<HTML> <TITLE>Cell Driver</TITLE> <link rel="stylesheet" type="text/css" href="mesa.css"></head> <BODY> <H1>Mesa Cell Driver</H1> <p> The Mesa <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cell_%28microprocessor%29" target="_parent">Cell</a> driver is part of the <a href="http://www.tungstengraphics.com/wiki/index.php/Gallium3D" target="_parent">Gallium3D</a> architecture. </p> <p> <a href="http://www.tungstengraphics.com/" target="_parent">Tungsten Graphics</a> is leading the project. Two phases are planned. First, to implement the framework for parallel rasterization using the Cell SPEs, including texture mapping. Second, to implement a full-featured OpenGL driver with support for GLSL, etc. </p> <H2>Source Code</H2> <p> The Cell driver source code is on the <code>gallium-0.1</code> branch of the git repository. After you've cloned the repository, check out the branch with: </p> <pre> git-checkout -b gallium-0.1 origin/gallium-0.1 </pre> <p> To build the driver you'll need the IBM Cell SDK (version 2.1 or 3.0). To use the driver you'll need a Cell system, such as a PS3 running Linux, or the Cell Simulator (untested, though). </p> <p> If using Cell SDK 3.0, first edit configs/linux-cell and add <code>-DSPU_MAIN_PARAM_LONG_LONG</code> to the SPU_CFLAGS. </p> <p> To compile the code, run <code>make linux-cell</code>. </p> <p> To use the library, make sure <code>LD_LIBRARY_PATH</code> points the Mesa/lib/ directory that contains <code>libGL.so</code>. </p> <p> Verify that the Cell driver is being used by running <code>glxinfo</code> and looking for: <pre> OpenGL renderer string: Gallium 0.1, Cell on Xlib </pre> <H2>Driver Implementation Summary</H2> <p> Rasterization is parallelized across the SPUs in a tiled-based manner. Batches of transformed triangles are sent to the SPUs (actually, pulled by from main memory by the SPUs). Each SPU loops over a set of 32x32-pixel screen tiles, rendering the triangles into each tile. Because of the limited SPU memory, framebuffer tiles are paged in/out of SPU local store as needed. Similarly, textures are tiled and brought into local store as needed. </p> <p> More recently, vertex transformation has been parallelized across the SPUs as well. </p> <H2>Status</H2> <p> As of February 2008 the driver supports smooth/flat shaded triangle rendering with Z testing and simple texture mapping. Simple demos like gears run successfully. To test texture mapping, try progs/demos/texcyl (press right mouse button for rendering options). </p> <H2>Contributing</H2> <p> If you're interested in contributing to the effort, familiarize yourself with the code, join the <a href="lists.html">mesa3d-dev mailing list</a>, and describe what you'd like to do. </p> </BODY> </HTML>