MSI DigiVox mini II V3.0

Vendor	Device/Model	Supported	Pictures / URL	E
MSI	DIGIVOX mini II V3.0 (AF9015/MT2060 version) aka. K-Vox	✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28	[1]
MSI	DIGIVOX mini II V3.0 (RTL2832 version) also. DigiVox mini deluxe	✔ Yes somewhat. see device page	[2]

Short rant

This is the newest in the list of MSI's sins against computer users. They changed the device from an AF9015 based design to something using the RTL2832. Basically they are selling a completely different device but don't bother to change the name on the box. Why the (*censored*) (*censored*) (*censored*) hell don't they at least increment the version number? Why not call the new ones "V3.1" or "3.0a,b,c" or "3.0.1"? Anyway....

Overview

MSI DigiVOX mini II rev.3

MSI DigiVox mini II V3.0 is a DVB-T USB 2.0 device from MSI (see Vendor site for a nicer picture).

• In Germany this device might also be named MSI K-Vox.
• This device might not be available worldwide.
• This stick is not the same as the:
  • MSI DigiVox mini II (Vendor site)
  • MSI DigiVox mini II V2.0 linux-dvb archive (Vendor site)
  • MSI DIGIVOX mini III (Vendor site)
  • MSI DIGIVOX mini Deluxe Though according to the geman ubuntu users wiki it has the same chips as the RTL2832 version and should work with the same driver. (Vendor site, German)

Note: Be careful there are at least two, maybe three different devices which the vendor sells under the same name ('MSI DigiVox mini II V3.0') see: [vdr-portal.de] and [forum.ubuntuusers.de] (both german forums).

Install

RTL2832 version

There now seems to be some support for the RTL2832 version. At least thats what the german ubuntu forum claims here.

Also there are instructions on how to get it up and running on Ubuntu here.

Note: I can confirm that the instructions at the German website, (albeit in german:(), DO work with Ubuntu 11.04 but only if you have the 2.6.38-8 kernel, NOT the latest 2.6.38-10 kernel that's current with Ubuntu 11.04. I had to reboot with the earlier kernel to compile and install. I can also confirm it has a USB ID of 1d19:1102 with the following additional information.

lsmod | grep dvb

dvb_usb_rtl2832u 194667 16 dvb_usb 27545 1 dvb_usb_rtl2832u dvb_core 90106 1 dvb_usb rc_core 25725 8 dvb_usb,ir_lirc_codec,ir_mce_kbd_decoder,ir_sony_decoder,ir_jvc_decoder,ir_rc6_decoder,ir_rc5_decoder,ir_nec_decoder

lsusb

... Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1d19:1101 Dexatek Technology Ltd. DK DVB-T Dongle ...

Anybody who owns such a device is welcome to replace my rant with more solid information. :-)

Is it true that the RTL 2832 Version has USB ID 1d19:1101 ? That would at least help to distinguish which of those devices you got. Here's what I scraped from the forum:

Bus 001 Device 003: ID 1d19:1101  
Device Descriptor:
  bLength                18
  bDescriptorType         1
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  idVendor           0x1d19 
  idProduct          0x1101 
  bcdDevice            1.00
  iManufacturer           1 Realtek
  iProduct                2 Rtl2832UDVB
  iSerial                 3 0
  bNumConfigurations      1
  Configuration Descriptor:
    bLength                 9
    bDescriptorType         2
    wTotalLength           34
    bNumInterfaces          2
    bConfigurationValue     1
    iConfiguration          4 USB2.0-Bulk&Iso
    bmAttributes         0xa0
      (Bus Powered)
      Remote Wakeup
    MaxPower              500mA
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        0
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           1
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass    255 Vendor Specific Subclass
      bInterfaceProtocol    255 Vendor Specific Protocol
      iInterface              5 Bulk-In, Interface
      Endpoint Descriptor:
        bLength                 7
        bDescriptorType         5
        bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
        bmAttributes            2
          Transfer Type            Bulk
          Synch Type               None
          Usage Type               Data
        wMaxPacketSize     0x0200  1x 512 bytes
        bInterval               0
    Interface Descriptor:
      bLength                 9
      bDescriptorType         4
      bInterfaceNumber        1
      bAlternateSetting       0
      bNumEndpoints           0
      bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
      bInterfaceSubClass    255 Vendor Specific Subclass
      bInterfaceProtocol    255 Vendor Specific Protocol
      iInterface              5 Bulk-In, Interface
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
  bLength                10
  bDescriptorType         6
  bcdUSB               2.00
  bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
  bDeviceSubClass         0 
  bDeviceProtocol         0 
  bMaxPacketSize0        64
  bNumConfigurations      2
Device Status:     0x0000
  (Bus Powered)

