FM radio service

mardy · 7 Dec 2021, 22:14

Hi all!
I wrote a blog post about my adventures with the Redmi Note 7 Pro FM radio chip, which saw a relatively happy ending. For those interested in technical details (or device porters) it might be an interesting read.

For all the others, the point of my message is that I intend to write a system service to handle FM radio. On the application side, it will be possible to use the QRadioTuner C++ APIs or the QML Radio element. No promise on timelines (I do have a handful of higher priority items on my queue), but it should be coming.

Ciao,
Alberto

kristatos · 8 Dec 2021, 07:55

I had lost the hope that this will come one day, great news

A Former User · 8 Dec 2021, 08:53

@mardy Hi would you please give me the configuration of the Note7? I am not so lucky with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9. We had also tried to make an app for the device. The problem always restart. Hopefully there will be something like this for the Merlin device. Good luck with your device.

Kaizen · 8 Dec 2021, 16:34

Hey, do you think you would be able to include your post under Links and docs? That way, you get traffic from a relevant place

Here
https://devices.ubuntu-touch.io/device/violet/developer/

kugiigi · 8 Dec 2021, 18:50

@mardy This is awesome. I also already gave up on this since it seems to be technically challenging and FM radio is now a niche. Do you think this could work on different devices with fm radio?
Last I read, every device has its own implementation.

mardy · 8 Dec 2021, 20:05

@dpitti said in FM radio service:

@mardy Hi would you please give me the configuration of the Note7? I am not so lucky with the Xiaomi Redmi Note 9.

What exactly do you mean by "configuration"? I think that the blog post has all the links, but you are welcome to ask.

What's the output of getprop vendor.bluetooth.soc in your phone?

mardy · 8 Dec 2021, 20:09

@kugiigi said in FM radio service:

@mardy This is awesome. I also already gave up on this since it seems to be technically challenging and FM radio is now a niche. Do you think this could work on different devices with fm radio?
Last I read, every device has its own implementation.

Yes, you are correct, but some devices have the same chip. There are more details in the blog post, but in short, I believe that all Snapdragon-based devices should either work out of the box, or be supported with some work.

A Former User · 8 Dec 2021, 20:52

This post is deleted!

A Former User · 8 Dec 2021, 20:55

This post is deleted!

A Former User · 8 Dec 2021, 21:00

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nero355 · 8 Dec 2021, 22:43

@dpitti
Please make smaller screenhosts or simply use code tags for such stuff :

#Your code here
Or here! :)

A Former User · 9 Dec 2021, 11:35

@nero355 I would like to apologize for the photo that is a little too large. If my smartphone hadn't been messing around like that, things would have turned out differently. Let's see if I can get these photos even smaller with the PC.

Hello as you see in the picture no output. But the funny thing about the thing is that their commands only sound the microphone instead of the radio on Merlin. But it's the right direction. An MTK chip is built in, so much we already know. And also the kernel crash is no more. At least that's how it is with me on the Merlin. Thanks for your work.

What does FM radio mean, is it a niche product? Unfortunately for many smartphone owners there is no other alternative to listening to the radio when you are on the go and have no internet. Unfortunately there is no successor to the LG Stylus 2 that Dab + and FM had. I think it's good what the blogger @mardy has done. Maybe you can somehow get the radio to work at the Merlin.

mardy · 9 Dec 2021, 16:29

@dpitti said in FM radio service:

What does FM radio mean, is it a niche product? Unfortunately for many smartphone owners there is no other alternative to listening to the radio when you are on the go and have no internet. Unfortunately there is no successor to the LG Stylus 2 that Dab + and FM had. I think it's good what the blogger @mardy has done. Maybe you can somehow get the radio to work at the Merlin.

Can you please paste the output from this command?

ls -l /dev/radio* /dev/fm*

If you get something, there's hope it will eventually be supported

domubpkm · 9 Dec 2021, 16:54

@mardy Volla OTA-20

A Former User · 9 Dec 2021, 18:43

@mardy Xiaomi Redmi Note 9 Merlin OTA 20

I have an FM app myself to test it, there comes something with Com from time to time in the log. I thank you for your help anyway. In the Xiaomi Group, I made people aware of their blog. Let's see if there might still be radio at some point. Even if you say there should be something in the terminal. Wait until Focal has been ported, better kernel and so I guess.

nero355 · 9 Dec 2021, 19:34

@dpitti said in FM radio service:

@nero355 I would like to apologize for the photo that is a little too large.

It's not a big deal but it's just soo annoying to see any of my monitors suddenly downgraded to one of those old 14 inch CRT monitors with 640x480 resolution!

We have a Terminal app which you can use to copy->paste stuff.
You can do the same via ADB and a PC or Laptop while your phone is connected via your USB cable.

Let's not waste screenspace together!

A Former User · 9 Dec 2021, 19:47

@nero355 Sorry, I'm not a professional with UT yet. Ok, that's good about the Adb and the PC. I still need help with that too. But I understand your objections

Fuseteam · 9 Dec 2021, 20:18

@mardy hi, so /dev/fm does exist on the redmi note 9 (merlin) and the redmi 9(lancelot) just like on the vollaphone, however the volla fm radio app crashes the phone whenever the radio is started.

according notkit the crash occurs somewhere in here: https://github.com/MiCode/MTK_kernel_modules/blob/lancelot-q-oss/connectivity/fmradio/core/fm_main.c#L242
no idea why at the moment

@dpitti hear has been tweaking the volla fm radio app to find a way to have it not crash over at https://github.com/1978Enrico/fmradio-volla

it should be noted that the both merlin and lancelot have a shotwave antenna, i am somewhat hoping to build a check somewhere that the app doesn't prompt for the headset. but perhaps this could be a part of the radio service checks, whether an antenna is available, headset or shortwave.
on merlin and lancelot the presence of a shortwave antenna can be queried with getprop ro.vendor.mtk_fm_short_antenna_support

A Former User · 12 Oct 2021, 08:52

@fuseteam Good morning, or could it be that we see the WiFi antenna instead of the FM antenna? Just as a question because in most cases the headset is used as an FM antenna. If the internal antenna will only bring something close to the transmission mast either way. In the rural region you always have to use a headset or an antenna with a 3.5 MM jack connection.

!

Fuseteam · 10 Dec 2021, 12:51

@dpitti hi, no it is really the fm radio antenna. i have no idea what they did physically but the redmi 9 and redmi note 9 do not need the headset to act like an antenna at all. in cases where does not have that antenna that command returns either nothing or 0 i'd imagine