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• LibVLC DXVA2 Windows C++ Hardware Acceleration

  15 novembre 2016, par Sergiu Vlad

  I want to decode a h264 RTSP stream using DXVA2 Accelerated decoder. In VLC it does work but in my code have the following output :

  avcodec generic warning: threaded frame decoding is not compatible with DXVA2, disabled
  
  avcodec generic debug: available hardware decoder output format 61 (dxva2_vld)
  
  avcodec generic debug: available hardware decoder output format 128 (d3d11va_vld)
  
  avcodec generic debug: available software decoder output format 12 (yuvj420p)
  
  core generic debug: looking for hw decoder module matching "any": 1 candidates
  
  core generic debug: no hw decoder modules matched

  Is this a problem with NV12 conversion ? Is there a way to force DXVA2 ?

  Thanks

  CODE :

      #include 
  
  #include 
  
  #include 
  
  #include 
  
  #include 
  
  #include <iostream>
  
  
  
  #include 
  
  #include <ctime>
  
  #include <vlc></vlc>vlc.h>
  
  
  
  // RTSP address
  
  const char* rtspAddress = "rtsp://admin:admin@192.168.0.245/live_st1";
  
  // Video resolution WxH
  
  cv::Size rtspRes(1920, 1080);
  
  
  
  struct VideoDataStruct
  
  {
  
      int param;
  
  };
  
  
  
  int done = 0;
  
  libvlc_media_player_t *mp;
  
  unsigned int videoBufferSize = 0;
  
  uint8_t *videoBuffer = 0;
  
  
  
  void cbVideoPrerender(void *p_video_data, uint8_t **pp_pixel_buffer, int size)
  
  {
  
      if (size > videoBufferSize || !videoBuffer)
  
      {
  
          printf("Reallocate raw video buffer %d bytes\n", size);
  
          free(videoBuffer);
  
          videoBuffer = (uint8_t *)malloc(size);
  
          videoBufferSize = size;
  
      }
  
  
  
      // videoBuffer = (uint8_t *)malloc(size);
  
      *pp_pixel_buffer = videoBuffer;
  
  }
  
  void cbVideoPostrender(void *p_video_data, uint8_t *p_pixel_buffer, int width, int height, int pixel_pitch, int size, int64_t pts)
  
  {
  
      // Unlocking
  
      //CloseHandle(hMutex);
  
  
  
  }
  
  
  
  //static void handleEvent(const libvlc_event_t* pEvt, void* pUserData)
  
  //{
  
  //    libvlc_time_t time;
  
  //    switch (pEvt->type)
  
  //    {
  
  //    case libvlc_MediaPlayerTimeChanged:
  
  //        time = libvlc_media_player_get_time(mp);
  
  //        printf("MediaPlayerTimeChanged %lld ms\n", (long long)time);
  
  //        break;
  
  //    case libvlc_MediaPlayerEndReached:
  
  //        printf("MediaPlayerEndReached\n");
  
  //        done = 1;
  
  //        break;
  
  //    default:
  
  //        printf("%s\n", libvlc_event_type_name(pEvt->type));
  
  //    }
  
  //}
  
  
  
  clock_t startTime[8];
  
  int framesReceivedThisSecond[8];
  
  
  
  int main()
  
  {
  
  
  
  
  
      // VLC pointers
  
      libvlc_instance_t *inst;
  
      libvlc_media_t *m;
  
      void *pUserData = 0;
  
  
  
      VideoDataStruct dataStruct;
  
  
  
      // VLC options
  
      char smem_options[1000];
  
  
  
      // RV24
  
      sprintf(smem_options
  
              , "#transcode{vcodec=RV24}:smem{"
  
                "video-prerender-callback=%lld,"
  
                "video-postrender-callback=%lld,"
  
                "video-data=%lld,"
  
                "no-time-sync},"
  
              , (long long int)(intptr_t)(void*)&amp;cbVideoPrerender
  
              , (long long int)(intptr_t)(void*)&amp;cbVideoPostrender
  
              , (long long int)(intptr_t)(void*)&amp;dataStruct
  
              );
  
