I am very very confused about the current state of the bttv project. There are a bunch of combinations possible and impossible and
I lost track somewhere.
What I know is that since kernel version 2.1.6x support for the bt848 card is included using the linux videodev ioctl layer. This driver has version "0.01 ALPHA" and has no code for reading vbi data. No compatible programs (as far as I can see).
At the "official" (?) BTTV site (phd.uni-koeln.de/~rjkm) you can obtain the sources for bttv 0.4.3 which includes a driver that builds
as module, using its own proprietary ioctl interface. For this module some programs are included. This driver has no version id at all.
It features incorrect vbi reading code (interrupt causes hangup of process).
At ftp.uk.linux.org/pub/linux/video4linux there is a patch against kernel version 2.1.59. Using linux videodev ioctl layer. This driver
(again) has version "0.01 ALPHA" but has the vbi-hang bug cured. Supplied: v4lgtk.tgz (???), kernel patch and plain files,
sources of the XTV widget and a xtvscreen executable dynamically (debug) linked to motif. Problems: cannot use xtvscreen because
I do not have motif installed. Installed LessTif, but that doesn't work (major versions of libs do not match). Copied the "new" (?)
XTV source files to my 0.4.3. version of xawtv, but now xawtv doesn't compile anymore (Missing functions). Xawtv "plain" does
not work as well, probably caused by the fact that this version uses the proprietary ioctl interface, whilst the driver uses the
linux video4linux linux ioctls.
Well my questions: Which version should I adhere to? Is the video4linux THE new standard for Linux and is it going to be developed any further? Are there any complete versions of xtvscreen or xawtv using the video4linux API and where can I find them, or how do I make
them? Is there any bttv-vbi developing taking place? I noticed for the "bttv 0.4.3" version that the vbi reading does not always work
right (missing irqs). Is there mailing list or newsgroup dedicated to video4linux?
Thanks in advance.
Erik Slagter
UBN NL Internal Networks
Telephone: +31 70 3711801
E-Mail: eriksl@gv-nmc.unisource.nl