Re: Re: [Linux-fbdev-devel] Redesign of kernel graphics interface

["Ville Syrjälä" <syrjala@sci.fi>]

On Fri, May 14, 2004 at 10:51:35AM -0700, Jon Smirl wrote:
> Just look at this picture and you can see the trend of 2D vs 3D (coprocessor
> based) graphics.
> http://www.de.tomshardware.com/graphic/20040504/images/architecture.gif
> Within one or two generations the 2D box is going to be gone.
> 
> If Linux wants to stay current with technology we have to start using the
> coprocessor features of the GPU. Most of the benchmarks I have seen show
> coprocessor vs programmed at 100:1 speed differential. This is also a
> competitive problem, Microsoft and Apple have both decided to go with the GPU
> coprocessor this year. 

I don't understand you GPU vs. PIO comparisons. You can use the 2D engine 
with DMA as well. And at least with older cards the 2D engine is clearly 
faster than the 3D engine (~100% faster for blits on my G400) so trying to 
bypass it is just stupid.

> I said OpenGL is the only accelerated API available on Linux. Can you name
> another?

DirectFB.

> There is a little acceleration in framebuffer, but I don't know of any
> others. Also, software mesa works just fine to provide OpenGL on dumb 2D cards.

Using unaccelerated OpenGL for 2D rendering doesn't sound exatly useful. 

-- 
Ville Syrjälä
syrjala@sci.fi
http://www.sci.fi/~syrjala/


-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by: SourceForge.net Broadband
Sign-up now for SourceForge Broadband and get the fastest
6.0/768 connection for only $19.95/mo for the first 3 months!
http://ads.osdn.com/?ad_id%62&alloc_ida84&op=click