I'm but sure how this got derailed so quickly. My question was asking about past builds, since there used to be Windows binaries available. Building from source for Windows is not as easy as pressing a button, especially if the code has diverged for so long. This was noted even by the author.

vvbee wrote on 2023-10-16, 17:06:

If it was hard to find someone to port it to Windows a few versions ago then it'll be harder now, I'll say that much.

Also this seemed to imply that someone else may have been maintaining a Windows release. I'm but familiar with this project, and I was just trying to figure out why I couldn't find the binaries that used to be available, or if I wasn't looking in the right place.

vvbee wrote on 2023-08-18, 17:44:

mrgreen wrote on 2023-08-18, 07:57:

Hello, I would like to get the Datapath VisionRGB-pro card.
Is this software and its drivers compatible with Windows 7 (32 or 64 bits)?
Regards

Currently, no. It's available for Linux, which the VisionRGB-PRO has no drivers for. Earlier versions of VCS support the PRO and Windows XP and upwards, they're available as source code but are deprecated. Someone's maintaining a Windows version of VCS as a separate project.

I'm but sure how this got derailed so quickly.

I made an offhand, flippant comment about the linux community, and several people took it seriously.

I've been trying to get a hang of Linux and how to get the VCS running on it. No previous experience so a bit lost every now and then.

I'm running:
Ubuntu 22.04.3 LTS
opencv-4.9.0
Qt Creator 12.0.2 (6.6.0)
Kit: Desktop Qt 6.7.0 MinGW 64-bit
vcs-3.4.3

I've got as far as building it in QT Creator but while doing it I run into these errors:

Multiple uint errors like this:

\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\henskelit\vcs-3.4.3\src\display\display.h:151: error: 'uint' does not name a type; did you mean 'int […]
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\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\henskelit\vcs-3.4.3\src\display\display.h:151: error: 'uint' does not name a type; did you mean 'int'?
In file included from ../vcs-3.4.3/src/capture/capture.h:40,
from ..\vcs-3.4.3\src\capture\alias.cpp:9:
../vcs-3.4.3/src/display/display.h:151:102: error: 'uint' does not name a type; did you mean 'int'?
151 | void kd_show_headless_assert_error_message(const char *const msg, const char * const filename, const uint lineNum);
| ^~~~
| int

Something else:

👎 error: [Makefile.Release:7055: generated_files/src/capture/alias.o] Error 1

Warning:

\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\henskelit\vcs-3.4.3\src\common\disk\file_readers\file_reader_video_presets_version_b.cpp:143: warnin […]
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\\wsl.localhost\Ubuntu\home\henskelit\vcs-3.4.3\src\common\disk\file_readers\file_reader_video_presets_version_b.cpp:143: warning: loop variable 'propName' of type 'const string&' {aka 'const std::__cxx11::basic_string<char>&'} binds to a temporary constructed from type 'const char* const' [-Wrange-loop-construct]
..\vcs-3.4.3\src\common\disk\file_readers\file_reader_video_presets_version_b.cpp: In function 'bool file_reader::video_presets::version_b::read(const string&, std::vector<video_preset_s*>*)':
..\vcs-3.4.3\src\common\disk\file_readers\file_reader_video_presets_version_b.cpp:143:37: warning: loop variable 'propName' of type 'const string&' {aka 'const std::__cxx11::basic_string<char>&'} binds to a temporary constructed from type 'const char* const' [-Wrange-loop-construct]
143 | for (const std::string &propName: kc_supported_video_preset_properties())
| ^~~~~~~~
..\vcs-3.4.3\src\common\disk\file_readers\file_reader_video_presets_version_b.cpp:143:37: note: use non-reference type 'const string' {aka 'const std::__cxx11::basic_string<char>'} to make the copy explicit or 'const char* const&' to prevent copying

Tried to include different int's in the code but none of it helped. Have I missed a step or is some of the libraries/software I'm using incompatible?

Install Ubuntu 20.04 in a VM and build it there, might be less trouble. Use Qt 5 and GCC 9. Somebody can make and distribute an appimage.

VCS 3.5.0 adds rudimentary support for digital cameras via gPhoto2. I don't know the use case, maybe put VCS on a Pi and strap it with an LCD onto your old camera to get focus peaking in your previews.

did the repository go away?

It seems so. I did not think to make a fork.

Does anyone have an old copy of the repo?

