From: "Chris Bilson" Newsgroups: comp.os.msdos.djgpp Subject: Re: The future of graphics programming Date: Mon, 9 Mar 1998 00:14:59 +0800 Organization: DCI HiNet Lines: 65 Message-ID: <6dugbb$o6@netnews.hinet.net> References: <6cvn02$6t5 AT netnews DOT hinet DOT net> <34faed92 DOT 21378329 AT news DOT eunet DOT be> NNTP-Posting-Host: h167.s10.ts30.hinet.net To: djgpp AT delorie DOT com DJ-Gateway: from newsgroup comp.os.msdos.djgpp Precedence: bulk Dominique Biesmans Wrote >I've read somewhere else that intel is taking a hot at the 3D hardware >market with their new chipset (i740), so how does that add up? We've got an Intel card with the 740 chipset at work, and it performs alright (pretty damn good actually), but I don't think that they are really "hot" for the 3D accelerator market. From what this year is shaping out like, that is definately one business that I would not want to be in right now. The competition is intense and they need to do some real major work before we can see any huge performance gains (over the incredible things we're already seeing from those people - see Leath Muller's post above). Add to this the fact that it looks like we'll have to wait until September to see what the folks in Redmond are really up to ( Farenheit, DirectX 6.0...), and even though they are starting to get there shit together, I don't think drivers that implement any new tricks in the new APIs will ship before that, and that the fact that we're starting to see nice 3D acceleration hardware in the under $100 range. I get the impression that Intel is just using the 740 to put pressure on the card makers to do something better, sort of a, "You can start by topping this!" sort of thing. It looks like they definately want ATI and some other lower priced card makers to find a new line of business, although I'm not exatly sure how that fits into the big picture. (low priced extraneous hardware should be good for Intel's plan?) Just remember, if Intel wants to keep this madness up, they _need_ people to buy a new system _every_ year, and who wants to buy a new system when there's no difference playing there favorite game on their old system vs. a new system? Everybody has to play along (Intel + Hardware Makers + Software Makers + Computer Outlets) for this to work properly. If it works, everybody involved will make loads of money. This is part of the reason I originally asked this question. I would like to do really cool things with an API like Allegro, as opposed to something like DirectX, where I have no idea what the hell they are up to. What happens when Intel introduces Katmai and Windows 2000 (or more to the point, DirectX 7.0) isn't ready? Am I screwed? Do I have to wait on Microsoft? Or do I just add a few simple patches to my Allegro based framework and start making money? I wish it could be the latter. I am not afraid of user's being afraid of the "black world" of a DOS box, because it would be very easy to hide all that behind a pretty icon, or a two stage start-up. I write Allegro programs now that when I demoed them to my co-workers, everybody though that they were written using DirectX (the tell tale flashing of the screen, no more task bar...). This is really not a problem. To top it all off, my Allegro programs could be run in DOS too! My boss loves this idea. The problem has always been hardware support. How do I take advantage of the newest Voodoo III card from Allegro? Sure it's possible, and it wouldn't even be all that difficult (if I was getting paid), but then what about Li-Tech cards, Asus cards, SiS cards??? Am I goinf to get stuck writing cards specific interface code the rest of my life? Do we move to OpenGL (I can probably get away with using that from DOS), write a public domain library that everybody can use (and answer e-mail requests to update it or fix it for the rest of our lives), or do we just give up and use DirectX? If anybody is still listening and has something to add... Chris Bilson chrisb AT NOSPAMms12 DOT hinet DOT net