The MJPEG/Linux square project inactivity?

Hallo

I have added the mjpeg-developer mailinglist to the CC, so they also get 
the information.

Historically the mjpeg project was a enthusiast project for recording 
with Zoran Chipset based card started back in 1998 I think. The project 
started before SF was around.

These video cards were very popular back in 1995-2000. Over the the time 
these cards lost their relevance. (and enthusiastic developers some time 
later)
The other thing is the conversation from a yuv input format to video 
MPEG1/2 and audio mpeg1 layer 2  encoder with a multiplexer. (for MPE1/2 
VCD/SVCD/DVD) MPEG2 as a video standard lost a lot of relevance during 
the last years.

I still wonder why the project hast so many downloads. I can't imagine 
why the mjpegtools are downloaded that often but I'm still somewhat 
proud of it.

I thought about making a new release in may this year, but than came 
summer and a lot of things to do.
Making a new release candidate shouldn't be a big problem, 2 or 3 of 
Nov, I should find 3-5 hours to prepare the release candiate. But well 
than there might happen a lot of other things that seem more important. 
I really thought of making a release candidate this year.

One problem is that a lot of the programmers that did spend time when 
they were young have now other priorities. I did most of the work the 
mjpegtools project produced during the last 2-4 yeas. I can't tell since 
when, because I have been there since the very early days. Starting as 
docwriter because I can't code.

Next problem is that the zoran card kernel driver developed by the 
developers of the mjpegtools project is obsolete. You can probably 
compile it and load the kernel module, but you cant record from zoran 
based card with a Linux kernel released in the last 2-3 year. I tried to 
get a patch into the kernel 2 years ago but it didn't make it.
(https://sourceforge.net/mailarchive/message.php?msg_id=27536928)

The next problem is that when you have a working zoran driver in the 
kernel you probably need a program to record. At some point back the 
Linux Kernel Sound system was changed from OSS to ALSA, the OSS 
Emulation die work well for some time I don't know it if still does.

The recorded audio and video needs to be encoded as MPEG video and Audio 
which is a quite complex task. So you need a very good background 
information to be able to code mpeg2 video encoding, and multiplexing 
the stuff afterwards.

We have a lot of smaler tools that are easier to understand

One thing I would really like to have changed is the audio playback from 
OSS to Alsa. So you can hear what you recorded. I think we did use the 
help-wanted once, but we didn't get any feedback. (Probably that was 
done by user madmac)

So I'd say yes that a developer preferable one that already had to deal 
with alsa audio playback is very welcome. If more developers want to 
offer their help I'm glad about that too.
If someone want's to change the project to the new SF version I'm fine 
with that to.

There are some other problem open or pending, you can find in the tracker.

Rich Bowen wrote:
> We've noticed that although your project, The MJPEG/Linux square,
> hasn't made a release in quite a while, people continue to download your
> last release.
Was this triggered by some kind of Relase >x months trigger ?

> We're wondering if there's any chance that you'll be making a new release
> any time soon, or if we can do anything to help you promote your project,
> or bring new developers to it.
>
> Here's some of what we can offer.
>
> If you want to improve the outreach of your project, or you're looking for new
> developers to either join or adopt the project to rejuvenate it, we'd be glad
> to assist via our Twitter followers (http://twitter.com/sourceforge), or blog
> (see http://sf.net/blog/category/help-wanted for example), or our monthly developer
> mailing (e.g. http://sf.net/blog/newsletter-july-2012).
>
> If you believe you might need some help to refine your business strategy, we'd
> be glad to assist in that way, also.
>
> We've put together a short list of ways you can help to get the word out about
> your project, at http://sf.net/p/forge/documentation/Promoting%20your%20project/
> and would love to hear if there's anything we can do to help your project succeed.

A last question for all that did make it till the end of the mail.
I'd really like to find out which which person is still active. Is there 
a way ?

auf hoffentlich bald,

Berni the Chaos of Woodquarter

Email: [email protected]
www: http://www.lysator.liu.se/~gz/bernhard

------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Everyone hates slow websites. So do we.
Make your web apps faster with AppDynamics
Download AppDynamics Lite for free today:
http://p.sf.net/sfu/appdyn_sfd2d_oct