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• ffmpeg seek calculating wrong byte range ?

  17 décembre 2015, par user4455

  I’m running into an issue while trying to extract thumbnails from a movie file at a specific timestamp. Generally I’ve had no issues with this, but I’ve come across a set of movie files that are getting an error about the byte range requested (416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable).

  The odd thing is that the server is correctly returning the content length in the partial content request, yet when it requests the movie file it requests a length that exceeds that.

  This is a bit over my head, so I’m not sure what could be happening here. Any insight would be great.

  The Command :

  /usr/bin/ffmpeg -y -ss 1400 -i 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4' -qscale:v 2 -f image2 -vframes 1 -filter:v 'scale=192:108' -loglevel debug /data/www/storage/test.jpg 2>&1

  The Error :

  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='HTTP/1.1 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] http_code=416
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] HTTP error 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable

  Source File Size :

  1776706045 bytes

  Source Content Duration :

  2897.624271

  Partial Content Request :

  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] http_code=206
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='x-amz-id-2: 4J1pgHExIUA0GxIxSBmGJjrRqliHbsIjXeuGzVfTlaaoVXbyZI5FQNma8fGaifcovkXfxJev5yU='
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='x-amz-request-id: 78B3BDBB0356EF40'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 23:51:29 GMT'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='x-amz-meta-content-length: 2898'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='x-amz-meta-cb-modifiedtime: Tue, 15 Dec 2015 17:59:51 GMT'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Last-Modified: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 23:44:59 GMT'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='ETag: "6341a8022630667a8070a83575e542e7-27"'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Accept-Ranges: bytes'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Content-Range: bytes 0-1776706044/1776706045'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Content-Type: video/mp4'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Content-Length: 1776706045'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Server: AmazonS3'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Connection: close'

  FFmpeg Request :

  request: GET /my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4 HTTP/1.1
  
  User-Agent: Lavf/56.25.101
  
  Accept: */*
  
  Range: bytes=1781732960-
  
  Connection: close
  
  Host: s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com
  
  Icy-MetaData: 1

  Entire Log :

  # /usr/bin/ffmpeg -y -ss 1400 -i 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4' -qscale:v 2 -f image2 -vframes 1 -filter:v 'scale=192:108' -loglevel debug /data/www/storage/test.jpg 2>&1
  
  ffmpeg version 2.6.4 Copyright (c) 2000-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  
    built with gcc 4.9.2 (Debian 4.9.2-10)
  
    configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-cflags='-g -O2 -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security ' --extra-ldflags='-Wl,-z,relro' --cc='ccache cc' --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libgsm --enable-libtheora --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libspeex --enable-nonfree --disable-stripping --enable-libvpx --enable-libschroedinger --disable-encoder=libschroedinger --enable-version3 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-librtmp --enable-avfilter --enable-libfreetype --enable-libvo-aacenc --disable-decoder=amrnb --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libaacplus --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --disable-vda --enable-libbluray --enable-libcdio --enable-gnutls --enable-frei0r --enable-openssl --enable-libass --enable-libopus --enable-fontconfig --enable-libpulse --disable-mips32r2 --disable-mipsdspr1 --disable-mipsdspr2 --enable-libvidstab --enable-libzvbi --enable-avresample --disable-htmlpages --disable-podpages --enable-libutvideo --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libx265 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-vaapi --enable-libdc1394 --disable-altivec --shlibdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
  
    libavutil      54. 20.100 / 54. 20.100
  
    libavcodec     56. 26.100 / 56. 26.100
  
    libavformat    56. 25.101 / 56. 25.101
  
    libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  
    libavfilter     5. 11.102 /  5. 11.102
  
    libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  
    libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  
    libswresample   1.  1.100 /  1.  1.100
  
    libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
  
  Splitting the commandline.
  
  Reading option '-y' ... matched as option 'y' (overwrite output files) with argument '1'.
  
  Reading option '-ss' ... matched as option 'ss' (set the start time offset) with argument '1400'.
  
  Reading option '-i' ... matched as input file with argument 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4'.
  
  Reading option '-qscale:v' ... matched as option 'qscale' (use fixed quality scale (VBR)) with argument '2'.
  
