How to Setup SPE Scaler Tool for PS3 Linux

[PS3 News]

SPE Scaler is a great tool for PS3 Linux that uses a single SPE to zoom in on the center of the screen by a factor of 2X, 3X, or 4X. This helps when running many different games or emulators since you can run at the original resolution (much faster than scaling done by the application) and the scaler tool, using one of the SPEs, takes care of enlarging it with no noticeable loss in speed.

Here's where you can get the source (translated page): link to "Miya's Diary" post: http://209.85.171.104/translate_c?hl=en&u=http://plaza.rakuten.co.jp/miyazblog/diary/200807030000/&usg=ALkJrhgG_inxEMK9aVzzxylFQpmPB6TZAQ

Download link to scaler.tar.gz: http://miyazhp.hp.infoseek.co.jp/scaler.tar.gz or http://www.ps3news.com/forums/attach...chmentid=15523

If you're interested in checking out the source code, you may want to download this version.. I ran the source code through Google translator so the comments are (mostly) readable in english. Since the translator hoses the source code, the original source files are unmodified and the translated versions are included as .txt files.

I have only used this tool on Yellow Dog 6.0.. on other distros you may need to install the Cell SDK.

Applications I have used it with so far are Quake 2, QEMU running Windows 95 / Diablo-Hellfire, VICE (C64), snes9x-gtk, mednafen, xe, and sdlmame. Screenshots can probably explain this better than I can, so …

SNES9x-gtk running a game at the original resolution:



About to start scaler:



Photo of scaler running - snes9x-gtk is still running the game at the original resolution, but scaler has zoomed in on the center of the screen (3X):



Here's one way to set it up… download the scaler.tar.gz file (which includes source & a binary), save to your desktop and extract it, then copy the included scaler binary to your /usr/local/bin folder:

cd ~/Desktop
tar -xvf scaler.tar.gz
cd scaler
sudo cp scaler /usr/local/bin

Or to compile it on YDL 6, just enter make from the scaler folder. I had to install some additional development libraries on my system - this might take care of getting them all: yum install *spu* *ppu*

There are many different ways this tool can be used… for example, you can include it in a script to start Quake 2 like this:

#!/bin/sh
scaler -s 3 -t 3000 & quake2.sh
killall scaler

The -s switch tells it how much to scale, and the -t switch tells it how long to run. Running Quake 2 at 320×240 on a 1280×720 screen would normally result in the game screen being very small, but fast (around 94 FPS timedemo) on the PS3. Using scaler you can run it at 320×240 with 3X scaling so it displays at 960×720 and still runs at around 90 FPS (timedemo test), whereas if you run Quake 2 normally at 960×720 you get around 25-30 FPS. Or course it looks better when Quake is actually running at 960×720, but the additional speed you get from running it at 320×240 and using scaler is great!

Or you can set it up so you can zoom in on the screen at the press of a key using custom keyboard shortcut commands in GNOME. See here for info on setting up custom commands:

Create custom keyboard shortcuts in Linux: http://www.codejacked.com/create-custom-keyboard-shortcuts-in-linux/

(You’ll need to install gconf-editor for this... yum install gconf-editor)

KNOWN ISSUES:

- If you're using something like ps3fb=4M to reduce the available memory given to ps3fb (freeing up system memory) in your /etc/yaboot.conf file, you'll need to remove that for scaler to run properly

- If you're running in a "bordered" video mode (like ps3videomode 3) the zoomed image may be off-center (up and to the left). I have used it with no problems in full 720p and 1080i.

[Kilonga]

After you download the scaler.tar.gz as explained above, download the patch scaler_borderfix.patch.gz.

Copy both files to your home directory and then type the following commands:

tar -zxvf scaler.tar.gz
gunzip scaler_borderfix.patch.gz
cp scaler_borderfix.patch scaler/.
cd scaler
patch -p1 < scaler_borderfix.patch
make clean
make
sudo cp scaler /usr/local/bin/.

The new executable should work on all ps3-video-modes

[Kilonga]

Sorry I just realized (after somebody else pointed it out) that the previous patch only works on 1080i and 1080p modes.

Use this one instead.. attached below.