I really seem to be doing a bad job of communicating, for which I apologize. I was not asking for help in the creative process -- that's the part I feel confident about. Not to dismiss the comments, but I don't think I can really follow up on them at this time. I was really just explaining the concept to give you some context for my questions.
I was asking for help in being TECHNICALLY ACCURATE about what OGD1 can do, and I figured this is the place to ask. I proposed a number of marketing claims in the lead post (partially quoted below), and I wanted to: 1) Check them (please either correct me or tell me I've got it all perfectly correct (Improbable!)). 2) Possibly get some suggestions about other points to use. In particular, I'm really uncertain about what other (non graphics) applications OGD1 might be put to -- I suggested a sound card and laboratory data acquisitiion, but could one actually do anything useful with an OGD1 card in those areas? I'm also on an extremly tight deadline if I'm going to get anything ready before LinuxTag (May 30th), so I'm kind of hoping for some immediate off-the-top-of-your-head info, rather than in-depth commentary. Remember, the point of advertising is to catch their attention -- the actual specs will be available for those who want precise detail. Thanks, Terry Terry Hancock wrote: > Which is why I'm writing -- I'm hoping you can help me answer the > questions (I'm providing my existing answers to be edited/added to): > > 1) What "imaginative" things can you do with OGD1? > > * Use Open Graphics Architecture to provide a Linux-friendly > hardware accelerated 3D graphics card which serves desktop > environment, CAD, and design needs. (E.g. Blender, BRL-CAD, > new KDE and Gnome features, etc) > > * Use FPGA to create custom ... what? Laboratory interfaces? > Sound card? What are you all drooling in anticipation for? > :-) This is probably my biggest question. I know there's been discussion of this, but it's not always clear to me whether this is about later cards designed similarly, or actually something you could do with OGD1 by just reprogramming the FPGA (e.g. does it have the ports -- where would you plug in speakers or laboratory probes?). > 2) In what ways is the OGD1 "free"? > > * OGA has free, open-source Verilog, which runs on OGD1 FPGA > (OGD1 is a platform for a free soft GPU? Is "GPU" the right > word here?) BTW -- will OGD1 cards ship with OGA pre-loaded? Or will the user have to download tools to update the card before it can be used for graphics? > * The PCB design is under GPL > > * The design implements open interfaces (with the possible > exception of the PCI interface itself, which we must > accomodate in order to work on PCs -- OHF is considering > addressing this with a "platform exemption" like the way > the FSF lets you get away with using Windows DLLs that > are "part of the O/S") > > * E.g. it implements OpenGL (or at least part of it?) I know that it actually doesn't support *all* of OpenGL, is there a quick way to communicate that? (e.g. a commonly used name for the subset that is supported?) > * Because it's an FPGA, you can reprogram it (do you "reprogam" > an FPGA, or is there a better word to use here?) to do other > tasks the designers may not have thought about, or to design > novel new graphics capabilities -- like the ray tracer or > CPU approaches that some people have suggested on list > > * By purchasing an OGD1 you are *contributing* to freedom for > all free software users by subsidizing further development > and/or by directly contributing to the design and testing of > a free graphics environment for free software. -- Terry Hancock ([EMAIL PROTECTED]) Anansi Spaceworks http://www.AnansiSpaceworks.com _______________________________________________ Open-graphics mailing list [email protected] http://lists.duskglow.com/mailman/listinfo/open-graphics List service provided by Duskglow Consulting, LLC (www.duskglow.com)
