It’s been a while since we did an update about the Universal HDMI Adapter project. So here is one! And we’re looking for help on the linux side of things.
The Universal HDMI Adapter will be an external video adapter based on a Small Board Computer (SBC) and have an open source User Interface (UI) which different Communities can edit and change as needed. UI updates will be posted online, and users can add or change the features they desire. The main part of the project is a Video Decoder PCB (pictured) which is a custom designed board to deal with all retro video signals, specifically the nonstandard Apple II frequencies. The goal is one inexpensive adapter to convert them all.
We have a new PCB layout for the Video Decoder PCB (pictured) which we will be primarily testing transfer rates and digital video signals. RF Modulated (analog) video is the only signal not being testing at this time. All other video inputs up to SVGA will also be retested in this hopefully last round of Proof of Concept (PoC) testing. This also marks the first time Audio is being tested along with video signals. We have a new design and transfer protocol, so we’re trying to max everything out and see what breaks. The current goal is to prove everything, change anything if needed and retest, and move on to an Alpha design we can start to send out to hardware owners to reconfirm our inhouse testing results. Hopefully at this point the UI will start to take shape and be seriously worked on by Community members.
As mentioned above, we’re looking for help from C programmers. We have a display program which runs under linux and we could use some help streamlining the code to make it as efficient as possible. We have some sample code and datastream which can be used as an example. Your goal would be to see what can be done to make it run faster or better. Contact Support if interested to help. So far a couple of users from the Community have offered to help, but so far nothing has been returned. We’re always surprised so few offer to help with projects and then we’re forced to look for help from freelance sites. We would much rather keep the money in the Community and work with members. But it seems this isn’t always possible, which is sad to see. Perhaps after there is Alpha hardware to send out more users will step up and take control of the project for the Community’s benefit.
Any questions, just ask!
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