tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882024120303771093.post7530515155254780700..comments2021-10-25T23:36:06.682+01:00Comments on The Owl Project: Atari Jaguar Homebrew - What's this "Lay off the 68k" and "GPU in Main" Malarkey? (TECHNICAL)Atari Owlhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11804012692730919082noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882024120303771093.post-78047618803098244732012-01-16T09:25:09.187+00:002012-01-16T09:25:09.187+00:00I have no wish for this blog to become part of the...I have no wish for this blog to become part of the battleground of this benighted topic. I do not want a battle waged here because it can't be in other fora.<br /><br />Everyone has had their say now.<br /><br />Please, no more.Atari Owlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11804012692730919082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882024120303771093.post-75793001912227802362011-12-30T09:34:40.911+00:002011-12-30T09:34:40.911+00:00Never once did I ever claim that the GPU mian RAM ...Never once did I ever claim that the GPU mian RAM code was the answer to all the Jaguar's problems. It is a more efficient way to gain more power from the Jaguar and nothing more.<br /><br />I do love the way certain members of certain clique's still obsess(and out right lie) about how I viewed and portrayed the workaround as the savior of the Jaguar. <br /><br />There are many instances where if used improperly, even the workaround(like any other place one can write a piece of code on any given processor) can prove to be a detriment. My whole point was that if you expect to move more polygons and do a much more efficient job of coding the Jaguar, then the workaround goes a long way to helping this process. <br /><br />Anyone else claiming I said otherwise is out right lying and simply enjoying attacking me on forums wher I can't (and no longer care to BTW) defend what I said, but this should suprise no one as these certain individuals depend on their ability to get away with stuff no one else would get away with. <br /><br />Straight up corwardess if you want to know the truth. I guess when you know you can't defend you attacks when the person you are attacking CAN answer you back, the best thing to do is to conjure up a ton of lies and do it on a forum where the attacked does not have the ability(or cares to even) answer back his critics.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882024120303771093.post-5634057824568563902010-02-09T18:26:01.536+00:002010-02-09T18:26:01.536+00:00Hello There
Many Thanks for the kind words
Regar...Hello There<br /><br />Many Thanks for the kind words<br /><br />Regarding the MIPS comparison ... ummmm ... yes you have a point given that in many cases (by definition) the CISC has far more capable commands than those on the RISC.<br /><br />I'd say though that, based on my own experience at least, I've not had a situation where the GPU running from Main RAM was slower than the 68k for a given task, but that on occasions the difference HAS been somewhat marginal - so its entirely possible that a case could be found where the 68k was faster.<br /><br />In addition the additional work required to run the GPU from main, in some cases could well be deemed to be not worth the effort.Atari Owlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11804012692730919082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882024120303771093.post-76863930423450608262010-02-09T05:53:11.688+00:002010-02-09T05:53:11.688+00:00Hi Owl,
Thanks for writing something I've wan...Hi Owl,<br /><br />Thanks for writing something I've wanted to read publicly for a long time - a reasoned, balanced and informative rundown of the GPU in main techniques. I'm glad you got around to doing this but I'm especially pleased with the way in which you've done it - not only to outline how it's done & what it achieves, but also to point out that it is not as black & white as either being better or not.<br /><br />It does add a level of complexity to proceedings but the benefits in the speed of code execution could make that worthwhile given a suitable application & a programmer of sufficient talent.<br /><br />Therefore I suppose it's safe to say GPU in main is no 'quick fix' for poor execution speed of a routine and that there is no replacement for coding ability. Given the right circumstances though, you have proven it can be a benefit to execution speed.<br /><br />Anyway, big thumb for that post, just sorry it took so long for me to find & then to ramble on and on in my reply ;)<br /><br />Just one point I'd like to raise though (& I'm not being picky, I just want see if what I think I remember from my uni days in systems architecture class some 18 years ago is still intact or if I might be suffering bitrot). It is regarding the MIPS ratings of the 68k in the Jaguar compared with the GPU. I'm not sure it's a great way to compare processors even when the architecture is similar, but using MIPS to compare CISC vs RISC will give fairly meaningless numbers, will it not? It's sort of like comparing cm & inches - you need more of the former to get to the same place as the latter :) I think someone said that using MIPS ratings with CISC vs RISC processors is a 'Meaningless Indicator of Processor Speed' ;) I don't doubt the GPU totally owns the 68k though as I've seen the difference first hand, yet there are a few occasions where even the slower-clocked 68k can perform tasks even faster than the GPU using SPM.<br /><br />Anyway, thanks again for a great read.sh3-rghttp://rg.atari.orgnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882024120303771093.post-56137104573572488632010-01-28T13:40:06.129+00:002010-01-28T13:40:06.129+00:00Atari Owl said...
Hi Joeyb
[This is an improved v...Atari Owl said...<br />Hi Joeyb<br /><br />[This is an improved version of my prior comment]<br /><br />You know i've never played a Star Control Game before - i'll have a look at what it is.<br /><br />Would you be thinking of a 2D Asteroids or 3D like DarXide?<br /><br />If its 2D then a lot of the optimising techniques are less necessary and the question of space becomes more important.<br /><br />A strong argument can be made to leave most of the game code on the 68k (keeping many of the moving sprites as objects on the OP rather than blitting them to s screen buffer) and then keep the DSP for sound and the GPU for deompressing graphics in order to cram as much graphic detail as possible into the smallest amount of memoryAtari Owlhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11804012692730919082noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5882024120303771093.post-9570036899008373242010-01-23T07:16:11.346+00:002010-01-23T07:16:11.346+00:00Although not a coder, I always wanted to code jag ...Although not a coder, I always wanted to code jag games. This information is great. I consider gorf and you master coders for the jaguar. I always wanted a 3DO star control 2 type game for the jaguar. I know the jag could do it, but what would the advatages and disadvatages be compaired to this classic game? How would you go about using the jaguars power in a astorids type game? <br />Thanks Joeyb.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.com