Dektec Device Drivers

Dektec Device Drivers

Now directly available from Dektec

On Linux systems, the Dektec device drivers are provided in source format, as part of the Dektec LinuxSDK package. They must be compiled for each specific version of the Linux kernel. On lab or production systems where the kernel can be periodically updated, dealing with drivers in source form is not very handy. Most Linux distros have an answer for this: DKMS, for Dynamic Kernel Module Support. The source code of the drivers are installed in /usr/src and the drivers are automatically recompiled and reinstalled in case of kernel update.

Before version 2024.06.0 of the Dektec LinuxSDK, there was no DKMS installation procedure in the Dektec package. An independent project named dektec-dkms was maintained by the TSDuck team. Starting with version 2024.06.0, the Dektec LinuxSDK package provides its own DKMS installation. Therefore, the independent dektec-dkms project is no longer necessary and was archived.

To download the latest Dektec LinuxSDK package, open the Dektec download page. Locate the section named "DekTec SDKs for Linux". Select the download identified as "LinuxSDK" or "DTAPI – C++ API for all DTA, DTU, DTE devices". Once downloaded, expand it into some temporary directory. Everything is expanded under a root subdirectory named LinuxSDK.

Important: Before installing the drivers, verify that your system is ready for DKMS. On most distros, this means installing a package named dkms and a few dependencies.

To install the Dektec device drivers into the DKMS build system, use the following command:

sudo LinuxSDK/Drivers/Install

The command installs the drivers source code in /usr/src/dektec-2024.06.0/ (for version 2024.06.0) and builds the drivers for the current kernel in /var/lib/dkms/dektec/2024.06.0/. Each time the kernel will be upgraded, the Dektec device drivers (and all drivers in the DKMS system) will be automatically recompiled.

To remove the Dektec device drivers from the DKMS system, use the following command:

sudo LinuxSDK/Drivers/Uninstall