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• VLC command line : RTSP to mp4 file (video + audio)

  8 février 2016, par Dmitriy Gerashenko

  Win 7 x64.

  When I watch this link in VLC player all is fine :

  rtsp ://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov

  When I try to capture link to file and to display :

  • There is video without sound on display.
  • Created file is not playable.

  Command :

  vlc.exe -vvv "rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov" --sout="#transcode{venc=ffmpeg,vcodec=mp4v,vfilter=canvas{width=800,height=600},aenc=ffmpeg{strict=-2},acodec=mp4a}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=standard{access=file,mux=mp4,dst=video.mp4}"

  There are some errors in log, for example : MPEG4GenericRTPSource Warning: Unknown or unsupported "mode": AAC-hbr. Is it cause of my problems ? How to solve my issue ?

  Complete log (from VLCJ) :

  cd C:\Users\gda\Documents\NetBeansProjects\Video; "JAVA_HOME=C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Java\\jdk1.8.0_71" cmd /c "\"\"C:\\Users\\gda\\AppData\\Roaming\\NetBeans\\8.0.2\\maven\\bin\\mvn.bat\" -Dexec.args=\"-classpath %classpath ru.cherezweb.app.video.Video\" -Dexec.executable=\"C:\\Program Files (x86)\\Java\\jdk1.8.0_71\\bin\\java.exe\" -Dmaven.ext.class.path=C:\\Users\\gda\\AppData\\Roaming\\NetBeans\\8.0.2\\maven-nblib\\netbeans-eventspy.jar -Dfile.encoding=UTF-8 process-classes org.codehaus.mojo:exec-maven-plugin:1.2.1:exec\""
  
  Scanning for projects...
  
  
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  Building Video 1.0-SNAPSHOT
  
  ------------------------------------------------------------------------
  
  
  
  --- maven-resources-plugin:2.5:resources (default-resources) @ Video ---
  
  [debug] execute contextualize
  
  Using 'UTF-8' encoding to copy filtered resources.
  
  skip non existing resourceDirectory C:\Users\gda\Documents\NetBeansProjects\Video\src\main\resources
  
  
  
  --- maven-compiler-plugin:2.3.2:compile (default-compile) @ Video ---
  
  Nothing to compile - all classes are up to date
  
  
  
  --- exec-maven-plugin:1.2.1:exec (default-cli) @ Video ---
  
  20:37:29.097 [main] INFO  uk.co.caprica.vlcj.Info - vlcj: 3.10.1
  
  20:37:29.101 [main] INFO  uk.co.caprica.vlcj.Info - java: 1.8.0_71 Oracle Corporation
  
  20:37:29.101 [main] INFO  uk.co.caprica.vlcj.Info - java home: C:\Program Files (x86)\Java\jdk1.8.0_71\jre
  
  20:37:29.101 [main] INFO  uk.co.caprica.vlcj.Info - os: Windows 10 10.0 x86
  
  20:37:29.103 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.discovery.NativeDiscovery - discover()
  
  20:37:29.103 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.discovery.NativeDiscovery - jnaLibraryPath=null
  
  20:37:29.103 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.discovery.NativeDiscovery - discoveryStrategy=uk.co.caprica.vlcj.discovery.linux.DefaultLinuxNativeDiscoveryStrategy@176c05c
  
  20:37:29.104 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.discovery.NativeDiscovery - supported=false
  
  20:37:29.104 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.discovery.NativeDiscovery - discoveryStrategy=uk.co.caprica.vlcj.discovery.windows.DefaultWindowsNativeDiscoveryStrategy@1eb6432
  
  20:37:29.104 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.discovery.NativeDiscovery - supported=true
  
  20:37:29.104 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.d.AbstractNativeDiscoveryStrategy - discover()
  
  20:37:29.105 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.r.windows.WindowsRuntimeUtil - getVlcInstallDir()
  