  Reading option '-f' ... matched as option 'f' (force format) with argument 'image2'.
  
  Reading option '-vframes' ... matched as option 'vframes' (set the number of video frames to output) with argument '1'.
  
  Reading option '-filter:v' ... matched as option 'filter' (set stream filtergraph) with argument 'scale=192:108'.
  
  Reading option '-loglevel' ... matched as option 'loglevel' (set logging level) with argument 'debug'.
  
  Reading option '/data/www/storage/test.jpg' ... matched as output file.
  
  Finished splitting the commandline.
  
  Parsing a group of options: global .
  
  Applying option y (overwrite output files) with argument 1.
  
  Applying option loglevel (set logging level) with argument debug.
  
  Successfully parsed a group of options.
  
  Parsing a group of options: input file https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4.
  
  Applying option ss (set the start time offset) with argument 1400.
  
  Successfully parsed a group of options.
  
  Opening an input file: https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4.
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] request: GET /my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4 HTTP/1.1
  
  User-Agent: Lavf/56.25.101
  
  Accept: */*
  
  Range: bytes=0-
  
  Connection: close
  
  Host: s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com
  
  Icy-MetaData: 1
  
  
  
  
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='HTTP/1.1 206 Partial Content'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] http_code=206
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='x-amz-id-2: 4J1pgHExIUA0GxIxSBmGJjrRqliHbsIjXeuGzVfTlaaoVXbyZI5FQNma8fGaifcovkXfxJev5yU='
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='x-amz-request-id: 78B3BDBB0356EF40'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Date: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 23:51:29 GMT'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='x-amz-meta-content-length: 2898'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='x-amz-meta-cb-modifiedtime: Tue, 15 Dec 2015 17:59:51 GMT'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Last-Modified: Wed, 16 Dec 2015 23:44:59 GMT'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='ETag: "6341a8022630667a8070a83575e542e7-27"'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Accept-Ranges: bytes'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Content-Range: bytes 0-1776706044/1776706045'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Content-Type: video/mp4'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Content-Length: 1776706045'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Server: AmazonS3'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='Connection: close'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header=''
  
  [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x22e1740] Format mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 probed with size=2048 and score=100
  
  [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x22e1740] ISO: File Type Major Brand: mp42
  
  [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x22e1740] Before avformat_find_stream_info() pos: 1647960 bytes read:1652200 seeks:0
  
  [h264 @ 0x22e92c0] no picture
  
  [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x22e1740] All info found
  
  [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x22e1740] After avformat_find_stream_info() pos: 1862326 bytes read:1878504 seeks:0 frames:16
  
  Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4':
  
    Metadata:
  
      major_brand     : mp42
  
      minor_version   : 1
  
      compatible_brands: isommp41avc1
  
      creation_time   : 2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
    Duration: 00:48:17.70, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 4905 kb/s
  
      Stream #0:0(und), 15, 1/2997: Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv, left), 1920x1080 (1920x1088) [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 1001/60000, 9994 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 2997 tbn, 59.94 tbc (default)
  
      Metadata:
  
        creation_time   : 2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
        handler_name    : ?Apple Video Media Handler
  
      Stream #0:1(und), 1, 1/48000: Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 192 kb/s (default)
  
      Metadata:
  
        creation_time   : 2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
        handler_name    : ?Apple Sound Media Handler
  
  Successfully opened the file.
  
  Parsing a group of options: output file /data/www/storage/test.jpg.
  
  Applying option qscale:v (use fixed quality scale (VBR)) with argument 2.
  
  Applying option f (force format) with argument image2.
  
  Applying option vframes (set the number of video frames to output) with argument 1.
  
  Applying option filter:v (set stream filtergraph) with argument scale=192:108.
  
  Successfully parsed a group of options.
  
  Opening an output file: /data/www/storage/test.jpg.
  
