An EEEpc is the ideal Propeller add-on. Mine is an early one - an EEEpc 4g. With a USB to Serial cable, I've been able to set up a Propeller board as a serial terminal with keyboard and mouse. On the EEEpc side, the drivers for serial interface were ready to go. I am using Ubuntu 9.04 Linux.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
Well, I thought I would post up a mini-review. What's the difference between $80 and basically $9?
Take a look at the two 80 column composite screenies. The first one, is the new $9 capture. It's actually not too bad. The analog circuits and signal processing are nowhere as accurate as the more expensive HD capable card was. Plenty good for a lot of development / gaming work. Bear in mind, the lower overall quality looks worse in the attached capture, because the fatter pixels make for kind of a mess on a single frame. It does look better when running. The second capture is from the other card, similar video signal. I don't have both with me, so that's why there is a difference. There is enough to judge overall signal reproduction.
All the captures I've posted here were either from an SGI (old), or from an ADS Media HDTV USB. The new one referenced in this thread is marked EasyCAP.
The good things about the EasyCAP are:
Nice, simple included video manupulation tool. The only down side to it happens to be it wants the whole screen. Annoying, but other capture display programs will work, so a person can choose how they want to do this.
Brightness, contrast, hue and saturation controls. The ADS doesn't have these, but on the other hand, it gets it right too. Interesting...
No TV tuner to complicate things. (Actually, I suspect it's on board, but no connection is brought out)
Nice, sturdy cables, both composite and S-video. The ADS has a mini-plug of some kind with kind of wimpy cables that have not failed me, but I worry. The S-video connection is not included with the ADS either, unless you pay $100 or so. Ugh.. I'll have to make one of these to really see what that capture device can do.)
Simple installation, and nice body, ergonomics.
Cheap, cheap, cheap!!
I would have to rate this capture device to be firmly in the consumer grade camp. For what it does, it's a good deal. IMHO, perfectly adequate for all but the highest resolution captures. To my eye, it's a bit blurry, making small signal details hard to discern. I wouldn't use it for new signal development, but I would use it for most everything else where it's just not that big of a deal. The brightness control is both needed, because the gamma correction on the cheaper device is kind of poor. You need to set your levels by eye, and I'm going to generate a grey and color scale for doing just that. On the other hand, it's good for kind of marginal signals, where the ADS renders them perfectly, and really what is needed is to "heat" them up a bit.
If you are looking for a cheap way to run your propeller on the go, or just to run some TV graphics, I recommend this device. It gets you that "propeller in a window" feeling, if you are willing to be somewhat adventurous on aquiring and testing out capture software. If you want to produce really good quality captures for marketing, testing, etc... I think I would have to pass, and go ahead and get a better device.
Potatorating: B = damn good deal. Thanks OBC, for linking this device up. It's a perfect second capture unit, which I find I will need from time to time.
An update on the video app that comes with the inexpensive capture device...
I ran it this evening using the more expensive capture unit. It captured a much better image. Not quite as good as the software that comes with the expensive ADS HDTV, but plenty good enough. Three features are really great:
1. It will display a poor signal, where the other software would blank, with "no signal". This is excellent, and something I didn't know was possible as I've only used either the SGI, which would do this, or the ADS that wouldn't. Figured this was a higher end feature. (poor signal with way too much sync attached)
2. The full screen preview operates whether or not you are doing other things. In essence, this turns the whole desktop into the video image! Damn cool. I'll trade that for the simple, easily sized window I was used to with the other tool. For the price, this nice little capture software is worth it all by itself, and it offers some welcome options. Most of the time, I'll probably use the other tool, because it's more efficient. This one does bring some nice new features though.
3. It can control the brightness / contrast and such of the HD card, without disturbing the nice signal balance it has otherwise. All in all, buying this inexpensive capture device was a good deal all around. The package improved my use of both devices. That does not happen all that often.
Other than its custom OS, it can run Google Android, Ubuntu, Angstrom, and Windows CE. Claims 10 hour battery life when the keyboard is attached, 3-5 in tablet only mode.
Comments
For some reason VLC can't get the colors right.
Yeah, the MSI netbooks seem to be very tough on battery life. Only complaint so far.
OBC
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New to the Propeller?
Visit the: The Propeller Pages @ Warranty Void.
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Ain't gadetry a wonderful thing?
aka G. Herzog [noparse][[/noparse] 黃鶴 ] in Taiwan
$8.99? That's insane! Picked up my first one about a year+ ago and it was $80...