  
  
      const char * const vlc_args[] = {
  
          "-I", "dummy",            // Don't use any interface
  
          "--ignore-config",        // Don't use VLC's config
  
          "--extraintf=logger",     // Log anything
  
          "--verbose=4",            // Be verbose
  
          //        "--ffmpeg-hw",
  
          //        "-vvv",
  
          "--ffmpeg-hw",
  
          "--avcodec-hw=any",
  
          "--sout", smem_options    // Stream to memory
  
  
  
      };
  
  
  
      // Launch VLC
  
      inst = libvlc_new(sizeof(vlc_args) / sizeof(vlc_args[0]), vlc_args);
  
  
  
      // Create a new item
  
      m = libvlc_media_new_location(inst, rtspAddress);
  
  
  
  
  
  
  
      // Create a media player playing environement
  
      mp = libvlc_media_player_new_from_media(m);
  
  
  
      //    libvlc_event_manager_t* eventManager = libvlc_media_player_event_manager(mp);
  
      //    libvlc_event_attach(eventManager, libvlc_MediaPlayerTimeChanged, handleEvent, pUserData);
  
      //    libvlc_event_attach(eventManager, libvlc_MediaPlayerEndReached, handleEvent, pUserData);
  
      //    libvlc_event_attach(eventManager, libvlc_MediaPlayerPositionChanged, handleEvent, pUserData);
  
  
  
      //libvlc_video_set_format(mp, "RV24", 240, 320, 240 * 3 );
  
  
  
      // play the media_player
  
      libvlc_media_player_play(mp);
  
  
  
  
  
      // Create a window for displaying the video
  
      std::string winName("Demo Video");
  
      cv::namedWindow(winName, cv::WINDOW_AUTOSIZE);
  
  
  
      cv::Mat frame;
  
      int key = 0;
  
  
  
      // Endless loop, press Esc to quit
  
      while (key != 27)
  
      {
  
  
  
          // Check for invalid input
  
          if (videoBuffer)
  
          {
  
              // CV_8UC3 = 8 bits, 3 chanels
  
              frame = cv::Mat(rtspRes, CV_8UC3, videoBuffer);
  
          }
  
  
  
  
  
          if (frame.rows == 0 || frame.cols == 0)
  
              continue;
  
  
  
          int stream_number=0;
  
          framesReceivedThisSecond[stream_number]++;
  
          long    duration = ( std::clock() - startTime[stream_number] );
  
          if(duration>1000)
  
          {
  
              std::cout&lt;&lt;"\n"&lt;&lt;"FPS "&lt;code></ctime></iostream>

  FULL LOG :

  core libvlc debug: Copyright © 1996-2016 the VideoLAN team
  
  core libvlc debug: revision 2.2.3-37-g888b7e89
  
  core libvlc debug: configured with ../extras/package/win32/../../../configure  '--enable-update-check' '--enable-lua' '--enable-faad' '--enable-flac' '--enable-theora' '--enable-twolame' '--enable-quicktime' '--enable-avcodec' '--enable-merge-ffmpeg' '--enable-dca' '--enable-mpc' '--enable-libass' '--enable-x264' '--enable-schroedinger' '--enable-realrtsp' '--enable-live555' '--enable-dvdread' '--enable-shout' '--enable-goom' '--enable-caca' '--disable-sdl' '--enable-qt' '--enable-skins2' '--enable-sse' '--enable-mmx' '--enable-libcddb' '--enable-zvbi' '--disable-telx' '--enable-nls' '--host=i686-w64-mingw32' '--build=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu' 'build_alias=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu' 'host_alias=i686-w64-mingw32' 'PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/opt/intel/opencl:' 'PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR=/home/svlad/DEV/vlc/contrib/i686-w64-mingw32/lib/pkgconfig'
  
  core libvlc debug: using multimedia timers as clock source
  
  core libvlc debug:  min period: 1 ms, max period: 1000000 ms
  
  core libvlc debug: searching plug-in modules
  
  core libvlc debug: loading plugins cache file C:\DEV\VLCStreamProcessor\build-untitled-Desktop_Qt_5_5_1_MSVC2013_32bit-Debug\debug\plugins\plugins.dat
  
