From mbianchi@Foveal.com  Tue Jan 30 18:40:46 2001
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 13:40:46 -0500
From: M Bianchi mbianchi@Foveal.com
Subject: [Pxc] pxc_control locked out by pxc_live, sometimes

Folks,

I am asking for help with two problems.

The first problem occurs with pcx-0.23, which is what I am using
(more on that in the second problem) and I also see it in pxc-0.28.

Specifically, when I run
	pcx_live  /dev/pxc0pgm
I can also run commands like:
	pxc_control getmux
	pxc_control setmux 1
	pxc_control getmux

However, when I run
	pcx_live  /dev/pxc0Hpgm
which uses the full frame grabber resolution,
	pxc_control getmux
says that the device is "busy".  I also see this behaviour in my
code when I use
	ioctl( fd, PX_IOCGMUX, &args );

I figure that one of the  return -EBUSY  statements is being used,
but have not looked hard to find which one, or why the choice of
half-resolution does not have the problem but full resolution does.

Any suggestions?  Many thanks.


As to the second problem:
I am still using pxc-0.23 because, in all the later versions, I get
sproadic horizontal streaks across the grabbed image.  But pxc-0.23
reliably does _not_ have that behaviour.  Streaks occur in both the
half- and full-resolution modes.

Again, any assistance will be greatly appreciated.


 Mike Bianchi
 Foveal Systems
 190 Loantaka Way
 Madison NJ  07940-1910

 +1 973 822-2085	Voice and Fax

 MBianchi@Foveal.com

 Create videos of auditorium presentations without a crew?
 Yes!
 http://www.AutoAuditorium.com




From mbianchi@Foveal.com  Tue Jan 30 19:13:09 2001
Date: Tue, 30 Jan 2001 14:13:09 -0500
From: M Bianchi mbianchi@Foveal.com
Subject: [Pxc] no archives?

Folks,

when I look for
	http://www.prosa.it/mailman/pxc
I get
	Not Found
	The requested URL /mailman/pxc was not found on this server.
	Apache/1.3.12 Server at www.prosa.it Port 80

Have we lost the service even though the e-mail reflector still works?

Mike Bianchi




From rubini@linux.it  Wed Jan 31 08:47:55 2001
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 09:47:55 +0100
From: Alessandro Rubini rubini@linux.it
Subject: [Pxc] pxc_control locked out by pxc_live, sometimes

Hi Michael. 

> [...]
> However, when I run
> 	pcx_live  /dev/pxc0Hpgm
> which uses the full frame grabber resolution,
> 	pxc_control getmux
> says that the device is "busy".  I also see this behaviour in my
> code when I use
> 	ioctl( fd, PX_IOCGMUX, &args );

That's because the device being openened by default is the low
resolution one. If it's already opened in high resolution (by
pxc_live, in this case), open will fail.

(ehm... no, it uses /dev/pxc0ctl which should be open()able independent
of the current resolution; looks like I have a buglet here).

What about "pxc_control getmux /dev/pxc0Hpgm" ? (the device can be either
first or last argument, or PXCDEVICE in the environment)

> I am still using pxc-0.23 because, in all the later versions, I get
> sproadic horizontal streaks across the grabbed image.

This sometimes happens to me when the PCI bus is busy, it's pretty
rare in my setups, though. Can you converm that 0.23 doesn't do that
even in situation of high load? In other words, could you recall or
check if the PCI load is somehow involved in the issue and at the same
load the behaviour is reliably different?

thanks
/alessandro




From rubini@linux.it  Wed Jan 31 08:47:55 2001
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 09:47:55 +0100
From: Alessandro Rubini rubini@linux.it
Subject: [Pxc] no archives?

> when I look for
> 	http://www.prosa.it/mailman/pxc
> I get
> 	Not Found

Prosa Labs are moving, since LinuxCare (previous owner) dropped all of
their European offices. To my knowledge [1] lists are still running
on the old equipment as the move is not over, yet. This means
several problems related to administrative access etc.

[1] I'm in touch with them but not informed of everything, as I didn't
accept the LinuxCare deal and went back to work by myself.