I just ordered one of these as a spare.
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Propeller Wiki: Share the coolness!
Chat in real time with other Propellerheads on IRC #propeller @ freenode.net
Safety Tip: Life is as good as YOU think it is!
Take a look at the two 80 column composite screenies. The first one, is the new $9 capture. It's actually not too bad. The analog circuits and signal processing are nowhere as accurate as the more expensive HD capable card was. Plenty good for a lot of development / gaming work. Bear in mind, the lower overall quality looks worse in the attached capture, because the fatter pixels make for kind of a mess on a single frame. It does look better when running. The second capture is from the other card, similar video signal. I don't have both with me, so that's why there is a difference. There is enough to judge overall signal reproduction.
All the captures I've posted here were either from an SGI (old), or from an ADS Media HDTV USB. The new one referenced in this thread is marked EasyCAP.
The good things about the EasyCAP are:
Nice, simple included video manupulation tool. The only down side to it happens to be it wants the whole screen. Annoying, but other capture display programs will work, so a person can choose how they want to do this.
Brightness, contrast, hue and saturation controls. The ADS doesn't have these, but on the other hand, it gets it right too. Interesting...
No TV tuner to complicate things. (Actually, I suspect it's on board, but no connection is brought out)
Nice, sturdy cables, both composite and S-video. The ADS has a mini-plug of some kind with kind of wimpy cables that have not failed me, but I worry. The S-video connection is not included with the ADS either, unless you pay $100 or so. Ugh.. I'll have to make one of these to really see what that capture device can do.)
Simple installation, and nice body, ergonomics.
Cheap, cheap, cheap!!
I would have to rate this capture device to be firmly in the consumer grade camp. For what it does, it's a good deal. IMHO, perfectly adequate for all but the highest resolution captures. To my eye, it's a bit blurry, making small signal details hard to discern. I wouldn't use it for new signal development, but I would use it for most everything else where it's just not that big of a deal. The brightness control is both needed, because the gamma correction on the cheaper device is kind of poor. You need to set your levels by eye, and I'm going to generate a grey and color scale for doing just that. On the other hand, it's good for kind of marginal signals, where the ADS renders them perfectly, and really what is needed is to "heat" them up a bit.
If you are looking for a cheap way to run your propeller on the go, or just to run some TV graphics, I recommend this device. It gets you that "propeller in a window" feeling, if you are willing to be somewhat adventurous on aquiring and testing out capture software. If you want to produce really good quality captures for marketing, testing, etc... I think I would have to pass, and go ahead and get a better device.
Potatorating: B = damn good deal. Thanks OBC, for linking this device up. It's a perfect second capture unit, which I find I will need from time to time.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Propeller Wiki: Share the coolness!
Chat in real time with other Propellerheads on IRC #propeller @ freenode.net
Safety Tip: Life is as good as YOU think it is!
Post Edited (potatohead) : 10/8/2009 2:50:16 PM GMT
I ran it this evening using the more expensive capture unit. It captured a much better image. Not quite as good as the software that comes with the expensive ADS HDTV, but plenty good enough. Three features are really great:
1. It will display a poor signal, where the other software would blank, with "no signal". This is excellent, and something I didn't know was possible as I've only used either the SGI, which would do this, or the ADS that wouldn't. Figured this was a higher end feature. (poor signal with way too much sync attached)
2. The full screen preview operates whether or not you are doing other things. In essence, this turns the whole desktop into the video image! Damn cool. I'll trade that for the simple, easily sized window I was used to with the other tool. For the price, this nice little capture software is worth it all by itself, and it offers some welcome options. Most of the time, I'll probably use the other tool, because it's more efficient. This one does bring some nice new features though.
3. It can control the brightness / contrast and such of the HD card, without disturbing the nice signal balance it has otherwise. All in all, buying this inexpensive capture device was a good deal all around. The package improved my use of both devices. That does not happen all that often.
▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔▔
Propeller Wiki: Share the coolness!
Chat in real time with other Propellerheads on IRC #propeller @ freenode.net
Safety Tip: Life is as good as YOU think it is!
TouchBook
http://forums.parallaxinc.com/www.alwaysinnovating.com/touchbook/
Other than its custom OS, it can run Google Android, Ubuntu, Angstrom, and Windows CE. Claims 10 hour battery life when the keyboard is attached, 3-5 in tablet only mode.
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Andrew Williams
WBA Consulting
WBA-TH1M Sensirion SHT11 Module
Special Olympics Polar Bear Plunge, Mar 20, 2010