  Successfully opened the file.
  
  detected 2 logical cores
  
  [Parsed_scale_0 @ 0x22cd4c0] Setting 'w' to value '192'
  
  [Parsed_scale_0 @ 0x22cd4c0] Setting 'h' to value '108'
  
  [Parsed_scale_0 @ 0x22cd4c0] Setting 'flags' to value '0x4'
  
  [Parsed_scale_0 @ 0x22cd4c0] w:192 h:108 flags:'0x4' interl:0
  
  [graph 0 input from stream 0:0 @ 0x22ccfe0] Setting 'video_size' to value '1920x1080'
  
  [graph 0 input from stream 0:0 @ 0x22ccfe0] Setting 'pix_fmt' to value '0'
  
  [graph 0 input from stream 0:0 @ 0x22ccfe0] Setting 'time_base' to value '1/2997'
  
  [graph 0 input from stream 0:0 @ 0x22ccfe0] Setting 'pixel_aspect' to value '1/1'
  
  [graph 0 input from stream 0:0 @ 0x22ccfe0] Setting 'sws_param' to value 'flags=2'
  
  [graph 0 input from stream 0:0 @ 0x22ccfe0] Setting 'frame_rate' to value '2997/100'
  
  [graph 0 input from stream 0:0 @ 0x22ccfe0] w:1920 h:1080 pixfmt:yuv420p tb:1/2997 fr:2997/100 sar:1/1 sws_param:flags=2
  
  [format @ 0x2798640] compat: called with args=[yuvj420p|yuvj422p|yuvj444p]
  
  [format @ 0x2798640] Setting 'pix_fmts' to value 'yuvj420p|yuvj422p|yuvj444p'
  
  [AVFilterGraph @ 0x22cda60] query_formats: 5 queried, 4 merged, 0 already done, 0 delayed
  
  [Parsed_scale_0 @ 0x22cd4c0] picking yuvj420p out of 3 ref:yuv420p alpha:0
  
  [swscaler @ 0x22c3c80] deprecated pixel format used, make sure you did set range correctly
  
  [Parsed_scale_0 @ 0x22cd4c0] w:1920 h:1080 fmt:yuv420p sar:1/1 -> w:192 h:108 fmt:yuvj420p sar:1/1 flags:0x4
  
  [mjpeg @ 0x2854e20] intra_quant_bias = 96 inter_quant_bias = 0
  
  [mjpeg @ 0x28716c0] intra_quant_bias = 96 inter_quant_bias = 0
  
  [mjpeg @ 0x2795320] intra_quant_bias = 96 inter_quant_bias = 0
  
  Output #0, image2, to '/data/www/storage/test.jpg':
  
    Metadata:
  
      major_brand     : mp42
  
      minor_version   : 1
  
      compatible_brands: isommp41avc1
  
      encoder         : Lavf56.25.101
  
      Stream #0:0(und), 0, 100/2997: Video: mjpeg, yuvj420p(pc, left), 192x108 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 100/2997, q=2-31, 200 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbn, 29.97 tbc (default)
  
      Metadata:
  
        creation_time   : 2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
        handler_name    : ?Apple Video Media Handler
  
        encoder         : Lavc56.26.100 mjpeg
  
  Stream mapping:
  
    Stream #0:0 -> #0:0 (h264 (native) -> mjpeg (native))
  
  Press [q] to stop, [?] for help
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] request: GET /my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4 HTTP/1.1
  
  User-Agent: Lavf/56.25.101
  
  Accept: */*
  
  Range: bytes=1781732960-
  
  Connection: close
  
  Host: s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com
  
  Icy-MetaData: 1
  
  
  
  
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] header='HTTP/1.1 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable'
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] http_code=416
  
  [https @ 0x22e1e00] HTTP error 416 Requested Range Not Satisfiable
  
  [mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2 @ 0x22e1740] stream 0, offset 0x6a331660: partial file
  
  https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4: Invalid data found when processing input
  
  [output stream 0:0 @ 0x22d7500] EOF on sink link output stream 0:0:default.
  
