Powervr Driver

[skyul]

Is it possible to use OpenGL ES 2.0 in Pandora?

I know that Pandora has the powerful PowerVR SGX GPU, but I am not sure how Pandora can distribute the binary PowerVR SGX driver. As you can see in the Nokia N8*0 maemo case, Nokia is unable to distribute the PowerVR MBX linux driver because it violates the GPL.

https://wiki.maemo.org/Talkrivers_justification

 

[argor]

Is it possible to use OpenGL ES 2.0 in Pandora?

I know that Pandora has the powerful PowerVR SGX GPU, but I am not sure how Pandora can distribute the binary PowerVR SGX driver. As you can see in the Nokia N8*0 maemo case, Nokia is unable to distribute the PowerVR MBX linux driver because it violates the GPL.

https://wiki.maemo.org/Talkrivers_justification


yes the pandora will have both OpenGL ES 2.0 and OpenGL ES 1.1 yes thats means that we will have the Powervr driver

 

[Squidge]

The Pandora's Powervr kernel driver doesn't violate the GPL as it's open source, so yes, it comes with it.

(The powervr driver itself however is still closed source, but it is provided as it's doesn't violate the GPL either as it doesn't contain nor link with any GPL licensed code such as the kernel)

 

[dockthepod]

Have there been any videos released of the 3d chip in use? This is my main interest in purchasing it and it would be nice to see it before plunking down on a pre-order

 

[Squidge]

Have there been any videos released of the 3d chip in use? This is my main interest in purchasing it and it would be nice to see it before plunking down on a pre-order

You mean like http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FuVwh_VrIxk ?

 

[dockthepod]

I've seen that one, just hoping to see one actually on the pandora I know... picky picky but they aren't the same thing.

 

[Squidge]

I've seen that one, just hoping to see one actually on the pandora I know... picky picky but they aren't the same thing.

I could take that one and photoshop it onto a Pandora case?

Also, you did say "of the 3d chip in use", and the Pandora uses the exact same 3D chip

 

[dockthepod]

Hehe, yeah I should have worded differently...

I basically would like to be reassured that on day one I'll have access. I can write an OGLES app and run it on there...

Btw, does it support both ES 1.1 and 2.0 or just 2.0? I've just started playing around with the powervr SDK and am curious what we'll get. I prefer 2.0, but the fixed pipeline stuff could be nice for porting...

 

[emil10001]

Is it possible to use OpenGL ES 2.0 in Pandora?

I know that Pandora has the powerful PowerVR SGX GPU, but I am not sure how Pandora can distribute the binary PowerVR SGX driver. As you can see in the Nokia N8*0 maemo case, Nokia is unable to distribute the PowerVR MBX linux driver because it violates the GPL.

https://wiki.maemo.org/Talkrivers_justification



I remember reading a lot about the video drivers for the n8*0s, and as I recall the issue was a lot more complex than a license issue. A big part of it was that the chip used by nokia hadn't had linux support since the 2.4 kernel, nokia didn't want to pay to license it and nokia had also seriously screwed up the bandwidth to the lcd such that getting a video driver wasn't going to mean a whole lot in terms of performance. See the following threads:

http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/engi...9711;list=maemo
http://www.gossamer-threads.com/lists/engi...0714;list=maemo

 

[icurafu]

It is funny. Nokia never allowed 3d from their N800 plus previous models, but they say the new N900 will use SGX 535 and allow OpenGL ES 2.0. I wonder what the difference is between MBX and SGX that cause MBX binary from not being used.

 

[lardman]

With the Nokia N8x0 devices, the issue is perhaps partly that it needs work to make it comply with the GPL and also that the driver is messy/buggy and Nokia are unwilling to support it in that form.

 

[michield]

I thought the Nokia issue was that the screen resolution was too high for the in built video chip, and they added another one to drive the display. Therefore the drivers were a mess (you would have had to copy and upscale the 3d rendered stuff to the other video chip).

 

[lardman]

QUOTE
screen resolution was too high for the in built video chip


True

QUOTE
and they added another one to drive the display


True

QUOTE
Therefore the drivers were a mess (you would have had to copy and upscale the 3d rendered stuff to the other video chip).


I don't think so; the powervr should be able to write directly to the framebuffer (the 770/N8x0 framebuffer resides in SDRAM and is subsequently copied to the Epson LCD controller), which then updates the screen. The framebuffer size shouldn't matter too much, though as I don't have an omap2420 technical reference manual I will stand corrected (and happily accept a copy of said manual )

I still think it's more a question of untangling the kernel hooks to provide a GPL-compliant driver + something that is tidy (in its operation) enough to be suitable for release.