Linux-Hardware Digest #570, Volume #12 Wed, 29 Mar 00 10:13:05 EST
Contents:
Re: general questions about video capturing ("Jukka Aho")
Re: Interrupt (Thomas Hommel)
Re: general questions about video capturing (Andras)
Adaptec AAA-133U2 U2SCSI Raid PCI (Kristjan Kristinsson)
Chase Research PCI-Fast 8-port ([EMAIL PROTECTED])
Re: APC BackUPS 650 cable (Matija Grabnar)
Re: Soundblaster Live problem ("J. C.")
Re: New Hardware Book revd for Linux ("David S. DeWitt")
Driver Problems Kernel 2.3.99/Multisound Classic ("J. C.")
instal dat ("rp.Mignon")
"newbie" printer problem (Dana)
Re: New Hardware Book revd for Linux ("Gene Heskett")
Problems configuring NIC ("Chris Keating")
Re: davicom dm9102 driver ("Chris Keating")
Mpeg2 Hardware decoding (Stefano Totaro)
Another try: Intel CA810E m/b supported by Linux? ("Steve Snyder")
Utility to see a SCSI disk before it has been formatted and mounted (Lilia Vogt)
----------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: "Jukka Aho" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
alt.games.video.digitiser,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video,rec.video.desktop
Subject: Re: general questions about video capturing
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 11:58:12 +0300
"Andras" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> I think that the maximal achievable resolution is determined by
> the maximum of the capabilities of the hardware and software.
> (And the video source of course) Is it true?
Not exactly. There are upper limits to what one can achieve
with analog video. It is actually possible to calculate the
limits from the signal specifications, and it has indeed been
done:
For PAL, the maximum resolution is 576 scanlines and 704...720
luminance samples per line.
For NTSC, it is 480 scanlines and 704...720 luminance samples
per line.
These are the hard limits no capture card can exceed. (Of course
they _can_ oversample the image any way they wish, but why bother?
There are no more actual details to grab in the signal.)
* * *
Why "704...720"? There is no clear consensus on this one. AFAIK,
it is possible to get both values if you use different methods
for doing the math. Some digital equipment uses 704, others 720.
A safe compromise would be saying that the true resolution of a
PAL/NTSC image is something between 704 and 720 luminance samples
per scanline.
(Some capture cards also support a PAL resolution 768x576. This
is an overkill: you can't get that much detail in the analog
signal. However, 768x576 is still a useful resolution since it
has square pixels [just like the NTSC resolution 640x480 does],
which eases things out when processing/using the image in
computer environments.)
* * *
Why "luminance samples"? Because originally there were
only black & white televisions. Color was added as a
backwards-compatible afterthought. Both PAL and NTSC
signals have their own drawbacks for color handling,
and both introduce some inevitable color shifts due
to the nature of the color encoding.
Moreover, there are only very few tape formats and
video compression methods that treat the color samples
with equal resolution to the luminance samples. Almost
always the color resolution / bandwidth is much lower
than the bandwidth reserved for luminance resolution.
So even if you have a crisp, computer-generated 720x576
image with each pixel having its own color, much of that
information is lost the moment it is converted to analog
video signal, and even more so when it is recorded on a
videotape (even the digital ones.)
Usually everything you see on TV or watch on video tape
or on DVD or record with a camcorder has already been
somehow compromised. There are very few sources that
can offer 720 luminance AND color samples per scanline,
even if your capture card could resolve all that color
information.
> why don't manufacturers give the resolution of their cards?
Which ones don't? The luminance resolution usually is either
720x576 or 768x576 for PAL and 720x480 or 640x480 for NTSC.
These are the standard resolutions for digital video. As
explained earlier, there is no point in going over them as
you can't resolve any more detail even if you did. There are
no magical "professional" cards that would somehow give you
1600x1200 resolution, since that kind of level of details
simply does not exist in the standard PAL/NTSC video signal.
If the card is more professional, also the color sampling
resolution (for example 4:2:2) is usually mentioned, but I
very much doubt people buying cheap tv tuner cards usually
care or understand anything about the color resolution,
anyway.
> Is it true that if I buy two different capture cards which
> are based on the same chipset (say BT848) they will have
> the same resolution?
Basically yes, unless there is something that muddles the
image in the analog circuitry.
> Does anyone maybe know that these capture cards do any
> kind of lossy compression before giving the image to
> the software?
Depends on the card. TV tuner cards usually give uncompressed
images, but then again the bitrate is so high that you really
can't do anything reasonable with them in full resolution
unless you have a RAID unit filled with fast SCSI disks...
