On 06/01/2012 07:02 PM, Dieter BSD wrote:
Terry writes:
Well, the way I understood the economics, the expensive thing was to get
the chips produced.
Specifically, the big problem is the cost to have the mask made
(photolithography). Machines to make the mask are very expensive.
And you want the design to be perfect so that you don't have to
come up with another $2M to make a rev2 mask.
I suspect that if one could borrow the machine, the incremental
cost to make a mask isn't that much, but that's just a guess.
So if we could recruit someone that works in photolithography
at a friendly company/university it might be possible to get a
mask made for less?
Alternately, are there any organizations with sufficiently deep
pockets that would benefit from a documented graphics chip?
Perhaps concerned with security but without the clout to demand
info from ATI/Nvidia? Both the chip itself and closed drivers
are subject from security holes, either bugs or intentional.
In addition to security, OGP's chip could have features like
being proven correct, and ECC, to decrease the possiblilty
of errors. It's kinda important to get the right answer when
designing a bridge. If the chip is sufficiently energy efficient,
there should be demand for it for use in battery powered devices,
and even AC powered devices benefit from lower power use and heat
generation.
And there is the crowd funding approach.
Other ideas?
I would start on the beginning, who REALLY needs this kind of graphics
chip? If I look to catalogs to select an embedded processor, nearly all
of them got some graphics support. And as the embedded hardware is
intended more and more to Linux, it has some sort of driver, so you can
use it (think of any mobile, tablet or set top box).
Or is the whole OGP a Stallman like neverending process/initiative?
To not be just negative - from my point of view, the ones who can
benefit from accelerated graphics, are the users of micro-controllers -
the market is fairly big and as the user interface requirements grow,
the developers have to use bigger devices - and so far there is quite a
big space between a single purpose mcu (<= arm M0-M3) and a full
featured linux system (arm A8-9). Could you target this market? But then
you of course do not need any shaders, just 2D and basic 3D.
Without a precisely definable aim (and knowing who the users will be),
it just seems like wasted time/effort.
D.
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