  core libvlc debug: recursively browsing `C:\DEV\VLCStreamProcessor\build-untitled-Desktop_Qt_5_5_1_MSVC2013_32bit-Debug\debug\plugins'
  
  core libvlc debug: saving plugins cache C:\DEV\VLCStreamProcessor\build-untitled-Desktop_Qt_5_5_1_MSVC2013_32bit-Debug\debug\plugins\plugins.dat
  
  core libvlc debug: plug-ins loaded: 418 modules
  
  core libvlc debug: translation test: code is "C"
  
  core libvlc debug: CPU has capabilities MMX MMXEXT SSE SSE2 SSE3 SSSE3 SSE4.1 SSE4.2 FPU 
  
  core playlist debug: creating audio output
  
  core audio output debug: looking for audio output module matching "any": 6 candidates
  
  directsound audio output debug: found 2 devices
  
  core audio output debug: using audio output module "directsound"
  
  core playlist debug: keeping audio output
  
  core interface debug: looking for interface module matching "logger,none": 16 candidates
  
  logger interface: VLC media player - 2.2.4 Weatherwax
  
  logger interface: Copyright © 1996-2016 the VideoLAN team
  
  logger interface: 
  
  Warning: if you cannot access the GUI anymore, open a command-line window, go to the directory where you installed VLC and run "vlc -I qt"
  
  logger interface: using logger.
  
  logger interface warning: no log filename provided, using `vlc-log.txt'
  
  logger interface debug: opening logfile `vlc-log.txt'
  
  core libvlc debug: VLC media player - 2.2.4 Weatherwax
  
  core libvlc debug: Copyright © 1996-2016 the VideoLAN team
  
  core libvlc debug: revision 2.2.3-37-g888b7e89
  
  core libvlc debug: configured with ../extras/package/win32/../../../configure  '--enable-update-check' '--enable-lua' '--enable-faad' '--enable-flac' '--enable-theora' '--enable-twolame' '--enable-quicktime' '--enable-avcodec' '--enable-merge-ffmpeg' '--enable-dca' '--enable-mpc' '--enable-libass' '--enable-x264' '--enable-schroedinger' '--enable-realrtsp' '--enable-live555' '--enable-dvdread' '--enable-shout' '--enable-goom' '--enable-caca' '--disable-sdl' '--enable-qt' '--enable-skins2' '--enable-sse' '--enable-mmx' '--enable-libcddb' '--enable-zvbi' '--disable-telx' '--enable-nls' '--host=i686-w64-mingw32' '--build=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu' 'build_alias=x86_64-pc-linux-gnu' 'host_alias=i686-w64-mingw32' 'PKG_CONFIG_PATH=/opt/intel/opencl:' 'PKG_CONFIG_LIBDIR=/home/svlad/DEV/vlc/contrib/i686-w64-mingw32/lib/pkgconfig'
  
  core interface debug: using interface module "logger"
  
  core generic debug: creating audio output
  
  core audio output debug: looking for audio output module matching "any": 6 candidates
  
  directsound audio output debug: found 2 devices
  
  core audio output debug: using audio output module "directsound"
  
  core generic debug: keeping audio output
  
  core input debug: Creating an input for 'rtsp://192.168.0.245/live_st1'
  
  core stream output debug: using sout chain=`transcode{vcodec=RV24}:smem{video-prerender-callback=15667245,video-postrender-callback=15667630,video-data=3471900,no-time-sync},'
  
  core stream output debug: stream=`smem'
  
  core stream out debug: looking for sout stream module matching "smem": 22 candidates
  
  core stream out debug: set config option: sout-smem-video-prerender-callback to 15667245
  
  core stream out debug: set config option: sout-smem-video-postrender-callback to 15667630
  
  core stream out debug: set config option: sout-smem-video-data to 3471900
  
  core stream out debug: set config option: sout-smem-time-sync to (null)
  
  core stream out debug: using sout stream module "stream_out_smem"
  