The MJPEG cards usually only give back compressed images.
> I would like to use the stuff at home only, no critical
> financial or other issues.
Choosing the right card depends on a plethora of things:
1) what is your source format (vhs, dvd, tv, analog
camcorder, digital camcorder, other?)
2) what are you going to do with it (edit just by cutting,
edit by applying lots of filters and transitions, add
titles and subtitles, otherwise process or simply archive?)
2) how long clips are you going to process (20 second
commercials, 5 minute music video or full 2 hours
documentary / holiday video / movie)?
and 3) what is your final target format for storing the end
result (analog videotape, digital video tape, VCD, SVCD,
DVD, multimedia CD-ROM, web site?).
-- znark
------------------------------
From: Thomas Hommel <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: Interrupt
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 09:20:31 +0200
Perhaps you can accomplish this with real time extensions like RTLinux
or RTAI. Have a look at
www.rtlinux.org
www.rtai.org
Greets
Tom
Shannen schrieb:
>
> Hi
> i am doing an mp3 play. this is suppose to do output byte to a parallel
> port at a regular interval. using normal process forking does not work as
> the output interval is greatly affected. so i'm thinking of interrupting at
> some millisecond interval to output the byte code. any suggestion?
>
> Thanks
> Shannen
------------------------------
From: Andras <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To:
alt.games.video.digitiser,comp.sys.ibm.pc.hardware.video,rec.video.desktop
Subject: Re: general questions about video capturing
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 10:15:49 +0000
Jukka Aho wrote:
First of all, thanks very much for your answer!
>
> For PAL, the maximum resolution is 576 scanlines and 704...720
> luminance samples per line.
Does it change if I use an S-Video cable from a Hi8
camcorder? Or in what other way does it effect performance?
> Which ones don't? The luminance resolution usually is either
> 720x576 or 768x576 for PAL and 720x480 or 640x480 for NTSC.
> These are the standard resolutions for digital video. As
> explained earlier, there is no point in going over them as
> you can't resolve any more detail even if you did. There are
> no magical "professional" cards that would somehow give you
Is it "usual" for a card to get the best out of data, or
I might ocassionaly run into a card that can do maybe only
160*120 from a normal Pal source?
Choosing the right card depends on a plethora of things:
>
> 1) what is your source format (vhs, dvd, tv, analog
> camcorder, digital camcorder, other?)
Hi8 camcorder, with composite and Svideo output (Pal),
and ocassionaly Pal-VHS vcr both analog.
Watching tv would be an advantage, bot not absolutely neccessery
>
> 2) what are you going to do with it (edit just by cutting,
> edit by applying lots of filters and transitions, add
> titles and subtitles, otherwise process or simply archive?)
basicly capture still images, ie. use the stuff as a "digital camera",
and make very short clips. No image transformation is required,
not in real-time at least. primary for archiving.
> > 2) how long clips are you going to process (20 second
> commercials, 5 minute music video or full 2 hours
> documentary / holiday video / movie)?
about 10-15 secs clips, to store them as they are in MPEG, or similar,
and 2-3 secs clips to select still images from the data to store
as pictures, and discard the rest.
>
> and 3) what is your final target format for storing the end
> result (analog videotape, digital video tape, VCD, SVCD,
> DVD, multimedia CD-ROM, web site?).
JPEG for still images,
and mpeg, mjpeg, or maybe avi for the clips, store them on hard
disk/cd-rom, and ocassionally print the good pictures on
photo printer
Andras
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kristjan Kristinsson)
Subject: Adaptec AAA-133U2 U2SCSI Raid PCI
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 11:19:54 GMT
Does anyone know if this model (Adaptec AAA-133U2 U2SCSI Raid PCI) or
(Adaptec AAA-131U2 U2SCSI Raid PCI) are compatible with linux?
I couldn't find information about them.
Greetings
Kristjan
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Subject: Chase Research PCI-Fast 8-port
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 11:36:53 GMT
I've installed a PCI-Fast 8-port on a Linux ReadHat6.1 with 2.2.12-20
kernel version but:
I've download the pack: atpc_202dd.tgz from Chase Research web server
and after execute ./install script I've recompiled the kernel
(make bzImage; make modules; make modules_install).
my /etc/rc.d/rc.serial is:
insmod chaser > /dev/null 2>&1 ; sleep 5
setserial -bv /dev/cuch0 uart 16654 port 0xA800 irq 11 baud_base 460800
... from /dev/cuch0 to /dev/cuch15
restarting system with new kernel and looking in file /var/log/messages
i've :
....
