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[Sappho]

Uninstalled Avast, switched on Windows Defender. No sense using something that runs slowly and keeps freezing if the Windows one works fine. Thanks for the advice!

[wierd]

Sometimes internet connection suddenly gets cut off. The methods of tech support like : removing cablle for ten seconds and putting it back/ rebooting computer  work, but those disconnections tend to be annoying. Also, the problem is  not in cable disconnecting. Can anybody give some advice on this?

How old is your router? I had a similar problem before and we fixed it by replacing the router with one that wasn't so old verizon had stopped requiring returns on it.

Is this a cable modem, or a DSL modem?  (Or is this an actual router?)

I have a DSL router combination that replaced the (EFFING HORRIBLE) thing that came from my ISP. I have crappy async DSL, and at night there are terrible problems with the SNR on the line, causing signal resets and re-syncs constantly.  A few pokes to the NVRAM settings to change the reset/resync behavior, and it works much better now.

[quamzie]

Sometimes internet connection suddenly gets cut off. The methods of tech support like : removing cablle for ten seconds and putting it back/ rebooting computer  work, but those disconnections tend to be annoying. Also, the problem is  not in cable disconnecting. Can anybody give some advice on this?

How old is your router? I had a similar problem before and we fixed it by replacing the router with one that wasn't so old verizon had stopped requiring returns on it.

No router at all, direct cable connection.

[Aklyon]

No idea then.

[Lord Shonus]

There's a Raspberry Pi project I've been thinking about, and I wanted to check if it sounds feasible.

I'm a console collector, with most (not yet all) of the older consoles (I'm missing everything preNES, Master system, Saturn, DreamCast, Gamecube, N64, and Xbox, for the curious), with a bit of a problem. It is well-known that older consoles that use RCA video output (I'm not sure about coax or component, I don't use coax and most don't support composite until the PS2 era) have noticable input lag on modern televisions. This lag is, as far as I know, caused by the process of converting the signal from analog to digital and upscaling it to 720 or 1080 resolution taking too long because of processing power. Many TVs have a "game mode" to counteract this by disabling most of the upscaling effects such as smoothing and the like, but not all do, and it isn't always enough. The ideal solution is to use a CRT tv, but those take up quite a bit of space, and are undesirable as a "main" TV due to low resolution, making it impractical to play Nintendo on your couch.

What I want to do is get an RCA input device for the Pi and use that to convert the video signal - the Pi should be powerful enough to do it seamlessly, and the TV shouldn't lag much (if at all) because the input signal is perfectly tailored to it already. Additionally, if I desire to record the signal for whatever reason, that should be simple to do. Will this work?

[Thief^]

You can try it, but I would expect the upscaler in a TV to be better than the Pi, as it's purpose-built for the task, and IIRC the Pi has no dedicated graphics processing ability. I also wouldn't expect the TV to show any less latency when being fed an image of the right size, because it most likely will still do some processing on it (especially if it doesn't have a "game" mode).

The problem is most likely going to at least partly be due to it reading an entire frame in from the RCA jack before it processes it. If you could devise a way to perform the upscaling (and possibly begin outputting to the TV) while you were still reading the input data, you might be able to manage something, but good luck there.

EDIT: Also consider how you plan to handle interlaced video, a lot of older consoles used an interlaced output because it gave the appearance of a higher resolution at half the cost, but de-interlacing for a modern non-interlaced display is a bitch.

[Descan]

Reading that, I thought you were about to say "I want to stick all those old consoles on the Pi."

... I have no idea of the feasibility of that.

[wierd]

Pretty high.  Nearly effortless in fact.

the Pi has several flavors of linux available.

Raspbian alone will have at least 3 flavors of NES emulator in the package repo, IIRC, 2 flavors of genesis emulator, ... you get the idea.

What you will need is a simple python UI application run in the lightest weight window manager you can find (something like TWM or something), coupled with QJoyPad (when active, allows the joypad to simulate input from mouse or keyboard, useful for games that dont support joysticks natively, but also useful for alllowing an analog joystick to control a mouse pointer in the UI without much hassle!), and a fat stack of emulators and roms.