  20:37:29.430 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.d.AbstractNativeDiscoveryStrategy - directoryNames=[C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC, C:\Users\gda\Documents\NetBeansProjects\Video, C:\Program Files\Broadcom\Broadcom 802.11 Network Adapter, C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\iCLS Client\, C:\Program Files\Intel\iCLS Client\, C:\PROGRAMDATA\ORACLE\JAVA\JAVAPATH, C:\Windows\SYSTEM32, C:\Windows, C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\WBEM, C:\Windows\SYSTEM32\WINDOWSPOWERSHELL\V1.0\, C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTEL\INTEL(R) MANAGEMENT ENGINE COMPONENTS\DAL, C:\PROGRAM FILES\INTEL\INTEL(R) MANAGEMENT ENGINE COMPONENTS\IPT, C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\INTEL\INTEL(R) MANAGEMENT ENGINE COMPONENTS\DAL, C:\PROGRAM FILES (X86)\INTEL\INTEL(R) MANAGEMENT ENGINE COMPONENTS\IPT, C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL, C:\Program Files\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT, C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\DAL, C:\Program Files (x86)\Intel\Intel(R) Management Engine Components\IPT, C:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth Software\, C:\Program Files\WIDCOMM\Bluetooth Software\syswow64, C:\Program Files\TortoiseSVN\bin, C:\Program Files (x86)\NVIDIA Corporation\PhysX\Common, C:\Program Files\OpenVPN\bin, C:\WINDOWS\system32, C:\WINDOWS, C:\WINDOWS\System32\Wbem, C:\WINDOWS\System32\WindowsPowerShell\v1.0\, C:\Program Files\TortoiseGit\bin, C:\Program Files (x86)\Skype\Phone\]
  
  20:37:29.430 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.d.AbstractNativeDiscoveryStrategy - directoryName=C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC
  
  20:37:29.430 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.d.AbstractNativeDiscoveryStrategy - Matched 'libvlc.dll' in 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC'
  
  20:37:29.430 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.d.AbstractNativeDiscoveryStrategy - Matched 'libvlccore.dll' in 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC'
  
  20:37:29.430 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.d.AbstractNativeDiscoveryStrategy - Matched all required files
  
  20:37:29.430 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.d.AbstractNativeDiscoveryStrategy - result=C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC
  
  20:37:29.430 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.discovery.NativeDiscovery - path=C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC
  
  20:37:29.431 [main] INFO  u.c.c.vlcj.discovery.NativeDiscovery - Discovery found libvlc at 'C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC'
  
  true
  
  2.2.1 Terry Pratchett (Weatherwax)
  
  20:37:29.490 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - initX=null
  
  20:37:29.494 [main] INFO  u.c.c.vlcj.binding.LibVlcFactory - vlc: 2.2.1 Terry Pratchett (Weatherwax), changeset 2.2.1-0-ga425c42
  
  20:37:29.494 [main] INFO  u.c.c.vlcj.binding.LibVlcFactory - libvlc: C:\Program Files (x86)\VideoLAN\VLC\libvlc.dll
  
  20:37:29.494 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - MediaPlayerFactory(libvlc=Proxy interface to Native Library ,libvlcArgs=[])
  
  20:37:29.494 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - jna.library.path=null
  
  20:37:29.494 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - VLC_PLUGIN_PATH=null
  
  20:37:29.529 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - instance=native@0x1195650 (uk.co.caprica.vlcj.binding.internal.libvlc_instance_t@1195650)
  
  20:37:29.529 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - equalizerAvailable=true
  
  20:37:29.529 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - createEqualizerBandFrequencies()
  
  20:37:29.529 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - numBands=10
  
  20:37:29.530 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - result=[31.25, 62.5, 125.0, 250.0, 500.0, 1000.0, 2000.0, 4000.0, 8000.0, 16000.0]
  
  20:37:29.530 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - createEqualizerPresetNames()
  
  20:37:29.530 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - numPresets=18
  
  20:37:29.530 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - result=[Flat, Classical, Club, Dance, Full bass, Full bass and treble, Full treble, Headphones, Large Hall, Live, Party, Pop, Reggae, Rock, Ska, Soft, Soft rock, Techno]
  
  20:37:29.530 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.MediaPlayerFactory - newHeadlessMediaPlayer()
  