Mar 23 23:32:27 isupoli kernel: ttyCH0 at 0xa800 (irq = 11) is a 16654
Mar 23 23:32:27 isupoli kernel: ttyCH1 at 0xa808 (irq = 11) is a 16654
Mar 23 23:32:27 isupoli kernel: ttyCH2 at 0xa810 (irq = 11) is a 16654
Mar 23 23:32:27 isupoli kernel: ttyCH3 at 0xa818 (irq = 11) is a 16654
Mar 23 23:32:27 isupoli kernel: ttyCH4 at 0xa820 (irq = 11) is a 16654
Mar 23 23:32:27 isupoli kernel: ttyCH5 at 0xa828 (irq = 11) is a 16654
Mar 23 23:32:27 isupoli kernel: ttyCH6 at 0xa830 (irq = 11) is a 16654
Mar 23 23:32:27 isupoli kernel: ttyCH7 at 0xa838 (irq = 11) is a 16654
....
then :
1) the modules chaser doesn't exist!!
(insmod chaser: no module by that name found)
2) using /dev/ttyCH0 (ls > /dev/ttyCH0) my machine lock up.
I don't know what I can do !??
thanks
Davide
Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
Before you buy.
------------------------------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Matija Grabnar)
Subject: Re: APC BackUPS 650 cable
Date: 29 Mar 2000 12:22:51 GMT
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>,
Brent Willcox <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
>Can you build a serial cable? If so, you're in luck.
I'm completely hopeless with a soldering iron, but I bought one of our
hardware people a beer, and I expect to have a cable by the end of the week...
>Russell Kroll has the wiring diagram for the so
>called "smart" APC UPS cable that APC charges $35 for. I built one to
>use with my APC SMART-UPS 1000, and it has worked flawlessly under
>both GameOS and Linux.
Thanks! I found the diagram I needed there.
For some reason, my power company drops the power for about 1 minute
at exactly 8 am about one day in five. Having a UPS is great for my peace
of mind... :-)
Thanks again!
--
"My name is Not Important. Not to friends.
But you can call me mr. Important" - Not J. Important
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: "J. C." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.misc
Subject: Re: Soundblaster Live problem
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 12:58:15 GMT
In article <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>, "Gene
Heskett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
: I was thinking about getting the 2.3.99 a couple of days ago, but then
: figured that I'd be lost since the docs may be out of step a bit. Thats
: pprobably what the holdup is right now, getting the docs in sync.
Well, aside from the soundcard problem, 2.3.99 works flawlessly on my
system, which is a P90 upgraded (not by me, though) to an Evergreen MMX
240. I compiled the latest pppd (2.3.11) and my dialups work; X seems
to run nicely; I don't have Ethernet and I try to avoid installing
anything as a module; it sees all my hardware. I'm mostly interested
in the USB support, but I really need sound to work properly, since I'm
intrigued by Internet live radio, and (as you pointed out) XMMS is a
pretty classy sound player. I might just go out and spend the $80 CDN
on a SoundBlaster Live Value (or whatever it's called).
The other thing I'm fretting about is trying to upgrade the BIOS -- I
don't have any DOS or like that on the machine.
Tony.
--
Tony Reed <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
------------------------------
From: "David S. DeWitt" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: New Hardware Book revd for Linux
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 07:04:50 -0600
Amazon has it for $47.99
"Gary Greene" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Linux Edition, Scott Mueller in
> conjunction with Joe Devita, the Linux General Store
> ISBN 0-7897-2075-2, $59.99 USA/$89.95 CAN/£43.99 (inc of VAT)
> Published by Que Books, a division of MacMillan USA, Soft
> bound, 1387 pages. (c)1999, 2000, first print edition Nov 1999
> Includes bootable Linux CDROM for troubleshooting.
>
> Disclaimer: I am unconnected with Que, MacMillan, Scott Mueller,
> or the Linux General Store, or anyone else connected to the
> book, nor am I a publicist for anyone so connected.
>
> I asked a question a few weeks back about my the ASUS P3C2000
> motherboard and mentioned that I ran across and bought a new
> hardware book that was revised for Linux. I promised to post
> the ISBN info within a few days, but I kept leaving the durn
> thing on my couch before coming in to work, so I've been very
> late in posting the following information. My apologies.
>
> This Linux version of Mueller's book is based on the 11th
> edition of his PC version of U&R PCs, but appeared to
> include extensive discussion of Linux specific issues.
> The book covers the new Intel Socket 370 design, Pentium III,
> AMD's K7 Athalon, RDRAM, Intel chipsets through the 810,
> including recompiling your kernel for your specific
> processor, though I didn't look too closely there.