The Pi boots up to the minimalist UI, and loads the python based UI launcher and QJoyPad. The player picks which console to screw around on, and makes the selection. The python launcher app then launches the emulator in question, which grabs control of the display. QJoyPad keeps running in the background, so mouse input in the menus of these apps works fine.

When the emulator is closed, the loader app pops back up to the front.  Easy peasy.

Just make sure your choice of emulators is suitable for the constraints imposed by the Pi.  N64 and newer is probably going to be too intensive for the Pi to handle.



AS FOR THE ACTUAL QUESTION about using the Pi as an upscaler--

That will have the EXACT SAME PROBLEM that the software upscaler in the TV has-- input lag. It takes time for the CPU to enlarge each frame.

Better would be some kind of hobby analog circuit that splits the composite analog signal into component video, then upscales using frequency modulation shifting.  That would produce the lowest possible input lag, and still upscale your source.

[Lord Shonus]

Pretty high.  Nearly effortless in fact.

the Pi has several flavors of linux available.

Raspbian alone will have at least 3 flavors of NES emulator in the package repo, IIRC, 2 flavors of genesis emulator, ... you get the idea.

What you will need is a simple python UI application run in the lightest weight window manager you can find (something like TWM or something), coupled with QJoyPad (when active, allows the joypad to simulate input from mouse or keyboard, useful for games that dont support joysticks natively, but also useful for alllowing an analog joystick to control a mouse pointer in the UI without much hassle!), and a fat stack of emulators and roms.

The Pi boots up to the minimalist UI, and loads the python based UI launcher and QJoyPad. The player picks which console to screw around on, and makes the selection. The python launcher app then launches the emulator in question, which grabs control of the display. QJoyPad keeps running in the background, so mouse input in the menus of these apps works fine.

When the emulator is closed, the loader app pops back up to the front.  Easy peasy.

Just make sure your choice of emulators is suitable for the constraints imposed by the Pi.  N64 and newer is probably going to be too intensive for the Pi to handle.

The trouble is that I don't like emulators - even NES emulators have noticeable graphics errors that the real hardware doesn't have, and some of the colors just aren't quite right.

AS FOR THE ACTUAL QUESTION about using the Pi as an upscaler--

That will have the EXACT SAME PROBLEM that the software upscaler in the TV has-- input lag. It takes time for the CPU to enlarge each frame.

Better would be some kind of hobby analog circuit that splits the composite analog signal into component video, then upscales using frequency modulation shifting.  That would produce the lowest possible input lag, and still upscale your source.

I had hoped that the greater processing power would reduce the input lag down to unnoticeable levels - I don't care much about "cleaning up" the graphics or things about that sort, I just want Mario to jump when I push the button.

[wierd]

You are probably going to get FAR better results with something like THIS

http://elm-chan.org/works/sc/report.html

It's an NTSC to VGA scan-converter.  Minimal digital components, mostly fast analog components.  You can get away with this, because VGA is also an analog format, like composite (RCA, NTSC video). 

The scan converter translates the modulation into RGB signals, that many modern TVs can handle without engaging the same software upscaler.

[Zrk2]

So my cursor has developed this tic where it essentially vibrates up and down on the screen. I tried removing and reinstalling the drivers for my usb mouse, but it continues. I unfortunately can't reboot right now because I'm in the middle of a (12 hour long, what the fuck?) virus scan.

[wierd]

Clean your mouse's optical pickup port, and clean your desk.

[Graknorke]

On the subject of mice, does anyone know of an easier way to disable decorative LEDs than opening the casing and physically removing them?

[Gentlefish]

...Also on the subject of mice, should I bother with a mousepad? I haven't been and haven't noticed anything wrong. The optical tracker picks up hardwood just fine.

[Aklyon]

...Also on the subject of mice, should I bother with a mousepad? I haven't been and haven't noticed anything wrong. The optical tracker picks up hardwood just fine.

You really only need a mousepad for tables that you have trouble with the mouse on, or if you want one.