  20:37:29.538 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - DefaultMediaPlayer(libvlc=Proxy interface to Native Library , instance=native@0x1195650 (uk.co.caprica.vlcj.binding.internal.libvlc_instance_t@1195650))
  
  20:37:29.538 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - createInstance()
  
  20:37:29.543 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - mediaPlayerInstance=native@0x16853ac4 (uk.co.caprica.vlcj.binding.internal.libvlc_media_player_t@16853ac4)
  
  20:37:29.544 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - mediaPlayerEventManager=native@0x16878818 (uk.co.caprica.vlcj.binding.internal.libvlc_event_manager_t@16878818)
  
  20:37:29.544 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - registerEventListener()
  
  20:37:29.546 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerMediaChanged
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerNothingSpecial
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerOpening
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerBuffering
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerPlaying
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.567 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerPaused
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerStopped
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerForward
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerBackward
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerEndReached
  
  20:37:29.568 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerEncounteredError
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerTimeChanged
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerPositionChanged
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerSeekableChanged
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerPausableChanged
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerTitleChanged
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.569 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerSnapshotTaken
  
  20:37:29.570 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.570 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerLengthChanged
  
  20:37:29.570 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.570 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerVout
  
  20:37:29.570 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.570 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaPlayerScrambledChanged
  
  20:37:29.570 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.572 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - playMedia(mrl=rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov,mediaOptions=[:sout=#transcode{venc=ffmpeg,vcodec=mp4v,vfilter=canvas{width=800,height=600},aenc=ffmpeg{strict=-2},acodec=mp4a}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=standard{access=file,mux=mp4,dst=yahoo.m4v}}])
  
  20:37:29.573 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.player.MediaResourceLocator - encodeMrl(mrl=rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov)
  
  20:37:29.573 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.player.MediaResourceLocator - MRL does not contain any Unicode characters
  
  20:37:29.573 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.v.player.MediaResourceLocator - result=rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov
  
  20:37:29.574 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - playMedia(media=SimpleMedia[mrl=rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov,mediaOptions=[Ljava.lang.String;@17c74e5])
  
  20:37:29.574 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - prepareMedia(media=SimpleMedia[mrl=rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov,mediaOptions=[Ljava.lang.String;@17c74e5])
  
  20:37:29.574 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - setMedia(media=SimpleMedia[mrl=rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov,mediaOptions=[Ljava.lang.String;@17c74e5])
  
  20:37:29.574 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - createMediaInstance(media=SimpleMedia[mrl=rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov,mediaOptions=[Ljava.lang.String;@17c74e5])
  
  20:37:29.574 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - Treating mrl as a location
  
  20:37:29.574 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - mediaInstance=native@0x16876500 (uk.co.caprica.vlcj.binding.internal.libvlc_media_t@16876500)
  
  20:37:29.574 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - mediaOption=:sout=#transcode{venc=ffmpeg,vcodec=mp4v,vfilter=canvas{width=800,height=600},aenc=ffmpeg{strict=-2},acodec=mp4a}:duplicate{dst=display,dst=standard{access=file,mux=mp4,dst=yahoo.m4v}}
  
  20:37:29.575 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - registerMediaEventListener()
  
  20:37:29.575 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaMetaChanged
  
  20:37:29.575 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.575 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaSubItemAdded
  
  20:37:29.575 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaDurationChanged
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaParsedChanged
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaFreed
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaStateChanged
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - event=libvlc_MediaSubItemTreeAdded
  
  20:37:29.576 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=0
  
  20:37:29.585 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - mrl(mediaInstance=native@0x16876500 (uk.co.caprica.vlcj.binding.internal.libvlc_media_t@16876500))
  
  20:37:29.587 [pool-2-thread-1] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - mediaChanged(mediaPlayer=uk.co.caprica.vlcj.player.headless.DefaultHeadlessMediaPlayer@1727f27,media=native@0x16876500 (uk.co.caprica.vlcj.binding.internal.libvlc_media_t@16876500),mrl=rtsp://184.72.239.149/vod/mp4:BigBuckBunny_175k.mov)
  
  20:37:29.588 [pool-2-thread-1] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - Raising event for new media
  
  20:37:29.588 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - result=true
  
  20:37:29.588 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - play()
  
