[rescue] Sun 711

[Joshua D Boyd]

On Wed, May 01, 2002 at 10:41:19PM -0700, David Passmore wrote:
> On Thu, May 02, 2002 at 12:54:59AM -0400, Dave McGuire wrote:
> 
> >   What is this "pull" to use PeeCees for this sort of stuff?  Why not
> > just use computers that were designed for this much I/O in the first
> > place?  Does Intel give out some sort of prize that I'm unaware of for
> > plastering their processors into places they're really not suited to
> > be?
> 
> Because, frankly, this is a 'dumb' task. If all you're doing is taking
> images from a disk and throwing them into a framebuffer, then you need to
> throw bus and clock speeds at it and this is what Intel excels at. The cost
> of graphics hardware for a high-end solution is a waste of money-- for this
> particular application. You could put together a machine to do this with a
> trip to Fry's. 

Ahem.  The cost of good graphics hardware is not a waste here.  More 
sophisticated systems do real time film simulation (grain, how it reacts to
color, etc), a task that is helped by a good OpenGL w/ imaging support card.
Also usefull is 16bit color.  In a recent CGW article, the effects company
for the Time Machine went to great lengths explaining the benefits of 16bit
for their task.  It allows for much more extreme input and output.

Now, all sorts of 3D processing is wasted, but in this day and age really good
2D doesn't ever come without 3D.

-- 
Joshua D. Boyd