  No more output streams to write to, finishing.
  
  frame=    0 fps=0.0 q=0.0 Lsize=N/A time=00:00:00.00 bitrate=N/A
  
  video:0kB audio:0kB subtitle:0kB other streams:0kB global headers:0kB muxing overhead: unknown
  
  Input file #0 (https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4):
  
    Input stream #0:0 (video): 0 packets read (0 bytes); 0 frames decoded;
  
    Input stream #0:1 (audio): 0 packets read (0 bytes);
  
    Total: 0 packets (0 bytes) demuxed
  
  Output file #0 (/data/www/storage/test.jpg):
  
    Output stream #0:0 (video): 0 frames encoded; 0 packets muxed (0 bytes);
  
    Total: 0 packets (0 bytes) muxed
  
  Output file is empty, nothing was encoded (check -ss / -t / -frames parameters if used)
  
  0 frames successfully decoded, 0 decoding errors
  
  [AVIOContext @ 0x27ab100] Statistics: 1878504 bytes read, 0 seeks

  FFprobe Result :

  # /usr/bin/ffprobe -show_format -show_streams -i 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4'
  
  ffprobe version 2.6.4 Copyright (c) 2007-2015 the FFmpeg developers
  
    built with gcc 4.9.2 (Debian 4.9.2-10)
  
    configuration: --prefix=/usr --extra-cflags='-g -O2 -fstack-protector-strong -Wformat -Werror=format-security ' --extra-ldflags='-Wl,-z,relro' --cc='ccache cc' --enable-shared --enable-libmp3lame --enable-gpl --enable-nonfree --enable-libvorbis --enable-pthreads --enable-libfaac --enable-libxvid --enable-postproc --enable-x11grab --enable-libgsm --enable-libtheora --enable-libopencore-amrnb --enable-libopencore-amrwb --enable-libx264 --enable-libspeex --enable-nonfree --disable-stripping --enable-libvpx --enable-libschroedinger --disable-encoder=libschroedinger --enable-version3 --enable-libopenjpeg --enable-librtmp --enable-avfilter --enable-libfreetype --enable-libvo-aacenc --disable-decoder=amrnb --enable-libvo-amrwbenc --enable-libaacplus --libdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu --disable-vda --enable-libbluray --enable-libcdio --enable-gnutls --enable-frei0r --enable-openssl --enable-libass --enable-libopus --enable-fontconfig --enable-libpulse --disable-mips32r2 --disable-mipsdspr1 --disable-mipsdspr2 --enable-libvidstab --enable-libzvbi --enable-avresample --disable-htmlpages --disable-podpages --enable-libutvideo --enable-libfdk-aac --enable-libx265 --enable-libiec61883 --enable-vaapi --enable-libdc1394 --disable-altivec --shlibdir=/usr/lib/x86_64-linux-gnu
  
    libavutil      54. 20.100 / 54. 20.100
  
    libavcodec     56. 26.100 / 56. 26.100
  
    libavformat    56. 25.101 / 56. 25.101
  
    libavdevice    56.  4.100 / 56.  4.100
  
    libavfilter     5. 11.102 /  5. 11.102
  
    libavresample   2.  1.  0 /  2.  1.  0
  
    libswscale      3.  1.101 /  3.  1.101
  
    libswresample   1.  1.100 /  1.  1.100
  
    libpostproc    53.  3.100 / 53.  3.100
  
  Input #0, mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2, from 'https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4':
  
    Metadata:
  
      major_brand     : mp42
  
      minor_version   : 1
  
      compatible_brands: isommp41avc1
  
      creation_time   : 2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
    Duration: 00:48:17.70, start: 0.000000, bitrate: 4905 kb/s
  
      Stream #0:0(und): Video: h264 (High) (avc1 / 0x31637661), yuv420p(tv), 1920x1080 [SAR 1:1 DAR 16:9], 9994 kb/s, 29.97 fps, 29.97 tbr, 2997 tbn, 59.94 tbc (default)
  
      Metadata:
  
        creation_time   : 2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
        handler_name    : ?Apple Video Media Handler
  
      Stream #0:1(und): Audio: aac (LC) (mp4a / 0x6134706D), 48000 Hz, stereo, fltp, 192 kb/s (default)
  
      Metadata:
  
        creation_time   : 2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
        handler_name    : ?Apple Sound Media Handler
  
