Heard back from two different support engineers from Hauppauge this afternoon:
From Bill V:
Hello and thank you for your message. Linux support will eventually become available as with most of our other TV card products, however it may take some time, as it would be a matter of the chipset manufacturers releasing the necessary information to the Linux community so the 3rd party developers are able to write the drivers to support the hardware.
Regards,
Bill V.
Technical Support
[email address redacted]
Hauppauge Computer Works
New York
and from Jerry Fox:
Hello,
Most of our PVR models have Linux support and going forward I am sure there will be support for the HVR1600, it just takes time for the manufacturers to decide what info they are willing to release to the public communities.
Regards,
Jerry Fox
[email address redacted]
Technical Support
Hauppauge Computer Works
New York
Polite, prompt, and unfortunately lacking in any real content. They did not answer the question as to whether they were doing anything to add Linux support, but were quick to note that their other models do have Linux support. Of course, it's worth noting that we have little thanks to offer to Hauppauge for this, since the existing support was done by the community reverse engineering their drivers without their help.
I sent them a reply, hoping that perhaps I was missing something -- after all perhaps they were doing some work themselves to release a driver:
Jerry, Bill,
Thank you both for getting back to me so promptly.
In the past Linux support for the current cards has come almost entirely as a result of the hard work of dedicated individuals willing to take the time to reverse engineer your products. It has not been a result of Hauppauge providing specifications or documentation that would normally be used to write such a driver.
Unfortunately, from the posts I mentioned in my previous email it would appear that the IVTV developers have grown tired of adding support for new Hauppauge products without any assistance and therefore have no plans to support the HVR-1600. While Hauppauge clearly reaps the benefits of increased sales due to Linux support, it does not appear to be willing to provide any of the information necessary to enable this.
If Hauppauge is taking actions to add support for the HVR-1600 then I would be thrilled to hear about them. If the expectation is that the IVTV developers are going to spend their time reverse engineering the CX23418 on their own as they did with previous products, then the Hauppauge support website is at best misleading.
So, the original question stands -- is Hauppauge taking any action towards adding support for the HVR-1600 on Linux? Are they taking any action to support the ivtv developers in adding support for the HVR-1600?
Thank you for your time,
Devin
the answer appears to be a resounding "We're not doing anything":
The tuner information would be necessary to be provided by the Hauppauge developers, as it was in the past with all of the PVR products. So in addition to the chipset information, the tuner information will also be necessary in order for the Linux developers to write the drivers.
It will come in time, however there is currently no time frame available.
Regards,
Bill V.
[email address redacted]
Technical Support
Hauppauge Computer Works
New York
In other words, their website is a flat out lie. The website states "Linux support is in process". They are not working on a driver. The community is not working on a driver. Who do they think is adding support? Magic fairies?
