12 Jan
2006
12 Jan
'06
12:34 p.m.
On Thursday 12 January 2006 16:56, Jay Vaughan wrote:
Well, the only problem is that you have to write all DSP code twice,
basically.
Then again, the DSP code usually accounts for just a fraction of the
code of a full application. And heavy duty, DSP centric applications
(ie ones with lots of DSP code) probably won't be of much use without
a GFLOPS class CPU anyway.
I would think you can compile and run them on just about anything -
but without proper FP support (that is, an extremely fast integer CPU
+ FP emulation, or "anything" with a proper FPU), they won't run fast
enough to do anything useful, unless all DSP code is translated to
integer/fixed point.
I can certainly understand why someone who isn't seriously interested
in the odd few platforms with enough oomph but no FP, would lack the
motivation to write and/or maintain code that is relevant only on
these platforms.
//David Olofson - Programmer, Composer, Open Source Advocate
.------- http://olofson.net - Games, SDL examples -------.
| http://zeespace.net - 2.5D rendering engine |
| http://audiality.org - Music/audio engine |
| http://eel.olofson.net - Real time scripting |
'-- http://www.reologica.se - Rheology instrumentation --'
exciting, but it will be completely divergent from the intel/ppc
world because of the floating point issue.
so? any particular reason a linux hacker should give a damn? are
intel/ppc the only CPU's worth writing audio software for? should
linux become platform-homogenized, just because of this issue? i
think not! this is really
a great shame.
its not a shame, its an opportunity. nothing less!
floating point versus fixed point samples
will reach deep into most audio/music software, and certainly deep
in JACK. i can just about begin to imagine how one might write a
JACK and a JACK client that could run on fixed or floating point,
but beginning is where i give up.
good thing you aren't the only one writing code then, isn't it .. i
mean, sure, JACK is lovely, Ardour too, but its really a shame you
can only run them on intel/ppc ..
</CHEtongueEEK>