  [STREAM]
  
  index=0
  
  codec_name=h264
  
  codec_long_name=H.264 / AVC / MPEG-4 AVC / MPEG-4 part 10
  
  profile=High
  
  codec_type=video
  
  codec_time_base=1001/60000
  
  codec_tag_string=avc1
  
  codec_tag=0x31637661
  
  width=1920
  
  height=1080
  
  has_b_frames=1
  
  sample_aspect_ratio=1:1
  
  display_aspect_ratio=16:9
  
  pix_fmt=yuv420p
  
  level=40
  
  color_range=tv
  
  color_space=unknown
  
  color_transfer=unknown
  
  color_primaries=unknown
  
  chroma_location=left
  
  timecode=N/A
  
  refs=3
  
  is_avc=1
  
  nal_length_size=4
  
  id=N/A
  
  r_frame_rate=2997/100
  
  avg_frame_rate=2997/100
  
  time_base=1/2997
  
  start_pts=0
  
  start_time=0.000000
  
  duration_ts=8684300
  
  duration=2897.664331
  
  bit_rate=9994429
  
  max_bit_rate=N/A
  
  bits_per_raw_sample=8
  
  nb_frames=86843
  
  nb_read_frames=N/A
  
  nb_read_packets=N/A
  
  DISPOSITION:default=1
  
  DISPOSITION:dub=0
  
  DISPOSITION:original=0
  
  DISPOSITION:comment=0
  
  DISPOSITION:lyrics=0
  
  DISPOSITION:karaoke=0
  
  DISPOSITION:forced=0
  
  DISPOSITION:hearing_impaired=0
  
  DISPOSITION:visual_impaired=0
  
  DISPOSITION:clean_effects=0
  
  DISPOSITION:attached_pic=0
  
  TAG:creation_time=2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
  TAG:language=und
  
  TAG:handler_name=Apple Video Media Handler
  
  [/STREAM]
  
  [STREAM]
  
  index=1
  
  codec_name=aac
  
  codec_long_name=AAC (Advanced Audio Coding)
  
  profile=LC
  
  codec_type=audio
  
  codec_time_base=1/48000
  
  codec_tag_string=mp4a
  
  codec_tag=0x6134706d
  
  sample_fmt=fltp
  
  sample_rate=48000
  
  channels=2
  
  channel_layout=stereo
  
  bits_per_sample=0
  
  id=N/A
  
  r_frame_rate=0/0
  
  avg_frame_rate=0/0
  
  time_base=1/48000
  
  start_pts=0
  
  start_time=0.000000
  
  duration_ts=139085965
  
  duration=2897.624271
  
  bit_rate=192002
  
  max_bit_rate=N/A
  
  bits_per_raw_sample=N/A
  
  nb_frames=135828
  
  nb_read_frames=N/A
  
  nb_read_packets=N/A
  
  DISPOSITION:default=1
  
  DISPOSITION:dub=0
  
  DISPOSITION:original=0
  
  DISPOSITION:comment=0
  
  DISPOSITION:lyrics=0
  
  DISPOSITION:karaoke=0
  
  DISPOSITION:forced=0
  
  DISPOSITION:hearing_impaired=0
  
  DISPOSITION:visual_impaired=0
  
  DISPOSITION:clean_effects=0
  
  DISPOSITION:attached_pic=0
  
  TAG:creation_time=2015-11-18 02:34:41
  
  TAG:language=und
  
  TAG:handler_name=Apple Sound Media Handler
  
  [/STREAM]
  
  [FORMAT]
  
  filename=https://s3-us-west-2.amazonaws.com/my-bucket/mymoviefile.mp4
  
  nb_streams=2
  
  nb_programs=0
  
  format_name=mov,mp4,m4a,3gp,3g2,mj2
  
  format_long_name=QuickTime / MOV
  
  start_time=0.000000
  
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• Running Windows XP In 2016

  2 janvier 2016, par Multimedia Mike

  I have an interest in getting a 32-bit Windows XP machine up and running. I have a really good yet slightly dated and discarded computer that seemed like a good candidate for dedicating to this task. So the question is : Can Windows XP still be installed from scratch on a computer, activated, and used in 2016 ? I wasn’t quite sure since I have heard stories about how Microsoft has formally ended support for Windows XP as of the first half of 2014 and I wasn’t entirely sure what that meant.

