From owner-freebsd-chat@FreeBSD.ORG Fri Apr 25 15:33:22 2003 Return-Path: Delivered-To: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org Received: from mx1.FreeBSD.org (mx1.freebsd.org [216.136.204.125]) by hub.freebsd.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 30CDD37B401 for ; Fri, 25 Apr 2003 15:33:22 -0700 (PDT) Received: from hope.caffeinated-systems.com (hope.caffeinated-systems.com [209.98.4.50]) by mx1.FreeBSD.org (Postfix) with ESMTP id 6FD6E43F93 for ; Fri, 25 Apr 2003 15:33:17 -0700 (PDT) (envelope-from jon@caffeinated-systems.com) Received: by hope.caffeinated-systems.com (Postfix, from userid 1003) id D57C24D28A; Fri, 25 Apr 2003 17:08:11 -0500 (CDT) Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 17:08:11 -0500 From: Jon Passki To: Terry Lambert Message-ID: <20030425220811.GF14108@hope.caffeinated-systems.com> References: <20030425141532.GD14108@hope.caffeinated-systems.com> <3EA9B1D4.E2DE3E4F@mindspring.com> Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline In-Reply-To: <3EA9B1D4.E2DE3E4F@mindspring.com> User-Agent: Mutt/1.4i cc: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org cc: Jon Passki Subject: Re: Video Out to Video In converter X-BeenThere: freebsd-chat@freebsd.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.1 Precedence: list List-Id: Non technical items related to the community List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , X-List-Received-Date: Fri, 25 Apr 2003 22:33:22 -0000 On Fri, Apr 25, 2003 at 03:08:20PM -0700, Terry Lambert wrote: > Jon Passki wrote: > > I'm looking for a device that would allow me to connect, for example, > > a standard PC video output (640x480, 256 color) to a device that could > > in turn convert it back into an abstracted signal. That device would > > be accessed by, again an example, a local program that would resend > > the information out using the X protocol as a client program. The > > purpose is to access systems that have no means of communications > > other than video and keyboard, without needed a monitor or needed to > > be physically near the system. > > You need to replace the video card with a "screen scraper" card; > there are a number of these available. > > The point is that the video signal, once turned analog, has no > reverse process to get it back; so instead of doing that, you > really want to take the contents of screen memory directly. > > As I said, there are a number of vendors who sell EGA/VGA cards > with no monitor output at all, that you can read the video RAM > out of them directly. One assumption I did not mention is that the system cannot have additional hardware installed. I understand that the signal is now analog, so it can only be "redisplayed" as an interpreted signal. The solution is not perfect, but since the assumptions (hopefully most are clear and out of my head) aren't forgiving, that's acceptable. Imagine hooking up hardware to the video output of an antiquated system. Through a mixture of magic, the end results is that output is displayed, for example, in a reduced display on a graphical desktop. The quality may not be the best, the bandwidth for all this may be obscene, but I'm thinking more on the concepts now. I hope that clears things up, and thank you for your feedback. Take care, Jon