Afatech AF9015

A DVB-T demodulator from Afatech. This is the company's second generation COFDM demodulator, and is the successor to the AF9005.

This chip is the main USB control/demux in some cheap DVB-T USB devices currently available, such as:

• The WandTV
• The Elements High Definition DVB-T Receiver Model no DK-5203.
• Dongles with USB ID 15a4:9016 (or 15a4:9015 ?), such as the A-Link "DTU(m)"

Vendor driver

There's a reportedly working vendor-written driver available from http://af.zsolttech.com/ (See also http://forum.ubuntuusers.de/topic/127976/#1029411 and http://marc.info/?l=linux-dvb&m=119437953031536&w=2 and http://marc.info/?l=linux-dvb&m=119437137719022&w=2 )

Driver Development Log

I'm currently writing a driver for this chip, and as there's not much around in terms of a howto on this subject, I thought it might be worth documenting the process.

I've got a head start in that there is an earlier chip from Afatech, the AF9005, for which drivers were recently written/developed. I've got the driver source code for that chip along with the documentation for that and my chip, so I'm going to be working on modifying the AF9005 drivers to work with the AF9015. I'm not sure if I'm allowed to post the documentations here, I'll find out and if so a link will be posted.

To start with, there are some great Linux USB tutorials on Linux Journal:

• start here: How to Write a Linux USB Device Driver
• then here: Writing a Simple USB Driver
• Hot Plug
• and then: Snooping the USB Data Stream

Also get the source for V4L-DVB:

• V4L-DVB download using mercurual

You will find the usb drivers are in ./v4l-dvb/linux/drivers/media/dvb/dvb-usb. Have a bit of a browse through them while you're reading through the first article above, get a feel for how the driver is put together. (There is a procedure described in http://www.ubuntuforums.org/showthread.php?p=1067326).

External Links

• Afatech AF9015 product page