/alessandro




From mbianchi@Foveal.com  Wed Jan 31 16:01:07 2001
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 11:01:07 -0500
From: M Bianchi mbianchi@Foveal.com
Subject: [Pxc] pxc_control locked out by pxc_live, sometimes

On Wed, Jan 31, 2001 at 09:47:55AM +0100, Alessandro Rubini wrote:
> > However, when I run
> > 	pcx_live  /dev/pxc0Hpgm
> > which uses the full frame grabber resolution,
> > 	pxc_control getmux
> > says that the device is "busy".  I also see this behaviour in my
> > code when I use
> > 	ioctl( fd, PX_IOCGMUX, &args );
> 
> That's because the device being openened by default is the low
> resolution one. If it's already opened in high resolution (by
> pxc_live, in this case), open will fail.
> 
> (ehm... no, it uses /dev/pxc0ctl which should be open()able independent
> of the current resolution; looks like I have a buglet here).
> 
> What about "pxc_control getmux /dev/pxc0Hpgm" ? (the device can be either
> first or last argument, or PXCDEVICE in the environment)

That works!  Solves my problem.  Many thanks!

-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-	-

> > I am still using pxc-0.23 because, in all the later versions, I get
> > sproadic horizontal streaks across the grabbed image.
> 
> This sometimes happens to me when the PCI bus is busy, it's pretty
> rare in my setups, though. Can you converm that 0.23 doesn't do that
> even in situation of high load? In other words, could you recall or
> check if the PCI load is somehow involved in the issue and at the same
> load the behaviour is reliably different?

I'm using Linux kernel  2.2.12-20  on  i686 (Pentium III) architecture.
I tried pxc-0.23 with  locate -u  running, figuring that would beat up the
PCI bus since my SCSI filesystem disks are PCI backplane devices.  Witness ...

  lspci
00:00.0 Host bridge: Intel Corporation 440GX - 82443GX Host bridge
00:01.0 PCI bridge: Intel Corporation 440GX - 82443GX AGP bridge
00:0b.0 Parallel controller: Lava Computer mfg Inc: Unknown device 8800
00:0b.1 Serial controller: Lava Computer mfg Inc: Unknown device 0900
00:0c.0 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec 7896
00:0c.1 SCSI storage controller: Adaptec 7896
00:0e.0 Ethernet controller: Intel Corporation 82557 (rev 08)
00:10.0 Serial controller: US Robotics: Unknown device 1008 (rev 01)
00:12.0 ISA bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 ISA (rev 02)
00:12.1 IDE interface: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 IDE (rev 01)
00:12.2 USB Controller: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 USB (rev 01)
00:12.3 Bridge: Intel Corporation 82371AB PIIX4 ACPI (rev 02)
00:14.0 VGA compatible controller: Cirrus Logic GD 5480 (rev 23)
01:0f.0 PCI bridge: Digital Equipment Corporation: Unknown device 0023 (rev 06)
02:07.0 Multimedia video controller: Brooktree Corporation Bt848 (rev 12)

top(1) does not show locate as a CPU hog, but I figure it has to be hitting
the bus some.  Anyhow, NO STREAKS(!) with pxc-0.23, the same or longer
streaks, every 2-5 seconds or so, under pxc-0.28.

By the way, pxc-0.24 does not show streaking, but pxc-0.26 does.

-- 
 Mike Bianchi
 Foveal Systems
 190 Loantaka Way
 Madison NJ  07940-1910

 +1 973 822-2085	Voice and Fax

 MBianchi@Foveal.com

 Create videos of auditorium presentations without a crew?
 Yes!
 http://www.AutoAuditorium.com




From rubini@linux.it  Wed Jan 31 17:21:23 2001
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001 18:21:23 +0100
From: Alessandro Rubini rubini@linux.it
Subject: [Pxc] pxc_control locked out by pxc_live, sometimes


>> What about "pxc_control getmux /dev/pxc0Hpgm" ? (the device can be either
>> first or last argument, or PXCDEVICE in the environment)
> 
> That works!  Solves my problem.  Many thanks!

Good. But we have a buglet to fix.

> By the way, pxc-0.24 does not show streaking, but pxc-0.26 does.

Interesting. I've diffed the two and didn't find anything relevant at
a glance.

Will look further in the next days.

/alessandro