  Spoiler : It’s still possible to install and activate Windows XP as of the writing of this post. It’s also possible to download and install all the updates published up until support ended.

  The Candidate Computer
  This computer was assembled either in late 2008 or early 2009. It was a beast at the time.

  
  
  Click for a larger image
  

  It was built around the newly-released NVIDIA GTX 280 video card. The case is a Thermaltake DH-101, which is a home theater PC thing. The motherboard is an Asus P5N32-SLI Premium with a Core 2 Duo X6800 2.93 GHz CPU on board. 2 GB of RAM and a 1.5 TB hard drive are also present.

  The original owner handed it off to me because their family didn’t have much use for it anymore (too many other machines in the house). Plus it was really, obnoxiously loud. The noisy culprit was the stock blue fan that came packaged with the Intel processor (seen in the photo) whining at around 65 dB. I replaced the fan and brought the noise level way down.

  As for connectivity, the motherboard has dual gigabit NICs (of 2 different chipsets for some reason) and onboard wireless 802.11g. I couldn’t make the latter work and this project was taking place a significant distance from my wired network. Instead, I connected a USB 802.11ac dongle and antenna which is advertised to work in both Windows XP and Linux. It works great under Windows XP. Meanwhile, making the adapter work under Linux provided a retro-computing adventure in which I had to modify C code to make the driver work.

  So, score 1 for Windows XP over Linux here.

  The Simple Joy of Retro-computing
  One thing you have to watch out for when you get into retro-computing is fighting the urge to rant about the good old days of computing. Most long-time computer users have a good understanding of the frustration that computers keep getting faster by orders of magnitude and yet using them somehow feels slower and slower over successive software generations.
  

  This really hits home when you get old software running, especially on high-end hardware (relative to what was standard contemporary hardware). After I got this new Windows XP machine running, as usual, I was left wondering why software was so much faster a few generations ago.

  Of course, as mentioned, it helps when you get to run old software on hardware that would have been unthinkably high end at the software’s release. Apparently, the minimum WinXP specs as set by MS are a 233 MHz Pentium CPU and 64 MB of RAM, with 1.5 GB of hard drive space. This machine has more than 10x the clock speed (and 2 CPUs), 32x the RAM, and 1000x the HD space. Further, I’m pretty sure 100 Mbit ethernet was the standard consumer gear in 2001 while 802.11b wireless was gaining traction. The 802.11ac adapter makes networking quite pleasant.

  Purpose
  Retro-computing really seems to be ramping up in popularity lately. For some reason, I feel compelled to declare at this juncture that I was into it before it was cool.

  Why am I doing this ? I have a huge collection of old DOS/Windows computer games. I also have this nerdy obsession with documenting old video games in the MobyGames database. I used to do a lot of this a few years ago, tracking the effort on my gaming blog. In the intervening years, I have still collected a lot of old, unused, unloved video games, usually either free or very cheap while documenting my collection efforts on that same blog.

  So I want to work my way through some of this backlog, particularly the games that are not yet represented in the MobyGames database, and even more pressing, ones that the internet (viewed through Google at least) does not seem to know about. To that end, I thought this was a good excuse to get Windows XP on this old machine. A 32-bit Windows XP machine is capable of running any software advertised as supporting Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 98, Windows 95, and even 16-bit Windows 3.x (I have games for all these systems). That covers a significant chunk of PC history. It can probably be made to run DOS games as well, but those are (usually) better run under DosBox. In order to get the right display feel, I even invested in a (used) monitor sporting a 4:3 aspect ratio. If I know these old games, most will be engineered and optimized for that ratio rather than the widescreen resolutions seen nowadays.

  I would also like to get back to that Xbox optical disc experimentation I was working on a few years ago. Another nice feature of this motherboard is that it still provides a 40-pin IDE/PATA adapter which makes the machine useful for continuing that old investigation (and explains why I have that long IDE cable to no where pictured hanging off the board).

  The Messy Details
  I did the entire installation process twice. The first time was a bumbling journey of discovery and copious note-taking. I still have Windows XP installation media that includes service pack 2 (SP2), along with 2 separate licenses that haven’t been activated for a long time. My plan was to install it fresh, then install the relevant drivers. Then I would investigate the Windows update and activation issues and everything should be fine.

