio:
	// Does not start.
	Invalid freq '127150000'. Current freq out of range?

	radio -f 98.5:
	// Does not start
	Tuning to 98.50 MHz
	Invalid freq '127150000'. Current freq out of range?

	radio -d -i:
	// Starts scanning out of range
	Warning no band specified, scanning band 1.
	scanning: 127.15 MHz - 327675
	// Then still fails
	get_baseline:  min=65535.000000 max=65535.000000
	[Stations]

Is there anything else I can try to help debug this?

Signature · 8 lines

 --====|====--
    --------================|================--------
        Patrice Levesque
         http://ptaff.ca/
        [email protected]
    --------================|================--------
 --====|====--
--

Hans de Goede

2013-05-23 08:24 UTC #8 lore raw

Hi,

Quoted 7 lines · Patrice Levesque

Quoted 3 lines
Quoted 2 lines
I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.
Yes, if you could try that that would be great.
If I may join the party, I too own an InstantFM USB device and I can't get it to play radio. All of this under kernel 3.9.3-gentoo.

Quoted 8 lines

dmesg:
usb 4-2.4: new full-speed USB device number 5 using uhci_hcd usb 4-2.4: New USB device found, idVendor=06e1, idProduct=a155 usb 4-2.4: New USB device strings: Mfr=1, Product=2, SerialNumber=0 usb 4-2.4: Product: ADS InstantFM Music
usb 4-2.4: Manufacturer: ADS TECH
radio-si470x 4-2.4:1.2: DeviceID=0xffff ChipID=0xffff

This, as well as the "Invalid freq '127150000'" and the "get_baseline: min=65535.000000 max=65535.000000" messages seem to indicate that only FFFF is being read from all the registers of the tuner chip, so somehow the communication between the usb micro-controller and the si470x tuner chip is not working.

If it does work under $otheros, you can try running $otheros in a qemu vm with usb passthrough, and then with wireshark on the host catch the usb traffic, and see what $otheros is doing ...

Regards,

Hans

Patrice Levesque

2013-05-25 17:18 UTC #9 lore raw

Quoted 6 lines

This, as well as the "Invalid freq '127150000'" and the "get_baseline:
min=65535.000000 max=65535.000000" messages seem to indicate that only FFFF is being read from all the registers of the tuner chip, so somehow the communication between the usb micro-controller and the si470x tuner chip is not working.

A disconnect-connect of the USB device reset its internal state and now I can confirm the device properly works with the 3.9.3-gentoo kernel, using the 3.103 version of xawtv.

Under the same kernel, the 3.95-r2 xawtv version shipped with gentoo fails to detect signal: “radio -i -d” outputs no channel and shows “get_baseline: min=0.000000 max=0.000000”.

Thanks for your good work on this, you know who you are,

Signature · 8 lines

 --====|====--
    --------================|================--------
        Patrice Levesque
         http://ptaff.ca/
        [email protected]
    --------================|================--------
 --====|====--
--

Hans de Goede

2013-05-26 10:54 UTC #10 lore raw

Hi,

Quoted 11 lines · Patrice Levesque

Quoted 6 lines
This, as well as the "Invalid freq '127150000'" and the "get_baseline:
min=65535.000000 max=65535.000000" messages seem to indicate that only FFFF is being read from all the registers of the tuner chip, so somehow the communication between the usb micro-controller and the si470x tuner chip is not working.
A disconnect-connect of the USB device reset its internal state and now I can confirm the device properly works with the 3.9.3-gentoo kernel, using the 3.103 version of xawtv.

Quoted 6 lines

Under the same kernel, the 3.95-r2 xawtv version shipped with gentoo fails to detect signal: “radio -i -d” outputs no channel and shows “get_baseline: min=0.000000 max=0.000000”.
Thanks for your good work on this, you know who you are,

Good to hear, your device has "software version 0, hardware version 7", right? If you can confirm then I'll lower the version requirement in the kernel too match (so that you'll no longer get the warning message).

Regards,

Hans

Patrice Levesque

2013-05-27 15:22 UTC #11 lore raw

Quoted 4 lines

Good to hear, your device has "software version 0, hardware version 7", right? If you can confirm then I'll lower the version requirement in the kernel too match (so that you'll no longer get the warning message).

Yes, software version 0.

Signature · 8 lines

 --====|====--
    --------================|================--------
        Patrice Levesque
         http://ptaff.ca/
        [email protected]
    --------================|================--------
 --====|====--
--

Ted To

author

2013-05-22 16:51 UTC #12 lore raw

In reply to Hans de Goede

Quoted 11 lines · Hans de Goede

Hi,
Quoted 1 line · Ted To
Hi Hans,
<snip>
Quoted 4 lines
Quoted 1 line
Which kernel version are you using ?
3.2.0-4-amd64

Quoted 7 lines

Quoted 1 line
I could try the liquorix kernel (3.8) if you thought it might help.
Yes, if you could try that that would be great.
Regards,
Hans

I did a live boot from the most recent Ubuntu (kernel 3.8), installed radio and it worked! The signal was pretty weak though so there was a lot of static. I suppose the only solution then is to get a better antenna...

Thanks very much!

Ted

Patrice Levesque

2013-05-23 00:30 UTC #13 lore raw

Quoted 3 lines

I did a live boot from the most recent Ubuntu (kernel 3.8), installed radio and it worked!

Did you make it work under another well-known proprietary OS first so that the firmware got updated and kept fresh across the reboot?

In theory if it works for you, I guess it should work for me (the kernel message says we have the same hardware version), so I'm trying to figure out what's so different about our setups.

Thanks,

Signature · 8 lines

 --====|====--
    --------================|================--------
        Patrice Levesque
         http://ptaff.ca/
        [email protected]
    --------================|================--------
 --====|====--
--