GVIF Video Adapter Clone (Toyota/Lexus)
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C/C++ Libraries
• FreeRTOS • FatFS File System • AT91SAM7X HAL • GUI VHGUI2012 • USB / VCP for Quality Control • USB / VCP for Settings • USB / VCP for Diagnostic • USB / VCP for Firmware Update |
VHDL modules
• SDRAM Controller XC3S400A • VGA to WVGA (Wide VGA) • YUV to RGB • RGB to YUV • GVIF Toyota Timings / SYNC • VGA to GVIF Scaler • PAL to GVIF Scaler • PIP (Picture-In-Picture Layer) • I2S Multichannel mixer |
The Deputy Director of a trading company (a high school classmate) invited the developer to lead an R&D direction,
stating: "Good thing you left those idiots (Autonavi 2008 project), you would've wasted a few more years there."
The owners assured: "We are a serious product company with solid experience in product development, market launches,
and strong connections to source any ICs directly from China." Objective: Develop an in-house video converter
(VGA/RGB → GVIF for Toyota/Lexus) that would be better and more cost-effective than competitor solutions.
Challenges & Engineering Solutions:
• Supply Chain Failure:
The OEM supplier for the key Techwell IC rudely rejected sales ("You have not enough money.").
The project was on the verge of collapse, but the developer solved it by designing a functional drop-in replacement on FPGA (VHDL/Verilog) from scratch.
• Management Scope Creep: The production-ready Base version (VGA → GVIF) was halted by the director.
Following external consultants' advice, they forced a shift to the bloated Maxi version ("3-in-1"), sacrificing the immediate product release and royalties.
• Architectural Friction: The developer was constantly distracted by secondary tasks and hastily hired "assistants."
This fragmented the codebase, created conflicting firmware branches (C++ / VHDL), and introduced architectural technical debt.
Climax & Outcome: The owners attempted to copy the design behind the author's back. After initially reaching out to several smaller companies for help without success,
they approached a regional branch of a major international technology company with several hundred engineers.
Instead of assistance, they were turned down with a counter-question: "Where is the author of this system?"
Right after the meeting, the director emotionally summed up the feedback in a call with HR: "They basically called us idiots!"
A colleague who overheard part of this phone conversation couldn't hold back his laughter and accidentally spilled the story in the courtyard.
The developer appreciated the poetic justice, fully agreed with the experts' assessment, and captured that exact feedback in the company name heading.
Result: The Maxi prototype was installed in the director's personal vehicle and operated flawlessly as a daily driver for over 1.5 years with a clean video signal.
However, after the developer's departure, the company failed to launch even the stripped-down Mini version (which retained only 20% of basic functionality).
Multiple attempts to "reboot" the project with new teams failed completely.
"Project frozen and architectural support discontinued due to non-compliance with original partnership agreements and IP ownership disputes.
Attempts by third parties to replicate or maintain the system without the author failed."
PUSHK Archiver Representation-First Compression Pipeline
| Benchmark | Description |
|---|---|
| Test Run #1 (Move+Transform) | Compression benchmark results (Test Run 1) |
| Test Run #2 (R-Drop) | Benchmark results with R-Drop preprocessing (Test Run 2) |
| Submodules | Description |
|---|---|
| pushk2pre1move | Preprocessing stage 1 – Move + Transform |
| pushk2pre2spc | Preprocessing stage 2 – SPC (spectral preprocessing) |
| pushk2pre3rdrop | Preprocessing stage 3 – R-Drop method |
| Tools | Description |
|---|---|
| pushk2exp1fnt | Experimental module: font data compression |
| pushk2cellseditor | Cells Editor — tool for editing/visualizing compression cells |
| viewvhpic | Lightweight command-line viewer for .vhpic raster images |
| ditherpic | Advanced image dithering converter for retro graphics |
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