>
> The CDROM includes a bootable version of Debian configured
> for troubleshooting your existing installation created by the
> Linux General Store and includes installation files for a
> "wide variety of utilities to customize Linux."
>
> For someone building their first PC or Linux box, like me,
> this appears to be a worthwhile book to add to your library.
>
> CDROM Contents:
> o Ques's editions of Partition Magic v4 and BootMagic (tm)
>
> o Linux Everything Disk, this is the bootable Debian
> portion with additional docs listed below
>
> o Scott Mueller's Vendor List Database
>
> o PDF files covering many BIOS, Pentium family specs, pnp
> overdrive, modems, etc.
>
> o Some important Linux FAQs covering AfterStep, ATAPI, BL,
> GCC-Sig1, Linux, PPP, and SMP; & including 40 HowTo docs
>
> o Seems to include docs for included Linux programs,
> including old UNIX standards like tin, but also GNOME
> and some others
>
> Hope this is of some use to someone.
>
> --Gary Greene
------------------------------
From: "J. C." <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: linux.dev.sound,comp.os.linux.questions
Subject: Driver Problems Kernel 2.3.99/Multisound Classic
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 13:07:45 GMT
I'm beginning to sound like a broken record, but: I have a Multisound
Classic card in my Pentium (P90 upgraded to Evergreen 240), with the
driver compiled into the kernel, and the firmware resident, and it
works very well with kernel 2.2.14. When I configure and compile
2.3.99-pre3 (and every other 2.3.x kernel), it ceases to function and
this error-oops comes up:
=====begin quote
Unable to handle kernel paging request at virtual address 000d0000
printing eip:
c01f529c
*pde = 00000000
Oops: 0002
CPU: 0
EIP: 0010:[<c01f529c>]
EFLAGS: 00010016
eax: 00002400 ebx: 00002400 ecx: 00000900 edx: 00003e04
esi: c4800000 edi: 000d0000 ebp: c0379c28 esp: c2f21f4c
ds: 0018 es: 0018 ss: 0018
Process sox (pid: 531, stackpage=c2f21000)
Stack: 00003e04 00000000 00000202 00000001 00000000 c01f77d4 c0379c28
000d0000
00002400 00000000 c2f3d4a0 ffffffea 00000000 c2f3d4a0 c2f3d560
00000000
00000000 c01f79f1 08083e84 00003e04 c012daa0 c2f3d4a0 08080080
00003e04
Call Trace: [<c01f77d4>] [<c01f79f1>] [<c012daa0>] [<c0109674>]
Code: f3 a5 f6 c3 02 74 02 66 a5 f6 c3 01 74 01 a4 01 5c 24 10 01
=====end quote
and I don't know how to interpret it. I notice that the docs for this
driver haven't been updated since 1998. I sent a copy of this to
Andrew Veliath, who maintains the driver, but never heard back. I've
posted variations of this message to various groups since 2.3.36 or
so, but no one seems to be able to help. I could probably just go out
and buy a newer sound card, I guess, but I kind of like this one.
I've tried every "memory window" available, and the same "oops" pops
up with each one. The firmware is resident, and recognized. The dsp
gets reset, the ioport and the irq are "clean," I get the same result
whether I compile the driver into the kernel or load it as a module,
and I really don't know what else to say.
--
Tony Reed <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
------------------------------
From: "rp.Mignon" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: instal dat
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:16:49 +0200
where can i test a dat on suze
scsi check ok
dev/ ?
dmesg tell me dev=st0
tar cvf * /dev/st0 can work on the date
ftape ?
why can i configure the dev
a+
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: Dana <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: "newbie" printer problem
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 06:31:38 -0700
Hello,
I am a "newbie" to linux and am having a problem with my printer in
redhat 6.1 ......after spending a couple of hours last night trying to
get my system to see the printer, I went to the red hat support site and
discovered that redhat 6.1 had a "problem" with detecting (using
printool ) printers on certain computers. I made the suggested fixes to
my system and now the printer works fine (hp 695c) ..that is as long as
you are logged in as root....so I guess my question is..how do I change
the permissions so that none root users can access the printer?
Help......Thanks!!
Dana
------------------------------
Date: 29 Mar 2000 8:40:38 -0500
From: "Gene Heskett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: New Hardware Book revd for Linux
Unrot13 this;
Reply to: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Gene Heskett sends Greetings to David S.;
DSD> Amazon has it for $47.99
Maybe so, but Amazon should be avoided. Their recently obtained patents
are so broadly based as to be a huge potential problem for everyone
writing software. See almost any linux web site that purports to carry
news and read the threads.
