[ydl-gen] YDL on PB17

[Derick Centeno]

Hi Warren!

Welcome.

If you don't mind I'll intersperse my replies with your questions.

Warren Nagourney wrote:
> I have a few YDL questions -  perhaps this should have been sent to  
> the new users list; if this list is inappropriate, my apologies.
>
> I am attempting to install YDL 4.1 on an external Firewire drive  
> attached to a 1.5 GHz Powerbook 17" laptop. It seemed to install  
> successfully and launched into the KDE display manager. I noticed  
> first that the graphics were painfully slow - when running the web  
> browser (Firefox, I believe) there were many video artifacts when one  
> moved the browser window indicating very very slow refresh. First  
> question is how do I ensure that I have accelerated video?
>
>   
Fortunately, I've done the above myself  using a 1.67 GHz PB.  I don't 
mind going through the details of how this was done, however I would 
like to first suggest a different approach entirely -- if you are 
willing to consider it.  I discovered that this approach saved me time 
and was very convenient.  Essentially what I did was partition my PB's 
HD one for YDL and the other for OS X.  Switching between YDL 4.1 and OS 
X is merely a matter pressing a button (the option key). 

Of course I have no idea how much data is on your OS X side, but if you 
back that up say with Dantz's Retrospect.  Then you can prepare to split 
the PB HD with Apple's Disk Utility (recall HFS+ for OS X and Free Space 
for the section you intend for YDL).  After that reinstall OS X to the 
side it will reside in and if you have really a lot of data you can 
offload it to the external firewire drive.  Meanwhile you continue to 
complete the YDL installation process with the 1st YDL Install CD and 
just initiate the YDL installation sequence.  You and the YDL 
installation program should see the prepared partition dedicated for YDL 
immediately.  The nice thing about doing this is that if you move into 
serious development with YDL you can show immediately or nearly so, 
whatever you are working on.  And you'll have a full server package 
(several server packages actually) available from within YDL.

OS X then becomes an appendage, while YDL becomes the work horse.
And you loose carrying about an external drive.

Now, if what I just shared doesn't interest you then, I'll submit to 
describing doing things as you initially wished.  I just thought you'd 
appreciate a chance to rethink the entire matter.

> Next, when playing with the display configuration, I managed to set  
> an excessive refresh rate so I now get gibberish on the screen. Is  
> there a simple way to reset the graphics? (through xconfig or  
> something like this using a terminal?).
>   
Within KDE:  Click upon the K such that you see System Settings, then 
select Display.  Doing this brings up a dialog box.  Select Resolution 
and Color Depth under the Settings tab.  See what works for you.  Next 
select Monitor and Video under the Hardware tab.  Select Apple Titanium 
PB G4. and the video card you have installed.

OS X and YDL don't see the same hardware the same way so if you examine 
what OS X reports from within System Profiler then when you select 
Graphics/Displays you should see something -- on my system it is ATI 
Mobility Radeon 9700.  YDL sees the same device differently so make note 
somewhere of all the other associated details of that card and you 
should see or recognize something within the Display app within KDE.

Within the Gnome environment the process is similar.
> Finally, can one recommend a development system for making  
> multiwindow apps using OpenGL? I have been doing this for a number of  
> years using Project Builder and now Xcode in OSX and have had  
> reasonable success. For a number of uninteresting reasons, I am in  
> the process of abandoning the Apple platform due to the switch to  
> Intel, an architecture I have no interest in. (Also, in my opinion,  
> Xcode is getting worse with each new version and the vaunted Cocoa  
> developing environment is getting less and less attractive). My  
> ultimate goal is playing with the Cell on a PS3 (I have many  
> scientific programs which should benefit from the extreme parallelism  
> - I already get a 4x increase  in speed using altivec in an optical  
> raytracer and anticipate more from the Cell).
>
> Thanks in advance for any help.
>
> Warren Nagourney
>
>   
Ok!  Warren you found the right place!  Instead of diving into 4.1 why 
not just wait for YDL 5.0?  The desktop environment known as E17 makes 
OS X look very weak.
Of course what is even better however is that because E17 is open source 
as is everything else in YDL, you can participate with the various 
projects improving one or another thing according to your wishes without 
being blocked by anyone telling you -- no you may not study this!  I 
have no advanced information regarding how this will run within a PB 
environment but my experience with YDL 4.1 is that it is very fast and 
allows the G4 to strut to it's best.  What is also exciting is that many 
of, if not all, of the codes for the G4 which were formally closed or 
unavailable are becoming more open source all the time.  So accessing 
the Altivec directly is getting easier all the time.

This is not an area I would normally write about or discuss, but you've 
mentioned ideas which other members of this community have considered 
and discussed.

The G4 admittedly is not the Cell, and nothing will remove the 
excitement of having available that kind of power for one's self to 
test, examine and explore with.  However,
you could still use the G4 laptop as a kind of proof of concept device 
where you work on an aspect of an idea or method within the G4 and then 
see how it can be expanded on the Cell.  Currently on the TSS pages 
there are no details or specifics regarding which G4 laptops will run 
YDL 5.  There are taunts and teases and many aficionados are looking 
forward to discover what is finally revealed.  The good news is that we 
are all waiting for a wonderful tool which is only limited by the 
breadth of our imaginations!

Best wishes.... Derick.