RSX or not RSX and need to be pointed into the right dir.

[Glas]

Hi to all.

I'm very new to PS3 Dev and I just installed Fedora 7 on my nice PS3 but what are the next steps?

I followed some discussions here and figured out that it is just possible to use the RSX on the PS3. So, my first question is, can someone please give my some hints what I need to develop programms utilizing the rsx.
I mean, what do I have to read through to be able to deploy some nice graphics?
Maybe there are still some threads where similar questions are asked!
This would be nice.

The second question I have is, is it worth it to dive into the RSX topic due to Sonys considerations to completely lock the HV?
And another big Myth to me is, why are some people spending so much time in figuring out which functions or holes are left in the HV when Sony is considering to lock the RSX completely?
Please dont misunderstand me, I appreciate it much, but is worth the spend time? Because at the end, nothing is left from the hard work these people have accomplished!
Why not investigate the time producing a software renderer utilizing the Cell Processor, where you have full support by IBM?
Of course, with the fast and nice rasterizer on the RSX in mind, it is insane
not to use it, but this dosn't help, because Sony makes decisions about the RSX...

Thanks
Alex

[d-range]

I followed some discussions here and figured out that it is just possible to use the RSX on the PS3. So, my first question is, can someone please give my some hints what I need to develop programms utilizing the rsx.
I mean, what do I have to read through to be able to deploy some nice graphics?

The best way to get into RSX programming using Glaurung and IronPeter's work is to checkout the ps2dev git with the ps3rsx demo's, and look at mc's otheros demo. AFAIK no documentation or tutorial is written at the moment.

The second question I have is, is it worth it to dive into the RSX topic due to Sonys considerations to completely lock the HV?
And another big Myth to me is, why are some people spending so much time in figuring out which functions or holes are left in the HV when Sony is considering to lock the RSX completely?

Sony has 'blocked' access to the RSX from the beginning by not providing a hardware driver or documentation on the RSX, and hiding it behind the hypervisor. That didn't stop people from finding a way around it. I don't think Sony is still actively trying to break RSX on Linux because it is not a real threat. People are looking at the HV calls because it is assumed that there are undocumented calls for setting up the GPU, so people with post-2.01 firmwares can get RSX access back.

Why not investigate the time producing a software renderer utilizing the Cell Processor, where you have full support by IBM?
Of course, with the fast and nice rasterizer on the RSX in mind, it is insane
not to use it, but this dosn't help, because Sony makes decisions about the RSX...

People are already working on software rasterizers, but they will never be a replacement for a real GPU. Not even nearly.

[ps2devman]

Fedora Core 7 tutorials (how to turn on 2D hardware acceleration and more)
This has been PM'ed to oobles (ps3rsx tutorial is from Boxbuilder in html)
http://home.tele2.fr/~fr-51785/rsxkit/fc7_rsx.zip
So, consider it as a temporary draft.

I've only verified the 2D acceleration part so far. But since you want to code, you can try the 3D part of Boxbuilder's tutorial.

And always keep fw<2.10 for god sake!

fw>=2.10 is really nice, but only if you don't plan to code and push machine to its ultimate limit, which seems to be a very promising adventure.

About Sony strategy or non-strategy, it's MUCH safer to consider they're silently blocking us (because they fear possibilities of full rsx usage/knowledge in hands of end-users) and thus, better to not expect anything coming in future that will replace what we found in fw<2.10

[Glas]

Thanks for your response so far!

Fedora Core 7 tutorials (how to turn on 2D hardware acceleration and more)

What exactly does this mean?
Does this mean I can't put shaders and geometry into the vram?
Anywhere I read that this feature is still revealed by some person?!

Or isn't it possible to have 3d support via linux?

@ps2devman:
Thanks for the link. I will look over it very soon!!!

Thanks
Alex

[Glas]

Hi again.

Is there any chance to use the rsx without creating a new kernel?
Because I'm not very familiar with linux.

Till now, I just have been using ogl or dx which is very simple to use but with the new topic ps3, I cant say so!

Thanks.
Alex

[ps2devman]

Wait & see about 3D through high level apis.

But don't be shy, try to compile and run IronPeter's demos!
(low level apis)

Just by studying them you can learn fast I think.

[Glas]

Ok, I will try.

ps2devman, you were very helpfull. Thanks alot.

Thanks and Greetings
Alex