— Alan Brown 2008/06/20 06:44

To be completed, screenshots to be added also.

The information on this page was mainly the hard work of user 'kaiger' on the Eeeuser.com forums, here is a link to the thread:
Original Thread

I have followed his instructions, with the hardware specified and can confirm this works well on my 4G EeePC, with 1GB RAM, running Xandros in Advanced Desktop mode. I am in the UK. As always however, no guarantees and if you choose to follow these instructions, you do so at your own risk/expense!

The ASUS U3000mini USB DigitalTV dongle

Available from Ebuyer (among others) for £24.99 (at time of writing):

Ebuyer Asus U3000 mini USB dongle

Also available from DigitalKind, for £22.45 (at time of writing):

http://www.digitalkind.co.uk/INU_Products/INU_ProdDetailsL8.ASP?ref=88814706

Download the Linux or Windows software, depending on your operating system, from the following links:

Linux TV application for U3000mini:
http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/vga/tvtuner/EeePC_TVDrv_12.zip

Windows TV application for U3000mini (Special support 800×480 resolution):
http://dlsvr01.asus.com/pub/ASUS/vga/tvtuner/EzVCR_EeePC_v260beta.zip

Manual
http://dlsvr02.asus.com/pub/ASUS/vga/tvtuner/TV_Turner_Card_E3489.zip

You might alternatively check out Asus' support page, here:
http://support.asus.com/download/download.aspx?SLanguage=en-us&model=My%20Cinema-U3000Mini

There is a video (not mine) of the installation process here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d9ahYzi0jXw

1.Put related file in home folder and extract it.

2.Install Driver: after unzip the driver file, there will be 3 file, press ctrl+alt+t to open console mode, press “sudo su” to get administrator , and then press ”./install_u3000”

3.Install Application: the same, in console mode press”./install_vdr”

4.After that, reboot is needed, and for first time using, press F1 to select country and then scan channel.

5.Hot keys : Esc → exit , up → channel up down → channel down .

Minus points - the stick has a proprietary connector for the supplied ariel plus one adaptor for standard coaxial ones. Lose these and the stick is useless. No supplied extension cable for the USB slot, so use this on the left USB port or lose two USB slots as the stick is wide enough to block the second USB port on the right of the eeePC. Plus point - the supplied ariel is better than average being extendable.

“Do you need a big aerial to get it to pick channels up? I had an USB DVB tuner on my Desktop PC and it was useless, in the instructions it said it would probably need connecting to an outdoor aerial in the UK! I live in a strong signal area but that didn't help.”

Yes, unless you live in an EXTREMELY stong signal area, the included aerial is next to useless. You will need a decent sized amplified aeriel or connect to your external house aeriel with the included adaptor cable.

[This is not true in Hong Kong. The included aerial antenna works, though sometimes the display is not so smooth - albkwan]

“I have the Asus U3000mini up and running thanks to kaiger's instructions, Reception's fine and switching channels is a breeze. I was wondering however if it's possible to record as I can't find an option for that - or is it simply not supported for Linux?”

Recording is not currently supported with the Asus tuning software, unfortunately.

[To record TV, you need to download and install kaffeine-dtv - albkwan]

“The Windows software from Asus for this device supports digital radio, but this does not appear on the Linux version of the tuner software?”

Unfortunately, this is correct, the Linux software provided does not allow tuning to digital radio stations.

“Are there any hotkeys for the application?”

Esc to exit
Up arrow is channel up
Down arrow is channel down
You can switch between full screen and a window with 'f'
You can freeze the stream with 'r'