  core stream output debug: stream=`transcode'
  
  core stream out debug: looking for sout stream module matching "transcode": 22 candidates
  
  core stream out debug: set config option: sout-transcode-vcodec to RV24
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: Checking video codec mapping for RV24 got RV24 
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: codec video=RV24 0x0 scaling: 0.000000 0kb/s
  
  core stream out debug: using sout stream module "stream_out_transcode"
  
  core input debug: using timeshift granularity of 50 MiB, in path 'C:\Users\BCDVideo\AppData\Local\Temp'
  
  core input debug: `rtsp://admin:admin@192.168.0.245/live_st1' gives access `rtsp' demux `' path `admin:admin@192.168.0.245/live_st1'
  
  core input debug: specified demux `any'
  
  core input debug: creating demux: access='rtsp' demux='any' location='admin:admin@192.168.0.245/live_st1' file='\\admin:admin@192.168.0.245\live_st1'
  
  core demux debug: looking for access_demux module matching "rtsp": 12 candidates
  
  live555 demux debug: version 2016.01.12
  
  live555 demux debug: RTP subsession 'video/H264'
  
  core input debug: selecting program id=0
  
  live555 demux debug: setup start: 0.000000 stop:0.000000
  
  live555 demux debug: We have a timeout of 60 seconds
  
  live555 demux debug: spawned timeout thread
  
  live555 demux debug: play start: 0.000000 stop:0.000000
  
  core demux debug: using access_demux module "live555"
  
  core decoder debug: looking for packetizer module matching "any": 23 candidates
  
  packetizer_h264 decoder debug: found NAL_SPS (sps_id=0)
  
  packetizer_h264 decoder debug: found NAL_PPS (pps_id=0 sps_id=0)
  
  core decoder debug: using packetizer module "packetizer_h264"
  
  core input debug: starting in sync mode
  
  core demux meta debug: looking for meta reader module matching "any": 2 candidates
  
  lua demux meta debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\Users\BCDVideo\AppData\Roaming\vlc\lua\meta\reader
  
  lua demux meta debug: Trying Lua scripts in C:\DEV\VLCStreamProcessor\build-untitled-Desktop_Qt_5_5_1_MSVC2013_32bit-Debug\debug\lua\meta\reader
  
  core demux meta debug: no meta reader modules matched
  
  core input debug: `rtsp://admin:admin@192.168.0.245/live_st1' successfully opened
  
  core input debug: switching to async mode
  
  core input debug: Buffering 0%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 3%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 10%
  
  core stream output debug: adding a new sout input (sout_input:00c21c50)
  
  core input debug: Buffering 13%
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: creating video transcoding from fcc=`h264' to fcc=`RV24'
  
  core input debug: Buffering 16%
  
  core generic debug: looking for decoder module matching "any": 43 candidates
  
  core input debug: Buffering 20%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 23%
  
  avcodec generic debug: CPU flags: 0x0107d3db
  
  core input debug: Buffering 30%
  
  avcodec generic debug: trying to use direct rendering
  
  core input debug: Buffering 33%
  
  avcodec generic debug: allowing 4 thread(s) for decoding
  
  core input debug: Buffering 36%
  
  avcodec generic warning: threaded frame decoding is not compatible with DXVA2, disabled
  
  core input debug: Buffering 40%
  
  avcodec generic debug: avcodec codec (H264 - MPEG-4 AVC (part 10)) started
  
  core input debug: Buffering 43%
  
  avcodec generic debug: using slice thread mode with 4 threads
  
  core input debug: Buffering 50%
  
  core generic debug: using decoder module "avcodec"
  
  core input debug: Buffering 53%
  
  core encoder debug: looking for encoder module matching "any": 20 candidates
  
  core input debug: Buffering 56%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 60%
  
  avcodec encoder debug: CPU flags: 0x0107d3db
  
  core input debug: Buffering 63%
  
  avcodec encoder debug: Time base for probing setted to 1/1000000
  
  core input debug: Buffering 70%
  
  avcodec encoder debug: Time base set to 1/1000000
  
  core input debug: Buffering 73%
  
  avcodec encoder debug: found encoder Raw video
  
  core input debug: Buffering 76%
  
  core encoder debug: using encoder module "avcodec"
  
