Loading The IVTV Kernel Modules On SuSE Linux

Beginning with SuSE Linux 10.0, the IVTV kernel modules are distributed together with the standard kernel, in the "extra" directory. Four of the IVTV modules are replacements for standard kernel modules. Those are: msp3400.ko, tda9887.ko, tuner.ko and tveeprom.ko. The IVTV replacements are: ivtv-msp3400.ko, ivtv-tda9887.ko, ivtv-tuner.ko and ivtv-tveeprom.ko.

The IVTV Howto suggests that the existing kernel modules should be renamed to *.old, and the IVTV modules should be renamed with the ivtv- prefix stripped off. While this approach works, it is not very "upgrade friendly" - that is, if you update your kernel (for example with YaST's online update), the changes you made to the kernel drivers will likely be lost.

A better solution is to add lines to /etc/modprobe.conf.local which cause the "standard" kernel modules to be ignored, and for the IVTV versions to be used instead. This has the same effect as renaming the modules, and has the added advantage that it is upgrade friendly.

Add the following lines to /etc/modprobe.conf.local:

# Make sure the IVTV versions of these kernel modules get used
# instead of the ones in .../kernel/drivers/media/video
install msp3400 /sbin/modprobe ivtv-msp3400
install tda9887 /sbin/modprobe ivtv-tda9887
install tuner /sbin/modprobe ivtv-tuner
install tveeprom /sbin/modprobe ivtv-tveeprom

Originally written: 2006-03-26

Last update: 2006-03-26

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