| Brian | b87c1ab | 2008-01-24 09:15:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 1 | <HTML> |
| 2 | |
| 3 | <TITLE>Cell Driver</TITLE> |
| 4 | |
| 5 | <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mesa.css"></head> |
| 6 | |
| 7 | <BODY> |
| 8 | |
| 9 | <H1>Mesa Cell Driver</H1> |
| 10 | |
| 11 | <p> |
| 12 | The Mesa |
| 13 | <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28microprocessor%29" target="_parent">Cell</a> |
| 14 | driver is part of the |
| 15 | <a href="http://www.tungstengraphics.com/wiki/index.php/Gallium3D" target="_parent">Gallium3D</a> |
| 16 | architecture. |
| 17 | </p> |
| 18 | |
| 19 | <p> |
| 20 | <a href="http://www.tungstengraphics.com/" target="_parent">Tungsten Graphics</a> |
| 21 | is leading the project. |
| 22 | Two phases are planned. |
| 23 | First, to implement the framework for parallel rasterization using the Cell |
| 24 | SPEs, including texture mapping. |
| 25 | Second, to implement a full-featured OpenGL driver with support for GLSL, etc. |
| 26 | </p> |
| 27 | |
| 28 | |
| 29 | <H2>Source Code</H2> |
| 30 | |
| 31 | <p> |
| 32 | The Cell driver source code is on the <code>gallium-0.1</code> branch of the |
| 33 | git repository. |
| 34 | To build the driver you'll need the IBM Cell SDK (version 2.1 or 3.0). |
| 35 | To use the driver you'll need a Cell system, such as a PS3 running Linux, |
| 36 | or the Cell Simulator (untested, though). |
| 37 | </p> |
| 38 | |
| 39 | <p> |
| Brian | cabcee9 | 2008-02-27 18:01:37 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 40 | If using Cell SDK 3.0, first edit configs/linux-cell and add |
| 41 | <code>-DSPU_MAIN_PARAM_LONG_LONG</code> to the SPU_CFLAGS. |
| 42 | </p> |
| 43 | |
| 44 | <p> |
| Brian | b87c1ab | 2008-01-24 09:15:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 45 | To compile the code, run <code>make linux-cell</code>. |
| 46 | </p> |
| 47 | |
| 48 | <p> |
| 49 | To use the library, make sure <code>LD_LIBRARY_PATH</code> points the Mesa/lib/ |
| 50 | directory that contains <code>libGL.so</code>. |
| 51 | </p> |
| 52 | |
| 53 | <p> |
| 54 | Verify that the Cell driver is being used by running <code>glxinfo</code> |
| 55 | and looking for: |
| 56 | <pre> |
| 57 | OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.1, Cell on Xlib |
| 58 | </pre> |
| 59 | |
| 60 | |
| Brian | cef71f5 | 2008-02-27 18:13:21 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 61 | <H2>Driver Implementation Summary</H2> |
| 62 | |
| 63 | <p> |
| 64 | Rasterization is parallelized across the SPUs in a tiled-based manner. |
| 65 | Batches of transformed triangles are sent to the SPUs (actually, pulled by from |
| 66 | main memory by the SPUs). |
| 67 | Each SPU loops over a set of 32x32-pixel screen tiles, rendering the triangles |
| 68 | into each tile. |
| 69 | Because of the limited SPU memory, framebuffer tiles are paged in/out of |
| 70 | SPU local store as needed. |
| 71 | Similarly, textures are tiled and brought into local store as needed. |
| 72 | </p> |
| 73 | |
| 74 | <p> |
| 75 | More recently, vertex transformation has been parallelized across the SPUs |
| 76 | as well. |
| 77 | </p> |
| 78 | |
| 79 | |
| Brian | b87c1ab | 2008-01-24 09:15:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 80 | <H2>Status</H2> |
| 81 | |
| 82 | <p> |
| Brian | cef71f5 | 2008-02-27 18:13:21 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 83 | As of February 2008 the driver supports smooth/flat shaded triangle rendering |
| 84 | with Z testing and simple texture mapping. |
| Brian | b87c1ab | 2008-01-24 09:15:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 85 | Simple demos like gears run successfully. |
| Brian | cef71f5 | 2008-02-27 18:13:21 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 86 | To test texture mapping, try progs/demos/texcyl (press right mouse button for |
| 87 | rendering options). |
| Brian | b87c1ab | 2008-01-24 09:15:31 -0700 | [diff] [blame] | 88 | </p> |
| 89 | |
| 90 | |
| 91 | <H2>Contributing</H2> |
| 92 | |
| 93 | <p> |
| 94 | If you're interested in contributing to the effort, familiarize yourself |
| 95 | with the code, join the <a href="lists.html">mesa3d-dev mailing list</a>, |
| 96 | and describe what you'd like to do. |
| 97 | </p> |
| 98 | |
| 99 | |
| 100 | </BODY> |
| 101 | </HTML> |