Maybe this can give some input regarding the API error?

http://support.sundtek.com/index.php?topic=136.0;wap2

That message probably means the device node does not exist or does not exist in the expected location. I think something like this is normal:

scanning /usr/share/dvb/scan/atsc/us-ATSC-center-frequencies-8VSB
using '/dev/dvb/adapter0/frontend0' and '/dev/dvb/adapter0/demux0'

Those messages are normal. The message means no signal was found at that particular frequency.

If a signal is detected at a particular frequency, something like this should appear:

service is running. Channel number: 12:1. Name: 'BLAH BLAH'

Have you tried xine or mplayer since recompiling the kernel? Try running both from the command line so as to watch the output messages.

Problem with these apps is that they require a channels.conf file which is what I am trying to generate with the various scanning cli apps. So that messages from xine and mplayer are just of the "no channels.conf found" variety.

I have been using Kaffeine for many years and had few problems with it, but very rarely I saw similare errors. What I have learned to look for, is:

Sound setup. This is confusing, but while the error messages indicate a problem with DVB, the root cause may be a problem with the sound setup in your machine. This would not explain, why the CLI scan tools fail, however. But for Kaffeine as such it's something to look at.
NB this (from the Kaffeine changelog):
Beside all the nice improvements Kaffeine is (again) directly using xine-lib instead of Phonon. This way it has the necessary control over xine and e.g. VDPAU usage is possible.

Another problem was caused by a faulty PCI USB adapter with four ports. The machine got confused with IRQ, when I connected my external DVB-T receiver to this, instead one of the onboard USB ports. I only found this, when I accidentally took a look at the BIOS settings... PCs are still technology of the Eighties, it seems...

A seemingly trivial problem causing exactly the error message with the non-supported DVB API version was, that there was no valid channel file.
Be careful with the files you create with the CLI scan tools. The files they create may not be compatible with Kaffeine. If I recall it correctly the file format is the one used by Xine, but Kaffeine uses a different format. You may have to convert the channels.conf file into the correct target format for Kaffeine, first.
Much easier, though: Download a suitable channels.conf file for your area from the web. I used one of these (German only, sorry), if I recall it correctly: http://www.vdr-wiki.de/wiki/index.ph...nels.conf_DVBT

Hmmm, one thing I could think of, is that it is HAL/D-BUS/UDEV related. You might want to look at the files in /usr/share/hal/fdi, for instance, in order to make sure that your card is supported. Although recent versions of Kaffeine shouldn't need HAL...

Finally: Is the machine, where Kaffeine fails, in a room with good signal to noise ratio for receiving tv, and is a suitable antenna connected to it? Because, when I moved, some years ago, I had to purchase a new antenna with its own power supply, in order to receive tv in the new flat.

Note, that the error messages I saw were similar to yours in ALL the above cases. Confusing, I know.

I hope you can track your problem down and finally solve it. Kaffeine is worth the effort, I think. Good luck!

gargamel

I think I know where to go next with this, but may not have time to do anything for a couple of weeks as I am going on holiday on Friday for about 10 days.

The editing of the cx88-dvb module by commenting out the magic five lines clearly did something that allowed the card to communicate with the driver. However that communication seems to be screwed up because of some API version incompatibility. What I did was to download all the latest v4l modules, compile, do the edits, re-compile and install. What I think I should do is to restore all the modules I had from Slackware 13.37, edit the source code for the rogue module, compile and install. That way I will have done the edit, but left all other components as they were supplied in 13.37.