Software-based MP3 player on the Palm? I seriously doubt it. Believe me, I
would GLADLY eat my words if someone wrote such an animal, even simply to
prove me wrong. =-) But here's a few random facts:
o Estimated performance required for a Layer III stereo decoder with a
single dedicated DSP: 12-24 MIPS. Source: Document on Fraunhofer IIS page
(Probably higher for a general purpose CPU)
o Approximate MIPS rating of a Dragonball processor @ 16MHz : 2.7 Source:
Motorola 68EZ328 Product Info page
o Consider the fact that NO 680x0-based Macintosh MP3 players exist. There
are a few 680x0-based Amiga players available, however for these you need at
least a 68040 for real-time decoding. Source: Documentation included with
these players. (A 68040 @ 40MHz is about 44 MIPS. Source: Motorola pages)
It *might* be possible to write a 'non-realtime' player that does the Layer
III decoding and stores the uncompressed waveform for playback, but that
eliminates the whole point of MP3 compression. For example, a uncompressed,
3-minute, CD quality, stereo sample would need around 32Mb of storage.
Or it *might* be possible for someone to actually write a real-time MP3
decoder that isn't extremely processor intensive, but it would probably
require massive lookup tables. (Massive tables usually solve speed problems
for just about anything. *grin*) Again, we're stuck with a lack of storage
space.
And as another poster pointed out, even if someone wrote a software-based
decoder, you're still gonna need some added hardware to get the signal out
of the Palm anyway, so why not tack on some DSP hardware to help out?
Finally, I actually did own an HP Jornada 430SE for about a week (then I
came to my senses and got a Palm V). While it did a decent job of playing
MP3s, keep in mind that it had a 100 MIPS SH3 CPU with which to do it.
-Victor
> From: "Zucker, Daniel" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
> Subject: Re: Palm Audio?
> Dudes,
>
> No one has answered the real question: Is there enough CPU speed to
> decode MP3 on a Palm?
>
> Why bother buying a springboard module if you get the whole thing for
> free? If I can
> get SW MP3 than I'm buying a TRGPro. This reminds me of a few years ago
> when you had
> to get dedicated hardware to play MPEGs on your PC. You'll note no one
> does that now
> since you can do everything in software without the extra cost of an
> MPEG chip.
>
> So what's the verdict? Do you need dedicated hardware or is 20 MHz
> enough to do MP3?
>
> - -Dan
>