I also have a Rtl2832UDVB device which yields the following information:

Bus 007 Device 002: ID 1d19:1102 Dexatek Technology Ltd. DK mini DVB-T Dongle
Device Descriptor:
 bLength                18
 bDescriptorType         1
 bcdUSB               2.00
 bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
 bDeviceSubClass         0 
 bDeviceProtocol         0 
 bMaxPacketSize0        64
 idVendor           0x1d19 Dexatek Technology Ltd.
 idProduct          0x1102 DK mini DVB-T Dongle
 bcdDevice            1.00
 iManufacturer           1 Realtek
 iProduct                2 Rtl2832UDVB
 iSerial                 3 1
 bNumConfigurations      1
 Configuration Descriptor:
   bLength                 9
   bDescriptorType         2
   wTotalLength           34
   bNumInterfaces          2
   bConfigurationValue     1
   iConfiguration          4 USB2.0-Bulk&Iso
   bmAttributes         0xa0
     (Bus Powered)
     Remote Wakeup
   MaxPower              500mA
   Interface Descriptor:
     bLength                 9
     bDescriptorType         4
     bInterfaceNumber        0
     bAlternateSetting       0
     bNumEndpoints           1
     bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
     bInterfaceSubClass    255 Vendor Specific Subclass
     bInterfaceProtocol    255 Vendor Specific Protocol
     iInterface              5 Bulk-In, Interface
     Endpoint Descriptor:
       bLength                 7
       bDescriptorType         5
       bEndpointAddress     0x81  EP 1 IN
       bmAttributes            2
         Transfer Type            Bulk
         Synch Type               None
         Usage Type               Data
       wMaxPacketSize     0x0040  1x 64 bytes
       bInterval               1
   Interface Descriptor:
     bLength                 9
     bDescriptorType         4
     bInterfaceNumber        1
     bAlternateSetting       0
     bNumEndpoints           0
     bInterfaceClass       255 Vendor Specific Class
     bInterfaceSubClass    255 Vendor Specific Subclass
     bInterfaceProtocol    255 Vendor Specific Protocol
     iInterface              5 Bulk-In, Interface
Device Qualifier (for other device speed):
 bLength                10
 bDescriptorType         6
 bcdUSB               2.00
 bDeviceClass            0 (Defined at Interface level)
 bDeviceSubClass         0 
 bDeviceProtocol         0 
 bMaxPacketSize0        64
 bNumConfigurations      2
Device Status:     0x0000
 (Bus Powered)

Which would suggest that the id is indeed one higher 1d19:1102.

On Ubuntu 11.10

With Kernel 3.0.0-13-generic the driver from https://bitbucket.org/themagicpudding/rtl2832_2836_2840 worked for USB-ID 1d19:1101. Just follow the instructions there.

However, it fails to compile the code on a 32 bit install.

Update

I've found code at https://github.com/ambrosa/DVB-Realtek-RTL2832U-2.2.2-10tuner-mod_kernel-3.0.0 which compiles, installs and works on a fresh 32-bit Ubuntu 11.10 installation. However, I had a problem installing the kernel module with a 3.0.0.13-generic kernel. That problem seemed to be fixed by updating to a 3.0.0.13-generic kernel and re-compiling and installing.

AF9016 version

On most modern distributions it will probably work out of the box. You may have to download the firmware but that also depends on your distribution. Just plug it in and see what dmesg on a console says.

On Ubuntu or Debian Lenny

On Ubuntu 10.04 (and most probably next versions), just go to System=>Administration=>Hardware drivers.

It should offer you an option " to download and install the firmware for DVB-T hardware. Activate it, and your tuner will be automatically recognized.

