I am trying to overcome the last obstacle to my complete removal of windows -- getting my tv card to work! I have a ATI A-I-W 128 Pro and Mandrake 8.1. The computer recognizes the card for video but does not recognize the TV viewing part of it. Is there something I must do to get Linux to recognize the card as a TV card? I installed Xawtv but it told me that no tv card was found.

you need to set up the bttv driver (BrookTreeTV) properly. i don't know exactly about your card but the tv-wonder card should be set up like:

lines in /etc/modules.conf

alias char-major-81 bttv
options bttv card=63

run depmod after checking that and have a go. that 63 defines the tv-wonder card, and 64 is the ATI TV-Wonder VE, either of which might work. you might also not even need to specify that option line at all (my wintvgo card doesn't need it)

if all else fails, you might try: http://gatos.sourceforge.net/

yeah there's gatos, but then using that you've much less flexibility with what viewer you use. the bttv driver has many associated tv programs, whereas i think gatos has just that one, so if you want to do fancy stuff like recording programs etc.. i don't think gatos can handle that at all

I was under the impression that the BTTV drivers did not work with the Rage 128 chip which is in my ATI video card. Am I mistaken?

i *think* they do, when i was searching there were references to a few simple workarounds.

http://lhd.zdnet.com/db/dispproduct.php3?DISP?900

I wound up using the ati.2 modules and xawtv to get my ATI AllInWonder 128 working. I can do everything but record - and it appears that the 'km' project might be worth a look for that problem.

mcleodnine,
Seeing that recording is not high on my list could you tell me how you got the gatos to work with your card? I unpacked the modules into my X11R6 directory like it says to do but I still get an error message saying there is no device when I start up Xawtv.

Make sure you also load the modules in your XF86Config file in the "Modules" section. I think it's "ati" and one other... I forget which ones exactly.

You also need to run v4l-conf as root (just once).

My ATI system is offline right now and I'm not at home, but I may have more answers later this evening.

I just installed MD 8.1 and it couldn't configure X properly. I've an ATI Rage 128 16MB PCI card with my ViewSonic A70 monitor. It gave the following error during the test resolution part of the install:
tmp/imm.o: init_module: no such device
tmp/pp_a.o: init_module: no such device

When I try startx, I get an (EE) No such device error. Don't know where to go from here. Hollar if you need more info to suggest a solution. TIA!

I ran into the same problem, same card, same distro. That particular card (PCI) is not covered in the Xfree server (4.1 or 4.0) that comes with the MD 8.1 and/or RH 7.2. The new one out, (4.2), it's listed, but I haven't tried it yet. Hopes this helps some. Your monitor is not part of the equation in this instance.

Regarding
tmp/imm.o: init_module: no such device
tmp/pp_a.o: init_module: no such device

I use Mandrake 8.2 (using XFree 4.2) and I get the same two errors above when testing my selected resolution in X.

I've an ATI All-In-Wonder Pro 128 AGP 32MB graphics/TV card with a Dell 17" monitor.

Also X will not allow me to use 1152x864 resolution and thus I am using 1280x1024 instead without any problems.

I did try to send a bug report to XFree but no reply.

Anyone know why these errors happen and why I cannot select my preferred resolution and yet I can select a higher one?

mosaddique:
I have the same card- I get 8.2 up and running on another machine with a Radeon AIW but with the ATI AIW 128 Pro 32mb AGP I get those same messages and the screen goes into standby mode. How did you get your screen up and running? Thank's- Tuzinor

I did not have to do anything special. X just continued afterwards and seems to work. However, If i choose 1152x864 it does not use it. Instead it just uses the last default of 1024x768.

It appears we have different problems with the same card. Could it because our monitors are different? Maybe somebody out there has some ideas?

Problem happens with both Samsung 19" monitors.
Samsung Syncmaster 950p and Samsung Syncmaster 955df.
There sync ranges are from (H) 30-96 and (V) 50-160.
I have gotten FreeBSD 4.5 with XFree86 4.20 up and running on both machines > the one with the Radeon 32mb AGP AIW and the machine with the AIW 128 Pro 32mb AGP. Of course I had to edit the XF86ConFig file to do it.
I've run into this problem with previous versions of Mandrake (7.2,8.0,8.1) and the AIW 128 Pro 32mb AGP card.
On the machine with the Radeon card I have Mandrake 8.2 running > the only problem I have is when I shut down I get "out of sync range" messages floating across the screen.
I usually run my machines at 800x600 in Windows. I know I had Mandrake 7.2 running at one point quite some time ago but I don't remember if that was with my Samsung monitor or an older Dell 17" monitor. Frankly I don't see why the monitor should make a difference if I enter the correct values for it.
Currently on the Radeon machine in Win2K Pro I'm at 800x600 > 37.9kHz/60HZ. If I remember right in Mandrake and FreeBSD at 800x600 the numbers for the monitor are: 53kHz/85Hz.
Definitely different frequencies there.

Anyone else run into this problem?
Thank's- Tuzinor

"Understanding Is A Three Edged Sword"