Even Richard Stallman has advised we should boycott. We do not
preserve our right to write software in a clean room, or by reverse
engineering based on the behaviour of the purchaseable hardware, that
violates a copyright or patent unknowingly without sending a message
with our wallets or checkbooks.
DSD> "Gary Greene" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
DSD> news:[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
>> Upgrading and Repairing PCs, Linux Edition, Scott Mueller in
>> conjunction with Joe Devita, the Linux General Store
>> ISBN 0-7897-2075-2, $59.99 USA/$89.95 CAN/£43.99 (inc of VAT)
>> Published by Que Books, a division of MacMillan USA, Soft
>> bound, 1387 pages. (c)1999, 2000, first print edition Nov 1999
>> Includes bootable Linux CDROM for troubleshooting.
>>
>> Disclaimer: I am unconnected with Que, MacMillan, Scott Mueller, or
>> the Linux General Store, or anyone else connected to the book, nor
>> am I a publicist for anyone so connected.
[...]
Cheers, Gene
--
Gene Heskett, CET, UHK |Amiga A2k Zeus040, Linux @ 400mhz
Ch. Eng. @ WDTV-5 |This Space for rent
RC5-Moo! 350kkeys/sec, Seti@home 16 hrs a block
email gene underscore heskett at iolinc dot net
This messages reply content, but not any previously quoted material, is
© 2000 by Gene Heskett, all rights reserved.
--
------------------------------
From: "Chris Keating" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Problems configuring NIC
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 09:51:52 -0500
I have a Houston Technologies motherboard that has a built in NIC by
Davicom. I am able to get the card configured and the network up and running
at the command prompt. At boot, a message "Delaying eth0 intialization"
occurs. I have narrowed the problem to the NIC module not be loaded at boot
(i.e., lsmod indicates the module is not running).
My question:
How do I get the NIC module loaded at boot. I have added the following to
conf.modules:
alias eth0 dmfe
options dmfe io=c800 irq=10
Thanks in advance
------------------------------
From: "Chris Keating" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Re: davicom dm9102 driver
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 09:44:18 -0500
Check out the readme file on the Drivers CD. Davicom included a Linux
module. I recommend you download the newest version from the web site (use
the developers email for details).
I am having problems with getting dmfe.o to load at boot. However, I was
able to get everything else to work fine...
1) compile the module as per recommendations (the new readme has three
compile options - select the second that uses -DMODVERSIONS )
- the readme file contains the remaining information
2) modify conf.modules to include
alias eth0 dmfe
options io={NIC IO PORT} irq={NICS irq}
3) configure your network.
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote in message
news:7llhsu$aij$[EMAIL PROTECTED]...
> Hello,
> I am trying to use a dm9102 adapter (built-in to MB) and
> I am running the 2.2 linux kernel. Is there anyone that's
> gotten a driver to work with this kernel version?????
>
> THANKS!
>
>
> Sent via Deja.com http://www.deja.com/
> Share what you know. Learn what you don't.
------------------------------
From: Stefano Totaro <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Crossposted-To: comp.os.linux.x,comp.os.linux.X
Subject: Mpeg2 Hardware decoding
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 16:47:36 +0200
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED], [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Hi guys,
I am looking for a video card with HW mpeg2 decoding capability
supported by Xfree.
I have seen some boards with mpeg2 (ATI [EMAIL PROTECTED] for example)
supported by Xfree but the HW mpeg2 decoding is not exploited by the
driver.
So they are not good for my needs.
Also an Mpeg player that directly drives the video board without X is
good for me.
Can some one help me.
Thank you in advance
Stefano Totaro
p.s.
Please replay via e-mail to
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
or
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
------------------------------
From: "Steve Snyder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: "Steve Snyder" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Another try: Intel CA810E m/b supported by Linux?
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 15:04:23 GMT
Does Linux v2.2.14+ have any problems with Intel's 810 chipset?
In particular, I'm wondering about support for the 810's UDMA/66 IDE
controllers.
Thank you.
***** Steve Snyder *****
------------------------------
From: Lilia Vogt <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Subject: Utility to see a SCSI disk before it has been formatted and mounted
Date: Wed, 29 Mar 2000 17:07:17 +0100
Hello!
I wonder if there is an utility that can help me to "see" a new disk
drive that has been connected to the system (on a SCSI level), before it
has been actually formatted, partitioned, mounted, etc.
Any help will be greatly appriciated!!!!
Lilia
------------------------------
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End of Linux-Hardware Digest
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