How to install the drivers for our TBS6285 Quad Tuner

To install the drivers via Putty we first need to go to http://www.tbsdtv.com/download/ and select the TBS6285 tuner from the left-hand side. Then expand the “Click to download” button and hover your mouse over the Download button for the Linux Driver and it should show the URL of the file it’s going to download. We need that URL in a minute to download the drivers.

TIP: If you’re using Putty and are going to be following this guide step-by-step then you can save yourself some typing by simply highlighting each command, right-clicking on it and selecting Copy. Then toggle over to your Putty Session and right-click once more. The command you’ve just copied from here will be automatically pasted into your Putty Session.

Downloading the Ubuntu TBS6285 Quad Tuner Drivers

So, first off we need to create a temporary working folder. So, type the following commands:

cd ~

mkdir temp

cd temp

Now, using the URL we’ve determined above type/paste the following command into a Putty Session:

wget http://www.tbsdtv.com/download/document/common/tbs-linux-drivers_v160126.zip

Obviously you should replace tbs-linux-drivers_v160126.zip with whatever the latest version is called.

Next we need to unzip it:

unzip tbs-linux-drivers_v160126.zip

If Ubuntu complains unzip is not installed then issue the following command to install it and repeat the above command:

sudo apt-get install unzip

Installing the Ubuntu TBS6285 Quad Tuner Drivers

Although we’ve downloaded and unzipped the driver files we still need to do a bit more typing I’m afraid:

First we need to make a home for our new drivers:

sudo mkdir /root/tbs

Next we need to move some files into it:

sudo mv linux-tbs-drivers.tar.bz2 szap-s2.tar.bz2 scan-s2.tar.bz2 /root/tbs/

sudo mv astra_szap-s2.conf astra_scan-s2.conf v4l-cx23885-avcore-01.fw /root/tbs/

Now we need to move a file elsewhere:

sudo mv dvb-fe-cx24116.fw /lib/firmware/

Now we need to switch into root mode and change into this new folder:

sudo su

cd /root/tbs

Now we need to extract the compressed driver files:

tar xjvf linux-tbs-drivers.tar.bz2

And finally build the drivers:

cd linux-tbs-drivers

Next we need to determine which kernel & Ubuntu version we’re running by issuing the following command:

uname -a

Mine comes back with the following:

Linux MyMediaServer 3.13.0-77-generic #121-Ubuntu…….x86_64 x86_64 x86_64 GNU/Linux

As can be seen I’m running the X86 64bit version so I’d issue the following command to configure the drivers for installation: 

./v4l/tbs-x86_64.sh

NOTE: If you’re on an X86 32bit kernel and are running version 3.x then issue ./v4l/tbs-x86_r3.sh instead.

Next we issue the make command and this will take some time to run through so be patient:

make

We’re nearly there:

make install

Now that’s all done let’s do some clearing up. First let’s exit from root mode:

exit

cd ~

Now remove the temp folder:

rm -R temp

Once that’s all done we need to reboot the server for the changes to take effect:

sudo reboot -h now

Once the server has rebooted you can check it’s working by issuing the following command:

dmesg | grep frontend

TBS6285 Drivers not loading after kernel upgrade

If the above dmesg command comes back with nothing then issue this command:

dmesg | grep disagree

If it comes back with errors such as “cx2341x: disagrees about version” then we’ve got some work to do:

Firstly we need to know what kernel we’re using so issue the following command:

uname -a

Next issue the following command substituting 3.13.0-77-generic with the version from the above command:

sudo rm -Rf /lib/modules/3.13.0-77-generic/kernel/drivers/media

Now we need to run the make commands again:

sudo su

cd /root/tbs/linux-tbs-drivers

make && make install

Then reboot once more:

sudo reboot -h now

Now we’ve got the Tuner installed we need some software to use it. I use TVHeadend in XBMC.