Custom screensavers for FA

Forum for Roland FA-06/08
fuxoft
Posts: 52
Joined: 14:30, 15 May 2014

Custom screensavers for FA

Post by fuxoft »

I managed to reverse-engineer the file format of the screensaver file that resides on the SD card. I know the format of the stored images and I can extract them from screensaver file (see the attached screenshot).

That means I can soon create custom screensavers (after I write the encoder based on my decoder, I don't know when that will be).

The video size is 480 x 272 pixels and animation is about 8 frames per second and rather jerky (and cannot be faster). It can have true 24bit color but the compression is not very effective. That's why the default screensaver uses limited palette and color dithering, and the file still has over 60 MB... One full color frame of the video takes over 200 KB of data.
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ss.png
ss.png (314.04 KiB) Viewed 7215 times
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cello
Posts: 1487
Joined: 11:47, 1 August 2011
Location: Glasgow, UK

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by cello »

Well done! Fascinating process

Would be fun loading new screensavers :)
ABGgd
Posts: 27
Joined: 00:39, 1 February 2014

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by ABGgd »

That's great news. I'm not a fan of the built in screen saver. I have no idea what they were trying to represent with it. It seems oddly dystopian with the red color.
Liquid
Posts: 86
Joined: 21:50, 13 February 2004
Location: Scotland
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Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by Liquid »

Excellent work! :-)
fuxoft
Posts: 52
Joined: 14:30, 15 May 2014

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by fuxoft »

And... the result is here! YouTube video
bennyseven
Posts: 699
Joined: 18:01, 19 April 2014
Location: Germany

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by bennyseven »

very nice, fuxoft!

Could we share your tool to get rid of the standard screen saver ?
thx,
bennyseven
fuxoft
Posts: 52
Joined: 14:30, 15 May 2014

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by fuxoft »

Here is the script I am using: http://fuxoft.cz/vyplody/roland_fa_screensaver/

Unfortunately, it's for Linux only, but someone experienced can make Windows/Mac version based on this. I don't use WIndows/Mac...
ABGgd
Posts: 27
Joined: 00:39, 1 February 2014

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by ABGgd »

Thanks for sharing. I hope to try this out shortly.
JustKen
Posts: 30
Joined: 19:14, 18 February 2015

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by JustKen »

Has anyone tried porting this script to Windows or Mac? It looks like it could be done in PHP fairly easily.

Ken
bennyseven
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Joined: 18:01, 19 April 2014
Location: Germany

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by bennyseven »

As I understand it is written in LUA. So this should work also on Win and OS X. Only thing will be to find and adapt the image converter.
Liquid
Posts: 86
Joined: 21:50, 13 February 2004
Location: Scotland
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Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by Liquid »

Has anyone been able to get this or similar working on a PC?

I downloaded Lua for Windows but apparently it's not able to run luajit etc.

Just wondering!
frank123
Posts: 72
Joined: 17:38, 24 September 2015

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by frank123 »

Hi,

I was able to create a black blank screensaver using the script. You will find it attached to this message.
USE IT AT YOUR OWN RISK. You have to replace the file "0001.BIN" on your SD-Card (Folder Roland/FA/SCREEN SAVER).
Rename the existing file, don't delete it! You have to rename my attached file, too.

Many thanks go out to fuxoft for his script.

Frank
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blank_screen_fa_screensaver.zip
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Leo Castro
Posts: 139
Joined: 22:58, 17 June 2016

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by Leo Castro »

HI, there's a way to a simple mortal like me, to do my own custom screensaver with images on it?
It would be great !!!!
Many thanks
Liquid
Posts: 86
Joined: 21:50, 13 February 2004
Location: Scotland
Contact:

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by Liquid »

Leo Castro wrote:HI, there's a way to a simple mortal like me, to do my own custom screensaver with images on it?
It would be great !!!!
Many thanks
I'd love someone to be able to either port the script or to give instructions on how we can run it under emulation on a PC! I tried looking at it but never had the time.

If you're wanting a simple alternative to the weird videos, just delete the file from the SD card. You then get a simple logo fading in and out which is less fancy but a bit more professional looking.
frank123
Posts: 72
Joined: 17:38, 24 September 2015

Re: Custom screensavers for FA

Post by frank123 »

Hi,

there are several possibilities to run linux without touching your current operating system. Boot Linux in a virtual machine or use a live cd.

Here a two commands which create the image sequence for fuxoft's script. If you want to use a video:

Code: Select all

avconv -i video.avi -r 10 -t 30 -vf scale=w'=-1:h=min(ih\,ih/1.76)' -f image2 sequence/img%4d.png
If you want to use images:

Code: Select all

convert *.jpg -resize '480x272' -morph 50 sequence/img%04d.png
Both commands create pictures with the correct aspect ratio for the FA's display. Afterwards you can start the script.

Anyway, you will need someone who knows Linux and the terminal. I was not able to find a simple solution.

Frank
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