  core input debug: Buffering 80%
  
  core encoder debug: removing module "avcodec"
  
  core input debug: Buffering 83%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 90%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 93%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 96%
  
  core input debug: Stream buffering done (1002 ms in 834 ms)
  
  core input debug: Decoder wait done in 0 ms
  
  avcodec generic debug: available hardware decoder output format 61 (dxva2_vld)
  
  avcodec generic debug: available hardware decoder output format 128 (d3d11va_vld)
  
  avcodec generic debug: available software decoder output format 12 (yuvj420p)
  
  core generic debug: looking for hw decoder module matching "any": 1 candidates
  
  core generic debug: no hw decoder modules matched
  
  avcodec generic warning: plane 0 not aligned
  
  avcodec generic warning: disabling direct rendering
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: decoder aspect is 1.761468:1
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: source pixel aspect is 0.990826:1
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: scaled pixel aspect is 0.990826:1
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: source 1920x1080, destination 1920x1080
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: source fps 30/1, destination 30/1
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out: input interval 33333 (base 1)
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out: output interval 33333 (base 1)
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: encoder aspect is 1920:1090
  
  core filter debug: looking for video filter2 module matching "any": 58 candidates
  
  swscale filter debug: 1920x1080 (1920x1090) chroma: J420 -> 1920x1080 (1920x1090) chroma: RV24 with scaling using Bicubic (good quality)
  
  core filter debug: using video filter2 module "swscale"
  
  core stream out debug: Filter 'Swscale' (0089a2cc) appended to chain
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out debug: destination (after video filters) 1920x1090
  
  core encoder debug: looking for encoder module matching "any": 20 candidates
  
  avcodec encoder debug: CPU flags: 0x0107d3db
  
  avcodec encoder debug: Time base for probing setted to 1/30
  
  avcodec encoder debug: Time base set to 1/30
  
  avcodec encoder debug: found encoder Raw video
  
  core encoder debug: using encoder module "avcodec"
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518755, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518756, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518757, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518758, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518759, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518760, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518761, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518762, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518763, last: 1518769)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518764, last: 1518769)
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518784, last: 1518795)
  
  live555 demux debug: tk->rtpSource->hasBeenSynchronizedUsingRTCP()
  
  core input error: ES_OUT_RESET_PCR called
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518785, last: 1518795)
  
  core input debug: Buffering 0%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 3%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 6%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 10%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 13%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 20%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 23%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 26%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 30%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 33%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 40%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 43%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 46%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 50%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 53%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 60%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 63%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 66%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 70%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 73%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 80%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 83%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 86%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 90%
  
  core input debug: Buffering 93%
  
  core input debug: Stream buffering done (1002 ms in 817 ms)
  
  core input debug: Decoder wait done in 0 ms
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518834, last: 1518837)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518835, last: 1518837)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with a frame in the past (current: 1518836, last: 1518837)
  
  avcodec encoder warning: almost fed libavcodec with two frames with the same PTS (1518837)
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync
  
  stream_out_transcode stream out warning: Reseting video sync

• How to force ffmpeg NOT TO compress video stream ?

  9 décembre 2016, par foxpy

  I have got laptop with installed Windows 10.
  Hardware specs :
  Screen : 1366x768.
  CPU : Core i5-4200U.
  RAM : 4 Gb DDR3 1600 Mhz.
  GPUs : Intel HD 4000 and GeForce 740M 2 Gb.
  I wanted to record my screen using ffmpeg. I’ve tried this command :

  ffmpeg -f gdigrab -vsync 2 -i desktop "capture.mp4"

  CPU utilization is about 60-70%, so laptop becomes laggy. Next step I tried to use nvenc codec, but its quality is poor. So, how to force ffmpeg NOT TO compress video on screen recording ? (I can compress it later).

• 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.

  The post Running Windows XP In 2016 first appeared on Breaking Eggs And Making Omelettes.