  So what’s the deal with Windows Update for XP, and with activations ? Second item first : it IS possible to still activate Windows XP. The servers are still alive and respond quickly. However, as always, you don’t activate until you’re sure everything is working at some baseline. It took awhile to get there.

  As for whether Windows Update still works for XP, that’s a tougher question. Short answer is yes ; longer answer is that it can be difficult to kick off the update process. At least on SP2, the “Windows Update” program launches IE6 and navigates to a special microsoft.com URL which initiates the update process (starting with an ActiveX control). This URL no longer exists.

  From what I can piece together from my notes, this seems to be the route I eventually took :

  1. Install Windows XP fresh
  2. Install drivers for the hardware ; fortunately, Asus still has all the latest drivers necessary for the motherboard and its components but it’s necessary to download these from another network-connected PC since the networking probably won’t be running “out of the box”
  3. Download the .NET 3.5 runtime, which is the last one supported by Windows XP, and install it
  4. Download the latest NVIDIA drivers ; this needs to be done after the previous step because the installer requires the .NET runtime ; run the driver installer and don’t try to understand why it insists on re-downloading .NET 3.5 runtime before installation
  5. While you’re downloading stuff on other computers to be transported to this new machine, be sure to download either Chrome or Firefox per your preference ; if you try to download via IE6, you may find that their download pages aren’t compatible with IE6
  6. Somewhere along the line (I’m guessing as a side effect of the .NET 3.5 installation), the proper, non-IE6-based Windows Update program magically springs to life ; once this happens, there will be 144 updates (in my case anyway) ; installing these will probably require multiple reboots, but SP3 and all known pre-deprecation security fixes will be installed
  7. Expect that, even after installing all of these, a few more updates will appear ; eventually, you’ll be at the end of the update road
  8. Once you’re satisfied everything is working satisfactorily, take the plunge and activate your installation

  Residual Quirks
  Steam runs great on Windows XP, as do numerous games I have purchased through the service. So that opens up a whole bunch more games that I could play on this machine. Steam’s installer highlights a curious legacy problem of Windows XP– it seems there are many languages that it does not support “out of the box” :

  
  
  

  It looks like the Chinese options and a few others that are standard now weren’t standard 15 years ago.

  Also, a little while after booting up, I’ll get a crashing error concerning a process called geoforms.scr. This appears to be NVIDIA-related. However, I don’t notice anything obviously operationally wrong with the system.

  Regarding DirectX support, DirectX 9 is the highest version officially supported by Windows XP. There are allegedly methods to get DirectX 10 running as well, but I don’t care that much. I did care, briefly, when I realized that a bunch of the demos for the NVIDIA GTX 280 required DX10 which left me wondering why it was possible to install them on Windows XP.

  Eventually, by installing enough of these old games, I fully expect to have numerous versions of .NET, DirectX, QT, and Video for Windows installed side by side.

  Out of curiosity, I tried playing a YouTube HD/1080p video. I wanted to see if the video was accelerated through my card. The video played at full speed but I noticed some tearing. Then I inspected the CPU usage and noticed that the CPU was quite loaded. So either the GTX 280 doesn’t have video acceleration, or Windows XP doesn’t provide the right APIs, or Chrome is not able to access the APIs in Windows XP, or perhaps some combination of the foregoing.

  Games are working well, though. I tried one of my favorite casual games and got sucked into that for, like, an entire night because that’s what casual games do. But then, I booted up a copy of WarCraft III that I procured sometime ago. I don’t have any experience with the WarCraft universe (RTS or MMO) but I developed a keen interest in StarCraft II over the past few years and wanted to try WarCraft III. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get WarCraft III to work correctly on several different Windows 7 installations (movies didn’t play, which left me slightly confused as to what I was supposed to do).

  Still works beautifully on the new old Windows XP machine.

• configure : Simplify cygwin/mingw/msys code

  3 novembre 2015, par Henrik Gramner

  configure : Simplify cygwin/mingw/msys code
  Avoids some code duplication.
  Also drop the -mno-cygwin check since that option was removed back in 2008.
  

  • [DH] configure