docs/cell.html

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   3 <TITLE>Cell Driver</TITLE>
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   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>
  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>
  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
  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
  80 <H2>Status</H2>
  81
  82 <p>
  83 As of February 2008 the driver supports smooth/flat shaded triangle rendering
  84 with Z testing and simple texture mapping.
  85 Simple demos like gears run successfully.
  86 To test texture mapping, try progs/demos/texcyl (press right mouse button for
  87 rendering options).
  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>
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