Using a script by Daniel Holm, it is very easy to install the driver on older ubuntu versions.

wget http://www.danielholm.se/sites/default/files/msi.digivox.mini_.II_.V.3-v3.run
chmod +x msi.digivox.mini_.II_.V.3-v3.run
./msi.digivox.mini_.II_.V.3-v3.run

Congratulations, your DVB-T stick is now operational (including remote control).

(Also tested and working on Debian Lenny. Thanks!)

On other Linux Distributions

Although not as convenient as above, it should only take a couple of minutes to install the driver manually.

Prerequisites

• You need to have make, gcc, etc. installed.
• You need the revision control system 'mercurial' installed.

Compile and Install the Driver

Download version 4.95.0 of the firmware and copy it to your firmware directory.

wget http://www.otit.fi/~crope/v4l-dvb/af9015/af9015_firmware_cutter/firmware_files/4.95.0/dvb-usb-af9015.fw
sudo mv dvb-usb-af9015.fw /lib/firmware/

On some distributions, you might have to move the firmware to /lib/firmware/2.6.xx/ where 2.6.xx is the version of your linux kernel.

Now download, compile, and install drivers for AF9015 from Antti Palosaari:

hg clone http://linuxtv.org/hg/~anttip/af9015/
cd af9015
make
sudo make install

Congratulations, your DVB-T receiver should work now.

Remote Control Setup

MSI DigiVOX mini II rev.3 with remote

If you want to use the IR remote control, you should tell the driver that you have a MSI DigiVox mini II V3.0. The driver can unfortunately not figure that out automatically since many devices have the very same 'lsusb -v'-fingerprint.

For this, you will need to pass the option 'remote=2' to the dvb_usb_af9015 module. Manually, this is done by the command (as root):

rmmod dvb_usb_af9015
modprobe dvb_usb_af9015 remote=2

To permanently store the option, you will need to edit modprobe's configuration files. If your linux distribution uses a directory /etc/modprobe.d/, you can set the configuration as follows:

echo "options dvb_usb_af9015   remote=2" >> /etc/modprobe.d/50-dvb_usb_af9015.conf

On other distributions, you may need to add that line to /etc/modprobe.conf.

Furthermore, the device MSI DigiVox mini II V3.0 seems to have a hardware bug that causes keystrokes on the remote control to be repeated indefinitely. To circumvent this problem, you need to prevent your machine from recognizing the usb-stick as a keyboard.

echo "options usbhid quirks=0x15a4:0x9016:0x4" >> /etc/modprobe.d/usbhid.conf
rmmod usbhid; modprobe usbhid

Congratulations, your remote control should work now.

Developer Info

Vendor	Device/Model	Supported	Pictures	URL	Interface	USB ID	Hardware	Tuner	Demodulator	USB Bridge	Firmware	Comment	E
MSI	DIGIVOX mini II V3.0 (AF9015/MT2060 version) aka. K-Vox	✔ Yes, in kernel since 2.6.28		[3]	USB1.1 USB2.0	15a4:9016	Afatech AF9015, Microtune MT2060	mt2060	af9015	af9015	dvb-usb-af9015.fw	Manufacturer changed device but kept name, ARGH!! See device page for details.

Status

Works, including remote control.

Components Used:

• Afatech AF9015-N1
• The Tuner is a Microtune MT2061F

Driver

Several versions of the firmware can be found here.

People who own such a device

feel free to add yourself here, testers will always be needed!

Name	Email
Niklas	officeman at freenet d0t de
Jons	linuxtv d0t org at metastasis d0t de
Jan	krupaj at mobilnews d0t cz
Patrick	linuxuser1 at gmx d0t net
tilt	tilde at tk hyph3n sls d0t de
bazillus	r at sliwi d0t org
Sylvio	smileyoschi at freenet d0t de (by the alternativ way)
Daniel Holm	d.holmen at gmail d0t com
Henrik (the AF9015 version)	User:Hlangos (can be emailed via user page)
Peacem4k3r	dominique d0t bnghff at googlemail d0t com

External Links

• Daniel Holm's Ubuntu module install-script.
• MSI product page
• Af9015 product page
• [4]