  20:37:29.593 [main] DEBUG u.c.c.vlcj.player.DefaultMediaPlayer - after play
  
  MPEG4GenericRTPSource Warning: Unknown or unsupported "mode": AAC-hbr
  
  [1682c9cc] core input error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
  
  [16f79744] core decoder error: cannot continue streaming due to errors
  
  [1682c9cc] core input error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
  
  [h264 @ 1702ba80] decode_slice_header error
  
  [h264 @ 1702ba80] decode_slice_header error
  
  [16828134] stream_out_transcode stream out: input interval 41666 (base 2)
  
  [16828134] stream_out_transcode stream out: output interval 41666 (base 1)

• 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.

• Interfacing to an Xbox Optical Drive

  1er octobre 2013, par Multimedia Mike — xbox

  The next generation Xbox is going to hit the streets soon. But for some reason, I’m still interested in the previous generation’s unit (i.e., the original Xbox). Specifically, I’ve always wondered if it’s possible to use the original Xbox’s optical drive in order to read Xbox discs from Linux. I was never curious enough to actually buy an Xbox just to find out but I eventually came across a cast-off console on a recycle pile.

  I have long known that the Xbox has what appears to be a more or less standard optical drive with a 40-pin IDE connector. The only difference is the power adapter which I surmise is probably the easiest way to turn a bit of standardized hardware into a bit of proprietary hardware. The IDE and power connectors look like this :

  
  
  

  Thus, I wanted to try opening an Xbox and plugging the optical drive into a regular PC, albeit one that supports IDE cables, and allow the Xbox to supply power to the drive. Do you still have hardware laying around that has 40-pin IDE connectors ? I guess my Mac Mini PPC fits the bill, but I’ll be darned if I’m going to pry that thing open again. I have another IDE-capable machine buried in my closet, last called into service when I needed a computer with a native RS-232 port 3 years ago. The ordeal surrounding making this old computer useful right now can be another post entirely.

  Here’s what the monstrosity looks like thanks to characteristically short IDE cable lengths :

  
  

  

  Click for larger image

  
  

  Process :

  1. Turn on Xbox first
  2. Turn on PC

  Doing these things in the opposite order won’t work since the kernel really wants to see the drive when booting up. Inspecting the 'dmesg' log afterward reveals interesting items :
  

  <br />
hdd: PHILIPS XBOX DVD DRIVE, ATAPI CD/DVD-ROM drive<br />
hdd: host max PIO5 wanted PIO255(auto-tune) selected PIO4<br />
hdd: UDMA/33 mode selected<br />
[...]<br />
hdd: ATAPI DVD-ROM drive, 128kB Cache<br />

  Why is that interesting ? When is the last time to saw disk devices prefixed by ‘hd’ rather than ‘sd’ ? Blast from the past. Oh, and the optical drive’s vendor string clearly indicates that this is an Xbox drive saying ‘hi !’.

  Time To Read
  When I first studied an Xbox disc in a normal optical drive, I noticed that I was able to read 6992 2048-byte sectors — about 14 MB of data — as reported by the disc table of contents (TOC). This is just enough data to play a standard DVD video animation that kindly instructs the viewer to please use a proper Xbox. At this point, I estimated that there must be something special about Xbox optical drive firmware that knows how to read alternate information on these discs and access further sectors.

  I ran my TOC query tool with an Xbox Magazine demo disc in the optical drive and it reported substantially more than 6992 sectors, enough to account for more than 2 GB of data. That’s promising. I then tried running 'dd' against the device and it was able to read… about 14 MB, an exact quantity of bytes that, when divided by 2048 bytes/sector, yields 6992 sectors.

  Future (Past ?) Work
  Assuming Google is your primary window into the broader internet, the world is beginning to lose its memory of things pertaining to the original Xbox (Microsoft’s naming scheme certainly doesn’t help searches). What I’m saying is that it can be difficult to find information about this stuff now. However, I was able to learn that a host needs to perform a sort of cryptographic handshake with the drive at the SCSI level before it is allowed to access the forbidden areas of the disc. I think. I’m still investigating this and will hopefully post more soon.