Greetings,
My name is Per Ekström, and I'm one of the designers on the Open Game Console[1] project. We are trying to create an Open Game Console standard, and right now we're discussing how to best make one, what features it will have, what to include, what not to include and what should be modules, and so on and so forth. Me and my associates are convinced that this idea can fly, and so we would like to develop a prototype system. If you wish to know more about this system, please read our proposal[2].
It was decided pretty early on that to reach it's goals the project would need some sort of open firmware. LinuxBIOS is one of the top candidates for this project, due to it's impressive track record. We're almost set on using LinuxBIOS as a base, but I have a few questions first:
* How hard would it be to make a system that cold boots to accelerated graphics functionality in less than ten seconds? Is it even possible with the PCs of today? * Would it be possible to fit a minimalistic system with accelerated 3D graphics (possibly ditching the X-Server) on a motherboard? * Would we need some sort of special hardware in order to achieve the above? (e.g. extra NVRAM or similar) * Would you reccommend to go with a small X-server like tinyx, something that draws to the framebuffer or something else entirerly?
If you have any questions, comments or suggestions about OGC, please feel free to either post at our forums[3] or ask me directly via mail or IM (my Jabber address is wertigon@jabber.nulani.net ). I'm looking forward to hear your answers. :)
Regards, - Per
[1] http://www.opengameconsole.org/ [2] http://www.opengameconsole.org/proposal.html [3] http://www.opengameconsole.org/forum/index.php
Hi,
On 02.03.2007 19:26, Per Ekström wrote:
- How hard would it be to make a system that cold boots to accelerated
graphics functionality in less than ten seconds? Is it even possible with the PCs of today?
That depends on how you boot the machine. If you can go from GRUB prompt to accelerated graphics in less than ten seconds, you can do the same with LinuxBIOS from a cold boot.
- Would it be possible to fit a minimalistic system with accelerated
3D graphics (possibly ditching the X-Server) on a motherboard?
If you can cram all of this into 2 MB, then yes. But I doubt you'll be able to do that.
- Would we need some sort of special hardware in order to achieve the
above? (e.g. extra NVRAM or similar)
If you just want fast booting speed without delays, I suggest using some sort of flash, perhaps on USB (although USB might cost you ~1-2 seconds). It is certainly faster than waiting for a hard drive to become ready.
- Would you reccommend to go with a small X-server like tinyx,
something that draws to the framebuffer or something else entirerly?
Not for accelerated graphics.
Regards, Carl-Daniel
-
Carl-Daniel Hailfinger -
Per Ekström