[ydl-gen] Slow ibook X11 (2D)
Derick Centeno
dcenteno at ydl.net
Thu Jan 22 17:37:47 MST 2009
Warren, have you ever heard of R? I did sometime back and I've been
playing and using it within YDL. It's source is available here:
http://www.r-project.org/
You may be able to do your work in R and drop Igor. R may be that
good. I compiled it sometime ago and it works fine. As far as cad is
concerned it may surprise you that there are a great deal of cad tools
within gimp which comes with YDL.
I'm rather a bit of a Linux purist, especially where YDL is concerned.
And many tools are available if you know where to look and they are free
as well. By the way, as you mentioned that you are writing a book you
are aware that Leopard was hacked under two minutes, right? Which means
all your data in OS X might as well be given away. Briefly, OS X is not
a secure system. Like you I've been working on complex systems from PDP
7 through Stratus and R/S 6000. Think carefully where you choose to
keep your data, that's an awful lot of work to give away for nothing.
All the best...
Warren Nagourney wrote:
>
> I am still using linux on my PS3. I have preserved the hacked video
> giving me good 2D acceleration. I plan to use the PS3 with Latex
> (using Kile) to write my book and link the PS3 with SAMBA or AFP to my
> iBook for other programs not available in Linux (Igor Pro and Ashlar
> Graphite are the expensive programs that I use and are not available
> in PPC linux). This way, I get the best of both worlds without
> investing in a new (Intel-based) computer.
>
>
>
>> Warren Nagourney wrote:
>>> I think that the PS3 community would have been willing to pay for
>>> accelerated video, though I don't know whether that would have made it
>>> profitable. I actually think that this misses the point. Apple did
>>> very well just after the Mac was introduced in 1984 by encouraging 3rd
>>> party software and helping build the enthusiasm for the platform. If
>>> Sony had opened up the GPU (at least provided drivers for linux),
>>> there could have been a small groundswell of enthusiasm for the
>>> machine which certainly would have also translated into the sale of
>>> games. I hate video games but many of the potential linux users don't
>>> feel this way and would have bought them.
>>>
>>> Right now, I have a bad taste in my mouth about Sony and to a smaller
>>> extent about the PS3. I will continue to use it as a platform for
>>> learning about the Cell, but much of my enthusiasm for the platform
>>> has been lost. The forums at ps2dev were buzzing with excitement
>>> after the "hack" was successful; recently the number of new posts is
>>> about one a week and most are about some peripheral, not the PS3.
>>>
>>> I simply don't see how the desktop experience for PPC linux on Macs
>>> can compare to that of OS X. The latter is a mature, fairly delightful
>>> system to use with lots of very good software available at reasonable
>>> prices (of for free). It is very fast right now with excellent ppc
>>> support (even Flash!!). Even on the x86 side, where the performance is
>>> not as much an issue (since x86 is supported), Linux is quite a bit
>>> behind OS X, in my opinion. This is too bad, since I strongly support
>>> the open software movement. Part of the problem is that the linux
>>> developers have been trying to emulate windows and this is not a very
>>> good paradigm, in my opinion. The rest might be the closed hardware
>>> and proliferation of different configurations which make linux
>>> difficult to administer.
>>>
>>> I do support the efforts of Fixstars in making a ppc and Cell linux
>>> available. Perhaps the Powerstation will aquire a Cell processor
>>> without a price increase and can actually become a reasonable
>>> competitor to the PS3 as a Cell platform. All of the others are much
>>> too expensive for mass consumption, in my opinion. Eventually, Intel
>>> will come up with a competitor - it will probably be technically
>>> inferior but will be marketed well to the consumer, if history is any
>>> guide.
>>>
>>> Cheers,
>>>
>>> wn
>>>
>>>
>>> On Jan 19, 2009, at 1:49 PM, Kai Staats wrote:
>>>
>>>
>>>>> In my opinion, this will
>>>>> never change with PPC hardware, which is a tiny niche of a small
>>>>> niche. It would be nice if a PPC vendor like Fixstars could fix this,
>>>>> but they would need serious cooperation from the GPU manufacturers
>>>>> and that is likely not forthcoming (the PS3 linux disaster is a case
>>>>> at point).
>>>>>
>>>> Yes, because PPC hardware is a relatively small player in the
>>>> commodity,
>>>> consumer world, there is less pressure and less reason for companies
>>>> such as
>>>> Apple to support Linux. But the inside story is that Apple was
>>>> conflicted,
>>>> for at one time (2000/2001) they had a Linux Technology Manager,
>>>> full-time,
>>>> with a small team at his disposal. But eventually, this position was
>>>> terminated (as far as I know).
>>>>
>>>> Apple's shareholders want religious focus, not me-too consideration
>>>> of all
>>>> things possible. Linux simply was not on the radar outside of the
>>>> work by the
>>>> former Terra Soft, which was granted a unique license to install
>>>> Linux and
>>>> maintain warranty, but never received a single bit of data.
>>>>
>>>> Concerning Sony, similar unfolding. While the former CEO of Sony had
>>>> a vision
>>>> for the PS3 to be more than a game box, selling PS3s without games
>>>> actually
>>>> loses money for Sony (or so the rumor goes). So if you open the RSX
>>>> so that
>>>> Linux lovers may run their favorite games (Windows emus as well) on
>>>> the PS3,
>>>> Sony loses money on each PS3 they sell to Linux users who don't buy
>>>> games.
>>>>
>>>> You have to keep in mind that >90% of PPC is embedded. We use it
>>>> every day for
>>>> telecom, auto, routers, etcv. And most of it is running some flavor of
>>>> Linux/Unix. What we as consumers enjoy is a unique PPC + Linux
>>>> combination
>>>> for the desktop which is by no means the largest following on the
>>>> planet.
>>>>
>>>> Consumers + x86 + Linux makes money for x86 OEMs due to the
>>>> incredible variety
>>>> of low-cost parts and systems.
>>>>
>>>> PPC + Linux is an increasingly powerful combination in
>>>> supercomputing and
>>>> embedded applications, but to date, there have not been a great many
>>>> consumer
>>>> products built on Power.
>>>>
>>>> But all things cycle, right? So maybe some of the new CPUs from
>>>> Freescale or
>>>> AMCC will find their way into consumer products again ... or maybe
>>>> the next
>>>> gen Playstation will have more RAM --who knows?
>>>>
>>>> Until then, Fixstars does its best to support the commodity systems
>>>> to keep
>>>> the ecosystem healthy. It is more difficult to sell high-end systems
>>>> if we do
>>>> not have the mid-range as well, something to experiment with or run
>>>> on the
>>>> side of the cluster for devel or testing. The PS3 works very well
>>>> for this,
>>>> and plays a significant role in several outstanding clusters.
>>>>
>>>> Could we get 2D, even 3D support for the older Macs? Sure, but could
>>>> we
>>>> justify the expense? No, not unless we charge a helluvalot more for
>>>> the
>>>> licenses.
>>>>
>>>> Sincerely,
>>>> kai
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>> http://lists.fixstars.com/mailman/listinfo/yellowdog-general
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>>>> site:terrasoftsolutions.com'
>>>>
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>
>>>
>>
>
> Cheers,
>
> Warren Nagourney
>
>
>> _______________________________________________
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>
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