linux-docs

blackmagic-linux-kernel6

Installing drivers and kernel modules for BlackMagic Intensity Pro Capture Card devices in Linux Kernel v6.1 and later

THIS NO LONGER APPLIES AS THE LATEST BLACKMAGIC DRIVERS (v12.5) HAVE ADDRESSED THE COMPILE ISSUE FOR LINUX KERNEL v6!!!

Prequisites

• a Linux desktop operating system running with Linux Kernel v6.1 or later; a *buntu or Fedora-based distro is recommended (in my case, we will be using Pop!_OS 22.04 LTS with kernel v6.2.6 on x86_64 platform)
• sudo or administrator privileges
• an internet connection
• a BlackMagic Design “Intensity Pro” HD or 4K PCIe capture card device (already installed)

1. Verify hardware & install dependencies

• verify presence of PCIe capture card with lspci | grep Blackmagic; your output should resemble the following:
  04:00.0 Multimedia video controller: Blackmagic Design Intensity Pro 4K
• install the dkms and kernel-headers packages for your specific distribution (these instructions will vary between .deb and .rpm Linux distros; this guide covers .deb): sudo apt install dkms linux-headers-$(uname -r)
• once finished, reboot and log back into your computer

2. Acquire installation packages and prepare environment

• create a temp directory to store the installation files for the necessary applications and drivers: mkdir ~/.tmp
• Visit the Blackmagic Support website, look under “Latest Downloads” for Desktop Video 12.4.1 (latest version at time of writing), and click the “Linux” button to download;
  • if prompted to “Register”, ignore and click “Download Only” in the bottom left
• move the downloaded “.tar” into your temp directory, and change directories: mv ~/Downloads/Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Linux_12.4.1.tar.tar ~/.tmp && cd ~/.tmp
• extract the archive into its own folder: tar -xvf Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Linux_12.4.1.tar.tar
• change directories into the new folder: cd Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Linux_12.4.1/
• verify the contents of the extracted folder with ls -a; your output should match the following:

    .  ..  deb  License.txt  other  ReadMe.txt  rpm    
  

• change directories up one level (aka, “go up a folder”): cd ..
• Visit this Blackmagic Community Forum thread and download the embedded “.zip” file attached to the reply
• move the .zip file into our working directory: mv ~/Downloads/blackmagic-io-12.4.1a15-001-fix_for_kernel_6.1.zip ~/.tmp
• unzip the .zip archive into our working directory: unzip blackmagic-io-12.4.1a15-001-fix_for_kernel_6.1.zip
• verify the extracted “.patch” file with ls -a; you should see an entry matching: blackmagic-io-12.4.1a15-001-fix_for_kernel_6.1.patch

3. Install packages and patch for kernel module DKMS

• change directories back into the “Desktop Video folder” and drill further down to our installation source files (for our purposes, we are using the “deb” files on “x86_64”): cd Blackmagic_Desktop_Video_Linux_12.4.1/deb/x86_64
• verify the directory contents with ls -a; the output should match the following:

    .   desktopvideo_12.4.1a15_amd64.deb      mediaexpress_3.8.1a4_amd64.deb
    ..  desktopvideo-gui_12.4.1a15_amd64.deb
  

• Install the packages per your needs with sudo dpkg -i <package-name>.deb;
  • desktopvideo : contains the base drivers and packages necessary for the OS to properly recognize the capture card in programs such as OBS and others
  • desktopvideo-gui : contains the packages for GUI management of the capture card; only needed for troubleshooting
  • mediaexpress : contains packages for directly recording and capturing from the card without using OBS or other streaming / recording software
• for our purposes, we will only install desktopvideo as follows: sudo dpkg -i desktopvideo_12.4.1a15_amd64.deb
• you will encounter an issue building the blackmagic-io kernel module due to unsupported kernel version; THIS IS EXPECTED, keep reading below
• change directories into the failed modules source folder: cd /usr/src/blackmagic-io-12.4.1a15/
• patch the source code using the “.patch” file downloaded earlier in step 2: sudo patch < ~/.tmp/blackmagic-io-12.4.1a15-001-fix_for_kernel_6.1.patch; your output should match the following:

    patching file bmio_audio.c
    patching file bm_util.c
  

• re-run the DKMS operation: sudo dkms install -m blackmagic-io -v 12.4.1a15
• verify the module was installed and loaded properly with the following command: lsmod | grep blackmagic; your output should resemble the following:

    blackmagic_io        2084864  1
    blackmagic            643072  0
  

• at this point, you should be able to open OBS (or your choice of streaming / recording software) and add a “Blackmagic Device” source.

DISCLAIMERS - WIP

• This document is written with the assumption that you are running a Linux desktop OS with a kernel version of 6.1 or later; official documentation from Blackmagic states this card is supported by the following OS’s:
  • Ubuntu 20.04, 22.04
  • Debian 11
  • Fedora 36
  • Centos 7
• If your kernel is NOT 6.1 or later, this guide probably does not apply to you
• If in doubt, please reference the MIT License.