My interest in doing FOSS from the poverty line got to 0 as far as this project goes. It's valuable work so giving it away for nothing for years on end is just demented in this situation, but charging for it isn't an option either. As far as I'm concerned I'll hatch it as a private project and see where it goes in the future.

That's quite unfortunate. Thanks for all the effort put into the project. Not sure how to react on a sudden closing of the repository, so I won't. Let's hope it gets resurrected at some point, perhaps back for windows too.

In the meantime, if someone needs a copy, I found some forks containing changes up to 19.2.2023 and 9.4.2024.

Greetings all.

I went to find my issue I filed on vcs as I had listed commands to quickly build it using cmake, however I was sadly surprised to find it deleted by the owner, as described above.

I saw the mrehkopf fork and decided to challenge myself. After about a week of banging my head on QTCreator and MSYS2 (and returning from dependency hell) I had a build that ran in Windows. (See attached)

However, as you can see, it can't actually talk to the capture card. This is most likely due to the fact I had to use the

1CAPTURE_BACKEND_GENERIC_V4L

instead of

1CAPTURE_BACKEND_VISION_V4L

capture source definition, as the official datapath headers use

1#include <sys/ioctl.h>

, which is a control device and not available via Mingw. A workaround will have to be figured out.

Also, I mention dependency hell because this thing relies on a lot of external libraries. I began a static build of vcs, but ran into issues trying to statically include OpenGL into the executable.

Hello Datapath owner friends!

I'm attempting to switch to Linux for my content creation stuff, and thought VCS might be the final piece of the puzzle, but there is something fishy going on.

Some modes, such as DOS 80 col text, just result in the text "UNKNOWN" with a timer that updates in 500ms increments. The VCS interface recognises it as 720x400@70Hz, but just no picture. Higher resolutions are OK, except 800x600 specifically for some reason, which has the same behaviour. This applies whether using either an analogue or digital source. If I put my OSSC in the middle, using Line2X for all modes, then most modes are restored except 800x600.

Using the V4L2 source directly in OBS allows ALL modes to be viewed, but the fine adjustments (h-pos, phase, etc) are nowhere to be found, and some modes (e.g. 1280x1024) are significantly offset to the right.

Using the VisionRGB utility in WIndows has zero of these issues.

Interestingly, the "Vision" sample tool provided by Datapath is highly unstable, and brings down the entire system when it crashes!

I'm using Kubuntu 24.04LTS, KDE Plasma X11, kernel is 6.11.(something).

I spent 4 hours on this last night, and the only solution I came up with was to flee back to Windows 🙁

Am I missing something? Or is Datapath just a second-class citizen on Linux?

Datapath is a second class citizen on Windows as the VCS software is no longer developed there and only on Linux afaik.
The Datapath itsef...I continue using it (in Windows, don't have Linux), but just for "recording" basically and all the scaling is being done by my retrotink which also converts it to hdmi.
The one exception where I continue using VCS is for 320x200 games, but not for scaling, but for the pixelgate. This is doing an excellent job in the software and I have not seen any other means via OBS or Retrotink4k to do the same job. Especially with modern AV1 codec any noise is getting amplyfied in recordings. The VCS Pixelgate helps a lot there.

Even with VCS in Linux, Datapath cards just are not worth considering anymore. Even with VCS, I have encountered numerous hard-freezes with the system whenever a resolution change happens. That, plus Datapath is excessively-slow AT BEST when it comes to updating their Linux drivers. When they do, it's ONLY to support Ubuntu LTS releases.

Maybe the new drivers are dropping support for features, or some motherboard incompatibility, the E series is very old now. Run QEMU with an older distro and pass the card to it.

vvbee wrote on Today, 11:21:

Maybe the new drivers are dropping support for features, or some motherboard incompatibility, the E series is very old now. Run QEMU with an older distro and pass the card to it.

I spent quite a bit of time on this, and unfortunately the E2S doesn't seem like it's able to work this way. Something to do with how it's technically a PCI-to-PCI bridge chip with two discrete devices behind it.

QEMU barfs if you try to pass both "inputs" because it thinks one conflicts with the other. You can do just one, but then the VisionRGB kernel module complains because there "should be two" and the other isn't responding.

I've resorted to hosting the card in another computer and piping the video over NDI to my main computer. This solution is working really well, with negligible impact on latency or quality. Currently using the Vision app on Windows, later I'll try an older Linux with VCS, as the auto switching profiles are a god-send!

Will be curious as to your results, and what steps are required both to get direct RGB 480i/576i to work on these cards, and how to keep resolution changes from hard-locking the machine in Linux.